Three blind fixes failed because headless browsers relax autoplay (can't reproduce)
and play() errors were swallowed. Instrument instead:
- #audio-status: live readout (playing/paused/blocked/media-error) under the toggle
- surface the play() rejection reason + element error (was .catch(()=>{}))
- 'Audio check' fieldset with a native <audio controls> on the soundtrack file, to
test the file directly with zero app code in the path
Diagnostic only — no behavior change. 37 tests pass.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Removes the tap-to-start wall (Loading Universe splash instead), fixes audio still
silent on real Safari (single <audio> played synchronously in the toggle gesture),
both toggles default off, first Video-on couples Audio. Verified Chromium + WebKit.
290 tests + 5 Playwright E2E pass.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Operator follow-ups:
- Remove the tap-to-start wall; show a 'Loading Universe…' splash until all media
preloaded (main() awaits preloadAllMedia + a progress bar), then reveal the app.
- Both Video + Audio toggles default OFF (black + silent at start).
- FIX audio still silent on real Safari: the A/B-crossfade-after-gesture didn't
unlock on Safari (priming srcless elements doesn't unlock them). Use ONE <audio>
element played SYNCHRONOUSLY inside the toggle's click — the reliable Safari
unlock; later altitude swaps reuse the unlocked element.
- First time Video turns on, also turn Audio on (one flip = full experience), set+
played in the same gesture; Audio-on-first stays audio-only.
- Soundtrack follows Altitude via the single element (brief fade swap).
- Verified in headless Chromium AND WebKit: coupling works, soundtrack plays,
video-off blanks, zero JS errors. 290 tests + 5 Playwright E2E pass.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Operator-driven revision of the audio feature: Dev-Mode-style Video/Audio toggles,
white-noise deferred (Audio = off/soundtrack), and fixes for two real-browser bugs
(video-off not blanking GPU-composited layers; no soundtrack on Safari/iOS).
Verified in headless Chromium + WebKit. 288 tests + 3 Playwright E2E pass.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Operator-driven live-UI revision:
- Video + Audio are now Dev-Mode-style on/off toggles (Audio on = soundtrack);
white-noise deferred (removed from the live control; pure machinery kept).
- FIX video-off not blanking: the <video>/<canvas> are GPU-composited and could
paint above the auto-z #black on a real GPU — give #black z-index + its own
layer AND hide the video layers (opacity 0) on video-off.
- FIX no soundtrack on Safari/iOS: Safari unlocks <audio> only when play() runs
INSIDE the user gesture; the start gesture now primes both A/B elements
synchronously, so the async crossfades are allowed to play.
- Toggles wired on 'change' (matches the Dev Mode switch).
- player/audio.py AUDIO_SOURCES -> {off, soundtrack}; tests + E2E updated.
- Verified in headless Chromium AND WebKit: audio plays, video-off blanks both
layers, zero JS errors. 288 tests + 3 Playwright E2E pass.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
E2E asserts in a real headless Chromium: white_noise loads the noise asset,
soundtrack loads the current scale's asset, and Visual=off fades video while
audio keeps playing. Driving it out surfaced + fixed three client issues:
- fadeVolume uses setInterval (rAF stalls when the tab is backgrounded)
- start gesture drops srcless priming (a click grants Chrome autoplay
document-wide; priming empty <audio> only hung the handler / polluted state)
- applyAudio doesn't await play() (awaiting a srcless/buffering play can hang)
pyproject: [e2e] optional dep (pytest-playwright). Full suite 288 passed, 2 skipped.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Pure arg builders (audio_ops) + thin runner (audio_run) + build_audio_media.py.
Produces the 5 normalized soundtrack loops + a synthesized pink-noise bed under
the gitignored sample_media/audio tree. 6 tests pass (white-noise integration
runs against bundled imageio_ffmpeg).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Session 0020. Anchored on the audio-video-separated-controls Solution Design.
Scope: build into the current single-page simulator (simulator-first directive);
reframe the unbuilt control-surface spec on paper. 10 tasks, all testing tiers.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Sound for the experience, plus the design to control it.
