ai-app/IRIS_TODO.md

# iris: known problems and things still to build

Iris's own list for the library, recorded 2026-09-04 in her words where it
matters, so the agents working through RUST.md pick these up in a sensible
order rather than rediscovering them. Each item says where it sits in the
order and what "done" looks like. Tick and date them in place.

## Fix

- [x] **Input does not fall through by input type (2026-09-04).**
  `SensorUi::run_sensors` (`src/default/sense.rs`) used to set "consumed,
  stop checking lower layers" from mere hover — a widget registered for
  nothing but `click()` blocked a `Scroll` meant for whatever was behind
  it, since "the cursor is over this widget" and "this widget handled the
  event" were the same check. Fixed by judging consumption per input
  kind: with no button transition and no scroll happening this frame
  ("momentary" activity), the topmost hovered widget still wins, same as
  before; when something momentary *is* happening, only a widget whose
  registered senses actually include a matching non-hover one (checked
  via a new `TypeEventManager::registered`, which lists what a widget
  registered without running anything) consumes it, so a widget with only
  `Hovering`/click handlers can no longer block a scroll from reaching a
  list underneath. `iris/src/sense_tests.rs` builds a button-over-a-list
  `Stack` with a plain `HasEvents` impl (no GPU or window) and checks both
  directions: a scroll over the button reaches the list, and a real click
  still reaches the button — confirmed to fail on the pre-fix code and
  pass after.

- [ ] **Appending one image to an already-loaded list rebuilds every other
  image's bind group (2026-09-05).** Found by the benchmark below, not
  designed against: `GpuTextures::update` (`core/src/render/texture.rs`)
  triggers `rebuild_image_bind_groups` — a loop over *every live
  standalone image*, rebuilding its `BindGroup` — whenever the shared
  `masks` or `move_offsets` GPU buffer is resized (`masks_resized ||
  moves_resized` in `UiRenderNode::update`, `core/src/render/mod.rs`), and
  a widget getting its *first* move-offset slot (LAYOUT.md section 2 —
  every widget gets one on first draw) can be exactly what grows that
  buffer. So one new message with one new image, appended to a transcript
  that already has N images loaded, does not cost O(1): it costs one
  `create_image` for the new image plus one `make_image_bind_group` per
  *existing* image, because the new widget's own move slot pushed the
  arena past its capacity. Measured directly in
  `iris/examples/bench_images.rs`: appending a 1,001st image to 1,000
  already-settled ones reports **1,001** bind-group creates for that one
  frame, not 1 (`./run-bench.sh images`, frame 5 in the transcript below).
  This is the same class of cost LAYOUT.md's move chain exists to avoid
  elsewhere in the codebase, just not yet closed off here — the fix is
  presumably to size `masks`/`move_offsets` with headroom (the array
  texture already grows by doubling, `grow_array`, for the same reason) so
  an ordinary append does not cross a capacity boundary, or to stop tying
  the *image* bind group's contents to a buffer that changes on every new
  widget in the whole tree, image or not. Not designed further here per
  the "do not redesign, record it" instruction this benchmark was built
  under.
- [ ] **Bind-group creation takes two frames to reach the steady state, not
  one (2026-09-05).** Same benchmark: loading 1,000 images cold reports
  1,000 creates on frame 1 (expected — this is `create_image`, one per
  new image) *and again* 1,000 on frame 2, with nothing between the two
  frames marked dirty, before settling to 0 from frame 3. The second
  frame's 1,000 is `rebuild_image_bind_groups` again, for the same
  masks/move-offsets buffer-growth reason as the item above — the arena
  apparently does not finish growing to its steady size within the first
  frame the tree is drawn. Not chased further; recorded so whoever fixes
  the item above checks whether the fix also closes this one, since they
  look like the same root cause measured two different ways.

## Build

- [x] **Benchmarks**, not unit tests, run on demand (2026-09-05; a
  `benches/` or a script under `iris/`, never in `cargo test`). The
  scenario that matters most is a **message list** — chat apps and this
  app's transcript alike — stressed with many messages and many images.
  One case in particular: **resizing an input box** (typing enough text to
  grow it) that pushes a long list of messages above it must stay very
  fast and recalculate almost nothing — a move of everything above, not a
  re-layout. That is exactly the O(1) move chain in LAYOUT.md; the
  benchmark is what proves it. Done when the numbers are in this file with
  the command, and the input-box case reports draws re-run, not just frame
  time.

