# Epic 1 Retrospective: "Active Listening"

**Date:** 2026-01-22
**Epic:** Epic 1 - Core Chat & Teacher Agent
**Participants:**
- Bob (Scrum Master)
- Alice (Product Owner)
- Charlie (Senior Dev)
- Dana (QA Engineer)
- Elena (Junior Dev)
- Max (Project Lead)

## 1. Epic Overview

**Goal:** Enable users to start a session, "vent" their raw thoughts, and have the system "Active Listen" (store chat) and "Teach" (probe for details) using a local-first architecture.

**Metrics:**
- **Status:** Complete (4/4 Stories Done)
- **Velocity:** High (All stories completed efficiently)
- **Test Coverage:** Excellent (>98 tests passing across stories)
- **Quality:** High adherence to Logic Sandwich pattern; strict TDD followed.

## 2. Successes & Strengths (What went well)

*   **TDD Discipline:** The team consistently followed Test-Driven Development (Red-Green-Refactor). Every story (1.1 - 1.4) reports comprehensive test coverage, including unit and integration tests.
*   **Architectural Integrity:** The "Logic Sandwich" pattern (UI -> Zustand -> Service -> DB/LLM) was strictly enforced. Code reviews proactively caught violations (e.g., direct DB access in components), ensuring a clean separation of concerns.
*   **Local-First Implementation:** Dexie.js integration works seamlessly. Data privacy (local storage) is robust.
*   **Intent Detection Accuracy:** Story 1.3 achieved >85% accuracy in intent detection using hybrid keyword/heuristic approach, properly enabling the Teacher Agent.
*   **Fast Track Implementation:** Story 1.4 was delivered with a simplified but effective UI integration (toggle in ChatInput), saving development time while meeting user needs.

## 3. Challenges & Growth Areas (Where we struggled)

*   **State Management Nuances:** Early friction with Zustand selectors. Code reviews frequently flagged unnecessary re-renders caused by non-atomic selectors (e.g., `const { x, y } = useStore()`). We've now standardized on `useStore(s => s.x)`.
*   **Testing Streaming Services:** Story 1.4 encountered significant issues mocking the streaming LLM response in tests. This required a fix to `chat-store.test.ts` to properly simulate callbacks (`onIntent`, `onToken`).
*   **Tooling/Config:** Encountered minor friction with Playwright configuration in Vitest (Story 1.3), leading to exclusion of e2e tests from the standard test run.
*   **Missing State:** "isTyping" state was initially missed in Story 1.2, requiring a senior dev intervention to add it for proper UI feedback.

## 4. Key Insights & Learnings

1.  **Atomic Selectors are Non-Negotiable:** For chat applications with high-frequency updates (typing), optimizing re-renders via atomic selectors is critical.
2.  **Mocking Streams is Hard but Essential:** We need a standardized mock helper for the AI SDK's streaming responses to avoid fragility in future tests (especially for Epic 2's Ghostwriter).
3.  **Simple is Better:** The Fast Track toggle in the input box proved far superior UX than a separate header control, proving that keeping controls close to the action works best.

## 5. Next Epic Preview: Epic 2 - "The Magic Mirror"

**Goal:** Transform chat context into a structured Markdown artifact.

**Dependencies:**
- **Ghostwriter Agent:** Relies on the Intent Detection and LLM Service infrastructure built in Epic 1.
- **Draft View:** Implementing the "Medium-style" typography (Merriweather) requires updated font configs.
- **Refinement Loop:** Will need robust streaming support (tested in 1.4).

**Readiness Assessment:**
- **Technical Infrastructure:** Ready. Vercel Edge Runtime is configured.
- **Data Layer:** ChatLogs schema is flexible enough.
- **Risks:** The "Refinement Loop" (Regeneration) might introduce complex state management if not carefully architected.

## 6. Action Items

| Action Item                                                                                                               | Owner                | Priority | Deadline                  |
| :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | :------------------- | :------- | :------------------------ |
| **Create Streaming Mock Helper**<br>Standardize the mock for AI SDK streams to prevent test flake in Epic 2.              | Charlie (Senior Dev) | High     | Before start of Story 2.1 |
| **Doc Update: State Management**<br>Explicitly document the "Atomic Selector" rule in `project-context.md` with examples. | Bob (Scrum Master)   | Medium   | End of Sprint             |
| **Accessibility Audit**<br>Complete the deferred visual label accessibility checks from Story 1.2.                        | Dana (QA)            | Medium   | Mid-Epic 2                |
| **Playwright Config Fix**<br>Resolve the e2e test exclusion issue in Vitest config.                                       | Elena (Junior Dev)   | Low      | When capacity allows      |

## 7. Commitments & Conclusion

The team is confident moving into Epic 2. The foundation (Local-First DB + Secure LLM Proxy + TDD Pipeline) is solid. We commit to maintaining the strict TDD discipline and architectural boundaries that made Epic 1 a success.

**Retrospective Status:** Completed
