# Workspace UI rebuild — design

**Status:** approved 2026-07-29. Sub-project D, built on top of A (merged Workspace page).
Reference: the Shipyard "Feature Harness" screen the user supplied.

## Problem

The merged Workspace page shipped with the right information and the wrong shape.
Everything a lane knows — declared stage, inferred stage, progress, liveness,
needs-you — is already on the card (`client/src/components/lanes/LaneCard.tsx`)
and already correct on the wire. None of it is legible: the lane strip is a
horizontal scroller of cramped cards, the pipeline sits above a console that
dominates the viewport, and the `auto: <stage>` chip that proves detection works
is 10px of amber text nobody sees.

Measured on the live install while writing this: lane 5 carried
`detected_stage: "tests"` with a real signal, and the user's report was
"the lane does not auto-detect". Detection was never broken. The display was.

Two facts also make lanes look emptier than they are:

- `branch` and `ci_status` are columns nobody writes, so those rows are always
  blank even for a managed worktree sitting on a real branch.
- Detection is forward-only with no expiry, so a lane parks at the highest stage
  it ever touched. Lane 5 reached `tests` and can never show `implement` again,
  even while the agent is editing code.

## Goal

The reference screen's legibility, on CCAM's real data: a lane's state readable
from across the room, the pipeline large enough to trace, and the console present
but out of the way until wanted.

## Decisions taken

- **Card grid, not a strip.** Responsive 1 / 2 / 3 columns.
- **The console collapses.** It keeps every capability from A; it starts
  collapsed and opens for the selected lane. Watching lanes is the default
  posture, driving one is the exception.
- **Only real data.** No placeholder tiles for facts CCAM does not have
  (tickets, preview ports, per-lane credentials). Branch/commit/CI are added
  because they can be read for real — see below.
- **Detection expires.** A detection older than a TTL stops holding the floor.

## Layout

Top to bottom, one column:

```
header:    title · [N lanes][N running][N need you][N dead] · [+ Add lane]
detail:    selected lane · declared + inferred headline · large PipelineMap · legend
console:   collapsed by default; expands to RunSetup + RunConsole + RunHistory
grid:      lane cards, 1/2/3 columns
```

Selecting a card switches the detail panel and the console together, exactly as
A wired it. The console is unchanged behind its new disclosure — no prop of
`RunConsole`, `RunSetup` or `RunHistory` moves.

## The card

Reference layout, CCAM's fields, nothing invented:

| Row | Content | Source |
|---|---|---|
| header | `LANE <id>` · liveness dot · status | `id`, `liveness`, `status` |
| title | title, falling back to `cwd` | existing |
| progress | declared stage chip · bar · `%` · time on stage | `stage`, `progress`, `stage_seconds` |
| inferred | dashed amber `auto: <stage>` with the signal as tooltip | `detected_stage`, `detected_signal` |
| tags | `kind` (adopted/managed), CI when known | `kind`, `ci_status` |
| git | branch · short head · last commit subject · dirty/untracked counts | new, see below |
| alert | needs-you banner | `needs_action` |
| actions | start · stop · clear · reset · remove | existing lane actions |

`reset` and `remove` keep their preflight + `expect` echo through
`DestructiveLaneModal`. This redesign does not touch the destroy guard.

## Git facts

A new read-only endpoint, `GET /api/lanes/:id/git`, returning
`{branch, head, subject, dirty, untracked}` or `{available: false}` when the
lane's `cwd` is not a git repo or is unreadable.

Deliberately **not** folded into `GET /api/lanes`: that payload is polled and
broadcast, and shelling out to git once per lane on the hot path would put a
subprocess burst behind every hook-driven `lane_update`. The card fetches its
own facts when it mounts and on a slow interval, and renders without them until
they arrive.

`server/lib/worktree.js` already has `statusCounts(dir)` returning
`{dirty, untracked, head}` and a `git()` wrapper that scrubs the inherited
`GIT_*` environment. Both are reused as-is; the endpoint adds only the branch
name and the commit subject. No second git helper, no shell strings.

## Detection expiry

`recordDetection` gains one rule: a `detected_stage` whose `detected_at` is
older than `DETECTION_TTL_MS` (default 30 minutes) no longer blocks a new
detection — the forward-only comparison is skipped and the fresh signal wins.
Within the window nothing changes: forward-only and declared-wins hold exactly
as they do today.

This keeps the anti-flapping property that motivated forward-only (a `Read`
right after an `Edit` must not drag the lane backwards) while admitting the
thing it got wrong: a work session ends, and the next one starts somewhere else
in the pipeline.

**Unchanged, and not negotiable:** detection still never writes `lanes.stage`,
and an inferred node still never renders `done`.

## Signal legibility

`detected_signal` currently captures the whole flattened tool input, so the chip's
tooltip reads `cd /very/long/path && npm run test:server 2>&1 | grep …`. The
matcher already knows which regex fired; the signal becomes the matched span plus
a little context rather than the entire command. Cosmetic, but it is the text the
tooltip exists to show.

## Risks

- **The console's disclosure is the only structural risk.** Mounting it inside a
  collapsed container must not unmount `useRunStream` and lose a live stream.
  The subscription stays mounted; only the visual container collapses.
- **Git calls per card.** Bounded by the number of lanes on screen and a slow
  refresh; failure is silent and the card renders without those rows.
- **The screens snapshot over `/run` will change.** It is read, not regenerated
  blindly.

## Testing

- The card renders every field from a fixture lane, and renders without the git
  block when the endpoint reports `available: false`.
- A detected node still never carries `data-state="done"` — the premise guard
  from sub-project B is re-asserted at the new layout.
- Collapsing and expanding the console does not tear down the run subscription:
  a stream envelope delivered while collapsed is present when it re-expands.
- `GET /api/lanes/:id/git` returns the facts for a real repo fixture and
  `available: false` for a plain directory, and never shells out through a shell.
- A detection older than the TTL is accepted even when it is behind the current
  `detected_stage`; one inside the window is still refused.
