# Phase 1: Foundations & Doctrine - Context

**Gathered:** 2026-05-08
**Status:** Ready for planning

<domain>
## Phase Boundary

Land every retrofit-hostile decision before any feature code: project scaffold (Phaser 4 + React 19 + Vite + TypeScript via the official template), versioned save framework (IndexedDB + localStorage fallback + lz-string + checksum + migration chain + last-3 snapshots + Base64 export/import + `navigator.storage.persist()`), content build pipeline (`/content/**/*.{md,yaml,ink}` → Zod-validated → per-Season compiled JSON), AI asset pipeline floor (provenance schema + CI gate + sample asset proving the gate refuses unprovenanced material + a 10–20-image north-star reference set), ESLint boundary rules enforcing `src/sim/` ↔ `src/render/`/`src/ui/` firewall, written anti-FOMO doctrine, written Season 7 end-state design (principle-level).

**Phase 1 stops at the 5 success criteria from ROADMAP.md.** No `BigQty` wrapper, no Zustand store skeleton, no tick scheduler — those are Phase 2's first tasks. The discipline this phase establishes is what makes Phase 2 possible without rework.

**Out of scope for Phase 1 (deferred to Phase 2 or later):** any user-facing feature code, the begin-gesture / `AudioContext.resume()` screen (AEST-07 lives in Phase 2), Howler bus setup, simulation tick loop, garden render scene, BigQty wrapper, Zustand store contents.
</domain>

<decisions>
## Implementation Decisions

### AI Asset Pipeline Depth
- **D-01:** End-of-Phase-1 north-star reference set is **10–20 hand-curated AI generations** committed to the repo with full provenance metadata. Generated honestly with whatever tool was used (likely Claude/SD/Midjourney/etc. on a per-asset basis); the `model_id` and `checkpoint_hash` fields record what was actually used.
- **D-02:** **Tool/vendor choice deferred** — Phase 1 commits to the *schema* and *gate*, not a vendor. Tool consolidation happens in Phase 5 when production volume kicks in. This is consistent with `AEST-08`'s wording (pinned model + provenance) — the *pinning* can happen later as long as every shipped asset records what produced it.
- **D-03:** **Curation gate is minimum-viable.** Sidecar `name.provenance.json` per asset under `/assets/` carrying the 6 required fields (`model_id`, `checkpoint_hash`, `prompt`, `seed`, `sampler`, `params`); CI script walks the tree and fails the build on any missing/invalid sidecar. Sample refused asset under `/assets/__samples__/refused/` (no sidecar) proves the gate works. **No** curator workflow, **no** two-stage promotion directory, **no** pre-commit hook, **no** CURATION-LOG.md ceremony. The user explicitly rejected heavier alternatives — keep it light.

### Save Schema v1 Scope
- **D-04:** v1 save payload is **minimal** — only what Phase 2 will write (garden tile state, plant growth data, harvested fragment IDs, `lastTickAt`, basic settings). It does NOT pre-allocate slots for Roothold, currentSeason, storyFlags, etc. Phase 4 ships a real `migrate_v1_to_v2` when Season-prestige state actually exists.
- **D-05:** Round-trip migration test in Phase 1 uses a **synthetic v0 → v1 migration** as the proof that the chain works. v0 is a tiny made-up prior schema (e.g., `{garden: []}`) used only to exercise the migration framework end-to-end. The first *real* migration is v1 → v2 in Phase 4.
- **D-06:** Save format `{schemaVersion, payload, checksum}` is locked from CLAUDE.md / ROADMAP.md. Checksum algorithm and exact migration registry shape are Claude's discretion.

