Phase 4: BBS Polish and Live Content - Context

Gathered: 2026-02-28 Status: Ready for planning

## 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.

## 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

## 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)

## Deferred Ideas

None — discussion stayed within phase scope

Phase: 04-bbs-polish-and-live-content Context gathered: 2026-02-28

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