# Ponderants App State Machine Architecture

## Executive Summary

This document outlines the complete hierarchical state machine architecture for Ponderants, integrating the recently-completed Voice Mode with the full app experience: Conversation → Edit → Galaxy visualization.

**Current Status**: Voice Mode state machine is complete and tested (✅)
**Remaining Work**: 3 major phases across ~15-20 implementation tasks

---

## 1. Current State (What We Have)

### ✅ Completed
- **Voice Mode State Machine** (`lib/voice-machine.ts`)
  - States: idle, checkingForGreeting, listening, userSpeaking, timingOut, submittingUser, waitingForAI, generatingTTS, playingTTS
  - Fully tested with development controls
  - Clean XState v5 implementation

- **Chat Interface** (`app/chat/page.tsx`)
  - Text input with AI responses
  - Voice mode integration
  - Initial greeting message
  - User menu with logout

- **Authentication** (OAuth with Bluesky/ATproto)
- **AI Integration** (Vercel AI SDK with Gemini)
- **TTS** (Deepgram API)

### ❌ Missing
- Node creation/extraction from conversation
- Node editing interface
- 3D galaxy visualization
- App-level state management
- Persistent navigation UI
- ATproto publishing
- Vector embeddings & linking

---

## 2. Hierarchical State Machine Architecture

### Level 1: App Machine (Top Level)

```
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                     APP MACHINE                         │
│                                                         │
│  ┌─────────┐      ┌─────────┐      ┌─────────┐       │
│  │  Convo  │ ←──→ │  Edit   │ ←──→ │ Galaxy  │       │
│  │         │      │         │      │         │       │
│  └────┬────┘      └─────────┘      └─────────┘       │
│       │                                                │
│       └─── Manages: voiceMode / textMode              │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
```

**States:**
- `convo`: Active conversation (voice or text)
- `edit`: Editing a node
- `galaxy`: 3D visualization of node graph

**Context:**
```typescript
{
  currentNodeId: string | null;
  pendingNodeDraft: NodeDraft | null;
  nodes: Node[];
  mode: 'mobile' | 'desktop';
}
```

**Events:**
- `EDIT_NODE` (from conversation or save button)
- `VIEW_GALAXY` (from nav button)
- `RETURN_TO_CONVO` (from nav button)
- `PUBLISH_NODE` (from edit mode)
- `CANCEL_EDIT`

### Level 2: Conversation Machine (Child of App.Convo)

```
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│               CONVERSATION MACHINE                      │
│                                                         │
│  ┌─────────┐                  ┌─────────┐             │
│  │  Voice  │ ←──────────────→ │  Text   │             │
│  │         │                  │         │             │
│  └────┬────┘                  └─────────┘             │
│       │                                                │
│       └─── Embeds: voiceMachine (from lib/voice...)   │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
```

**States:**
- `voice`: Voice conversation mode (invokes `voiceMachine`)
- `text`: Text-only conversation mode

**Context:**
```typescript
{
  messages: Message[];
  suggestedNodes: NodeSuggestion[];
}
```

**Events:**
- `TOGGLE_VOICE`
- `TOGGLE_TEXT`
- `SUGGEST_NODE` (from AI)
- `CREATE_NODE` (user confirms suggestion)

### Level 3: Voice Machine (Existing - Child of Conversation.Voice)

Already implemented in `lib/voice-machine.ts`. No changes needed.

---

## 3. Data Model

### Node Schema

```typescript
interface Node {
  id: string; // ATproto record URI
  title: string;
  content: string; // Markdown
  embedding: number[]; // gemini-embedding-001 (768 dims)
  links: {
    to: string; // Node ID
    strength: number; // 0-1, from vector similarity
    userApproved: boolean;
  }[];
  position3D: { x: number; y: number; z: number }; // UMAP coords
  createdAt: Date;
  updatedAt: Date;
  published: boolean; // Published to ATproto PDS
}

interface NodeDraft {
  title: string;
  content: string;
  conversationContext: Message[]; // Last N messages
}

interface NodeSuggestion {
  draft: NodeDraft;
  confidence: number; // AI's confidence in suggestion
}
```