### Doctrine Docs Concreteness
- **D-07:** Anti-FOMO doctrine is a **consolidation document** in `.planning/` (or `docs/`) of the constraints already scattered across PROJECT.md (Out of Scope), REQUIREMENTS.md (UX-13 + Out of Scope table), CLAUDE.md (Hard Thematic Constraints), and the research SUMMARY.md banner concerns. It explicitly enumerates the banned patterns (no daily login bonuses, no streaks, no limited-time content, no nag notifications, no loss-aversion copy, no rewarded ads, no FOMO push notifications) and is written to be referenced at every UX/monetization design review going forward. **No** lint rule on UX strings — the doctrine is enforced by review, not code.
- **D-08:** Season 7 end-state design is **principle-level**, not treatment-level. The doc answers: (a) what does *rest state* mean (no new fragments, no new currency tiers — the player can return to a finite world they have understood); (b) what is the finite Roothold ceiling tied to (the count of authored fragments / Season count — concrete tie to authored content, not an arbitrary number); (c) what tonal register does the coda live in. It does **not** include the binary-choice scene text, both ending paragraphs, Lura's final line, or the credits/coda screen treatment — those are authored in Phase 7.
- **D-09:** Both doctrine documents live under `.planning/` (alongside PROJECT.md / ROADMAP.md / REQUIREMENTS.md), not under `docs/`. They are project-internal design constraints, not user-facing documentation.

### Project Scaffold Layout
- **D-10:** Use `npm create @phaserjs/game@latest` (React + Vite + TypeScript template) as the starting point. Restructure `src/` to expose the boundary directories explicitly: `src/sim/`, `src/render/`, `src/ui/`, plus supporting `src/save/`, `src/content/` (loader/types), `src/audio/`, `src/store/` as siblings. This gives ESLint clean targets to enforce against and matches the firewall language in CLAUDE.md.
- **D-11:** Authored content (`/content/**/*.{md,yaml,ink}`) lives at **repo root**, alongside `src/`, `assets/`, `.planning/`. Confirms CLAUDE.md.
- **D-12:** `/assets/` (with provenance sidecars) lives at repo root, alongside `/content/`. Single package, **no monorepo / no workspaces** — solo dev.

### Claude's Discretion
- Exact ESLint boundary rule choice (`eslint-plugin-boundaries` vs `eslint-plugin-import` `no-restricted-paths`) — pick whichever has cleanest config.
- Checksum algorithm (CRC32, simple hash, etc.) — any deterministic, fast hash works; record choice in CONTEXT for Phase 2's verifier.
- Migration registry shape (chain of named functions, registry object, etc.) — Claude designs.
- `idb` wrapper API surface inside `src/save/` — Claude designs.
- Vitest / Playwright config files, `vite.config.ts` boundary plugin choices — Claude designs.
- Where the Zod content schemas live (`src/content/schemas/`) and how the build step is invoked (Vite plugin vs separate `npm run build:content` script) — Claude designs.
- Specific images for the 10–20 north-star generations (Claude can produce prompts/specs; user can accept, reject, or replace).

</decisions>

<canonical_refs>
## Canonical References

**Downstream agents MUST read these before planning or implementing.**

### Project-Level Source of Truth
- `.planning/PROJECT.md` — Story bible synthesis, core value ("every idle mechanic must function as a metaphor"), hard thematic constraints, Out of Scope, Key Decisions table.
- `.planning/REQUIREMENTS.md` — 77 v1 requirements with REQ-IDs. Phase 1 owns: CORE-01, CORE-04, CORE-05, CORE-06, CORE-07, CORE-08, CORE-09, CORE-10, PIPE-01, PIPE-03, PIPE-05, PIPE-06, AEST-08, AEST-09, STRY-09, UX-13.
- `.planning/ROADMAP.md` §"Phase 1: Foundations & Doctrine" — 5 success criteria.
- `.planning/STATE.md` — current position, accumulated decisions, banner concerns.
- `CLAUDE.md` — stack lock, architectural firewall, banner concerns 1–10, hard thematic constraints, code style rules.

### Research Layer
- `.planning/research/SUMMARY.md` — stack at a glance, banner concerns, Phase 1 rationale.
- `.planning/research/STACK.md` — full stack rationale (Phaser 4, React 19, Vite, TS, Zustand, break_eternity.js, Ink/inkjs, Howler.js, idb + lz-string, Zod, Vitest, Playwright).
- `.planning/research/ARCHITECTURE.md` — three-layer firewall (sim → application → presentation), tick scheduler shape, save format `{schemaVersion, payload, checksum}`.
- `.planning/research/PITFALLS.md` — 14 critical pitfalls; Phase 1 directly addresses #1 (story-ends-but-loop-doesn't), #3 (save format untenable), #5 (AI style drift), #8 (storage eviction), #9 (FOMO), #10 (content/code divergence).
- `.planning/research/FEATURES.md` — must-have / should-have / defer / anti-feature classification.

