---
phase: 03-navigation-and-links
plan: "02"
subsystem: app
tags:
  - navigation
  - history
  - link-cycling
  - breadcrumb
  - tab-navigation
dependency_graph:
  requires:
    - 03-01 (LinkRecord from render_markdown, resolve_wiki_link, resolve_standard_link)
    - 02-vault-core-and-rendering (vault.rs load_document, DocumentState)
  provides:
    - Browser-style navigation history with scroll and link state restoration
    - Tab/Shift-Tab link cycling with wrap-around and auto-scroll
    - Enter to follow links (wiki-link and standard link resolution)
    - Backspace and Alt+Left/Right back/forward navigation
    - Draw-time REVERSED modifier for selected link highlighting
    - Breadcrumb status bar with back/forward indicators and link counter
  affects:
    - End-user experience (core interactive vault browsing)
tech_stack:
  added: []
  patterns:
    - "HistoryEntry snapshot pattern: path + scroll_offset + selected_link saved per navigation"
    - "Browser-style forward history truncation on navigate_to after going back"
    - "Draw-time mutation: lines.clone() + REVERSED applied only for current frame, stored lines unchanged"
    - "Auto-scroll centering: link_line.saturating_sub(half) with max_scroll clamp"
    - "Breadcrumb via Path::components() map with .md suffix strip and > join"
key_files:
  modified:
    - path: src/app.rs
      role: "Added HistoryEntry struct, Phase 3 navigation fields on App, navigate_to/back/forward, follow_selected_link, select_next/prev_link, scroll_to_selected_link, draw-time REVERSED modifier, build_breadcrumb, updated draw_status_bar with breadcrumb and nav indicators"
    - path: src/main.rs
      role: "Updated initial render to capture link_records, pass link_records and current_path to App::new()"
decisions:
  - "Task 1 and Task 2 implemented together in single app.rs rewrite — draw-time REVERSED and breadcrumb are part of the same cohesive navigation system"
  - "Double-REVERSED fix: spans overlapping link range get modifier via both col range check and overlap check"
  - "navigate_to does NOT push history on Missing/ReadError — user stays on current page conceptually"
  - "navigate_back/forward re-loads from disk (no cache) per research recommendation"
metrics:
  duration_seconds: 198
  completed_date: "2026-02-28"
  tasks_completed: 2
  tasks_total: 2
  files_modified: 2
---

# Phase 03 Plan 02: Navigation, History, Tab-Cycling, and Breadcrumb Status Bar Summary

**One-liner:** Browser-style navigation history with Tab/Shift-Tab link cycling, Enter-to-follow, Backspace/Alt+arrows back/forward, draw-time REVERSED link highlight, and breadcrumb status bar wired into the App event loop.

## What Was Built

### Task 1: Navigation state, history, link cycling, and navigate_to (commit d705313)

Implemented the complete navigation system in `src/app.rs` and updated `src/main.rs`.

**`HistoryEntry` struct** (new, in `src/app.rs`):
```rust
struct HistoryEntry {
    path: String,           // vault-relative path
    scroll_offset: u16,     // scroll position at time of navigation away
    selected_link: Option<usize>, // selected link index at time of navigation
}
```

**Phase 3 fields added to `App`:**
- `history: Vec<HistoryEntry>` — browser-style navigation stack
- `history_index: usize` — current position in history
- `link_records: Vec<crate::renderer::LinkRecord>` — links from current render
- `selected_link: Option<usize>` — currently highlighted link
- `current_path: String` — vault-relative path for breadcrumb and link resolution

**`App::new()` signature updated:**
Now accepts `link_records: Vec<LinkRecord>` and `current_path: String`. Initializes `history` with one entry for the initial page at scroll 0, no selected link.

**Navigation methods:**

- `navigate_to(vault_relative)`: Saves current state to history, truncates forward history (browser fork), loads + renders new document, pushes new history entry. On Missing/ReadError, shows error screen without pushing to history.
- `navigate_back()`: Decrements `history_index`, saves current scroll/link state, re-loads and re-renders target document with restored scroll and link selection.
- `navigate_forward()`: Increments `history_index`, same re-load pattern as navigate_back.
- `follow_selected_link()`: Reads `link_records[selected_link]`, dispatches to `resolve_wiki_link` (for wiki-links) or `resolve_standard_link` (for standard links), then calls `navigate_to`.
- `select_next_link()` / `select_prev_link()`: Cycle with wrap-around (`% len`), then call `scroll_to_selected_link()`.
- `scroll_to_selected_link()`: If selected link is outside viewport, centers it: `link_line.saturating_sub(half)`, clamped to `max_scroll()`.

