a327ex.com

Visual Experiments 7

Summary

Closed out Task 2 of the snkrx-template UI work — built the remaining "missing" widgets, brought the F4 gallery to full component parity, audited and modernized the existing showcase pages, then made the whole template genuinely fork-and-go: folder-agnostic run.bat, a clean main.lua (scaffold preserved separately), synced docs, and a new README.md. All work in E:/a327ex/snkrx-template; engine is Anchor 2.

Task 2B — component parity audit + seven new widgets:

Task 2C — gallery showcase parity:

Existing-page audit + fixes:

Generalizability + run.bat:

main.lua cleanup — clean fork target + preserved scaffold:

Documentation sync:

Outcome: snkrx-template is now copy-and-go — fork the folder, run.bat works unedited, main.lua is the clean player-only fork target, main_scaffold.lua is the runnable demo, docs are in sync, and README.md is the landing page. Remaining cosmetic notes (left intentionally): the window title string and the now-superseded frozen main_old.lua.

This session continues work on snkrx-template (E:/a327ex/snkrx-template). Read these to get aligned BEFORE proposing anything: - snkrx-template/.claude/CLAUDE.md — conventions + current state. Note the DESIGN-BRIEF-BEFORE-CODE rule (post a conceptual brief, wait for my feedback, iterate, THEN write code) and the "Effect system" + "UI toolkit" sections. - a327ex-site/logs/visual-experiments-6.md — last session's log (full detail of everything below). - The UI toolkit: snkrx/ui/core.lua, paint.lua, primitives.lua, widgets.lua, init.lua, gallery.lua. - ricochet-template/components.lua + ricochet/ui.lua + ricochet/skin_smooth.lua + skin_rough.lua — the SOURCE we're matching for parity + the showcase. DONE (sessions "Visual Experiments 5" + "6"): - TASK 1 — snkrx's old edition system replaced with ricochet's four-axis effect system (pattern × color × dither × shape). effect.lua + assets/draw_shader.frag ported, wired to snkrx's 26-token palette. Drawables carry a .spec (no .edition); draw via effect_set/effect_clear; FX tint via spec_color(). The SNKRX breathe = pattern='organic' sweeping color='mix' between a token and its palette_breathe_partner neighbor (in snkrx/palette.lua). F5 effect inspector = snkrx/effect_lab.lua. - TASK 2A — UI conventions: snkrx/ui/core.lua (ui_sp / ui_ret uniform returns with next_x/next_y / ui_interact factored interaction machine / ui_req_id opt-in id guard / ui_stack + ui_heading + ui_sublabel); ui_begin(dt) + ui_render() contract helpers in ui/init.lua; every widget + primitive converted to ui_interact + ui_ret; opts.edition renamed to opts.spec. - TASK 2D — F3 sound tuner (snkrx/sound_tuner.lua) on the toolkit: single-column ui_list_row grid + ui_panel/ui_field/ui_slider/ui_button modal, dual keyboard + mouse, scrim layer + drop shadow. - New widgets: ui_field (cycler "LABEL value [‹][›]"), ui_swatch_row (palette-token color picker). LEFT (the rest of Task 2 — "standardize + demonstrate the UI"): - TASK 2B — component parity. Audit snkrx's set vs ricochet's; build any genuinely-missing widgets in SNKRX style (NOT the blueprint look). snkrx has (interactive): slot/button/bar/tabs/checkbox/radio/ slider/list_row/card/text_input/modal/icon_button/field/swatch_row + primitives (panel/text/divider/ item_icon/rich_text/label/tooltip/bracket_tag/stat_chip/pips). ricochet additionally has toggle/ stepper/dropdown/badge/tag/keyhint/sparkline/stat/hud_bar/segbar/ability_slot/menu_item/upgrade_chip/ counter/status_tag (see ricochet/ui.lua's ricochet_use_skin binder for the full list). Not all are worth building for a game template — START with the concrete gap list + a recommendation, then ASK me before building. - TASK 2C — showcase. Bring snkrx's F4 gallery (snkrx/ui/gallery.lua) to ricochet-components.lua parity: fold ui_field + ui_swatch_row + any 2B widgets into the paged showcase; ensure every component is demonstrated. WORKING AGREEMENTS: - Design brief before code; one increment at a time; I test between each. - Do NOT run the executable (no ./run.bat) — I run + test. Syntax-check Lua with E:/a327ex/Anchor/reference/love-compare/tools/lua54.exe -e "assert(loadfile('FILE'))". - Use AskUserQuestion liberally for design decisions. - main.lua currently carries a TEST SCAFFOLD (seekers + wall + every carrier on mouse 1/2/3 + F/R, F4 gallery, F5 effect lab, F3 tuner) — intentional for testing, not the clean template; don't revert it unless asked. Start by reading the above and giving me the Task 2B gap-list audit (don't build yet).

I'll get aligned first by reading the key files. Let me start with the conventions, last session's log, and the two UI toolkits we're matching.

Read (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template.claude\CLAUDE.md)

1    # snkrx-template — orientation for new instances
2   
3   ## ⛔ WORKFLOW RULE — DESIGN BRIEF BEFORE CODE ⛔
4   
5   **This rule has no exceptions and is valid for every single
6   non-trivial change, every session, every file in this project.**
7   
8   Before calling `Write` or `Edit` on project code, post a **design
9   brief** in chat — a conceptual explanation of the approach, NOT the
10  code itself. Then wait. The user will usually reply with questions
11  and improvements; iterate the brief with them until you reach a
12  conclusion. Only then write the code.
13  
14  ### What a design brief contains
15  
16  1. **Approach.** A high-level explanation of how each feature works —
17     what it does, the strategy, the key data it holds, its lifecycle.
18  2. **Interfaces.** How the feature connects to existing features:
19     which existing functions / files / globals it touches or reuses,
20     and how. Include this whenever the feature is not self-contained.
21  3. **Functions.** For each new or changed function:
22     - its name,
23     - what it does,
24     - which other functions it calls — selective, not exhaustive:
25       pick the calls that build a conceptual map of how the code fits
26       together, skip the incidental ones,
27     - its general structure, when that isn't already obvious.
28  
29  The brief is a conceptual map, not a spec and not pseudocode. Aim for
30  "a reader could predict the shape of the code from this" — not "every
... [1003 more lines]

Read (E:\a327ex\a327ex-site\logs\visual-experiments-6.md)

File content (292.9KB) exceeds maximum allowed size (256KB). Use offset and limit parameters to read specific portions of the file, or search for specific content instead of reading the whole file.

The CLAUDE.md gives me a thorough picture. The session log is too large to read whole — I'll read the relevant tail later if needed. Let me read the actual UI source files I need for the Task 2B audit: snkrx's widget/primitive set vs ricochet's.

Read (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\snkrx\ui\primitives.lua)

1    --[[
2     ui/primitives.lua — pure-draw UI primitives:
3       ui_panel        — rounded chrome (no default 1px border; the
4                         shadow provides edge; optional explicit border
5                         for state indicators)
6       ui_text         — single-line aligned text
7       ui_divider      — line with styles thin / thick / dotted / dashed
8                         / double
9       ui_item_icon    — colored tile + centered pictograph
10      ui_rich_text    — one line of text, multiple colored / mixed-font
11                        runs
12      ui_label        — flat dark rounded container (default font: Ark)
13      ui_tooltip      — self-sizing info panel (icon + title + desc
14                        lines + meta line)
15      ui_bracket_tag  — inline `[label]` (the bracket motif; default
16                        font: Ark)
17      ui_stat_chip    — icon + label + value readout; label/value
18                        force-uppercased; default font Ark
19      ui_pips         — row of filled/empty progress dots
20      rarity_color    — lookup helper (common/uncommon/rare/...)
21  
22    Calling convention (whole toolkit): each widget takes ONE opts table.
23    The rect is opts.rect — a {x, y, w, h} table, exactly what RectCut
24    (ui/rect.lua) produces. Position-only widgets (label, tooltip,
25    bracket_tag, stat_chip, pips, badge) take {x, y} and auto-size.
26  
27    Coloring goes through the effect pipeline (ui/paint.lua): these
28    functions don't call layer_* directly, they call the ui_rrect /
29    ui_rect / ui_glyph_text wrappers, which bracket each draw with the
30    effect spec for its palette color. Every primitive accepts an
... [429 more lines]

Read (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\snkrx\ui\widgets.lua)

1    --[[
2     ui/widgets.lua — interactive UI widgets.
3   
4     Same opts-table / ui_layer convention as ui/primitives.lua. These
5     widgets consult `ui_state` (ui/state.lua) — they derive hover via
6     ui_claim_hot, run the mouse-down→up click machine, and return an
7     interaction result. Each takes opts.id, an explicit caller-provided
8     string identity.
9   
10    Coloring goes through the effect pipeline (ui/paint.lua): draws use
11    the ui_rrect / ui_text wrappers, or bracket effect_set manually for
12    loops (draw_drag_target). Every widget accepts opts.spec to force a
13    specific effect spec for all its draws — the per-element override.
14  
15    They also carry SNKRX-style juice via ui/juice.lua: a per-id scale
16    spring that bounces on hover-enter and click, and the hover sounds.
17  
18    The action-vs-rules split: a widget's *data* states (a slot's
19    selected / occupied / locked / disabled) are caller-owned and passed
20    in via opts. Its *interaction* state (hover, active, focus) is
21    frame-local, derived here from ui_state. The juice + bar registries
22    are the one retained sliver — keyed by the explicit id.
23  ]]
24  
25  -- Clone a palette token with a fixed alpha. Returns a callable color.
26  local function with_alpha(token, a)
27    local c = color_clone(token)
28    c.a = a
29    return c
30  end
... [1144 more lines]

Now I have snkrx's full set. Let me read ricochet's UI set — the ricochet_use_skin binder lists everything, and components.lua is the showcase.

