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+# Phase 4: BBS Polish and Live Content - Context
+
+**Gathered:** 2026-02-28
+**Status:** Ready for planning
+
+<domain>
+## Phase Boundary
+
+Add the BBS aesthetic differentiators and live filesystem watching that make the experience feel like a real BBS. Specifically: ANSI art splash screen on the index page, file timestamps and size in the status bar, a vault-wide directory listing, and live content auto-refresh when files change on disk.
+
+</domain>
+
+<decisions>
+## Implementation Decisions
+
+### ANSI art splash screen
+- Art loaded from a vault file named `splash.txt` in the vault root
+- Colorful ANSI art style using the CGA palette — multi-color block characters
+- If `splash.txt` is missing, show index.md normally — graceful degradation, no fallback banner
+- Splash is rendered above index.md content (header + content below it)
+
+### Timestamp & page metadata
+- Last-modified timestamp displayed in the status bar (not inline in content)
+- BBS-style format: "Last modified: Feb 25, 2026"
+- Also show file size alongside timestamp, e.g. "Last modified: Feb 25, 2026 | 2.4 KB"
+- Status bar layout: left = breadcrumb, right = metadata + keyboard hints
+
+### Directory listing
+- Accessed via a special `[[Directory]]` wiki-link (not a keyboard shortcut)
+- Tree view display showing folder hierarchy with indentation
+- Entries show name only — no timestamps or sizes in the listing itself
+- Entries are navigable using existing Tab-cycle link model (Tab between entries, Enter to open)
+- Directory is a virtual page that participates in navigation history
+
+### Live reload
+- Silent refresh — no visual indicator, content updates seamlessly
+- Scroll position preserved on refresh — user stays where they are
+- Watch scope: current file + vault directory (detect new/removed files for directory listing)
+- Short debounce (~300ms) to avoid flickering from rapid saves
+
+### Claude's Discretion
+- ANSI art parsing implementation (how to interpret color codes from splash.txt)
+- Exact status bar spacing and truncation strategy when terminal is narrow
+- Tree view indentation characters and styling
+- notify crate configuration and event filtering
+- Debounce implementation details
+
+</decisions>
+
+<specifics>
+## Specific Ideas
+
+- splash.txt uses colorful ANSI art in the CGA palette tradition — think classic BBS login screens with block characters
+- Directory listing uses the same Tab-cycle navigation model already built in Phase 3 — entries behave like links
+- The [[Directory]] link is a magic wiki-link that the vault resolver recognizes specially (not a real file)
+
+</specifics>
+
+<deferred>
+## Deferred Ideas
+
+None — discussion stayed within phase scope
+
+</deferred>
+
+---
+
+*Phase: 04-bbs-polish-and-live-content*
+*Context gathered: 2026-02-28*