---

## 4. UI Architecture

### Responsive Navigation

#### Mobile (< 768px)
```
┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│         App Content                 │
│                                     │
│                                     │
│                                     │
│                                     │
├─────────────────────────────────────┤
│  [Convo] [Edit] [Galaxy]           │  ← Bottom Bar
└─────────────────────────────────────┘
```

#### Desktop (≥ 768px)
```
┌─────┬──────────────────────────────┐
│     │                              │
│  C  │                              │
│  o  │      App Content             │
│  n  │                              │
│  v  │                              │
│  o  │                              │
│     │                              │
│  E  │                              │
│  d  │                              │
│  i  │                              │
│  t  │                              │
│     │                              │
│  G  │                              │
│  a  │                              │
│  l  │                              │
│  a  │                              │
│  x  │                              │
│  y  │                              │
├─────┴──────────────────────────────┤
│   User Menu                        │
└────────────────────────────────────┘
```

### Component Structure

```
app/
├── layout.tsx (with AppShell from Mantine)
├── page.tsx (redirects to /chat)
└── chat/
    └── page.tsx

components/
├── AppStateMachine.tsx (Provides app-level state context)
├── Navigation/
│   ├── MobileBottomBar.tsx
│   └── DesktopSidebar.tsx
├── Conversation/
│   ├── ConversationView.tsx (existing chat UI)
│   ├── VoiceControls.tsx (extracted from page)
│   ├── TextInput.tsx (extracted from page)
│   └── NodeSuggestionCard.tsx (NEW - shows AI suggestion)
├── Edit/
│   ├── NodeEditor.tsx (NEW - Mantine form with RTE)
│   └── LinkSuggestions.tsx (NEW - shows related nodes)
└── Galaxy/
    ├── GalaxyView.tsx (NEW - R3F canvas)
    ├── NodeMesh.tsx (NEW - 3D node representation)
    └── ConnectionLines.tsx (NEW - edges between nodes)

lib/
├── app-machine.ts (NEW - top-level state machine)
├── conversation-machine.ts (NEW - voice/text toggle)
└── voice-machine.ts (EXISTING ✅)

hooks/
├── useAppMachine.ts (NEW)
├── useConversationMode.ts (NEW)
└── useVoiceMode.ts (EXISTING ✅)
```

---

## 5. Implementation Phases

### **Phase 1: App State Machine Foundation** (Est: 2-3 hours)

#### Tasks:
1. Create `lib/app-machine.ts` with states: convo, edit, galaxy
2. Create `components/AppStateMachine.tsx` provider
3. Update `app/layout.tsx` to wrap with provider
4. Create `hooks/useAppMachine.ts`

**Acceptance Criteria:**
- Can transition between convo/edit/galaxy states
- State persists across page navigations
- Development panel shows current app state

---

### **Phase 2: Navigation UI** (Est: 2-3 hours)

#### Tasks:
1. Create `components/Navigation/MobileBottomBar.tsx`
   - 3 buttons: Convo, Edit, Galaxy
   - Highlights active mode
   - Fixed position at bottom
2. Create `components/Navigation/DesktopSidebar.tsx`
   - Vertical layout
   - Icons + labels
   - Mantine NavLink components
3. Update `app/layout.tsx` with responsive navigation
4. Add Mantine `AppShell` for layout management

**Acceptance Criteria:**
- Navigation shows on all pages
- Active state highlights correctly
- Clicking nav triggers state machine events
- Responsive (bottom bar mobile, sidebar desktop)

---

### **Phase 3: Node Creation Flow** (Est: 4-5 hours)

#### Tasks:
1. Update AI system prompt to suggest nodes
2. Create `components/Conversation/NodeSuggestionCard.tsx`
   - Shows AI-suggested node title/content
   - "Save to Edit" and "Dismiss" buttons
3. Update `conversation-machine.ts` to handle:
   - `SUGGEST_NODE` event from AI response
   - `CREATE_NODE` event from user action
4. Implement node suggestion detection in AI response
5. Wire up "Save to Edit" → transitions to Edit mode