Soundtrack layer (ambience), all license-clean (PD/CC0), recorded in
docs/audio-candidate-pool.md (media gitignored; re-sourceable):
- cosmos: Pillars of Creation sonification (NASA, PD)
- orbit: station room-tone hum (CC0)
- coast: sea waves + terns (CC0)
- reef: 6-layer NOAA soundscape + CC0 submerged bed (PD + CC0)
- abyss: blue-whale moan (NOAA, PD)
Solution Design (proposed): split the bundled Content selector into two
orthogonal dials, Visual (on/off) x Audio (off/soundtrack/white-noise),
unlocking white-noise+video. Soundtrack follows the single Altitude dial;
white noise is altitude-independent. Reframes the networked-control-surface
spec SS3/SS5 (still proposed/unbuilt -> clean pre-impl edit). Music layer deferred.
Dev panel: links to the clip + audio review galleries; sticky stage/panel layout.
gitignore: audio media, review_audio.html, .DS_Store.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
v1 hardware step: split the simulator into a laptop RENDERER and a separate
touch CONTROLLER over wifi/LAN. Server-authoritative SessionState + SSE push;
one /api/control contract any "control source" speaks (iPad web twin now,
Arduino later). Live knobs (Left/Right/Mood) vs transitional controls
(Altitude, Content) with per-knob transition state + renderer settled-ack.
Reframes ROADMAP sub-project 4 and absorbs sub-project 3's serial-input slice.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
`make sim-local` called bare `python`, which isn't on this box's PATH (only
python3 / .venv/bin/python exist) — so it failed instantly and "couldn't connect"
to the server. Resolve PYTHON to the venv interpreter, falling back to
python3 then python.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Operator wanted more Cosmic Cliffs footage and a different-color rendering.
Keeps the NIRCam flythrough as the cosmos primary and adds ESA/Webb weic2205c
("Pan of the Carina Nebula, combined NIRCam + MIRI") as a new cosmos pool
member — the same Carina towers in the muted gray/teal/gold MIRI mid-infrared
palette, distinct from the iconic orange/blue flythrough.
- POOLS["cosmos"] grows 4 -> 5 (cosmos, cosmos_miri, galaxies, hudf, xdf);
primary unchanged.
- META + LABELS authored (nebula/star/distance, salience-gated); affect inherits
the cosmos scale vocabulary.
- manifest.json regenerated (19 -> 20 clips).
- Source: 4K master, text-free/human-free, trim 4-26s (clears the fade-from-
black), 1 s crossfade-loop (~21 s) -> 1080p base + 4K master (gitignored).
- docs/content-candidate-pool.md updated (cosmos pool of 5 + sourcing note).
271 passed, 2 skipped.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
The affect channel previously gated on BOTH knobs (strength = min(left, right)),
so the analytical Left brain co-controlled the emotion words. Per operator
direction, emotions are now driven by the Right (dreamlike) knob ALONE — Left no
longer gates them. This sharpens the split: Left = measurement (detections +
measurements), Right = the dream AND the feeling it evokes.
- player/alteration.py: `_affect_strength(right) = right` (was min(left,right));
`_affect_intensity` keyed off Right. AffectOverlay + is_identity docs updated
(is_identity still holds: right>0 ⇒ dream.strength>0).
- simulator/static/app.js: renderAffect comments (gating is Right via `strength`);
the client logic already keyed min_level/tier off the passed strength + right.
- Affect design spec: revision note + every min(left,right) → right.
- Tests rewritten: affect is Right-driven (full Right + Left 0 surfaces affect;
Right 0 + Left 4 surfaces none).
271 passed, 2 skipped. Live API verified: left=0/right=4 → strength 4; left=4/
right=0 → strength 0.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Two fixes to the simulator's media handling, both surfaced by the cosmos clip swap.
1. Permanent cache-bust via content hash. New `GET /api/media-versions` returns a
short sha1 token per served file (clip bases + ring transitions + reverses),
cached by (mtime, size) so a re-bake is picked up without a restart. The client
fetches it at boot and appends `?v=<hash>` to every /media URL, so a clip
re-baked under the same path (e.g. a re-sourced cosmos base) gets a fresh URL
the browser can't serve stale — fixing the recurring stale-clip problem at the
root (supersedes the `cache: "reload"` belt-and-suspenders, which stays).
2. Fade the pool-landing swap. The baked ring transition zooms into the scale
PRIMARY, but the rotating pool picks a random member on landing — so a
non-primary pick hard-cut from the primary to the chosen clip (e.g. coast
birdrock -> surfgrass, the artifact the operator saw). On landing, when the pick
differs from the primary, mask the swap behind a short fade through the existing
#black overlay (CSS opacity transition); same-clip landings still do a plain
(re)load. General across all pooled scales.
