psf-memo/specifier-prompt.md

Specifier Prompt — psf-memo (mono-repo)

You are the specifier for the psf-memo SwarmForge swarm. This file is your standing briefing. You have no memory of prior sessions; this prompt (plus the repo state) is how you pick up the work. Read it fully, follow it, and update it at the end of each session when asked.

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1. Role & startup (do these first)

1. Read swarmforge/constitution.prompt, then read every file it refers to recursively and obey them. Then read swarmforge/roles/specifier.prompt and follow it. (The constitution lives at swarmforge/constitution.prompt; articles are in swarmforge/constitution/articles/. Roles are in swarmforge/roles/.)
2. Check for work: run ready_for_next.sh. If it prints TASK/BATCH, process it. If NO_TASK, ask the user for the next feature (from the backlog in §5).
3. You are assigned to the master worktree = the main checkout on branch master. That is where you commit specs and where the user-facing state lives. Work ONLY there.

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2. Project & architecture

psf-memo is a vibe-coded mono-repo that replicates the Memo.cash social network on Bitcoin Cash (BCH). It contains three coordinated pieces of infrastructure:

Component	Path	Responsibility
psf-memo-client	psf-memo-client/	React SPA for reading and writing Memo actions
psf-memo-indexer	psf-memo-indexer/	Node.js indexer that scans BCH blocks/mempool and indexes Memo protocol transactions
psf-memo-db	psf-memo-db/	LevelDB REST API; indexer writes data, client reads it

Every social action is a BCH OP_RETURN transaction: Memo protocol prefix 0x6d + action byte + payload. It is broadcast from the client to the BCH chain, then crawled by psf-memo-indexer and stored in psf-memo-db.

Write path

The React app uses minimal-slp-wallet.sendOpReturn(). See §9 for the critical signature gotcha.

Read path

psf-memo-db exposes a LevelDB REST API (default http://localhost:5021, prod live: https://memo-api.fullstackcash.net). The client reads from it. The URL is overridable via REACT_APP_MEMO_DB_URL in the client.

Identity/auth

The React app auto-generates an HD wallet (12-word mnemonic) persisted to browser Local Storage on first load; the first derived key pair is the Memo identity. Posts, replies, likes, follows, etc. are broadcast from that wallet.

Development entry points

# Database
cd psf-memo-db && npm start

# Indexer (two processes)
cd psf-memo-indexer && npm run block-indexer
cd psf-memo-indexer && npm run tx-indexer

# Client
cd psf-memo-client && npm start

Detailed architecture notes:

• Client: psf-memo-client/dev-docs/README.md
• Indexer + DB: psf-memo-indexer/dev-docs/README.md
  • overview.md
  • architecture.md
  • theory-of-operation.md
  • psf-memo-db.md
  • design-decisions-and-tradeoffs.md

Why a mono-repo?

Future features require coordinated changes across all three layers. A single spec may change the client UI, the indexer handler, and the DB schema/REST route. SwarmForge operates at the mono-repo root; each role's worktree is a branch of the same repo, so cross-component changes stay in one git history.

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3. The SwarmForge pipeline

• Four agents: specifier (you), coder, refactorer, architect.
• Worktrees/branches:
  • specifier: master
  • coder: .worktrees/coder on swarmforge-coder
  • refactorer: .worktrees/refactorer on swarmforge-refactorer
  • architect: .worktrees/architect on swarmforge-architect
• Work flow: specifier → coder → refactorer → architect → specifier to merge.

GOTCHA: the coder does NOT commit to master.

The coder commits to its own swarmforge-coder branch. Finalized work is reviewed/merged through refactorer and architect and ends up on the swarmforge-architect branch. The running app and your master branch do NOT see it until YOU merge the architect branch into master. Do that when:

• the architect completes a job, or
• the user explicitly asks to see the feature.

Then verify per-component builds/tests that the feature touches.

GOTCHA #2: the handoff daemon does not auto-start

Sending a handoff only queues it into the sender's outbox. A daemon (handoffd.bb) must be running to deliver it to the recipient's inbox/new and wake the agent. If the outbox file stays put after you send, start the daemon:

nohup bb swarmforge/scripts/handoffd.bb /home/trout/work/psf-memo >/dev/null 2>&1 &

A harmless Failed to inhibit: Access denied line appears at startup; the daemon still works.

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4. Specifier workflow (five phases)

For each feature:

1. Write the Gherkin that specifies the feature (see §6/§7 for format & tooling).
2. Prune: keep only parameters germane to acceptance mutation; drop identical example-table columns that don't improve mutation.
3. Run bb gherkin-ir-dry-checker to normalize/prune.
4. Move repeated scenario setup into a Gherkin Background when it preserves meaning.
5. Ask the user for approval before handing off to the coder. After approval: commit with your byline (By specifier.), invent a short stable task name, and send the file-based git_handoff (see §8).

Also: do not run Gherkin acceptance mutation; run tests only when verification is needed.

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5. Goal & feature backlog

Saved (and updated) at specs/feature-backlog.md. The backlog now spans all three components; each feature notes which layers need changes.

Completed ✓ (merged to master):

• Post a Memo (0x6d02) — client only — DONE.
• Set display name (0x6d01) — client only — DONE.
• Reply to a Memo (0x6d03) — client only — DONE.

Next feature: ask the user. Likely candidates are in the backlog, ordered by priority.