  **Built as two rigs**, chosen per scenario by whether a real `wgpu`
  device is needed (`UiRenderState`/`Widgets` touch no GPU or window, so
  most of this runs as an ordinary binary — the same property
  `layout_tests.rs` relies on):

  - `iris/benches/message_list.rs` — a plain `Instant`-timed binary
    (`[[bench]] harness = false` in `iris/Cargo.toml`), not criterion: see
    the file's own header for why (short version — every scenario here
    reduces to a *count* `UiRenderState::take_counters` already produces,
    which criterion's statistical machinery adds nothing to and which a
    new dependency is not worth pulling in for). Covers (a) first-frame
    cost of a message list of N wrapped-text rows (one in 20 also carrying
    a small in-memory image) for N = 100/1,000/10,000; (b) per-frame cost
    of scrolling that list, 200 ticks; (c) the input-box case — a
    fixed-height field at the bottom of the screen growing by a line 40
    times, with the message list above it filling the rest of the screen.
    Run: `cd iris && cargo bench --bench message_list` (always release —
    `cargo bench` builds the `bench` profile, which is optimized).
  - `iris/examples/bench_images.rs` — needs a real device, so it runs
    through `iris/run-headless.sh bench_images`, printing
    `UiRenderNode::take_image_bind_group_creates()` (a new counter, added
    in `core/src/render/texture.rs` and `core/src/render/mod.rs`,
    mirroring `UiRenderState::take_counters`) each frame. Covers (d): 1,000
    image rows, checked both cold (does bind-group creation reach zero
    once loaded) and after appending one more image once settled (does
    *that* stay cheap) — the second question is what actually matters for
    a live transcript and is what turned up the two Fix items above.
  - `iris/run-bench.sh [list|images]` runs either or both and is what to
    run before/after touching `Scroll`, `Span`, `Sized`, the move-offset
    chain, or `GpuTextures`.

  **Numbers (2026-09-05, release, `cargo bench`/`run-headless.sh`, this
  VM: AMD Ryzen 7 3800X, 8 cores, rustc 1.98.0 nightly-2026-09-03):**

      cd iris && cargo bench --bench message_list
      (a) first frame, N=100:    30.30ms  draws=227   rewrites=15   moves=0
      (a) first frame, N=1000:  186.04ms  draws=2252  rewrites=150  moves=0
      (a) first frame, N=10000:1770.36ms  draws=22502 rewrites=1500 moves=0
      (b) scroll, N=100/1000/10000, 200 ticks each:
          draws=200 rewrites=0 moves=200 (identical at every N)
          per-tick average: 0.0002ms (identical at every N)
      (c) input grows 40 lines, N=100/1000/10000 rows above it:
          draws=320 rewrites=40 moves=160 (identical at every N)
          per-line average: 0.0012-0.0013ms (identical at every N)

      cd iris && ./run-bench.sh images
      frame=1 bind_group_creates=1000   (cold load)
      frame=2 bind_group_creates=1000   (see Fix item above)
      frame=3 bind_group_creates=0
      frame=4 bind_group_creates=0
      (append one image here)
      frame=5 bind_group_creates=1001   (see Fix item above)
      frame=6 bind_group_creates=0

  **Reading it**: (a) is real, necessary work — shaping and laying out N
  never-before-seen text rows — and scales with N as it must, ~10x cost
  per 10x N. (b) and (c) are the pass conditions that matter: both are
  **exactly flat across N = 100 to 10,000**, confirming LAYOUT.md's O(1)
  move chain holds for both scrolling and for a growing input box pushing
  the message list — draws/moves per tick or per line do not grow with
  list size, and the per-operation cost (a fraction of a microsecond) is
  nowhere near a frame budget. (d)'s cold-load and steady-state halves
  behave as designed; its *append* half did not, which is the two Fix
  items above.
- [ ] **Masks defined relative to each other.** Wanted: mask A multiplies
  by something *and also* applies mask B — a mask can reference a parent
  mask, the way the move chain references a parent offset. Today masks
  are independent regions. Design it beside the move chain (same shape:
  a parent index and a bounded walk in the shader); do it when a real
  widget needs it, not before.
- [ ] **Positions as a single float per scroll.** Iris raised, and half
  rejected, letting a scroll update one float rather than positions:
  input handling cares about most elements in a list, so absolute
  positions must be computed on the CPU anyway. LAYOUT.md's design
  already lands here (GPU walks the chain, CPU resolves on demand for
  hit tests). Keep the CPU resolution lazy and per query; do not
  materialise every row's absolute position per frame.
- [ ] **Animations, last.** Cosmetic, so after everything above. Must be
  **modular — a piece of the library rather than a core part forced into
  everything, the same way input is**. Whatever the mechanism, a widget
  that does not animate must pay nothing and import nothing for it.

## Reconsider

- [ ] **`WidgetView`.** Iris is unsure of it: what she wants is an easy way
  to compose a widget from others (a button is the main case). With
  sizing folded into `draw`, composing may be easy enough that `View` is
  redundant. Decide after the layout change lands, by writing a button
  both ways and keeping the one that is shorter to explain; delete the
  other rather than keeping two ways.