### Phase 1 Specific Inputs
- `npm create @phaserjs/game@latest` (React + Vite + TypeScript template) — official Phaser 4 starter; researcher should confirm current template structure.
- `idb` library docs — IndexedDB wrapper of choice.
- `lz-string` docs — save compression.
- `zod` docs — content + save schema validation.
- `navigator.storage.persist()` — MDN reference for browser-quota persistence.

### Phase 1 Outputs (will be created during this phase)
- `.planning/anti-fomo-doctrine.md` — consolidated banned-pattern list and review checklist.
- `.planning/season-7-end-state.md` — principle-level rest-state contract, Roothold ceiling rationale, tonal register.
- `assets/north-stars/` — 10–20 hand-curated AI generations with provenance sidecars.
- `assets/__samples__/refused/` — sample asset(s) with no sidecar, used to prove the CI gate refuses them.

</canonical_refs>

<code_context>
## Existing Code Insights

No source code exists yet — repo is initial state with `.planning/`, `.git/`, `.claude/`, and `CLAUDE.md` only. Phase 1 introduces the project scaffold from scratch.

### Reusable Assets
- None yet (greenfield). Phaser 4 official template provides the React + Vite + TS skeleton.

### Established Patterns
- `.planning/PROJECT.md` / `REQUIREMENTS.md` / `ROADMAP.md` already follow the GSD pattern; new doctrine docs (`anti-fomo-doctrine.md`, `season-7-end-state.md`) should sit alongside them in `.planning/` for visibility.

### Integration Points
- ESLint boundary rule must integrate with the Vite-template-provided ESLint config (don't replace it — extend it).
- Vitest + Playwright will be added to the template (the official Phaser template doesn't ship them).
- The Zod schema directory and build step must be wired so Phase 2 can drop content files into `/content/` and have them compile without rework.
- Provenance CI validator runs alongside (not inside) the Vite build — likely a `scripts/validate-assets.ts` invoked from `package.json` and run in CI.

</code_context>

<specifics>
## Specific Ideas

- **Tone of feedback:** the user is solo, prefers minimum-viable infrastructure for support systems (pipelines, CI gates, doctrine docs). No ceremonial workflows. When AI asset pipeline questions implied a heavy curator workflow, user pushed back: "we are vastly overcomplicating this … I don't really care all that much" about pipeline shape.
- **Doctrine philosophy:** doctrine docs are *referenced at design reviews*, not enforced by tooling. Anti-FOMO is a banned-pattern list the human consults; Season 7 end-state is a principle the human consults when designing economy. No lint rule, no CI check on UX strings.
- **Save migrations are real but small:** the framework must work in Phase 1 (success criterion #2 demands a round-trip migration test), but the *real* migrations start at Phase 4. Phase 1 ships the chain with a synthetic v0 demo migration.
- **No premature scaffolding:** Phase 1 stops at the 5 success criteria. Phase 2 owns BigQty, Zustand store, tick scheduler — building them now risks designing for code that doesn't exist yet.

</specifics>

<deferred>
## Deferred Ideas

- **AI vendor lock-in / model pinning** — Tool choice (local SD + watercolor LoRA, Scenario, Midjourney with licensed plan, etc.) deferred to early Phase 5 when production-volume asset generation begins. PROJECT.md / REQUIREMENTS.md AEST-08's "pinned model" requirement is satisfied honestly per-asset for now.
- **`BigQty` wrapper around break_eternity.js** — Phase 2's first task. CLAUDE.md says "from day one"; for this project, "day one of feature code" = Phase 2.
- **Empty Zustand store skeleton** — Phase 2 designs the store as part of wiring scenes ↔ UI.
- **Tick scheduler / monotonic clock** — Phase 2 (CORE-11 anchors on this).
- **Season 7 treatment-level details** (binary-choice scene text, Lura's final line, credits/coda screen) — Phase 7 authoring.
- **Anti-FOMO lint rule on UX strings** — explicitly rejected; doctrine is enforced by review, not code.
- **Curator workflow / two-stage asset promotion / pre-commit hook on assets** — explicitly rejected in favor of minimum-viable sidecar + CI validator.
- **Visual regression testing across asset library** — PIPE-04, owned by Phase 8.

</deferred>

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*Phase: 1-foundations-and-doctrine*
*Context gathered: 2026-05-08*