# Session 0010.0 — Transcript

> App: human-experience-filter-art
> Start: 2026-06-07T23-09 (PST)
> End: 2026-06-07T23-22 (PST)
> Type: coding
> Status: **FINALIZED**
> Posture: autonomous (yolo)
> Landed: PR #8 (merge `638cf58`) — calibration lock + dark-grade look fix

## Launch prompt

```
Tune the alteration look by eye in the simulator (python simulator/setup_sample_media.py then make sim-local) and LOCK the knob→strength calibration into DEFAULT_CALIBRATION in player/alteration.py (+ a unit test) — settling the open session-0006 calibration decision. While there, judge whether more neutral "scales of nature" base clips + a real multi-strength flow-stabilized Right re-bake are worth doing next vs. moving to scale-ring navigation (endless encoder + AI zoom transitions). Keep deferring Pi renderer + serial/firmware. Read sub-project-3-player-progress memory + docs/superpowers/specs/2026-06-07-reconciled-simulator-alteration-slice-design.md (§8) first.
```

## Pre-state

- `main` clean at `e753a68` (then ff'd to the 0010 claim commit `7d2a306`).
- Sub-project 3 slice 2 (sim alteration) merged in session 0009 (PR #7). Engine
  in `player/alteration.py` carried a `Calibration` + `DEFAULT_CALIBRATION` with
  **behavior-preserving placeholder** values; the knob→strength calibration had
  been the open decision since session 0006.
- Sample media already populated under `simulator/sample_media/forest/` (base +
  Right strengths 1–4; only strength 4 is the real flow-stabilized restyle, 1–3
  are ffmpeg blend placeholders). POC artifacts present in `~/hef-poc/out/`.

## The arc

### 1. Session open + grounding
- Classified the launch prompt as a **coding** session; ran
  `wgl-session-coding-init`, claimed session **0010** (no other sessions in
  flight). Verified clean pushed `main` baseline + CLAUDE.md stub.
- Read the resume context: `sub-project-3-player-progress` memory + the reconciled
  slice design §8 (open questions: calibration curve shape, grade-vs-overlay
  ordering, crossfade timing, placeholder fidelity).
- Inspected the engine (`player/alteration.py`), its test, the sim frontend
  (`simulator/static/app.js`), and the content/clip plumbing. Established that the
  calibration's three params (`mood_gain`, `overlay_gain`, `right_variant_map`)
  are the lock target, and that the *grade look* itself lives in `app.js` CSS
  filters (frontend), not in `DEFAULT_CALIBRATION`.

### 2. Tuning the look by eye (the key finding)
- `python`/`ffmpeg` weren't on the non-interactive shell PATH; used the project
  `.venv`. Baseline suite: **192 passed / 2 skipped**.
- Viewed the operator's own POC renders in `~/hef-poc/out/` (`all_axes.png`,
  `right_three.png`, `dark_frame.png`, `light_frame.png`, `lefthud_frame.png`) —
  the by-eye-approved (session 0008) looks: tasteful cool-blue dark, warm golden
  light, soft dreamy flow restyle, legible analytical HUD.
- Booted the sim (`uvicorn simulator.app:app`) and drove it with **headless
  Chrome (puppeteer-core)** to screenshot the *actual* rendered look across all
  four axes at full knob, plus the whole-brain-dark corner.
- **Finding:** the sim's **dark** mood pole was rendering a full-frame
  `hue-rotate(-cool*200deg)` → rock turned orange, trees purple — a **psychedelic**
  look, exactly the "disorienting, not peaceful" effect the operator rejected in
  0008, and nothing like the POC `dark_frame`. Light / Left / Right all looked
  good and peaceful. So the dark grade was the one thing blocking a likable look.

### 3. Dark-grade fix
- Replaced the hue-rotate in `applyGrade` (`simulator/static/app.js`) with:
  darken + slight desaturate on the video filter for the cool pole, plus a
  `multiply`-blended deep-blue wash (`#tint`, new element) that lifts shadows
  toward blue while preserving natural greens. Placed `#tint` **below** the SVG
  overlay so the Left HUD stays legible regardless of mood (resolves the §8
  grade-vs-overlay ordering question → overlay above).
- Re-screenshotted: full dark now reads cool/somber with natural greens (matches
  POC `dark_frame`); whole-brain-dark corner peaceful + HUD legible; light/neutral
  unchanged (the warm path is algebraically identical for tone ≥ 0).

