docs: record the #205 scrollback mechanisms and the shipped fix plan

Update the full-scrollback replay invariant (per-session full=1 Set plus
the scroll-to-top re-pull), add a new invariants section covering the two
strip flavors and the wheel/touch forwarding rules, sync the CLAUDE.md
Key Patterns bullets, and commit the fix plan with a status header
describing what shipped and where it deliberately diverged (narrow strip
plus re-pull instead of tmux mouse on; viewport-at-bottom gate dropped).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
Codeman maintainer
2026-08-07 05:05:42 +02:00
parent a7a1cef3d6
commit ad2ca9b575
3 changed files with 122 additions and 2 deletions
+7 -1
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@@ -58,7 +58,13 @@ Implementation detail extracted from `CLAUDE.md` so that file stays small enough
### Full-scrollback replay
**Full-scrollback replay** (COD-164/#148): `GET /api/sessions/:id/terminal?full=1` returns the ENTIRE tmux scrollback (capture-pane `-e -S -<lines>` bounded by the configured history limit, explicit `maxBuffer` from the terminal-history config, early byte-cap before normalization, CRLF-normalized for shell panes). On success the capture is returned ALONE (`source='mux-full-history'` — it supersedes the byte buffer; no duplication). Only the FIRST buffer load after a page load requests `full=1` (one-shot `_initialFullBufferLoad` flag in app.js); tab switches keep the cheap `?tail=` visible-frame path. Tests: `test/tmux-capture-full-history.test.ts`, `test/tmux-scrollback-eol.test.ts`.
**Full-scrollback replay** (COD-164/#148, reworked for #205): `GET /api/sessions/:id/terminal?full=1` returns the ENTIRE tmux scrollback (capture-pane `-e -S -<lines>` bounded by the configured history limit, explicit `maxBuffer` from the terminal-history config, early byte-cap before normalization, CRLF-normalized for shell panes). On success the capture is returned ALONE (`source='mux-full-history'` — it supersedes the byte buffer; no duplication). The first load OF EACH SESSION per page load requests `full=1` (`_fullHistoryLoaded` Set in app.js — the old one-shot `_initialFullBufferLoad` flag was consumed by whichever tab auto-selected, leaving every other tab one frame of history); later switches keep the cheap `?tail=` visible-frame path. On top of that, scrolling up while already at the TOP of the buffer re-pulls `full=1` on demand (`_maybeRefetchFullHistory`, 4s per-session cooldown, in-flight + tab-switch guards, viewport position held across the replay). The re-pull exists because xterm's buffer is only a WINDOW onto tmux's history and two things shrink it: tmux coalesces bursty output into pane REPAINTS that overwrite rows instead of emitting linefeeds (measured: a 60-line burst added 1 row of browser scrollback and destroyed 34), and a tab switch replays only the visible frame. tmux's own history is intact throughout — the browser just has to ask for it again. On-demand rather than automatic because at a 100k history limit the capture can be megabytes. Tests: `test/tmux-capture-full-history.test.ts`, `test/tmux-scrollback-eol.test.ts`.
### Terminal scrollback: strip flavors and wheel/touch forwarding
**Two strip flavors, one carry** (#205, `session.ts:_handleTerminalOutput`): the FULL strip (`isAltScreenStripMode` = codex/claude/gemini) removes alt-screen toggles, `3J`, and mouse-tracking DECSETs. Every other mode (shell/opencode/antigravity) gets the NARROW strip (`isMuxAltScreenOnlyStripMode`) — alt-screen toggles ONLY — and only when tmux-backed (`useMux`). Rationale: the tmux CLIENT emits `smcup` as its first bytes at attach, before any program runs, parking xterm in the scrollback-less alternate buffer for the whole session (touch scrolling no-ops; xterm's own wheel handler converts the wheel to Up/Down arrows = readline history cycling — both #205 symptoms). tmux never forwards a pane program's alt-screen toggles to its client (it repaints instead; measured — vim/less inside a pane emit zero to the client), so the only thing the narrow strip ever removes is tmux's own smcup. It keeps `3J` (a user's `clear` is a deliberate scrollback wipe) and the mouse DECSETs (tmux passes those through even with `mouse off`; stripping them would break htop/vim mouse support). ⚠️ The `useMux` gate is load-bearing: `startShell()`/`startInteractive()` fall back to a DIRECT PTY when mux creation fails, and there the inner program's own `?1049h` really does reach xterm — stripping it would break vim/less/htop for real. The replay path (`session-routes.ts`, via `session.usesMux`) applies the same narrow branch; the frontend `_sessionUsesServerMouseStrip()` mirror stays claude/codex/gemini because only the FULL strip touches mouse DECSETs. The chunk-boundary carry (`_altScreenSeqCarry`) runs for both flavors. Tests: `test/claude-scrollback-strip.test.ts`.
**Wheel/touch forwarding is NOT gated on viewport-at-bottom** (#205, `terminal-ui.js:_shouldForwardWheelToApp`): for sessions verified to scroll their own transcript on SGR wheel reports (codex, claude ≥ 2.1.187 — version via the local/docker/remote `--version` probes), the plain wheel AND touch drags forward as coalesced SGR reports (`_forwardScrollToApp` → `_sendSyntheticSgrWheel`, 40ms batches, 5-tick cap, 512-byte queue bound). It used to gate on the viewport being at the bottom so both scrollbacks stayed reachable, but a repaint-mode CLI keeps NO terminal scrollback of its own — xterm's buffer holds only replayed repaint frames, so local scrolling drags the CLI's pinned prompt box up the screen over stale frames; and `scrollToLastNonEmptyLine()` routinely parked the viewport off-bottom, silently pinning the wheel to local. Forwarding now snaps the viewport home first (SGR coordinates address the LIVE screen — a report computed from a scrolled-up viewport would hit-test the wrong row). Local scrollback remains on Shift+wheel and the `terminalWheelLocalScrollback` opt-out (both also cover touch via the shared gate; touch has no Shift, so the setting is its only local pin). `_wheelScrollLines()` normalizes `deltaMode` (Firefox fires LINE deltas ≈3/notch — read as pixels that rounded to 0 and fell to the ±1 fallback, ~4× too slow; PAGE deltas scale by `terminal.rows`) while keeping the #154 Shift-axis trap (macOS trackpads put Shift+scroll magnitude on deltaX). Tests: `test/terminal-touch-tap.test.ts`.
### Run launch synchronization