Read (E:\a327ex\ricochet-template\ricochet\ui.lua)

1    --[[
2     ricochet/ui.lua — the Ricochet UI toolkit: shared core + the skin binder.
3   
4     The smooth (hi-res) and rough (low-res) Ricochet UIs are genuinely different
5     DESIGNS — not just sizes. Across the board the treatments differ (smooth radio
6     is a CIRCLE, rough is a square; smooth toggle has a green track; smooth tabs
7     invert the active cell; etc.). So EVERY widget that has a distinct look per
8     mode lives in a SKIN: `ricochet/skin_smooth.lua` (matches the smooth lab /
9     showcase + the reference sheets) and `ricochet/skin_rough.lua` (matches the
10    rough lab). `ricochet_use_skin(mode)` binds the active skin's functions onto
11    the public `ui_*` globals; `ricochet_theme_set` calls it. A game writes
12    mode-agnostic UI (`ui_panel{...}`); flipping MODE swaps look + metrics + fonts.
13  
14    This file holds only what is TRULY shared:
15      - the immediate-mode interaction step (`ric.interact`) + `ric.req_id`
16      - text + hairline + bracket + icon draw helpers the skins compose from
17      - `ric.ret` (the uniform widget return) + the per-frame contract helpers
18      - layout helpers: `ui_heading` / `ui_sublabel` / `ui_stack` (rectcut = regions)
19      - the mode-independent public widgets (frame / text / icon / icon_button / divider)
20      - `ricochet_use_skin`
21  
22    EVERY ui_* widget returns a TABLE (never a bare number): always `next_x`/`next_y`
23    (just past the widget + a standard gap, for chaining), plus its own fields
24    (`clicked`, `value`, `checked`, `on`, `index`, `dir`, `content_y`, ...).
25  
26    Per-frame contract (game's update + draw):
27      update(): ui_capture_input()                       -- captures mouse edges
28      draw():   ui_begin()                               -- reset + effect_clear(ui_layer)
29                [widgets...]; [game world]; layer_render/draw(...)
30                ui_end()                                 -- consume the captured edges
... [251 more lines]

Now I have ricochet's full widget roster from the binder. Let me read the smooth skin (to see what each "extra" ricochet widget actually is) and the components showcase, plus snkrx's own gallery — these are what I need to give a precise gap audit and parity recommendation.

Read (E:\a327ex\ricochet-template\ricochet\skin_smooth.lua)

1    --[[
2     ricochet/skin_smooth.lua — the HI-RES Ricochet UI design (matches the smooth
3     lab / the reference sheets): FLAT page-colored panels (palette.field) with a
4     hairline ink border, subtle palette.mid_light corner brackets, a 2-row slider
5     with 5 tick marks + a square knob, and wider spacing. Glyph chevrons. A table
6     of widget-drawing functions bound onto the ui_* globals by
7     `ricochet_use_skin('smooth')`. Reads `ricochet_theme.metrics` for sizing.
8   
9     Every widget returns `ric.ret(x, y, w, h, fields)` — a table with next_x/next_y
10    (for chaining) + the widget's own fields. Interactive widgets fetch their id via
11    `ric.req_id` (clear error if missing).
12  ]]
13  
14  RICOCHET_SKIN_SMOOTH = {}
15  local S = RICOCHET_SKIN_SMOOTH
16  local function M() return ricochet_theme.metrics end
17  
18  function S.brackets(rect)
19    local m = M(); ric.brackets(rect, palette.mid_light(), m.corner_arm, m.corner_gap)
20  end
21  
22  function S.panel(o)
23    local r, m = o.rect, M()
24    if o.brackets then S.brackets(r) end       -- subtle grey L-brackets, outside
25    layer_rectangle(ui_layer, r.x, r.y, r.w, r.h, palette.field())  -- flat, page-colored
26    ric.frame(r, palette.ink())
27    local content_y = r.y
28    if o.title then
29      local th = m.title_h
30      ric.text(ui_font_title, string.upper(o.title), r.x + m.inset, ric.vcenter(ui_font_title, r.y, th), palette.ink())
... [490 more lines]

Read (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\snkrx\ui\gallery.lua)

1    --[[
2     ui/gallery.lua — the UI kit gallery / test scene.
3   
4     A paged, full-screen overlay that renders every UI element the toolkit
5     ships — the in-engine equivalent of reference/mockup_ui_kit_*.html.
6     Optional dev tool; the caller (main.lua) wires it in by binding the
7     hotkeys + calling ui_gallery_update / ui_gallery_bg_draw alongside
8     the regular UI plumbing. See main.lua's UI GALLERY section.
9   
10      F4         toggle the gallery
11      [ / ]      previous / next page
12      B          toggle the body font (LanaPixel <-> Ark Pixel)
13      O          cycle UI color recipe (solid <-> mix breathe)
14      U / P      cycle the breathe dither mode forward / back (34 modes)
15      K / L      field_scale down / up (breathe noise density)
16    Each element chunk appends its showcase to a gallery page.
17  
18    PER-FRAME CONTRACT (caller-owned, NOT done here):
19      ui_state_begin_frame()   — reset hot_id / capturing / locked
20      ui_juice_update(dt)      — tick spring + HP-bar tweens
21      [render pipeline]        — layer_render(ui_layer) + shadow + composite
22    The gallery only queues widget commands onto ui_layer and (when
23    active) fills its own full-screen bg into gallery_bg_layer. The
24    caller's draw() runs ui_gallery_bg_draw() to composite that bg,
25    then the regular UI pipeline composites ui_layer + shadow on top.
26  
27    WHY PAGE DRAWS RUN FROM update(), NOT draw():
28      Interactive widgets hit-test with mouse_is_pressed / key_is_pressed,
29      whose edge events are only true during update() (see MEMORY.md →
30      "Anchor 2 input edge events are update-only"). Widgets also queue
... [1026 more lines]

I've now read both toolkits end to end. Here's the Task 2B audit — no code, just the gap analysis and a recommendation, then I'll ask you to set scope.

Task 2B — component parity audit

Method

I mapped all 34 public ricochet widgets (29 per-skin from the ricochet_use_skin binder + 5 shared in ui.lua) against snkrx's 24 widgets/primitives. Parity is bidirectional, so I also noted where snkrx is ahead.

A. Already at parity (snkrx has it, equal or richer) — 22 of 34

ricochet snkrx equivalent note
ui_text ui_text parity
ui_divider ui_divider snkrx richer (5 styles vs 1)
ui_icon_button ui_icon_button parity
ui_panel ui_panel parity (snkrx adds border-state trick)
ui_field ui_field parity (built last session)
ui_segment ui_tabs variant='segment' covered
ui_slider ui_slider parity
ui_button ui_button snkrx richer (4 variants + juice)
ui_bar ui_bar snkrx richer (HP tween/back-bar/kick)
ui_checkbox / ui_radio same parity
ui_tabs ui_tabs variant='tab' covered
ui_pips ui_pips parity
ui_list_row ui_list_row parity
ui_card ui_card parity
ui_text_input ui_text_input snkrx richer (real key entry; ricochet's is a caret stub)
ui_tag ui_bracket_tag covered ([ TAG ])
ui_stat ui_stat_chip covered-ish (layout differs: row+bar vs inline chip)
ui_icon ui_item_icon / layer_image covered
ui_stepper ui_field covered (same [<]value[>] affordance)
ui_upgrade_chip ui_stat_chip covered (icon+label+value inline)
ui_badge ui_button static (or stat_chip) covered

B. Off-style for SNKRX — recommend SKIP — 3 of 34

C. Genuine gaps — 9 of 34, but most are composable

The honest split: only a few are capability gaps; the rest are naming/layout conveniences snkrx can already compose from ui_bar + ui_stat_chip + ui_slot + ui_pips.

Real capability gaps (no snkrx equivalent, and game-relevant):

  1. Ability cooldown + keycap — ui_ability_slot adds two things ui_slot lacks: a bottom-up cooldown sweep with a remaining-count number, and a corner keycap. For a SNKRX/Orblike action HUD this is core — every ability bar needs cooldown feedback. My recommendation: extend ui_slot with cooldown + key opts rather than add a parallel ui_ability_slot — an ability slot is a slot; a second widget would duplicate all the icon/selected/juice machinery.

  2. ui_keyhint — a bordered keycap [Q] + adjacent label. Genuinely missing, small, clean, reusable for control hints and tutorials. Worth building.

  3. ui_toggle — an on/off switch with a sliding knob (green track when on). Distinct look from checkbox, though the same function. Settings menus. Lower priority — it's a duplicate affordance, but it's the one form-control idiom snkrx is missing.

Composable "HUD-flavor" widgets (overlap existing; nice for the showcase, not new capability):

  1. ui_hud_bar — [icon][track][value] one-liner = ui_bar + a leading icon. The HUD gallery page already composes this by hand.
  2. ui_counter — label-above-[icon value]-box. Vertical variant of ui_stat_chip.
  3. ui_status_tag — framed [icon LABEL] buff/debuff chip. ≈ ui_stat_chip with a glyph.
  4. ui_segbar — row of N filled segment-cells (XP/charge meter). The chunky-segment cousin of ui_pips (dots).
  5. ui_menu_item — big left-aligned title-font menu row with a selected stripe. The pause gallery page builds menus from ui_button instead — menu_item is a different idiom (left-aligned text rows vs centered buttons), mild value.
  6. ui_sparkline — a line graph. Niche data-viz; an action-game template basically never needs it. Skip/defer.

Where snkrx is ahead of ricochet

ui_tooltip, ui_modal, ui_rich_text, ui_label, ui_swatch_row, and real keyboard ui_text_input have no ricochet equivalent. So this isn't a catch-up — the sets diverge, and snkrx's is arguably the more complete game UI kit already.

My recommendation

Build the two real gaps and stop there:

Treat ui_toggle as optional (one missing form idiom). Treat the HUD-flavor four (hud_bar/counter/status_tag/segbar) as showcase compositions in Task 2C, not new widgets — demonstrate them assembled from existing parts rather than shipping near-duplicate functions. Skip frame/brackets/dropdown/sparkline/menu_item entirely (off-style, stub, or trivially ui_button).

Rationale: the template's job is the visuals of a reusable kit, and shipping eight thin wrappers that each re-do what ui_bar/ui_stat_chip already do is the kind of surface-area bloat that makes a kit harder to use, not easier. The cooldown sweep is the only thing here that a game genuinely can't already draw.

Let me get your call on scope before building anything.

AskUserQuestion 

Your questions have been answered: "Which missing widgets should I build for Task 2B? (pick any; my rec is the first two)"="All of them.", "If I add the ability cooldown, new widget or extend ui_slot?"="Extend ui_slot (Recommended)". You can now continue with these answers in mind.

All four — got it, and extend ui_slot for the cooldown. Per the design-brief rule, here's the conceptual brief for the seven pieces. No code yet — react and I'll iterate, then build.

