# The Mews

## Project layout

- `app/` — Flutter application (main codebase)
- `mews-spec/` — Mews Profile definition files
- `nix-android-sdk/` — Nix flake providing the Android SDK for devbox

Flutter version: `3.41.9-sdk-links` (keep in sync with devbox.json).

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# Product spec

## What it is

A Flutter browser/client for Mews Pages (see mews-spec).

## Approach

Local-first: all data is stored locally in a Drift database. Network operations are secondary and never block local functionality.

# Architecture directives

Keep files small and focused.

## Layer separation

- `presentation/` — rendering, input, gestures, navigation.
- `application/actors/` — isolate-backed actors for CPU/IO work (image processing, export, file I/O).
- `application/controllers/` — plain coordinators that own signals and handle synchronous UI commands.
- `database/` — Drift tables, DAOs, queries.
- Signals expose UI-consumable state derived from the application layer.
- No business logic in widgets.

## State management — Signals

- Use the `signals` package for reactive UI state.
- Widgets observe signals and dispatch actions to the application layer.
- Derived UI state should be computed, not manually synchronized.
- Do not duplicate state across multiple signals.

## Business logic — Actor Model (`actors` package)

Use the `actors` package only where Dart Isolate isolation is genuinely useful: CPU-heavy work, blocking I/O, or tasks that must not block the UI thread. Do not use it for pure UI state or simple synchronous coordination.

**Rules for all actors and coordinators:**
- Model interactions as explicit sealed command types.
- No business logic in widgets — dispatch commands to the application layer.
- Keep classes small and focused; avoid large catch-all actors.
- Pass references explicitly when communication is needed.

**Isolate constraint:** The `actors` package runs handlers in separate Dart Isolates. Handlers cannot directly update signals on the main isolate. Isolate-backed actors must return results via message passing; the calling code applies results to signals.

## Persistence — Drift

- Use `drift` for all tables, DAOs, and queries.
- Keep database definitions in `database/` separate from UI code.

## v1 reader UI

The v1 client presents one reader screen:

- An address field pinned at the top; it hides when the reader scrolls down and returns when they scroll up or reach the top.
- A swipe right goes back and a swipe left goes forward through the history stack.
- Scrolling a page fades in a FOB in the bottom-right corner; on pages that fit without scrolling it is present from the start. It opens a bottom sheet with the reader's presentation choices: typeface, text size, theme (light, dark, follow system), color variant (site, warm, cool, green, mono), and a bookmark and subscription toggle for the current page.
- Fonts are bundled. v1 ships Atkinson Hyperlegible; Verdana and Georgia follow once their font files are added to `app/assets/fonts/`. A font is one TTF plus one `fonts` entry in `app/pubspec.yaml` and one entry in `app/lib/presentation/reader/reader_fonts.dart`.