271 passed, 2 skipped (+2: media-version content-hash + absent-file omission).
app.js syntax-checked; endpoint verified live (29 files; token matches a manual
sha1 of the bytes).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
The preload fetched each clip with the default HTTP cache, so a clip re-baked
under the same path (e.g. the cosmos base re-sourced to the Webb Cosmic Cliffs
flythrough) kept showing stale footage after a reload — worst case forever, when
a pre-`no-cache` build had pinned it `immutable, max-age=1y` (a plain reload never
revalidates an immutable entry). Fetch the preload with `cache: "reload"`, which
bypasses the HTTP cache, pulls fresh bytes, and updates the cache entry; the
in-memory blob cache still gives instant in-session altitude swaps. One fetch per
(re)load, so no steady-state cost.
269 passed, 2 skipped. app.js syntax-checked.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Operator found the Orion SVS 30957 flythrough merely good and asked for a more
dramatic nebula. Replaces the cosmos-scale primary with STScI's "Exploring the
Cosmic Cliffs in 3D" (Carina Nebula, Webb NIRCam — NASA SVS 31348), sourced from
its 4K master (Clifs-3d-STScI.mp4, 3840x2160) via the content pipeline:
trim 10-34s (clears the title card ~8s and end-credit card ~102s) + crossfade-loop
-> 4K master + supersampled 1080p base (5.5 Mbps, crisper than the old 2.9 Mbps
1080p-native Orion encode).
- build_pool_manifest META: cosmos -> SVS 31348 Cosmic Cliffs, new CCBY_WEBB
credit (NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI). Labels retuned for the Carina framing
(emission nebula / protostar; redshift -> distance ~7,500 ly).
- Regenerated manifest.json (also corrects stale JPL-Orion provenance left when
129bb23 updated META but not the manifest) + all ring-edge transitions from the
new base (cosmos-orbit / abyss-cosmos now zoom from the Cosmic Cliffs).
- docs/content-candidate-pool.md: record the swap + history.
269 passed, 2 skipped. New base verified text-free + full-frame by-eye across the
loop; final look to be confirmed by the operator (no Chrome on the box).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Replaces the JPL "Orion: Dust and Death" primary (captioned throughout — we'd
cropped it, losing framing) with STScI's "Flight Through the Orion Nebula"
(visible light, NASA SVS 30957) — a full-frame, text-free flythrough of the same
nebula. Sourced via the content pipeline (trim 10–34s + crossfade-loop → 1080p
master + base); cosmos-orbit / abyss-cosmos transitions regenerated from it.
- build_pool_manifest META: cosmos -> SVS 30957, license CC-BY-class (NASA/ESA/
STScI), new trim window.
- Remove the now-obsolete decaption_cosmos() crop helper (the new source needs
no caption removal).
- docs/content-candidate-pool.md: record the source swap; drop the crop note.
269 passed, 2 skipped. New clip verified text-free + full-frame by-eye;
final look to be confirmed by the operator.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
The `immutable, max-age=1y` media header pinned stale footage in the browser for
a year, so a re-sourced or re-cropped clip (e.g. the de-captioned cosmos) never
showed without a manual cache clear. Switch /media to `no-cache` (store, but
revalidate every load): instant altitude swaps already come from the in-memory
blob preload, so the HTTP cache only matters on (re)load — where a conditional
request is a cheap 304 when unchanged but picks up edited clips immediately.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
The cosmos primary is NASA/JPL's "Orion: Dust and Death" — an annotated
visualization with lower-third captions ("DUST FILAMENT", "BLUE BUBBLE", …)
burned in throughout, so trimming can't avoid them (only ~4s of our window is
caption-free). The candidate-pool doc wrongly called it text-free.
- build_pool_manifest.decaption_cosmos(): crops the cosmos base/master to the
top 66% of frame height (16:9 preserved, center-x, ~1.5x tighter framing),
re-fit to 1920x1080 — the recorded, reproducible form of the fix (media is
gitignored). Applied in place; re-ran generate_media() so the cosmos-orbit /
abyss-cosmos transitions use the cropped base.