**Acceptance Criteria:**
- AI can suggest creating a node during conversation
- Suggestion appears as card in chat
- Clicking "Save to Edit" transitions to edit mode with draft
- Draft includes conversation context

---

### **Phase 4: Node Editor** (Est: 3-4 hours)

#### Tasks:
1. Create `components/Edit/NodeEditor.tsx`
   - Title input (Mantine TextInput)
   - Content editor (Mantine RichTextEditor or Textarea with markdown preview)
   - "Publish" and "Cancel" buttons
   - "Continue Conversation" button
2. Create `hooks/useNodeEditor.ts` (Mantine form)
3. Implement publish flow:
   - Generate embedding (gemini-embedding-001)
   - Write to ATproto PDS
   - Cache in SurrealDB
4. Create `components/Edit/LinkSuggestions.tsx`
   - Vector search for similar nodes
   - User can approve/reject links

**Acceptance Criteria:**
- Can edit node title and content
- Markdown preview works
- "Publish" writes to ATproto + SurrealDB
- "Cancel" discards changes, returns to convo
- "Continue Conversation" saves draft, returns to convo
- Link suggestions appear based on embeddings

---

### **Phase 5: Galaxy Visualization** (Est: 5-6 hours)

#### Tasks:
1. Implement UMAP dimensionality reduction for nodes
2. Create `components/Galaxy/GalaxyView.tsx`
   - R3F Canvas with OrbitControls
   - Dark space background
   - Camera setup
3. Create `components/Galaxy/NodeMesh.tsx`
   - Sphere for each node
   - Size based on node importance
   - Color based on node age or category
   - On hover: show tooltip with title
   - On click: transition to Edit mode
4. Create `components/Galaxy/ConnectionLines.tsx`
   - Lines between linked nodes
   - Opacity based on link strength
5. Optimize rendering for 100+ nodes

**Acceptance Criteria:**
- Nodes render in 3D space
- Can orbit/zoom camera
- Clicking node opens it in Edit mode
- Links visible between related nodes
- Smooth performance with 100+ nodes
- Responsive (works on mobile)

---

### **Phase 6: Conversation Machine** (Est: 2-3 hours)

#### Tasks:
1. Create `lib/conversation-machine.ts`
   - States: voice, text
   - Invokes `voiceMachine` in voice state
2. Create `hooks/useConversationMode.ts`
3. Refactor `app/chat/page.tsx` to use conversation machine
4. Add voice/text toggle button

**Acceptance Criteria:**
- Can toggle between voice and text modes
- Voice mode properly invokes existing voiceMachine
- State transitions are clean
- Toggle button shows current mode

---

## 6. Remaining Work Breakdown

### By Feature Area

| Feature | Tasks | Est. Hours | Priority |
|---------|-------|-----------|----------|
| **App State Machine** | 4 | 2-3 | P0 (Foundation) |
| **Navigation UI** | 4 | 2-3 | P0 (Foundation) |
| **Node Creation** | 5 | 4-5 | P1 (Core Flow) |
| **Node Editor** | 4 | 3-4 | P1 (Core Flow) |
| **Galaxy Viz** | 5 | 5-6 | P1 (Core Flow) |
| **Conversation Machine** | 4 | 2-3 | P2 (Enhancement) |
| **Testing** | 6 | 3-4 | P0 (Ongoing) |
| **ATproto Integration** | 3 | 2-3 | P1 (Core Flow) |
| **Vector Search** | 2 | 2-3 | P1 (Core Flow) |

### Total Estimation
- **Core Features**: 18-22 hours
- **Testing & Polish**: 3-4 hours
- **Total**: ~21-26 hours of focused development

### By Priority
- **P0 (Must Have)**: App machine, Navigation, Testing infrastructure
- **P1 (Core Value)**: Node creation, Editor, Galaxy, ATproto, Vector search
- **P2 (Enhancement)**: Conversation machine (voice/text toggle)