**Key bindings added** (in `handle_key`, after 'q', before scroll keys):
```
Tab       → select_next_link()
BackTab   → select_prev_link()
Enter     → follow_selected_link()
Backspace → navigate_back()
Alt+Left  → navigate_back()
Alt+Right → navigate_forward()
```

**`handle_resize()` updated**: Now captures `link_records` from re-render, validates `selected_link` still in range, uses `Some(&self.config.vault_path)` for render-time broken wiki-link detection.

**`main.rs` updated**:
- `render_markdown` call now passes `Some(&app_config.vault_path)` for broken wiki-link detection at startup
- Destructures `(lines, link_records)` from render result
- `App::new()` call includes `initial_link_records` and `"index.md".to_string()`

### Task 2: Draw-time link selection and breadcrumb status bar (included in d705313)

Both draw-time features were implemented together with Task 1 in the single coherent rewrite.

**Draw-time REVERSED modifier** (in `draw()` → `DocumentState::Loaded` branch):
- Calls `lines.clone()` to get a mutable copy for the current frame only (stored lines unchanged)
- Walks `line.spans.iter_mut()`, tracking cumulative `col` (chars-count)
- Applies `Modifier::REVERSED` to any span whose column range overlaps `[record.col_offset, record.col_offset + record.span_len)`
- Uses both exact-range and overlap checks to handle multi-span link brackets

**`build_breadcrumb(vault_relative)` helper** (private fn, bottom of app.rs):
- Iterates `Path::components()`, strips `.md` suffix from each component
- Joins with ` > ` separator
- Examples: `"index.md"` → `"index"`, `"guides/getting-started.md"` → `"guides > getting-started"`

**`draw_status_bar()` rewritten**:
- Left side: ` {breadcrumb} ` from `build_breadcrumb(&self.current_path)`
- Quit prompt mode: breadcrumb left + yellow bold REVERSED warning right (existing behavior preserved)
- Normal mode right side (space-separated):
  - `< Back` if `history_index > 0`
  - `Link N/M` if `selected_link` is Some
  - `Forward >` if `history_index < history.len() - 1`
  - Keyboard hints: `Tab:Links  Enter:Go  Bksp:Back  q:Quit` (or Ctrl+C×2 for login shell)
- `#[allow(dead_code)]` removed from `config` field (now actively used)

## Verification Results

1. `cargo build` succeeds — zero errors, 2 pre-existing warnings (init_logging and is_within_vault — unrelated to this plan)
2. All required functions exist in src/app.rs: HistoryEntry, navigate_to, navigate_back, navigate_forward, follow_selected_link, select_next_link, select_prev_link, scroll_to_selected_link, build_breadcrumb
3. main.rs passes link_records and current_path to App::new()
4. Key bindings in correct match order: Ctrl+C > q > Tab > BackTab > Enter > Backspace > Alt+Left > Alt+Right > j/k/Down/Up > PgDn/PgUp > _ catch-all

## Deviations from Plan

### Implementation Notes

**1. Tasks 1 and 2 implemented together:**
- **Found during:** Implementation
- **Note:** The draw-time REVERSED modifier and breadcrumb status bar are tightly coupled to the same `App` struct fields (link_records, selected_link, history, history_index, current_path) added in Task 1. Implementing them in a single coherent rewrite produced cleaner code than two separate partial passes.
- **Impact:** Single commit covers both tasks. All required functionality is present.

**2. Span overlap detection extended:**
- **Found during:** Task 2 implementation
- **Issue:** The plan's span-walking code only checked `col >= col_offset && col < col_offset + span_len`, which misses spans that start before `col_offset` but extend into the link range.
- **Fix:** Added a second condition `col < col_offset + span_len && col + span_chars > col_offset` to catch overlapping spans.
- **Files modified:** src/app.rs (draw method)

## Self-Check: PASSED

Files verified:
- `src/app.rs`: contains `struct HistoryEntry`, `navigate_to`, `navigate_back`, `navigate_forward`, `follow_selected_link`, `select_next_link`, `select_prev_link`, `scroll_to_selected_link`, `build_breadcrumb`, REVERSED modifier in draw(), breadcrumb in draw_status_bar()
- `src/main.rs`: passes `Some(&app_config.vault_path)` to render_markdown, destructures `link_records`, calls `App::new()` with 6 arguments

Commits verified:
- `d705313`: feat(03-02): add navigation history, link cycling, and navigate_to to App