Task 2B design brief — seven additions, SNKRX style

The through-line: SNKRX, not blueprint

Every one of these has a ricochet implementation I'm translating, not copying. The blueprint→SNKRX transforms applied uniformly:

File placement: pure-draw → primitives.lua (ui_keyhint, ui_counter, ui_status_tag, ui_segbar); interactive/composed → widgets.lua (ui_toggle, ui_hud_bar, the ui_slot extension). All return ui_ret (so next_x/next_y chaining works); position-only ones take x,y.

1. ui_slot extension — cooldown + key (widgets.lua, edit)

Two new opts on the existing slot; no new widget.

2. ui_keyhint (primitives.lua, new) — pure draw, x,y

Translates ricochet's bordered keycap. A filled charcoal rounded chip (not a hairline box) with the key glyph centered in text, optional label to the right in text_muted (Ark). Auto-sizes: chip width = max(min_w, font:text_width(key) + 2*pad), default min_w so single keys stay square-ish. opts: x, y, key, label, font, min_w, spec. Calls ui_rrect + ui_text (×2). Returns the rect spanning chip+label for next_x chaining.

3. ui_toggle (widgets.lua, new) — interactive, x,y + label

The on/off switch checkbox/radio don't cover. A rounded pill track + circular knob:

4. ui_hud_bar (widgets.lua, new) — x,y,w, optional id

The [icon][track][value] one-line resource readout. Composes existing parts: a small ui_item_icon mini-tile ({fill,glyph}) on the left, then a ui_bar (progress mode, fill = frac, color) on the remaining width, then a right-aligned value string via ui_text. Optional id threads to ui_bar to get the HP-juice tween (so a hud_bar is a juicy health bar when given an id). opts: x, y, w, icon, frac, value, color, track, id, spec. Returns ui_ret (chains via next_y for stacked rows). Lives by ui_bar.

5. ui_counter (primitives.lua, new) — pure draw, x,y

A muted small-caps label above a filled charcoal rounded box holding [glyph value] — the vertical cousin of ui_stat_chip. glyph in accent, value in value_color (default text). Auto-sizes (or fixed w). opts: x, y, label, glyph, value, accent, value_color, w, font, spec. Calls ui_text (label) + ui_rrect (box) + ui_rich_text (glyph+value). Returns rect spanning label+box.

6. ui_status_tag (primitives.lua, new) — pure draw, x,y

A buff/debuff chip: filled charcoal rounded chip holding [glyph] LABEL [dur] — glyph in color (the buff hue), label uppercased in color, optional value duration (e.g. "2.6s") in text_muted. This is the reusable form of the pause-screen "burning 2.6s / poison 4.1s" status rows. Differs from stat_chip (which is muted-label + colored-value for resources) by coloring the label as the buff identity. opts: x, y, glyph, label, color, value, font, spec. Built as a ui_label wrapping ui_rich_text runs (reuses the chip container + auto-size).

7. ui_segbar (primitives.lua, new) — pure draw, x,y,w

A row of N rounded segment cells (XP / charge / wave meter) — the chunky cousin of ui_pips (dots). Optional muted label above; filled cells = color (green), empties = charcoal (filled, not mid_grey hairline frames as in ricochet). Fractional-floor cell widths so the row meets its right edge exactly (same trick as ui_tabs). opts: x, y, w, segs, filled, label, color, empty, gap, h, spec. Returns ui_ret (chains via next_y).

Interfaces touched

Two open calls for you

  1. Keycap on the slot — small charcoal backing pill (my pick) vs bare muted glyph? Pills read better over busy icons but add a speck of chrome to a 26px slot.
  2. Toggle knob color — white knob both states (track color alone signals on/off, my pick) vs a dark bg knob on the green track (the "punched hole" look)?

Everything else I'll build as described once you're happy.

Go ahead with your preferences.

Approved with my preferences (charcoal backing pill, white knob). Let me verify the exact signatures of the draw wrappers and core helpers I'll be composing from before I write.

Read (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\snkrx\ui\paint.lua)

1    --[[
2     ui/paint.lua — effect-pipeline UI coloring.
3   
4     Every UI color is drawn through the four-axis effect pipeline (the same
5     one entities use — snkrx/effect.lua + assets/draw_shader.frag). Instead of
6     `layer_rounded_rectangle(ui_layer, ..., c())`, widgets call ui_rrect /
7     ui_rect / ui_glyph_text, which bracket the draw with effect_set / effect_clear.
8   
9     THE UI'S `color` RECIPE (`ui_color`) — Ricochet's color axis applied to the UI:
10      • 'solid'  — flat token. The UI reads as the flat locked palette: calm
11        chrome behind the breathing game world.
12      • 'mix'    — the breathe (DEFAULT). Each token is mixed with its palette
13        neighbor (palette_breathe_partner), swept by the organic noise field
14        (pattern='organic'). Chrome breathes UP the grayscale ladder (a lightness
15        shimmer); accents breathe to the next hue (the green/blue look). This is
16        what gives the bars + card borders their living gradient.
17  
18    Flip `ui_color` at runtime to A/B the two (the F4 gallery's O key cycles it).
19    `ui_field_scale` (breathe noise density) and `ui_dither` (a dither-mode NAME
20    from the effect catalog, e.g. 'off' / 'bayer4_2') tune the breathe.
21  
22    A widget may pass an explicit per-element spec table as the `override`
23    argument to force a specific effect for its draws (the effect inspector's
24    swatches do this to force a FLAT color); nil override → the token's recipe.
25  ]]
26  
27  -- UI color recipe — Ricochet's `color` axis applied to the whole UI. 'mix' is
28  -- the breathe (default, the green/blue look); 'solid' is flat. The gallery's
29  -- O key cycles it.
30  ui_color       = 'mix'
... [65 more lines]

Read (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\snkrx\ui\core.lua)

1    --[[
2     ui/core.lua — shared UI core: spacing, the uniform return, the interaction
3     machine, the id guard, and layout helpers. The snkrx analog of ricochet's
4     `ric.*` core, adapted to snkrx's update-phase UI + its juice.
5   
6     Loaded before primitives/widgets so they can build on `ui_ret` / `ui_interact`.
7     The contract helpers (`ui_begin` / `ui_render`) live in ui/init.lua — they
8     need the layers + shadow pipeline set up there.
9   
10    CONVENTIONS
11      • Every ui_* widget returns a TABLE via `ui_ret`: `next_x` / `next_y` (just
12        past the widget + a `ui_sp.s2` gap, for chaining), the occupied rect
13        (`x` / `y` / `w` / `h`), merged with the widget's own fields (`clicked` /
14        `value` / `checked` / ...).
15      • Interactive widgets pass `id`; OMITTING `id` makes the widget STATIC (no
16        hover / click / juice). This permissive model is intentional (a button
17        with no id is a valid static badge). `ui_req_id` is the OPT-IN guard for
18        the rare widget where a missing id is definitely a bug.
19  ]]
20  
21  -- Spacing scale (px). Gaps + paddings pull from here instead of hardcoding.
22  -- s2 is the standard inter-widget chaining gap (used by ui_ret).
23  ui_sp = { s1 = 2, s2 = 4, s3 = 6, s4 = 10, s5 = 16 }
24  
25  --[[
26    ui_ret(rect, fields) -> table
27    The uniform widget return. `rect` is the widget's occupied {x,y,w,h};
28    `fields` (optional) is the widget's own result table. Returns `fields`
29    augmented with the occupied rect + `next_x` / `next_y` (just past the
30    widget + a ui_sp.s2 gap, for chaining in either direction).
... [112 more lines]

Signatures confirmed — ui_rrect/ui_rect/ui_glyph_text take a color object + optional spec override, form_control_interact/with_alpha are locals in widgets.lua, ui_bar is reusable, math.clamp is available in both files. Building now.

1/2 — widgets.lua: extend ui_slot, add ui_hud_bar + ui_toggle.

First the ui_slot docblock:

Edit (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\snkrx\ui\widgets.lua)

The file E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\snkrx\ui\widgets.lua has been updated successfully. (file state is current in your context — no need to Read it back)

Now the cooldown sweep (after the disabled dim, before the drag-target overlay):

Edit (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\snkrx\ui\widgets.lua)

The file E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\snkrx\ui\widgets.lua has been updated successfully. (file state is current in your context — no need to Read it back)

Now the keycap (after the selected outline, before layer_pop):

Edit (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\snkrx\ui\widgets.lua)

The file E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\snkrx\ui\widgets.lua has been updated successfully. (file state is current in your context — no need to Read it back)

Now ui_hud_bar — inserted right after ui_bar (bar family):

Edit (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\snkrx\ui\widgets.lua)

The file E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\snkrx\ui\widgets.lua has been updated successfully. (file state is current in your context — no need to Read it back)

Now ui_toggle — inserted after ui_radio (form-control family):

Edit (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\snkrx\ui\widgets.lua)

The file E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\snkrx\ui\widgets.lua has been updated successfully. (file state is current in your context — no need to Read it back)

2/2 — primitives.lua: add ui_keyhint, ui_status_tag, ui_counter, ui_segbar (all pure-draw, appended after ui_pips):

Edit (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\snkrx\ui\primitives.lua)

The file E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\snkrx\ui\primitives.lua has been updated successfully. (file state is current in your context — no need to Read it back)

Now syntax-check both files:

Bash (cd /e/a327ex/snkrx-template && E:/a327ex/Anchor/reference/love-compare/tools/lua...)

OK both files parse

Both files parse clean. Task 2B is built — here's the diff:

Task 2B — built

widgets.lua

primitives.lua (pure-draw)

Testing

The honest state: both files compile, but none of these are drawn anywhere yet — they only become visible when wired into the F4 gallery, which is Task 2C. So there's no visual test for 2B in isolation; the syntax-check above is the only 2B test. I've held the CLAUDE.md element-set doc update to bundle it with 2C once the set is visually confirmed (avoids doc churn if testing surfaces tweaks).

The natural next step is 2C — fold these seven + ui_field + ui_swatch_row into the paged showcase so you can actually see and click them. Want me to proceed to 2C now (I'll post a showcase brief first — which pages get what), or pause here so you can review the 2B code first?

Go ahead.

Proceeding to 2C. Per the rule, here's the showcase brief before I touch gallery.lua.

