PAPER-00 · Master tracker · Paper & Graphite, Ember Edition overhaul

[Chris0Jeky]

PAPER-00 · Master Tracker · Paper & Graphite, Ember Edition Overhaul

Thesis

Adopt the Paper & Graphite, Ember Edition visual + interaction system across the Taskdeck frontend. The system encodes the product's core thesis — capture → review → apply with no silent mutations — directly in materials (cream paper, hairline rules, italic serif, single seal-red ember accent) rather than helper labels. Trust signals are physical: applied stamps emboss, undo windows literally erase as the 6-hour grace closes.

Source of truth: design_handoff_taskdeck_paper/ checked into the repo (README + JSX prototypes + paper/tokens.css).

Strategic intent

• Replace the current Obsidian-toned shell across all primary surfaces with Paper-Light as canonical, Paper-at-Night as the dark companion (strict mirror of metaphor).
• Make Review the centerpiece: implement the deep version with provenance, side-effects, conflicts, history, confidence dial, undo timeline, similar-past decisions.
• Replace every loading… / spinner state in LLM flows with Ink Bleed — a 5-phase, 4.6s motion that dries to a stamp.
• Keep behavior unchanged: this is presentation + interaction polish, not a backend rewrite. All capture / proposal / approval semantics remain the same.

Non-goals

• No backend changes beyond what surface needs require (e.g., new fields the dossier needs).
• No new product features beyond what the design implies (e.g., "Seal day", "A line for tomorrow", undo timer).
• No removal of the existing --td-* token system in this overhaul. Paper sits parallel under .paper / .paper-night scope until migration is ready to flip canonical.
• Multiplayer/CRDT explicitly out of scope.

Phasing

Phase 1 · Foundation (must land first, blocks everything else)

• PAPER-01 Tokens + theme classes + fonts + paper substrate
• PAPER-02 Component primitives (Stamp, HLBtn, Tagstamp, Card, kbd, hairline icons)

Phase 2 · Shell

• PAPER-03 Sidebar + TopBar in Paper

Phase 3 · Surfaces (parallelizable after Phase 1+2)

• PAPER-04 Home / morning reset
• PAPER-05 Board / kanban with index card variant
• PAPER-06 Review deep — central surface
• PAPER-07 Inbox / capture (composer + nib)
• PAPER-08 Today / end-of-day dossier
• PAPER-09 Misc surfaces (Card detail, ⌘K palette, Shortcuts overlay, Toasts, Empty states)

Phase 4 · Motion + responsive + dark

• PAPER-10 Ink Bleed motion system (signature LLM thinking state)
• PAPER-11 Narrow companions (375 phone, 768 tablet)
• PAPER-12 Paper at Night dark theme verification across all surfaces

Acceptance gates per slice

Every slice must:

• Land behind the Paper feature flag (or .paper body class scope) so existing Obsidian surfaces remain green during migration.
• Ship vitest unit/component tests for new primitives + DOM-level assertions for view changes.
• Pass npm run typecheck + npm run lint (max 20 warnings) + backend dotnet build if backend touched.
• Pass an adversarial review pass that explicitly checks: token misuse, ember-accent overuse (must remain ≤5% of any surface's surface area), serif italic in non-decision copy, missing reduced-motion fallback for any animation, focus rings replacing browser default, hairlines surviving zoom 200%.
• Update docs/STATUS.md if user-visible behavior changes; cross-link the master tracker.

Risk register

• Token collision — --td-* and Paper variables both define ember/paper hues. Mitigation: scope all Paper variables under .paper/.paper-night and namespace anything new (--td-paper-*).
• Serif loading — Fraunces is heavy and italic-variable. Self-host with font-display: swap to avoid FOUC; pre-cache critical weights.
• Density — Paper is a high-density system. 200-card boards must remain frame-stable. Re-verify the perf budget (docs/PERFORMANCE_BUDGETS.md).
• Accent overuse — single-pigment metaphor breaks if ember leaks into incidental UI. Linter rule: ember class allow-list per surface.
• Motion accessibility — Ink Bleed is bold motion. @media (prefers-reduced-motion) must reduce to a 200ms opacity fade, no exceptions.

Reference

• README: design_handoff_taskdeck_paper/README.md (canonical spec)
• Tokens: design_handoff_taskdeck_paper/paper/tokens.css
• Components: design_handoff_taskdeck_paper/paper/components.jsx
• Surfaces: design_handoff_taskdeck_paper/paper/surface-*.jsx
• Prototype entry: open design_handoff_taskdeck_paper/Taskdeck Paper Edition.html in a browser

Definition of done for the whole tracker

• All PAPER-01 .. PAPER-12 closed and merged behind the Paper flag.
• A /styleguide?theme=paper (and paper-night) page renders every component primitive + every surface.
• A workspace toggle promotes Paper to canonical; a follow-up tracker decommissions Obsidian.
• Adversarial review on the integrated experience signs off on accent discipline and motion accessibility.

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Child issues

Phase	Issue	Title
1	#997	PAPER-01 · Foundation — tokens, theme, fonts, substrate
1	#998	PAPER-02 · Component primitives
2	#999	PAPER-03 · Sidebar + TopBar shell
3	#1000	PAPER-04 · Home / Reset
3	#1001	PAPER-05 · Board / Kanban
3	#1002	PAPER-06 · Review (Deep)
3	#1003	PAPER-07 · Inbox / Capture
3	#1004	PAPER-08 · Today / End-of-day dossier
3	#1005	PAPER-09 · Misc surfaces
4	#1006	PAPER-10 · Ink Bleed motion
4	#1007	PAPER-11 · Narrow companions
4	#1008	PAPER-12 · Paper at Night