- docs/content-candidate-pool.md: correct the "text-free" note; document the crop.
269 passed, 2 skipped. De-caption verified by-eye on both caption moments;
final look to be confirmed by the operator.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
The cosmos→orbit, reef→abyss and abyss→cosmos transition clips were stale
leftovers from an earlier 5-scale ring, built against old/placeholder footage —
so those edges flashed placeholder frames mid-zoom. Only orbit-coast and
coast-reef had been rebuilt from the current real bases.
- build_pool_manifest.generate_media(): now rebuilds EVERY ring edge from the
current real primary pool bases (the orbit-coast recipe applied uniformly),
overwriting the stale clips, and bakes a reversed companion (<edge>.rev.mp4)
per edge via an ffmpeg `reverse` pass.
- app.js: a `reversed` step (an ascending / zoom-OUT ring move) now plays the
baked .rev clip instead of the forward zoom-in, so going up recedes from the
current scale. Both directions are added to the in-memory preload set.
Media is gitignored (generated locally / on deploy); regenerated all 10 clips
locally. 269 passed, 2 skipped; node --check clean; clips serve 200.
Visual result to be verified by-eye by the operator.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
The generic .hidden { display:none } is defined earlier in the stylesheet than
.dev-panel { display:flex }; equal specificity meant source order won and the
panel stayed visible with the toggle off. A two-class .dev-panel.hidden rule
wins, so all dev controls/data truly hide when Dev Mode is disabled.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Adds a single "Dev Mode" switch at the bottom of the control panel (off by
default, persisted in localStorage). When on, a panel appears below it with all
dev controls and data; when off the default view is just the experience + the
three control fieldsets.
Dev panel:
- Pool picker: a <select> of the current altitude's pool members — choose any
clip to override the random landing pick; a "Re-roll random" button re-runs
the server-canonical pick. Rebuilds on each landing.
- Active clip metadata (id, title, source, license, base_file).
- Annotations & affect: keys with salience/window/tier counts (read-only;
editing stays in /author.html).
- RenderPlan JSON — relocated here from the always-visible panel.
- Cache & playback: preload status (N/total), memory-vs-network for the active
clip, live resolution/duration/loop position.
Frontend only — no API changes; everything is read from data the renderer
already has. Factored pickRandomMember() out of landScale() so the initial
landing, ring advances, and the re-roll button share one pick.
Design: docs/superpowers/specs/2026-06-25-simulator-dev-mode-design.md
269 passed, 2 skipped; node --check + server smoke clean. Frontend behavior
to be verified by-eye by the operator (no headless browser in repo yet).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Each altitude change reset the single <video> element's src and re-fetched
the scale's footage over the network, compounded by the dev no-store policy
applying to /media too — so every scale change paid a full fetch+decode.
- simulator/app.py: split the cache middleware — app shell/JS/CSS stay
no-store (by-eye dev iteration), but /media is now cacheable
(public, max-age, immutable) since the clips are static.
- simulator/static/app.js: preload every ring clip (19 base + 5 transition,
~350 MB) into in-memory blob object URLs at startup — non-blocking, the
first scale plays immediately while the rest stream in, ordered current
scale outward. mediaUrl() serves the cached blob when ready, else falls
back to the network. A small progress chip self-removes when done.
- tests: assert app assets stay no-store and /media is cacheable.
269 passed, 2 skipped. Frontend verified by-eye by the operator (no headless
browser in repo yet).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
The scale ring's ⊖ out / in ⊕ buttons are replaced by a circular **Altitude**
knob (the endless rotary encoder, drawn as a dial). cosmos (highest) sits at the
top; turning clockwise descends cosmos → orbit → coast → reef → abyss and past
the deepest **wraps back to the top** — the same endless ring the server already
models (advance + wrap unchanged).
- Built dynamically from `ring.scales` (labels + ticks per scale, a needle that
points at the current scale, an ALTITUDE caption).
- Drag to turn: the rotation accumulates and commits whole detents on release, so
a big spin becomes one fast blended pass (reuses the proven wheel/detent path);
scroll the knob to step; tap a label to jump the shortest way around.
- Pure frontend — no engine/API change. JS syntax-checked; live server probed
(assets serve, dial present, abyss→cosmos wrap intact). 23 sim-API tests green.
By-eye review deferred to the operator (no Chrome on this box).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
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