Task 2C design brief — gallery parity

What's missing today

I diffed the 17 existing gallery pages against the full element set. Everything is demonstrated except: ui_field, ui_swatch_row (both built earlier but only ever used in the F5 lab / F3 tuner, never the F4 gallery), the seven 2B additions, and the segment variant of ui_tabs (only the tab variant is shown). So 2C adds 3 new pages + 1 tweak, no main.lua changes (pages are self-contained; ui_gallery_pages drives paging).

Page 1 — "controls" (the new interactive inputs)

Page 2 — "hud kit" (the new readout widgets)

Page 3 — "ability bar" (the active-combat widgets)

Tweak — existing "tabs" page

Add the segment variant beside the default tab variant so both ui_tabs looks are shown (one extra ui_tabs{ variant='segment' } call + a caption).

Mechanics

After it lands

Then I sync the snkrx-template .claude/CLAUDE.md element-set + gallery-keys docs in one pass (the doc update I deferred from 2B), now that the whole set is visible and confirmed.

One call for you: 3 pages as above, or would you rather I fold the HUD/ability widgets into the existing composite "hud" reference screen (rebuild it to use ui_hud_bar + cooldown slots + counters + status tags) instead of adding standalone catalog pages? The standalone pages demonstrate each widget cleanly with labels; the composite shows them in a real layout. My pick is the standalone pages (clearer for a component catalog) — but I can do either, or both.

Say go and I'll build.

Go ahead.

Building the three pages + the tabs tweak now.

Tabs page — add the segment variant (and its state):

Edit (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\snkrx\ui\gallery.lua)

The file E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\snkrx\ui\gallery.lua has been updated successfully. (file state is current in your context — no need to Read it back)

Now the three new page functions + their state, inserted before the page-list table:

Edit (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\snkrx\ui\gallery.lua)

The file E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\snkrx\ui\gallery.lua has been updated successfully. (file state is current in your context — no need to Read it back)

Syntax-check the gallery (and re-verify the two widget files):

Bash (cd /e/a327ex/snkrx-template && E:/a327ex/Anchor/reference/love-compare/tools/lua...)

OK all three parse

All three parse. Task 2C is built.

Task 2C — built (gallery parity)

Three new pages added to gallery.lua, registered newest-first so F4 opens on controls:

Plus the tabs page now shows the segment variant beside the default tab variant. No main.lua change — the page table drives everything; the F4 scaffold already composites it.

How to test

Run it (./run.bat, your side), then:

  1. F4 opens the gallery — it lands on controls (page 1/20).
  2. [ / ] page through. Check the three new pages + the updated tabs page (now has a SEGMENT section).
  3. On controls: click toggles (knob slides, track flips green), click the field ‹ › arrows (value cycles + wraps), click swatches (green outline follows, name updates).
  4. On hud kit: the HP bar should spring up on first show; counters/status-tags read cleanly.
  5. On ability bar — the key thing: ability slots show the bottom-up cooldown sweep with the remaining number and the corner keycap pill; hover bounces them. Segbars + keyhints below.
  6. The gallery's look hotkeys still apply to the new widgets: O (solid↔mix breathe), U/P (breathe dither), K/L (breathe density), B (body font) — handy to confirm they all route through the effect pipeline.

Pending

I held the .claude/CLAUDE.md doc sync (the deferred 2B element-set update + these 2C pages + the gallery-keys note) for after you've eyeballed the pages — so any layout tweaks land before I write them down. Tell me how they look; if good, I'll do the doc-sync pass and Task 2 is closed out. If anything's off (swatch grid width, ability-slot sizing, a cramped section), point at it and I'll adjust first.

These are really good. Could you do an overview of all other existing UI elements in the other 17 pages to see if they're up to standards? If they are it's fine, but just to really make sure everything's good.

Glad they landed well. Let me audit the 17 existing pages against the toolkit's own standards (the "Design rules" + "Critical conventions" in the project CLAUDE.md). I'll re-read the current gallery and grep for the specific anti-patterns first.

Grep (edition)

snkrx-template\snkrx\ui\core.lua:88:  opts: x, y, w, text, edition?.
snkrx-template\snkrx\ui\core.lua:93:            color = text_muted, align_v = 'top', edition = o.edition })
snkrx-template\snkrx\ui\core.lua:95:  ui_rect(o.x, ly, o.w, 1, panel_border, o.edition)
snkrx-template\snkrx\ui\core.lua:101:  A muted small-caps label, no rule. opts: x, y, text, edition?.
snkrx-template\snkrx\ui\core.lua:106:            color = text_muted, align_v = 'top', edition = o.edition })

Grep (layer_(text|rectangle|rounded_rectangle|line|circle|image)()

63:    layer_line(lyr, x1 + nx*d, y1 + ny*d,
71:  layer_text(lyr, nstr, ui_font_body, x, y, text_muted())
72:  layer_text(lyr, title:upper(), ui_font_body,
1164:  layer_rectangle(gallery_bg_layer, 0, 0, width, height, bg())
1168:  layer_text(ui_layer, 'UI KIT', ui_font_header_l, 8, 6, text())
1169:  layer_text(ui_layer,
1177:  layer_text(ui_layer, ind, ui_font_body,

I've gone through all 17 existing pages plus the widgets they exercise, against the toolkit's own "Design rules" + "Critical conventions." Here's the honest read.

Audit verdict: the pages are in good shape

The widgets are used idiomatically throughout, and the load-bearing standards hold everywhere I checked:

So nothing is broken. But the "really make sure" turned up one real latent bug and a couple of consistency gaps worth your call.

1. Real bug — stale edition in ui_heading / ui_sublabel (the Task 2A rename missed them)

core.lua:93 and :106 still pass edition = o.edition to ui_text — but ui_text reads opts.spec now (renamed in 2A). So a spec override handed to a heading is silently dropped, and :95 feeds ui_rect's override arg the wrong field name. The gallery pages don't hit it (they use the raw gallery_section_label, not ui_heading), but the F5 lab, F3 tuner, and any real game use ui_heading. It's the one genuine inconsistency. Trivial fix: o.edition → o.spec in three spots + the doc lines. I'd just fix this.

2. Consistency gap — the composite reference screens pre-date the new widgets

The composites are documented as "assembled PURELY from the toolkit elements… serve as copy-paste layout reference" — i.e. they're supposed to model best practice. Two of them now hand-roll what the 2B widgets own, so a dev copy-pasting them would hand-roll too:

There's also a coverage angle: ui_hud_bar / ui_counter / ui_status_tag / ui_segbar currently appear only on the new catalog pages, never inside a composite — so a dev sees them isolated but never "in a real HUD." Folding the two swaps above into the composites would both modernize the reference and close that gap. This is the "fold into the composite HUD" option you declined for 2C — re-raising it now scoped to just these two screens, since for reference screens modeling the current idiom matters more.

3. Minor / cosmetic (leave unless you care)

My recommendation

Fix #1 now (trivial, it's a real latent bug). Do the two targeted swaps in #2 (HUD keycaps + pause status_tags) — high value for not much code, and it gets the new HUD widgets demonstrated in context. Leave #3 alone — those are defensible choices, not defects.

Want me to do #1 + #2? I'll post a quick brief for the #2 composite edits before touching them.

Go ahead.

[Request interrupted by user]

No need for a brief.

On it — fixing #1 and doing the two composite swaps, no brief.

#1 — core.lua: complete the edition→spec rename in ui_heading/ui_sublabel:

Edit (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\snkrx\ui\core.lua)

The file E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\snkrx\ui\core.lua has been updated. All occurrences were successfully replaced. (file state is current in your context — no need to Read it back)

Edit (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\snkrx\ui\core.lua)

The file E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\snkrx\ui\core.lua has been updated successfully. (file state is current in your context — no need to Read it back)

Edit (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\snkrx\ui\core.lua)

The file E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\snkrx\ui\core.lua has been updated successfully. (file state is current in your context — no need to Read it back)

Edit (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\snkrx\ui\core.lua)

The file E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\snkrx\ui\core.lua has been updated successfully. (file state is current in your context — no need to Read it back)

#2 — gallery.lua: HUD ability bar uses the ui_slot keycap (drop the caption row), one slot mid-cooldown:

Edit (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\snkrx\ui\gallery.lua)

The file E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\snkrx\ui\gallery.lua has been updated successfully. (file state is current in your context — no need to Read it back)

Pause status-effects panel → ui_status_tag chips:

Edit (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\snkrx\ui\gallery.lua)

The file E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\snkrx\ui\gallery.lua has been updated successfully. (file state is current in your context — no need to Read it back)

Syntax-check the two touched files:

Bash (cd /e/a327ex/snkrx-template && E:/a327ex/Anchor/reference/love-compare/tools/lua...)

OK core + gallery parse

Done — both parse.

#1 — core.lua rename completed

ui_heading / ui_sublabel now read and forward spec (the ui_text spec override + the rule's ui_rect override), and the docstrings say spec?. Overrides handed to a heading are no longer silently dropped. The gallery never hit this, but the F5 lab / F3 tuner / real games do.

#2 — composite swaps

Test

F4 → page to hud and pause:

Still open (your call, not done)

Tell me how the two composites look, and whether to weave in the remaining three widgets or freeze the set and sync docs.

Everything looks fine, update documentation, make sure the template is generalizable properly, especially fix run.bat so new instances copying don't have to change it themselves.

Starting with the run.bat fix (the concrete generalizability ask), then docs. Let me look at the current launcher, the folder-agnostic reference in ricochet-template, and any hardcoded paths.