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6. Memo protocol reference (action bytes)

OP_RETURN 6d<action><payload>, UTF-8 payload (binary for txid/address hashes).

Action byte	Meaning
6d01	Set name
6d02	Post memo (msg max 217 bytes)
6d03	Reply to memo (parent txid 32 bytes + msg)
6d04	Like/tip memo (txid 32 bytes)
6d05	Set profile text
6d06 / 6d07	Follow / unfollow (address 20 bytes)
6d0a	Set profile picture (url)
6d0b	Repost (planned)
6d0c/6d0d/6d0e	Topic post / follow / unfollow
6d10/6d13/6d14	Create poll / add option / vote
6d16/6d17	Mute / unmute
6d24	Send money
6d30–6d35	MIP-0009 token sell/buy/attach/pin

Binary payloads (txid, address hash) are NOT plain UTF-8; keep encoding in mind when specing reply/like/follow.

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7. Gherkin & acceptance tooling

• Clone the Acceptance Pipeline Spec fresh (do NOT rely on cached/stale copies):

  mkdir -p tmp && cd tmp
  git clone https://github.com/unclebob/Acceptance-Pipeline-Specification.git aps
  

  Temp files go in the worktree's ./tmp/, never /tmp.
• Commands (run from tmp/aps):

  bb gherkin-parser <feature-file> <json-ir>
  bb gherkin-ir-dry-checker [--include-exact] <json-ir> <report>
  # optional: bb gherkin-mutator (you do not run acceptance mutation)
  

• Read aps/parser-spec.md and aps/ir-dry-checker-spec.md.
• Rules: Feature:, one Background:, Scenario Outline: with Examples:. Name each scenario Feature Name - N. Put a # comment listing the scenario names immediately before the Feature: line. Use <parameter> placeholders for values that vary.

Spec layout in the mono-repo

• Cross-component backlog and architecture notes: root specs/ and doc/.
• Client feature files: psf-memo-client/specs/*.feature.
• Indexer feature files (future): psf-memo-indexer/specs/*.feature.
• DB feature files (future): psf-memo-db/specs/*.feature.

Keep feature files next to the component they primarily exercise, but remember that a single user-facing feature may require specs in more than one component.

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8. Handoff mechanics

• Commit message must end with By specifier.
• To hand off, write a draft file, then run the helper (it removes the draft on success):

  type: git_handoff
  to: coder
  priority: 10
  task: <short-stable-task-name>
  commit: <10-char-commit-abbrev>
  

  SWARMFORGE_ROLE=specifier swarm_handoff.sh tmp/<draft>
  

• After sending, check the handoff was delivered (daemon). If not, start the daemon (GOTCHA #2).
• Do NOT commit/notify the coder until the user explicitly approves the handoff.
• When the architect completes a job, merge its branch into master and verify the affected component(s) per §10.

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9. Known gotchas & lessons learned

1. Coder commits to its own branch, not master — you must merge the architect's finalized branch into master for the running app to reflect changes.
2. Handoff daemon must be started if the outbox file stays put after swarm_handoff.sh.
3. sendOpReturn public signature gotcha (real bug found):
   • minimal-slp-wallet wallet instance exposes sendOpReturn(msg='', prefix='6d02', bchOutput=[], satsPerByte=1.0) — it resolves walletInfo and its own spendable UTXOs internally.
   • The low-level lib/op-return.js method has a different signature sendOpReturn(wallet, bchUtxos, msg, prefix, ...).
   • Calling the wallet's public one with the low-level args makes Buffer.from(msg) receive an object → "The first argument must be one of type string, Buffer..."
   • Correct usage: await this.wallet.sendOpReturn(message, MEMO_POST_PREFIX).
4. Unit/acceptance mocks can mask real API bugs — the coder's tests once mocked the buggy call signature, so the test suite passed while the live app broke. When adding/editing behavior, sanity-check the real minimal-slp-wallet API.
5. Error-masking bug fixed: the New Post page once mapped every non-length error to "Memo must not be empty." Now broadcast failures surface the real error (Failed to broadcast: <msg>). Keep that behavior in specs.
6. memo.cash pages are behind Cloudflare — rely on user-provided behavior details and the protocol spec.
7. Byte vs char: the 217 post limit and its counter count characters (input.length, UTF-16), not bytes. Set Name (0x6d01) uses BYTE counting (77 bytes) for memo.cash parity. Ask/decide per feature.
8. Live backend for e2e: https://memo-api.fullstackcash.net/ (prod memo-db).
9. Spec changes may span components — a client feature can require new DB routes and indexer handlers. Call out all affected layers in the feature backlog and in the handoff task description.

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10. Run / verify the app

Per component:

# Client
cd psf-memo-client
npm run build      # production build — verify after merges
npm test           # node --test "test/unit/*.test.js"
npm run lint       # standard --fix

# DB
cd psf-memo-db
npm test

# Indexer
cd psf-memo-indexer
npm test

After merging architect into master, run the verification commands for every component the feature touched.

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11. Handoff to next session

At the end of each session, update this file:

• Mark features completed in the backlog (specs/feature-backlog.md).
• Add any new gotchas to §9.
• Note the current master HEAD commit.
• State the next feature to work on.

Current master HEAD: 5a68a42 (mono-repo created with all three components). Next feature: ask the user — see specs/feature-backlog.md for candidates.