### 4. Locking the calibration
- With full tilt now tasteful on **every** axis (POC + sim evidence), the data
  says full knob = full look, 5 notches map 1:1 to the 5 discrete Right bakes,
  equal Dark/Light = identity → **unity gains + linear variant map**.
- Promoted `DEFAULT_CALIBRATION` from placeholder to a **deliberately locked**
  `Calibration(mood_gain=1.0, overlay_gain=1.0, right_variant_map=(0,1,2,3,4))`
  with a provenance comment; this also confirms the session-0006 convention
  (0=off..4=max, equal Dark/Light = identity — no "centered at 2 = no push").
- Added `test_default_calibration_is_locked` pinning the literal constants.
  Suite: **193 passed / 2 skipped**.
- Updated design §8 (calibration-curve + grade-vs-overlay resolved; dark-grade
  fix recorded).

### 5. Land + build-vs-next judgment
- Committed on `feature/lock-alteration-calibration`, pushed, opened **PR #8**
  (Gitea API via `wgl-gitea-admin` helper), merged to `main` (`638cf58`), deleted
  the branch.
- Presented the build-vs-next judgment the prompt asked for. Recommendation
  (operator-confirmed via AskUserQuestion): **move to scale-ring navigation next**
  — pull in 1–2 *cheap, true-PD* neutral base clips (NASA cosmos, NOAA deep-sea)
  so the ring is demonstrable, build the endless-encoder control + placeholder
  zoom transitions in the sim, and **defer** the expensive real multi-strength
  flow-stabilized Right re-bake until the ring experience is liked (re-baking
  before the clip set is final risks wasted renders). Keep deferring Pi renderer +
  serial/firmware.

## Cut state

- `main` @ `638cf58`, clean, pushed. Suite **193 passed / 2 skipped**.
- `DEFAULT_CALIBRATION` locked; dark-grade look fixed; design §8 updated; memory
  updated with the session outcome + the new `Next /goal`.
- Deferred (unchanged): Pi renderer, serial/firmware; the expensive Right re-bake.

## Deferred decisions

- **Locked `DEFAULT_CALIBRATION` to unity/linear autonomously.** The operator
  asked to "tune by eye" and lock; I made the by-eye judgment (via POC renders +
  headless-Chrome sim screenshots) that full tilt is peaceful on every axis after
  the dark fix, so no softening of gains was warranted, and locked the unity/linear
  values. *Alternative:* soften `mood_gain`/`overlay_gain` (<1.0) so full knob is
  gentler — set aside because the evidence showed full tilt is already calm. The
  calibration stays fully parameterized, so flipping the feel is a one-line edit +
  the lock test if the operator disagrees on review.
- **Dark-grade fix landed in the sim frontend (not the final renderer).** The fix
  makes the *simulator* look right for tuning; the Pi/mpv renderer (later slice)
  will do proper grading. Recorded in §8.
- The build-vs-next direction was **not** a deferred call — it was put to the
  operator directly and confirmed.

## Operator plate

- Calibration is settled and guarded; the long-open session-0006 decision is
  closed. The sim look is now likable on the one forest clip across all axes.
- Next session's first move is the `/goal` below (scale-ring navigation).

## Next-session prompt

```
/goal Build scale-ring navigation in the simulator — add an endless rotary-encoder control (relative, vs the absolute 0-4 experience knobs) that walks a closed ring of neutral "scales of nature" clips with placeholder AI zoom/warp transitions between scales. Add 1–2 cheap, true-PD neutral base clips so the ring is demonstrable (NASA/Hubble cosmos + NOAA Ocean Exploration deep sea). Defer the expensive real multi-strength flow-stabilized Right re-bake until the ring is liked; keep deferring the Pi renderer + serial/firmware. Read the sub-project-3-player-progress memory + docs/superpowers/specs/2026-06-07-scales-library-and-right-axis-pipeline-design.md first.
```