wip-rs/crates/wip-tui/README.md

wip-tui

wip-tui is an interactive terminal client for exploring and operating a WIP Worldspace. It is a presentation and terminal-interaction layer over wip-client: Known Space, request identity, validators, immutable operation call contexts, stale transitions, response classification, and bounded histories remain owned by the client runtime.

Start

Supply one http or https endpoint:

cargo run -p wip-tui -- --endpoint https://wip.example.test/api/wip

The same canonical endpoint is used unchanged to construct requests, perform HTTP I/O, and partition the client cache. WIP over HTTP does not define separate HTTPS and development-HTTP profiles; URL scheme, TLS, certificate, authentication, and proxy policy belong to the HTTP implementation and deployment.

The endpoint may instead be supplied as WIP_ENDPOINT. A non-secret cache partition identity may be supplied with --security-context NAME or WIP_SECURITY_CONTEXT. The default request timeout is 30 seconds and can be changed with --timeout SECONDS.

An Authorization header can be read from an environment variable without placing its value in arguments, application state, errors, snapshots, or debug output:

export WIP_AUTHORIZATION='Bearer …'
cargo run -p wip-tui -- https://wip.example.test/wip

Use --authorization-env OTHER_VARIABLE to select another variable. The value is redacted from Debug and is never rendered. Shell and process environment security remain the operator's responsibility.

Filesystem server example

In one terminal:

mkdir -p /tmp/wip-example
printf 'hello world' >/tmp/wip-example/notes.txt
cargo run -p wip-fs-server -- \
  --root /tmp/wip-example \
  --listen 127.0.0.1:8080 \
  --base-path /wip \
  --read-write

In another:

cargo run -p wip-tui -- http://127.0.0.1:8080/wip

Expand /, select notes.txt, focus the Interface/Operation pane, and choose read; descriptors advertised by visible Objects are normally prefetched already. The editor labels offset and length as optional; leave both blank to read the bounded file. Bytes results are shown as a bounded hex preview. For replace, enter contents as RFC 4648 base64—for example, dXBkYXRlZA== for updated—then review the target Entry, interface reference, operation, and value on the confirmation screen before pressing Enter again.

Keyboard bindings

All required actions are keyboard-accessible.

Key	Action
↑/k, ↓/j	Move within the focused tree, operation list, history, or editor
→/l, Enter	Expand a tree node lazily; load/select an interface or operation
←/h	Collapse a node or move to its parent
Tab	Cycle Tree → Selected Entry → Operations → History
r	Reobserve the selected Entry and its direct subtree
c	Cancel the newest retrieval; a dispatched operation is never presented as canceled
R	Reconnect after connection failure
?	Open help
Esc	Close a modal or return to the tree
q, Ctrl-C	Exit and restore the terminal

Inside an argument editor, printable keys are field input, arrows move fields, Backspace edits, Enter validates, and Esc cancels. The confirmation screen requires a second explicit Enter (or e) to execute once. There is no operation auto-retry.

Screen model

• Worldspace tree starts at /, lazily materializes expanded nodes, and prefetches children for each visible Object so emptiness and the next expansion frontier are known without selecting that Object first. Text labels distinguish unloaded, loading, empty, stale, and failed state; color is supplemental. Every successful expansion is complete for its requested depth.
• Selected Entry shows only public WIP path, object name, description, ordered interfaces, and freshness. Validators, credentials, Host internals, and backend paths are deliberately hidden. If current metadata disappears, old text is not presented as current.
• Interfaces / Operations identifies every operation by (interface scope, interface name, operation name) and explicitly displays scope=… and name=…. Structured references remain intact in selection, acquisition, and call state; display labels are never parsed back into references. Descriptor lookahead follows fresh visible Objects, shares the client's in-flight/cache bounds, and never retries retained failures implicitly. The pane shows descriptor documentation, ordered parameters, required/optional status, and result types.
• Argument editor supports Unit, Boolean, Integer, Number, String, base64 Bytes, Record, List, Entry, Enum, Union, Json, and descriptor-local named types. Record, List, Union, and Json values use JSON syntax. Union input is {"$case":"name","value":…} when the selected case has a payload. Diagnostics remain attached to the failing field.
• Recent results / diagnostics explicitly distinguishes success, Host failure, invalid protocol response, transport failure, client-local failure, and unknown operation outcome. Large values, bytes, nesting, and control characters are bounded before rendering. Only descriptor-declared Entry results become navigation targets; path-looking String or Json values do not.

Terminals below 48×14 show a minimum-size screen instead of attempting the full layout.

Validator and failure behavior

Object and interface validators are observed and attached automatically by wip-client; users neither copy nor edit them. A successful operation may update the cached Object validator but does not by itself make the Object observation stale. Validator mismatch, interface mismatch, OperationOutcomeUnknown, undecodable post-dispatch responses, and post-dispatch timeout/disconnect are displayed using the runtime's authoritative transition.

For an unknown outcome, the UI states that execution or side effects may have occurred, marks the related Entry stale, and tells the user to refresh. Refreshing does not recreate the call: the user must select the operation, review fresh input, and explicitly execute again. The same no-auto-retry rule applies after validator or interface mismatch.

Retrieval work runs on I/O workers while the input/render loop continues. Responses return with the original RequestId, so an old completion cannot populate another Entry's details. Canceling a retrieval records a local cancellation and drops its late response. Once an operation crosses dispatch, cancellation is never described as undoing execution.

Tests

The library form keeps reducers and rendering independent of a real terminal. ratatui::TestBackend snapshots cover tree/detail/result states and the minimum-size fallback. Unit tests cover reducer focus, selection, modal confirmation, key translation, descriptor inputs, bounded values, and descriptor-directed Entry results. The real HTTP integration test launches wip-fs-server on a temporary root and covers tree selection, reads, validator-protected replacement, external stale-validator rejection without retry, explicit refresh/re-execution, and symlink confinement.