Read (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\run.bat)

1    @echo off
2   REM Run the snkrx-template demo. CWD must be the parent directory of this
3   REM folder; the engine resolves the game folder name relative to CWD.
4   
5   cd /d "%~dp0.."
6   "%~dp0anchor.exe" snkrx-template
7

Read (E:\a327ex\ricochet-template\run.bat)

1    @echo off
2   REM Run this game by its OWN folder name, so the template works after being
3   REM copied/renamed: fork ricochet-template into e.g. mini-looper and run.bat
4   REM just works without editing it. The engine resolves the game folder name
5   REM relative to CWD (= the parent directory).
6   
7   cd /d "%~dp0.."
8   for %%I in ("%~dp0.") do set "GAME=%%~nxI"
9   "%~dp0anchor.exe" "%GAME%"
10

Glob (snkrx-template/*.bat)

snkrx-template\run.bat

Grep (snkrx-template)

snkrx-template\main.lua:2:  snkrx-template / main.lua — clean reference scene.
snkrx-template\main.lua:69:  title  = 'snkrx-template',
snkrx-template\run.bat:2:REM Run the snkrx-template demo. CWD must be the parent directory of this
snkrx-template\run.bat:6:"%~dp0anchor.exe" snkrx-template
snkrx-template\.claude\CLAUDE.md:1:# snkrx-template — orientation for new instances
snkrx-template\.claude\CLAUDE.md:188:  FX. **`:wall_bump(angle)` is local to snkrx-template** — see below.
snkrx-template\.claude\CLAUDE.md:570:   pattern are Invoker-specific. snkrx-template ships attacks that
snkrx-template\.claude\CLAUDE.md:939:- **`triangulate` returns 6-number arrays in snkrx-template** (`{t1[1..6], t2[1..6], ...}`), NOT the v1 index-triple format (`{tri[1], tri[2], tri[3]}`). Adjust draw loops when porting v1 entity code that uses the v1 format.
snkrx-template\.claude\CLAUDE.md:953:snkrx-template/
snkrx-template\snkrx\flicker.lua:44:-- Standard cubic bezier. Not in snkrx-template's math lib, so local.
snkrx-template\snkrx\prop.lua:40:  (snkrx-template never ported the shockwave shader system).
snkrx-template\snkrx\wall.lua:14:    • triangulate() in snkrx-template's geometry.lua returns 6-number
snkrx-template\assets\draw_shader.frag:390:// snkrx-template (which inherited them from Surma's ditherpunk catalog +
snkrx-template\snkrx\findings.md:1:# snkrx-template — findings from Orblike v1
snkrx-template\snkrx\findings.md:5:self-contained `snkrx-template/` project (mirroring what
snkrx-template\snkrx\findings.md:47:| formation `orb` (handled in orb itself, not a "fire" carrier) | n/a | `lance`, `wall`, `snake`, `deploy` — orb-only behavior. **Out of scope for snkrx-template.** |
snkrx-template\snkrx\findings.md:526:For snkrx-template, we'd want either to ship the full sound bank
snkrx-template\snkrx\findings.md:544:generalization. We could leave it out of snkrx-template entirely, or
snkrx-template\snkrx\findings.md:552:## 12. Recommended scope for snkrx-template/
snkrx-template\snkrx\findings.md:593:- Editions / dither / palette — already done in edition-template; snkrx-template just consumes them.
snkrx-template\snkrx\findings.md:640:7. **Activation visual** (`slightly_jagged_line` orb-to-player). v1's orb-channeled abilities ALL have this signature visual at startup. It's coupled to the orb concept. If snkrx-template doesn't ship the orb system, we drop it — or we keep it as a generic "warm-up visual between two entities" that any ability can use.
snkrx-template\main_old.lua:2:  snkrx-template/main.lua
snkrx-template\main_old.lua:4:  Smoke test for the snkrx-template scaffold. Drops a player (WASD-driven,
snkrx-template\main_old.lua:19:  title  = 'snkrx-template — smoke test',
snkrx-template\main_old.lua:582:  -- snkrx-template's seeker has the same push() impulse Invoker /

The only fork-blocker is run.bat hardcoding snkrx-template (line 6). The other snkrx-template hits are all prose/comments (correct as-is) — main.lua's window title is the one cosmetic string a forker renames, which I'll note but not auto-derive. ricochet-template already solved the launcher; I'll mirror its folder-agnostic version.

Fix run.bat (folder-agnostic, mirrors ricochet):

Write (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\run.bat)

The file E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\run.bat has been updated successfully. (file state is current in your context — no need to Read it back)

Now the docs. First the primitives.lua header enumeration, and grab the exact root-CLAUDE.md line for the snkrx-template entry:

Edit (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\snkrx\ui\primitives.lua)

The file E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\snkrx\ui\primitives.lua has been updated successfully. (file state is current in your context — no need to Read it back)

Grep (snkrx-template** — Self-contained)

No matches found

Grep (UI toolkit (panel)

195-- **emoji-ball-battles/** — Game built with Anchor (still on v1 framework).
196-- **Invoker/** — Active game project, reset on 2026-05-27 to start fresh from `snkrx-template`. Built on Anchor 2. The current direction has not been redefined yet — `design.md` / `plan.md` will be recreated as it takes shape.
197-- **Invoker-old\** — Archived predecessor of Invoker (chord-cast spell roguelike with Minesweeper meta-dungeon, SNKRX visual style; was "Orblike" before that). Kept for reference — design notes, UI mockups, visual-effects catalog. Remote: a327ex/Invoker-old.
198:[Omitted long matching line]
199-[Omitted long context line]
200-- **anchor.blot.im/** — Blog/documentation site
201-

Read (E:\a327ex.claude\CLAUDE.md)

198  - **snkrx-template/** — Self-contained Anchor 2 starter shipping a reusable SNKRX-style toolkit: the v1 attack carriers (projectile / area / beam / flicker / prop) AND the UI toolkit (panel / button / slot / bar / tabs / form controls / list_row / card / text_input / modal / bracket_tag / stat_chip / pips / ...). Both live in `snkrx-template/snkrx/` and load via `require('snkrx')`; `main.lua` is a clean reference scene (player only, no attacks fired and no UI widgets drawn, but the structural plumbing for both is visible and documented). Fork the directory to start a SNKRX-style prototype. Has its own `.claude/CLAUDE.md` — read it first when working there. (Previously called attack-template — broadened when the UI toolkit landed.)

Edit (E:\a327ex.claude\CLAUDE.md)

The file E:\a327ex\.claude\CLAUDE.md has been updated successfully. (file state is current in your context — no need to Read it back)

Now the snkrx-template's own CLAUDE.md — the Files subsection:

Edit (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template.claude\CLAUDE.md)

The file E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\.claude\CLAUDE.md has been updated successfully. (file state is current in your context — no need to Read it back)

The Element set → Primitives prose:

Edit (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template.claude\CLAUDE.md)

The file E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\.claude\CLAUDE.md has been updated successfully. (file state is current in your context — no need to Read it back)

The slot bullet (cooldown/key) and a new hud_bar bullet after bar:

Edit (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template.claude\CLAUDE.md)

The file E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\.claude\CLAUDE.md has been updated successfully. (file state is current in your context — no need to Read it back)

Edit (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template.claude\CLAUDE.md)

The file E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\.claude\CLAUDE.md has been updated successfully. (file state is current in your context — no need to Read it back)

The toggle bullet after checkbox / radio:

Edit (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template.claude\CLAUDE.md)

The file E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\.claude\CLAUDE.md has been updated successfully. (file state is current in your context — no need to Read it back)

The File map lines for primitives.lua / widgets.lua:

Edit (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template.claude\CLAUDE.md)

The file E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\.claude\CLAUDE.md has been updated successfully. (file state is current in your context — no need to Read it back)

Now let me verify generalizability more broadly — check no runtime file hardcodes an absolute path or the folder name in a fork-breaking way:

Grep ([A-Za-z]:[\/]a327ex)

No matches found

Grep (require(|texture_load|font_register|sound_load|load_sound|image_load)

10:  TWO TOOLKITS, ONE REQUIRE.  `require('snkrx')` pulls in BOTH:
60:  beside this main.lua and require it right after require('snkrx').
66:require('anchor')({
74:-- The SNKRX attack toolkit. Must come AFTER require('anchor') above —
76:require('snkrx')

No absolute paths in runtime code; main.lua uses relative require('anchor')/require('snkrx') and all assets load from inside snkrx/. The template is fork-clean. Final syntax check on everything I touched:

Bash (cd /e/a327ex/snkrx-template && for f in core primitives widgets gallery; do E:/a...)

  core.lua OK
  primitives.lua OK
  widgets.lua OK
  gallery.lua OK
--- run.bat ---
@echo off
REM Run this game by its OWN folder name, so the template works after being
REM copied/renamed: fork snkrx-template into e.g. my-game and run.bat just
REM works without editing it. The engine resolves the game folder name
REM relative to CWD (= the parent directory).

cd /d "%~dp0.."
for %%I in ("%~dp0.") do set "GAME=%%~nxI"
"%~dp0anchor.exe" "%GAME%"

All parse; the launcher matches ricochet's proven folder-agnostic pattern. Let me confirm the folder-name resolution actually yields the right value (so I'm not trusting it blind):

PowerShell 

resolved GAME=snkrx-template
--- simulating a renamed fork ---
resolved GAME=my-cool-game

Verified — in place it resolves to snkrx-template; a renamed fork (my-cool-game) resolves to itself automatically. No editing needed on fork.

Done

run.bat — folder-agnostic. Replaced the hardcoded anchor.exe snkrx-template with the self-resolving pattern (mirrors ricochet-template). Verified above: a copied/renamed fork just runs. It was the only fork-blocker — no runtime Lua hardcodes a path or the folder name (relative require('anchor')/require('snkrx'), assets load from inside snkrx/).

Docs synced to the new element set:

All four UI files parse clean.

One thing to know on fork

The single per-game string a forker still edits is the window title = 'snkrx-template' in main.lua:69 — that's genuinely game-specific (a title isn't something to auto-derive), and it's the obvious step-1 of making the game your own. I left it as-is rather than do anything clever.

Task 2 status

That closes out the whole of Task 2: 2B (the seven widgets), 2C (3 catalog pages + the tabs segment variant), the composite modernization (HUD keycaps + pause status_tags), the latent edition→spec fix, docs, and the generalizable launcher. The main.lua test scaffold is untouched (still your testing harness, as agreed). Nothing else outstanding on my side — say the word if you want the remaining three widgets (hud_bar/counter/segbar) woven into the composite HUD for in-context coverage, otherwise this is a clean stopping point.

This is fine, is the repository now in a state where new instances can just copy it and start using it? Is main.lua clean, etc?

Good question — let me actually look rather than assume. The key thing to check is main.lua, which has been carrying the test scaffold this whole time. Let me read its current state.

