renderDashboardCollections/renderSectionHTML re-render dashboard
sections from /api/dashboard/sections JSON on library switch, settings
save, and refresh — deliberately kept in TypeScript to preserve the
switch fade on the app's most interactive page. First-paint section
markup remains templ (Dashboard handler in internal/router/frontend.go).
Recorded in the Rendering ownership section as a sanctioned exception
so it is not silently 'fixed' without restoring a templ-partial fade
path, and so the pattern is not cloned to new pages. (User-directed:
the dashboard keeps its fade; every other page stays templ-rendered.)
Integration tests require the containerized dev DB and bind-mounted
paths — a bare host `go test ./cmd/server/tests` fails on database
auth on every machine not running the compose stack (the old doc
prescribed exactly that flow). development.md now documents the
container runner and the iteration rule: run ONLY your own tests via
a filtered container invocation while working, and reserve full-suite
runs for pre-commit validation — several tests read live shared state
(system_settings, real library folders, the periodic backup scan's
websocket broadcasts) and flap on data or timing a change never
touched.
Binary media fixtures are never committed: internal/services/
testdata/ is gitignored by policy (the audio metadata tests read
real-format binaries that ffmpeg cannot synthesize — Audible freeform
atoms — so they live untracked on the machines that run the suite).
The new "Media fixtures" section carries the ffmpeg recipes for every
supported container, tag writing, embedded covers and ffmetadata
chapters, plus the manual end-to-end recipe for the live system
(one book per subfolder — a directory with ≥2 audio files ingests as
one folder book).
Codifies the standing rule discussed for the templ/JS split: content
derived from server data is rendered by templ and refreshed via templ
partials (htmx.ajax), pure client-local state may render in TS/Alpine,
web/src is TypeScript-only, and inline <script> in templ files requires
a pre-paint justification (theme_flash_guard.templ only). Lists the
sanctioned JS islands (reader, Chart.js, toasts, password validation).
Also refreshes gotcha #1: the 'harmlessly masked' aside is stale — the
quoted-attribute sweep fixed every occurrence; the note now points at
templates.JSONArg for free text.
2026-10-17 lessons from the hardening session: most test/bruno failures
were harness/schema/environment drift (drifted body keys, truncated
payloads, container-only paths), found by triaging the test before the
server. Codified as: triage order (test schema -> environment -> cheap
probe), with the guard against "writing tests to work" — test/contract
edits are asymmetric with code fixes: only harness plumbing fixes,
additive pin widenings with a changelog entry, or deletions of tests of
removed behavior. Pins were green at a known commit; git history
arbitrates stale-vs-changed. A right-looking test that fails is prima
facie a server bug: stop and flag.
contract_pins.md rule 4: narrowing/removing a pinned key requires the
user's explicit sign-off — a pin freezing buggy behavior is a ledger,
not a license.
sync_integration_test's cleanup ran DELETE FROM reading_history WHERE
true — harmless for years while the table sat empty, and a silent
stats-data destroyer the moment session capture started feeding it:
every suite run erased the shared dev accounts' captured reading
(the user's manual flip-through test data included).
The cleanup is now scoped: the sync tests' sessions belong to their
test-sync users, and deleting those users cascades their rows. Any
future table-wide cleanup DELETE is off the table (AGENTS.md test
rules updated).
The bucket name read as confusing — 'unsynced' implied data loss when
the push is always captured; it only lacks a device credential. The
bucket is just 'Web' now (service fallback, stats.ts fallback, panel
copy, tests).
Also: analytics_test exact-zero assertions (EmptyHistory,
NoReadingHistory) ran against testuser, which is a LIVE reader — real
sessions accrued on it mid-suite and both flapped. They now run under
the fresh regular user, like the stats tests; the 'testuser is a live
reader' rule is recorded in AGENTS.md.
From the smart-collections build: templ emits quoted attribute values
literally (whole-attribute expressions required — the rules page
shipped '/api/collections/{ collection.ID }' until proven via request
logs); SettingsRegistry only reloads through the settings API (direct
SQL writes look ignored); and user collections must never route through
the dashboard-section path (query_type='filter' is a schema DEFAULT,
not a query type — the 7ce7321 static-detail regression).
PROJECT_GUIDELINES.md had drifted out of reality (podman-only rule
while the stack runs docker; verifier scripts wired to Makefile targets
nobody runs). Trashed it, its two verifier scripts, and the Makefile
targets; the rules that still matched reality (docker runtime, schema
in place until release, server binary only via Docker, services layer,
integration-test pool rules) are absorbed into the new AGENTS.md.
The library-visibility family-lens rule now has a real home:
- AGENTS.md: the standing rule agents auto-discover (new media
endpoints MUST thread the visible-library set; 403, never silently
pass; history of the 2026-10-13 leak).
- docs/developer/library-visibility.md: the full explanation (helpers,
SQL pattern, per-item content gates, series per-library), linked
from the developer docs index.
Stale doc links updated (docs index, contributing, development).
John O'Keefe