---

## 7. Technical Considerations

### State Persistence
- Use `localStorage` for app state persistence
- Restore state on page reload
- Clear state on logout

### Performance
- Lazy load Galaxy view (code splitting)
- Virtualize node list in large graphs
- Debounce vector search queries
- Memoize UMAP calculations

### Error Handling
- Graceful fallback if ATproto write fails
- Retry logic for network errors
- User-friendly error messages
- Rollback SurrealDB cache if PDS write fails

### Accessibility
- Keyboard navigation for all UI
- ARIA labels for state machine controls
- Focus management on state transitions
- Screen reader announcements

---

## 8. Success Metrics

### Must Pass Before Launch
- [ ] All magnitude tests pass
- [ ] Full user flow works: Convo → Node suggestion → Edit → Publish → Galaxy → View node
- [ ] No TypeScript errors
- [ ] Mobile and desktop layouts work
- [ ] Data writes to ATproto PDS successfully
- [ ] Vector search returns relevant results

### Quality Bars
- [ ] State transitions are instant (< 100ms)
- [ ] Galaxy renders smoothly (60fps with 100 nodes)
- [ ] Voice mode integration doesn't break
- [ ] No console errors or warnings

---

## 9. Next Steps

### Immediate (Start Here)
1. **Review this plan with user** - Confirm priorities and scope
2. **Create app-machine.ts** - Foundation for everything
3. **Build navigation UI** - Visual feedback for state changes
4. **Implement node suggestion detection** - Start extracting value from conversations

### Short Term (This Week)
- Complete Phase 1 & 2 (App machine + Navigation)
- Begin Phase 3 (Node creation flow)
- Write magnitude tests for new flows

### Medium Term (Next Week)
- Complete Phase 4 (Editor)
- Complete Phase 5 (Galaxy)
- Integration testing

---

## 10. Risk Assessment

### Low Risk ✅
- App state machine (similar to voice machine)
- Navigation UI (standard Mantine components)
- Node editor (forms and RTE)

### Medium Risk ⚠️
- ATproto publishing (OAuth flow works, but write API untested)
- Vector embeddings (API calls should work, but scale unknown)
- UMAP dimensionality reduction (library integration)

### High Risk 🔴
- Galaxy performance on mobile (R3F can be heavy)
- Node suggestion detection from AI (prompt engineering needed)
- Link suggestion accuracy (depends on embedding quality)

### Mitigation Strategies
- **Galaxy**: Start with simple spheres, add detail later. Implement LOD.
- **Node Detection**: Use structured output from Gemini if freeform fails
- **Links**: Allow manual link creation as fallback

---

## Appendix A: File Tree (Post-Implementation)

```
app/
├── layout.tsx (AppShell + AppStateMachine provider)
├── page.tsx (redirect to /chat)
├── chat/page.tsx (Conversation view)
├── edit/page.tsx (Node editor view)
└── galaxy/page.tsx (3D visualization view)

components/
├── AppStateMachine.tsx
├── Navigation/
│   ├── MobileBottomBar.tsx
│   └── DesktopSidebar.tsx
├── Conversation/
│   ├── ConversationView.tsx
│   ├── VoiceControls.tsx
│   ├── TextInput.tsx
│   └── NodeSuggestionCard.tsx
├── Edit/
│   ├── NodeEditor.tsx
│   └── LinkSuggestions.tsx
└── Galaxy/
    ├── GalaxyView.tsx
    ├── NodeMesh.tsx
    └── ConnectionLines.tsx

lib/
├── app-machine.ts (NEW)
├── conversation-machine.ts (NEW)
└── voice-machine.ts (EXISTING ✅)

hooks/
├── useAppMachine.ts (NEW)
├── useConversationMode.ts (NEW)
└── useVoiceMode.ts (EXISTING ✅)

api/
├── nodes/route.ts (CRUD for nodes)
├── embeddings/route.ts (Generate embeddings)
└── links/route.ts (Vector search for suggestions)
```