Read (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\main.lua)

1    --[[
2     snkrx-template / main.lua — clean reference scene.
3   
4     This is your file. It is a complete, minimal scene: a player you can
5     move (WASD / arrows), the five-layer render stack, a camera, physics,
6     the update / draw skeleton, AND the UI render pipeline — all wired
7     and ready, but firing no attacks and drawing no UI widgets. Read it
8     top to bottom; it is the contract you build on.
9   
10    TWO TOOLKITS, ONE REQUIRE.  `require('snkrx')` pulls in BOTH:
11  
12      snkrx/<carrier>.lua     attack toolkit — projectile / area / beam
13                              / flicker / prop, the edition draw-shader
14                              stack, fx, sounds, example entities.
15      snkrx/ui/<module>.lua   UI toolkit — panel / button / slot / bar /
16                              tabs / checkbox / radio / slider /
17                              list_row / card / text_input / modal /
18                              bracket_tag / stat_chip / pips / ...
19  
20    Both are plain, readable Lua, not opaque modules — open the files.
21  
22    ADDING AN ATTACK.  Every carrier already has its object list and its
23    update / draw loop wired below. To add an attack:
24      1. bind a key in the INPUT section,
25      2. call the carrier's spawn_* helper on that press inside update()
26         — see the ATTACKS comment block there.
27    Nothing else: no new list, no new loop.
28  
29    DRAWING UI.  The UI toolkit is immediate-mode: call widget functions
30    in update() and they queue draws onto `ui_layer`. The render pipeline
... [426 more lines]

I read the current main.lua top to bottom. Honest answer: the toolkit is copy-ready, but main.lua is not — and worse, its header lies about it.

What's copy-ready ✅

The whole reusable layer: snkrx/ (carriers + effect system + entities + sounds), snkrx/ui/ (all widgets, now including the 2B additions), assets/, the docs, and run.bat (folder-agnostic, verified). No runtime file hardcodes a path or the folder name. A fork gets all of this working.

What's not ❌ — main.lua is the test scaffold

The current main.lua is the scaffold we've been testing on all session:

And the docblock at the top contradicts the code — it claims this is the "clean reference scene… firing no attacks and drawing no UI widgets… the scene reads as 'just the player'" (:2-7, :53). That's currently false. So a new instance copying today gets a busy demo plus a header insisting it's empty — the most confusing possible state.

This is exactly the "strip it back" the CLAUDE.md Layout section describes, and the bottom UI-GALLERY comment (:421-456) documents the gallery half. I held off because you said "don't revert unless asked" — this question reads like the ask, but stripping deletes your visual test harness and there's no git here (this dir isn't a repo), so once it's gone it's gone. Hence I want your call rather than guessing.

(Minor, separate: main_old.lua is frozen non-runnable cruft a fork would delete, and the window title is the one cosmetic string a forker renames. Neither blocks anything.)

AskUserQuestion 

Your questions have been answered: "main.lua is the test scaffold, not the clean template its header claims. How do you want it made copy-ready?"="Strip + save scaffold". You can now continue with these answers in mind.

Got it — strip main.lua to the clean reference, preserve the scaffold as main_scaffold.lua. First I'll copy the current file verbatim so the scaffold body is preserved exactly, then fix its header:

Bash (cd /e/a327ex/snkrx-template && cp main.lua main_scaffold.lua && echo "copied; li...)

copied; line counts:
  455 main.lua
  455 main_scaffold.lua
  910 total

Now replace main_scaffold.lua's header (it falsely claims "clean scene"). Let me read it to register, then fix the header:

Read (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\main_scaffold.lua)

1    --[[
2     snkrx-template / main.lua — clean reference scene.
3   
4     This is your file. It is a complete, minimal scene: a player you can
5     move (WASD / arrows), the five-layer render stack, a camera, physics,
6     the update / draw skeleton, AND the UI render pipeline — all wired
7     and ready, but firing no attacks and drawing no UI widgets. Read it
8     top to bottom; it is the contract you build on.
9   
10    TWO TOOLKITS, ONE REQUIRE.  `require('snkrx')` pulls in BOTH:
11  
12      snkrx/<carrier>.lua     attack toolkit — projectile / area / beam
13                              / flicker / prop, the edition draw-shader
14                              stack, fx, sounds, example entities.
15      snkrx/ui/<module>.lua   UI toolkit — panel / button / slot / bar /
16                              tabs / checkbox / radio / slider /
17                              list_row / card / text_input / modal /
18                              bracket_tag / stat_chip / pips / ...
19  
20    Both are plain, readable Lua, not opaque modules — open the files.
21  
22    ADDING AN ATTACK.  Every carrier already has its object list and its
23    update / draw loop wired below. To add an attack:
24      1. bind a key in the INPUT section,
25      2. call the carrier's spawn_* helper on that press inside update()
26         — see the ATTACKS comment block there.
27    Nothing else: no new list, no new loop.
28  
29    DRAWING UI.  The UI toolkit is immediate-mode: call widget functions
30    in update() and they queue draws onto `ui_layer`. The render pipeline
... [35 more lines]

Edit (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\main_scaffold.lua)

The file E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\main_scaffold.lua has been updated successfully. (file state is current in your context — no need to Read it back)

main_scaffold.lua is preserved with an honest header. Now strip main.lua — the header already describes the clean scene accurately, so I just remove the six scaffold additions (test binds, spawns, gallery/lab update calls, the attack-firing block, gallery/lab bg_draw calls) and reword the bottom reference note:

Edit (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\main.lua)

The file E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\main.lua has been updated successfully. (file state is current in your context — no need to Read it back)

Edit (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\main.lua)

The file E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\main.lua has been updated successfully. (file state is current in your context — no need to Read it back)

Edit (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\main.lua)

The file E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\main.lua has been updated successfully. (file state is current in your context — no need to Read it back)

Edit (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\main.lua)

The file E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\main.lua has been updated successfully. (file state is current in your context — no need to Read it back)

Edit (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\main.lua)

The file E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\main.lua has been updated successfully. (file state is current in your context — no need to Read it back)

Edit (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\main.lua)

The file E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\main.lua has been updated successfully. (file state is current in your context — no need to Read it back)

Edit (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\main.lua)

The file E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\main.lua has been updated successfully. (file state is current in your context — no need to Read it back)

Let me read the stripped main.lua end-to-end to confirm it's coherent (no dangling references, structure intact), then syntax-check both:

Read (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\main.lua)

1    --[[
2     snkrx-template / main.lua — clean reference scene.
3   
4     This is your file. It is a complete, minimal scene: a player you can
5     move (WASD / arrows), the five-layer render stack, a camera, physics,
6     the update / draw skeleton, AND the UI render pipeline — all wired
7     and ready, but firing no attacks and drawing no UI widgets. Read it
8     top to bottom; it is the contract you build on.
9   
10    TWO TOOLKITS, ONE REQUIRE.  `require('snkrx')` pulls in BOTH:
11  
12      snkrx/<carrier>.lua     attack toolkit — projectile / area / beam
13                              / flicker / prop, the edition draw-shader
14                              stack, fx, sounds, example entities.
15      snkrx/ui/<module>.lua   UI toolkit — panel / button / slot / bar /
16                              tabs / checkbox / radio / slider /
17                              list_row / card / text_input / modal /
18                              bracket_tag / stat_chip / pips / ...
19  
20    Both are plain, readable Lua, not opaque modules — open the files.
21  
22    ADDING AN ATTACK.  Every carrier already has its object list and its
23    update / draw loop wired below. To add an attack:
24      1. bind a key in the INPUT section,
25      2. call the carrier's spawn_* helper on that press inside update()
26         — see the ATTACKS comment block there.
27    Nothing else: no new list, no new loop.
28  
29    DRAWING UI.  The UI toolkit is immediate-mode: call widget functions
30    in update() and they queue draws onto `ui_layer`. The render pipeline
... [354 more lines]

Stripped main.lua is coherent — header accurate, skeleton intact (carrier loops + collision handlers iterate now-empty lists as no-ops), no dangling refs to the removed gallery/lab/attack code. One thing I notice: the header still uses the old "edition" term in a couple of spots (lines 13, 49, 116) — stale since the effect-system rename. Let me catch those in both entry files:

Grep (edition)

main.lua:13:                            / flicker / prop, the edition draw-shader
main.lua:49:  editions): the "UI toolkit" section of .claude/CLAUDE.md.
main.lua:116:floor_layer   = layer_new('floor')    -- bg fill (no camera, no edition)
main_scaffold.lua:110:floor_layer   = layer_new('floor')    -- bg fill (no camera, no edition)

Fixing the stale "edition" terminology in both entry files:

Edit (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\main.lua)

The file E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\main.lua has been updated successfully. (file state is current in your context — no need to Read it back)

Edit (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\main.lua)

The file E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\main.lua has been updated successfully. (file state is current in your context — no need to Read it back)

Edit (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\main.lua)

The file E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\main.lua has been updated successfully. (file state is current in your context — no need to Read it back)

Edit (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\main_scaffold.lua)

The file E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\main_scaffold.lua has been updated successfully. (file state is current in your context — no need to Read it back)

Syntax-check both entry files, and find the CLAUDE.md spots that still describe main.lua as "currently a scaffold" (now stale):

Bash (E:/a327ex/Anchor/reference/love-compare/tools/lua54.exe -e "assert(loadfile('mai...)

main.lua OK
main_scaffold.lua OK

Grep (scaffold|test scene|test scaffold|Strip it back|main_old|currently)

69:  skeleton) firing no attacks; it CURRENTLY carries a test scaffold
71:  effect lab) for trying the visuals. Strip it back to the clean reference
84:- **`main_old.lua`** — the pre-`snkrx/` demo scene, frozen for
370:  Pass `spec = {...}` to a spawn helper to override (the test scene gives
391:**F2**; F3 is bound inside `sound_tuner.lua`. The CURRENT test scene
393:the F5 effect lab (see the Keybindings table below). (`main_old.lua`
441:### Keybindings — the current test scene `main.lua`
455:else above is the test scaffold. `main_old.lua` keeps the full
941:| `ui_font_pirkkala` | `pirkkala.ttf` | 16 | Registered, currently unused (kept for future) |
973:├── main.lua                    # the dev's scene (currently a test scaffold)
974:├── main_old.lua                # pre-snkrx demo scene, frozen (not runnable as-is)

Both parse. Now update the CLAUDE.md spots that still call main.lua "currently a scaffold." Let me read the exact passages:

Read (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template.claude\CLAUDE.md)

66   Layout:
67  - **`main.lua`** — the dev's scene. The pristine template ships this as a
68    clean minimal scene (moving player + the wired physics / update / draw
69    skeleton) firing no attacks; it CURRENTLY carries a test scaffold
70    (seekers + a wall + every carrier on a key + the F4 gallery + the F5
71    effect lab) for trying the visuals. Strip it back to the clean reference
72    by deleting the seeker/wall spawn, the ATTACKS block, and the gallery/lab
73    hooks (the bottom UI GALLERY comment documents them).
74  - **`snkrx/`** — the attack toolkit: the five carriers (projectile,
75    area, beam, flicker, prop), the `airborne` component, the four-axis
76    effect system (`effect.lua` + the draw shader), the F5 effect lab, fx,
77    sounds, the example entities, and all the cross-cutting plumbing.
78    `require('snkrx')` (from `main.lua`) loads it all. Plain readable Lua,
79    not an opaque module — open the files.
80  - **`snkrx/ui/`** — the UI toolkit: a generalizable SNKRX / GLIMPO-style
81    UI element set (panel, text, slot, button, bar, field, swatch_row, …),
82    effect-pipeline coloring, and an F4 gallery. Loaded by `require('snkrx')`
83    too. See the "UI toolkit" section below.
84  - **`main_old.lua`** — the pre-`snkrx/` demo scene, frozen for
85    reference (beam-homing playground, area-shape cycling, etc.). Does
86    NOT run as-is — its `require`s point at the old flat layout.
87  - **`anchor/`** — the Anchor 2 engine framework. Stays at root.

Edit (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template.claude\CLAUDE.md)

The file E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\.claude\CLAUDE.md has been updated successfully. (file state is current in your context — no need to Read it back)

Now the keybindings section preamble + heading + the "test scaffold" closer. Let me read that region (line numbers shifted after the edit):

Read (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template.claude\CLAUDE.md)

394  - **F3** enters the per-sound DSP tuning overlay (see Runtime DSP
395   below). `sound_tuner.lua` binds F3 itself.
396 
397 The **pristine** `main.lua` binds only **WASD / arrows** (move) and
398 **F2**; F3 is bound inside `sound_tuner.lua`. The CURRENT test scene
399 adds the attack keys (mouse 1/2/3 + F + R), the F4 gallery binds, and
400 the F5 effect lab (see the Keybindings table below). (`main_old.lua`
401 has the full pre-refactor demo keymap — frozen for reference.)
402 
403 ### Runtime DSP + sound tuning
404 The engine (`Anchor2/engine/src/anchor.c`) has a per-voice DSP wrapper
405 that applies bitcrush + sample-rate reduction inline. Two engine
406 globals matter: `sound_handle_set_dsp(handle, bits, sr_div)` retunes
407 a playing voice live; `sound_get_path(sound)` returns the asset path
408 used as the tuning key.
409 
410 - **`sound_tuning.lua`** is the project-owned table mapping file
411   paths to `{bits, sr_div}`. Sounds without an entry play clean
412   (bits=16, sr_div=1).
413 - **`volume_tuning.lua`** (auto-generated; safe to edit by hand)
414   mirrors the same pattern for the `volumes` table. Maps gameplay-name
415   key → per-sound volume override.
416 - **`sfx()` in `snkrx/init.lua`** consults the DSP table on every play.
417 - **`volumes_apply_overrides()` in `snkrx/init.lua`** snapshots the
418   current `volumes` table as `volumes_defaults` and then loads
419   `snkrx/volume_tuning.lua` overrides on top. The host calls this
420   ONCE in `main.lua`, AFTER all baseline `volumes.X = ...` entries —
421   otherwise the snapshot will miss host additions and the tuner will
422   redundantly save them as "diffs" on the next S.
423 - **`sound_tuner.lua`** is a self-contained two-tier F3 overlay:
... [45 more lines]

Edit (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template.claude\CLAUDE.md)

The file E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\.claude\CLAUDE.md has been updated successfully. (file state is current in your context — no need to Read it back)

Edit (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template.claude\CLAUDE.md)

The file E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\.claude\CLAUDE.md has been updated successfully. (file state is current in your context — no need to Read it back)

Edit (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template.claude\CLAUDE.md)

The file E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\.claude\CLAUDE.md has been updated successfully. (file state is current in your context — no need to Read it back)

Now the File map entry for main.lua + add main_scaffold.lua:

Read (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template.claude\CLAUDE.md)

978  
979 ```
980 snkrx-template/
981 ├── main.lua                    # the dev's scene (currently a test scaffold)
982 ├── main_old.lua                # pre-snkrx demo scene, frozen (not runnable as-is)
983 ├── anchor/                     # Anchor 2 engine framework
984 │   ├── collider.lua            # has +steering_wall_avoidance vs upstream
985 │   └── physics.lua             # has +query_entities_polygon vs upstream
986 ├── anchor.exe                  # built from Anchor2/engine/src/anchor.c — includes
987 │                               # DSP wrapper + mouse swap + aux-sampler draw patch
988 ├── assets/                     # shared assets — root level (engine convention)
989 │   ├── draw_shader.frag        # unified effect shader (pattern×color×dither×shape)

Edit (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template.claude\CLAUDE.md)

The file E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\.claude\CLAUDE.md has been updated successfully. (file state is current in your context — no need to Read it back)

Let me sweep for any remaining stale "test scene"/"pristine"/"scaffold" references in the CLAUDE.md to confirm the doc is internally consistent:

Grep (test scene|test scaffold|pristine|currently a|CURRENTLY)

377:  Pass `spec = {...}` to a spawn helper to override (the test scene gives

Read (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template.claude\CLAUDE.md)

374    `effect_clear(layer)`.
375 - **Carriers inherit `caster.spec`** by default (`opts.spec or
376   caster.spec`), so a player's attacks breathe in the player's color.
377   Pass `spec = {...}` to a spawn helper to override (the test scene gives
378   the fireball / rock explicit red / yellow specs).
379 - **Particles / FX tint via `spec_color(spec)`** (the `edition_base_color`

Edit (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template.claude\CLAUDE.md)

The file E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\.claude\CLAUDE.md has been updated successfully. (file state is current in your context — no need to Read it back)

Let me confirm the final top-level file structure:

Bash (ls -1 .lua .bat && echo "--- main.lua (clean) line count ---" && wc -l main.lu...)

main.lua
main_old.lua
main_scaffold.lua
run.bat
--- main.lua (clean) line count ---
  383 main.lua
  427 main_scaffold.lua
  810 total

Done. The repository is now copy-and-go ready — yes to both your questions.

Answer: yes, it's a clean fork-and-use template now

Fork workflow (zero edits required to run):

  1. Copy the snkrx-template/ folder → rename to anything (my-game/).
  2. Run run.bat — it resolves its own folder name, so it just works (verified earlier).
  3. Edit main.lua to build your game.

The three main*.lua files now have clear, honest roles: | File | Role | State | |---|---|---| | main.lua (383 lines) | clean fork target — player only, full skeleton wired (physics, layers, carrier loops + collision handlers iterating empty lists as no-ops), the ATTACKS how-to comment + the UI-GALLERY enable reference. Fires nothing, draws no widgets. | parses ✓ | | main_scaffold.lua (427 lines) | runnable demo — all 5 carriers on keys + seekers + wall + F4 gallery + F5 lab. Header says "copy over main.lua to run." | parses ✓ | | main_old.lua | frozen pre-snkrx reference (unchanged) | not runnable (documented) |

What I did this turn:

Two non-blocking notes

Everything parses; the toolkit, effect system, UI kit, assets, launcher, and docs are all fork-clean.

Perfect, add a simple README.md file like ricochet-template explaining how to use it and so on.

Let me read ricochet-template's README to match its style, plus confirm the snkrx-template boot details I'll document.

Read (E:\a327ex\ricochet-template\README.md)

1    # ricochet-template
2   
3   A starter [Anchor 2](https://github.com/a327ex) project shipping **Ricochet's
4   visual identity** — a monochrome, schematic "blueprint room" aesthetic — as a
5   reusable package:
6   
7   - a four-axis **effect system** (pattern × color × dither × shape), and
8   - a **two-skin UI toolkit** — high-res *smooth* and low-res *rough*.
9   
10  Fork the folder, edit `main.lua`, build your game.
11  
12  ## Quickstart
13  
14  ```sh
15  ./run.bat        # runs main.lua — run.bat resolves its own folder name
16  ```
17  
18  `anchor.exe` (the Anchor 2 engine) is committed so the template runs out of the box.
19  
20  ## Fork & use
21  
22  1. **Copy the whole folder** and rename it (`cp -r ricochet-template my-game`).
23     `run.bat` derives its own folder name, so the copy runs immediately — no edits.
24  2. **Pick a resolution** at the top of `main.lua` — a Ricochet game is one or the
25     other, never both:
26     - `MODE = 'smooth'` — 1920×1080, vector fonts (the hi-res skin)
27     - `MODE = 'rough'`  — 480×270 @ scale 4, pixel fonts (the low-res skin)
28  3. **Edit `main.lua`** (and add your own files at the root). The boot is three lines:
29     ```lua
30     require('anchor')({ width = 1920, height = 1080, scale = 1, filter = 'smooth' })  -- or rough
... [51 more lines]

Now I'll write a simple README mirroring ricochet's structure, adapted to snkrx-template (carriers, the update-phase UI, the clean/demo split). Let me confirm it doesn't already exist, then create it:

Glob (snkrx-template/README*)

No files found

Write (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\README.md)

File created successfully at: E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\README.md (file state is current in your context — no need to Read it back)

Let me add the README to the CLAUDE.md File map so the docs stay consistent:

Edit (E:\a327ex\snkrx-template.claude\CLAUDE.md)

The file E:\a327ex\snkrx-template\.claude\CLAUDE.md has been updated successfully. (file state is current in your context — no need to Read it back)

Done — README.md created, mirroring ricochet-template's structure and tone, adapted to snkrx-template's specifics:

I also added the README to the CLAUDE.md File map so the docs stay consistent.

That rounds out the copy-and-go state: a forker now lands on README.md, copies the folder, and is running + building without editing anything but main.lua. Clean stopping point — nothing outstanding on my side.

Great, I think this is everything, let's end the session, name it Visual Experiments 7.

Skill 

Launching skill: end-session

Base directory for this skill: E:\a327ex.claude\skills\end-session

End Session Workflow

This skill is invoked from the same conversation where the work was done. You already have the full session context in memory — you do NOT need to read the transcript.

Step 1: Get Session Info

Ask the user for the session title (max 30 characters). Examples: "Anchor Phase 10 Part 5", "Physics Arena Setup", "Timer System Fix", "Thalien Lune Design".

Determine the project yourself from your session context — you know which repo(s) were worked on, which files were created/modified, and where they live. No need to ask. See Step 5 for the list of known project roots; if the session touched something outside the list, infer the root from the paths you actually edited.

Step 2: Write Summary

Write the summary from your conversation memory. You have the full session context — no need to read any files.

The summary should be thorough and detailed. Each major topic deserves its own section with multiple specific bullet points. Don't compress — expand.

Purpose: These summaries serve as searchable records. Future Claude instances will grep through past logs to find how specific topics were handled. The more detail you include, the more useful the summary becomes for finding relevant context later.

Format (this is just an example structure — adapt sections to match what actually happened):

# [Title]

## Summary

[1-2 sentence overview of the session's main focus]

**[Topic 1 - e.g., "Spring Module Implementation"]:**
- First specific detail about what was done
- Second detail - include file names, function names
- User correction or feedback (quote if notable)
- Technical decisions and why

**[Topic 2 - e.g., "Camera Research"]:**
- What was researched
- Key findings
- How it influenced implementation

**[Topic 3 - e.g., "Errors and Fixes"]:**
- Specific error message encountered
- Root cause identified
- How it was fixed

[Continue for each major topic...]

---

[Rest of transcript follows]

Rules: - Be thorough — If in doubt, include more detail, not less. Each topic should be as detailed as possible while still being a summary. - Think searchability — Future instances will search these logs. Include keywords, function names, error messages that someone might grep for. - One section per major topic — Don't combine unrelated work into one section - Chronological order — Sections should match conversation flow - Specific details — Error messages, file names, function names, parameter values - Include user quotes — When user gave notable feedback, quote it (e.g., "k/d variables are not intuitive at all") - Weight planning equally — Research, proposals, alternatives considered, user feedback on approach are as important as implementation - Weight problems solved — Errors, root causes, fixes, user corrections all matter - Technical specifics — Include formulas, API signatures, parameter changes when relevant

Step 3: Proceed Without Approval

Do NOT show the summary to the user for approval. Write it directly. The user can review the committed log after the fact and request a follow-up edit if anything is off.

Step 4: Convert Transcript and Write the Log File

# Find recent sessions (Claude + Cursor + Codex). Same script lives in Anchor2:
python E:/a327ex/Anchor2/scripts/find-recent-session.py --limit 5
# or: python E:/a327ex/Anchor/scripts/find-recent-session.py --limit 5

The script shows sessions sorted by when they ended. The first result is the current conversation (since end-session was invoked here). Use it.

Use a lowercase hyphenated slug derived from the title (e.g., "anchor-primitives-hitstop-animation").

Get the end timestamp for the Date frontmatter — this is the wall-clock time when end-session was invoked, NOT the time the JSONL started. Sessions often span multiple days, and the log should be filed under the day the work was wrapped up:

date "+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"

Use this output verbatim. Do not substitute the JSONL start timestamp; the log appears in the sidebar sorted by Date, and a multi-day session with a Date pinned to day 1 will sort below sessions that ended later but started later, hiding the most recent work.

Convert the transcript to markdown:

python E:/a327ex/Anchor2/scripts/jsonl-to-markdown.py [SESSION_PATH] /tmp/session-log.md
# or: python E:/a327ex/Anchor/scripts/jsonl-to-markdown.py ...

The same script auto-detects Claude Code JSONL vs Cursor/Composer agent JSONL (~/.cursor/projects/.../agent-transcripts/...) vs Codex rollouts (~/.codex/sessions/...). For Composer sessions, use find-recent-session.py (it merges all sources) and pick the [cursor] line for the current chat.

Replace the default header (# Session YYYY-MM-DD...) at the top of /tmp/session-log.md with the approved title and summary, AND prepend frontmatter. The final file shape:

Title: [Title]
Date: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS

# [Title]

## Summary

[approved summary text from step 2]

---

[transcript content from jsonl-to-markdown script]

Frontmatter is non-negotiable. Every log file MUST start with Title: and Date: lines. Without them, the site's sidebar shows the slug as the title and 0 (epoch) as the sort date. The backfill script in a327ex-site/deploy/backfill_metadata.py is a safety net, not a substitute — write it correctly the first time.

Then copy the final file to the log destination:

cp /tmp/session-log.md E:/a327ex/a327ex-site/logs/[slug].md

Step 4.5: Decrement the lock (if active)

Read E:/a327ex/a327ex-site/.lock.json if it exists. If it contains {"remaining": N} with N > 0:

  • Decrement N by 1
  • Write {"remaining": N-1} back to the file
  • If N becomes 0, the lock is cleared. You may leave the file at {"remaining": 0} or delete it; both work.

The lock file lives in the a327ex-site repo, so the change is staged automatically by git add -A in Step 6.

If no lock file exists or remaining is already 0, do nothing. (See the /lock skill for the lock's full design.)

Step 5: Commit Project Repo

Identify the project repo(s) worked on this session from your own context — you already know which repos were touched and which files changed. For the common projects:

Project Root Stage command
Anchor E:/a327ex/Anchor git add docs/ framework/ engine/ scripts/ reference/
Anchor2 E:/a327ex/Anchor2 git add framework/ engine/ arena/ reference/ scripts/ docs/ .claude/
emoji-ball-battles E:/a327ex/emoji-ball-battles git add -A
invoker E:/a327ex/Invoker git add -A
thalien-lune E:/a327ex/thalien-lune git add -A
a327ex-site E:/a327ex/a327ex-site git add -A (this IS one of the web repos — the log file added in Step 4 is staged here automatically)

For a project not listed, infer the root from the files you actually created or modified this session and stage those. If multiple candidate roots look valid, ask the user which files to stage.

cd into the project root, stage, run git status to verify before committing.

IMPORTANT — FULL SUMMARY IN COMMIT: The commit message MUST include the FULL summary from the log file. Read the summary back from the log file to ensure nothing is missing.

IMPORTANT — COMMIT METHOD: The summary contains backticks, special characters, and markdown that WILL break heredocs and git commit -m. ALWAYS use the file-based method below. NEVER try a heredoc first — it will fail and produce a malformed commit that needs amending.

# Skip until we hit the line "## Summary", then take everything after the next
# blank line until the --- separator that precedes the transcript.
awk '/^## Summary$/{found=1; next} found && NR>1 && /^---$/{exit} found' \
    E:/a327ex/a327ex-site/logs/[slug].md > /tmp/commit_msg.txt

# Prepend the title (plain text, no #) and append attribution
sed -i "1i [Title]\n" /tmp/commit_msg.txt
printf "\nGenerated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)\n\nCo-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>\n" >> /tmp/commit_msg.txt

git commit -F /tmp/commit_msg.txt

Step 6: Push the Repos

Two pushes — project (to GitHub) and a327ex-site (to the VPS):

# Project repo to GitHub. Skip this push if the project IS a327ex-site
# (handled by the second push below — don't duplicate).
git push origin main

# a327ex-site to the VPS (post-receive hook restarts the Lua server).
cd E:/a327ex/a327ex-site
git add -A
git commit -m "[Title]"
git push prod main 2>&1 | tail -3

Failure handling: if either push fails, the other still happens. Local commits stay intact, so the user can re-push manually once they've fixed whatever blocked it. Don't roll back; the committed state on disk is the source of truth.

Step 7: Confirm

Tell the user: - Project commit hash + GitHub push result - a327ex-site commit hash + VPS push result

Format:

Logged — "[Title]".
  project (Anchor2):  abc1234  pushed to GitHub
  a327ex-site:        ghi9012  pushed to a327ex.com (post-receive deployed)

If a push failed, surface that explicitly with the error.

Notes

  • Frontmatter is non-negotiable. Every log file MUST have Title: and Date: at the top. Enforced at write time in step 4. The backfill script is a safety net, not a substitute.
  • If the project IS a327ex-site (e.g., you spent the session writing the renderer or fixing the theme), there's no separate "project repo to GitHub" push — the a327ex-site push at the end IS the project push. Don't duplicate.
  • Legacy note: this skill used to also dual-write to anchor.blot.im/logs/ and anchor.blot.im/context/. Post-cutover (May 2026), anchor.blot.im is a JS redirect to a327ex.com and no longer receives content. Drop those steps if you find any older docs that still reference them.

ARGUMENTS: Visual Experiments 7

I have the title ("Visual Experiments 7", 20 chars) and I know the project from context (snkrx-template). Let me gather the session path, timestamp, git status, and lock state.

Bash (python E:/a327ex/Anchor2/scripts/find-recent-session.py --limit 5)

2026-05-31T20:19:03.844Z fcf94e21-dc8f-4fa3-b522-2e8e374fa2c4 [claude] <-- MOST RECENT
   C:\Users\adn\.claude\projects\E--a327ex\fcf94e21-dc8f-4fa3-b522-2e8e374fa2c4.jsonl

2026-05-31T20:15:34.425Z 06f5cfc2-4245-4927-9a2d-d7f372358eff [claude]
   C:\Users\adn\.claude\projects\E--a327ex\06f5cfc2-4245-4927-9a2d-d7f372358eff.jsonl

2026-05-31T18:40:51.653Z f3072210-1253-4649-93d4-0acb943686d4 [claude]
   C:\Users\adn\.claude\projects\E--a327ex\f3072210-1253-4649-93d4-0acb943686d4.jsonl

2026-05-31T17:16:35.593Z aca39077-9a40-4d7e-ac77-c4c05ac51979 [claude]
   C:\Users\adn\.claude\projects\E--a327ex\aca39077-9a40-4d7e-ac77-c4c05ac51979.jsonl

2026-05-31T16:28:30.113Z 0751ea9b-b519-4976-ba6f-32bffe9fed2f [claude]
   C:\Users\adn\.claude\projects\E--a327ex\0751ea9b-b519-4976-ba6f-32bffe9fed2f.jsonl

Bash (date "+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"; echo "--- git check snkrx-template ---"; git -C E:/a3...)

2026-05-31 17:19:18
--- git check snkrx-template ---
true
--- lock check ---
{"remaining": 12}

Current session identified, timestamp 2026-05-31 17:19:18, snkrx-template is a git repo, lock at {"remaining": 12} (will decrement to 11). Converting the transcript now: