recap/AGENTS.md

AGENTS.md — Recaps

YouTube + podcast summarizer + library, served as a single-page app from a Node.js backend. Ships as a StartOS .s9pk (single-mode self-host) and as the public recaps.cc cloud (multi-mode tenants).

Inbox check: At session start, if ~/Projects/standards/INBOX.md exists, scan it for items tagged (recap) and surface them before proposing next steps; triage with /triage.

Stack

• Server: Node.js (type: module, ES modules). The dev box currently runs v25.6.1; container runtime is whatever the Dockerfile pins — check before assuming.
• Frontend: One file, public/index.html, with vanilla JS embedded (no framework, no bundler). Render is a render-string-into-innerHTML loop driven by a module-scoped state object.
• DB: SQLite via better-sqlite3. Multi-mode only; single-mode keeps everything on the filesystem.
• Packaging: @start9labs/start-sdk under startos/ — version graph at startos/versions/index.ts.
• Deps of note: @anthropic-ai/sdk, @google/genai, openai, nodemailer, express, @keysat/licensing-client (vendored at vendor/keysat-licensing-client).

Commands

Run from repo root unless noted.

Action	Command
Dev server (single-mode default)	cd server && npm run dev
Prod server	cd server && npm start
Run all tests	cd server && npm test
Run one test file	cd server && node --test --test-reporter=spec test/<file>.test.js
Run one test by name	cd server && node --test --test-reporter=spec --test-name-pattern='<substring>' test/<file>.test.js
Build .s9pk (x86)	make x86
Bump version (interactive)	make bump
Install to local StartOS	make install (see Always/Never — bump first; the binary is start-cli under the hood)
Type-check (StartOS TS)	npm run check (repo root; runs tsc --noEmit over startos/**/*.ts. The server/ is plain JS and is not type-checked.)
Format (StartOS TS)	npm run prettier (repo root; prettier --write startos. There is no ESLint/linter — server/ JS is untooled. Many startos/versions/*.ts are currently unformatted.)

Mode is selected at boot via the RECAP_MODE env var: single (default) or multi. Other runtime env var of note: RECAP_TRUSTED_PROXY_HOPS (default 1) — how many trusted reverse proxies sit in front of the app, so the anonymous-trial per-IP cap reads the real client IP from X-Forwarded-For (set 0 if the app is directly internet-facing, 2+ behind a CDN/LB; setting it too high re-opens the trial-cap bypass).

Directory layout

server/
  index.js                 main HTTP + SSE entry; mounts every route
  providers/               relay.js, gemini.js, openai.js, anthropic.js, ollama.js,
                           openai-compatible.js, whisper.js — each implements the
                           provider interface in providers/index.js
  anon-trial.js            multi-mode trial-cookie minting + IP cap
  tenant-credits.js        multi-mode signed-in-tenant credit pool
  history.js               per-scope library save/load + REST handlers
  config.js                StartOS config snapshot + server-side API-key resolver
  db.js                    SQLite schema apply + getDb() handle (multi-mode only)
  billing-routes.js        multi-mode self-serve purchase: /api/billing/{plans,buy,status};
                           Bitcoin (BTCPay inline Lightning) + card (Zaprite) rails
  subscription-reminders.js  daily expiry-reminder scan → sendMail (multi-mode)
  smtp.js                  StartOS System-SMTP transport (magic links + reminders)
  test/                    node --test files
public/
  index.html               the whole single-page app, ~10k lines vanilla JS
  auth.html                standalone magic-link landing page (multi-mode)
startos/
  manifest/                StartOS package manifest
  versions/<vN>.ts         one file per shipped version + index.ts version graph
  actions/                 operator-facing StartOS Actions
docs/                      design notes; treat as in-progress, not authoritative
bin/bump-version.sh        used by `make bump` and `make deploy`
vendor/keysat-licensing-client/   local-link Keysat SDK

Conventions

• Plain language over jargon, especially for git / packaging / dev-tooling steps.
• Don't be sycophantic. Push back when something doesn't add up.
• Honest reports. A failing test/build is a failure, even if pre-existing or unrelated. Don't fold it into a "success" summary.
• Diff size matches change scope. Small reviewable diffs, not sweeping rewrites.
• Comments explain WHY, not what. No narrating self-evident code. No referencing tasks/PRs/callers in source — that rots.
• Match the file's own style over any default of your own. The frontend's vanilla-JS shape is intentional; don't reach for a framework.
• Write the test alongside the change when the area already has tests (server/test/*.test.js). The repo uses the built-in node --test.
• Plans persist in docs/ when scoped + named (e.g., docs/per-tenant-subscriptions-plan.md); ephemeral planning lives in conversation/tasks, not Markdown files.

Conventions for this codebase specifically

• Relay is the modern default provider. The legacy "must have a Gemini API key configured" gate is dead — server-side callers should pick relay when configured, fall back to gemini only if a local key exists, otherwise surface a clear user-facing error. The frontend stores the choice in localStorage; the server can't read it.
• Sanitize operator-internal language at error boundaries. Strings like "Spark Control", "parakeet", "vLLM", LAN IPs, *.local URLs come from the sibling relay and must not reach cloud users.
• Multi-mode credit gates fire BEFORE the pipeline. See /api/process for the order — admin → license → free tenant → trial → anonymous-mint. Don't reorder without reading the comment block.
• Trial IP cap is per-IP for IPv4, per-/64 prefix for IPv6. Dual-stack home networks would otherwise bypass it via privacy-extension address rotation.
• Client IP comes from req.ip, never a raw X-Forwarded-For entry. Express trust proxy is set in index.js from RECAP_TRUSTED_PROXY_HOPS (default 1); getClientIp (anon-trial.js) returns req.ip. Trusting raw XFF[0] let clients spoof the trial-cap IP — don't reintroduce it.
• safeFilename() is exported from history.js — import and use it for any user-content → on-disk path; don't roll your own. It validates against /^[A-Za-z0-9_-]+$/ and throws on traversal/separators (the library-import file-write hole was a missing call).
• The relay owns cloud Pro/Max tier + expiry (core-decoupling; docs/core-decoupling-plan.md). In multi-mode, paid status is users.tier — cached from the relay, keyed by the Recaps user-id — NOT a per-user Keysat license. Don't gate cloud paid features by keysat_license; the license only matters for self-hosted "take it home" portability. Cloud requests carry X-Recap-User-Id + the operator key; server-to-server tier reads/writes go through providers/relay.js.
• Self-serve purchase has two rails, both prepaid (no auto-renew yet). Bitcoin = a BTCPay invoice rendered as an INLINE Lightning QR on-screen — the relay returns the BOLT11 server-to-server, so the buyer never loads BTCPay (replicate the buy-credits inline flow; do NOT redirect to a hosted checkout). Card = a Zaprite one-time hosted order (Zaprite's API has no recurring — see ROADMAP). Both settle webhooks land on the relay (it owns subscription expiry); the frontend just polls /api/billing/status. Expiry reminders go out via the existing System-SMTP transport (smtp.js): the relay enumerates who's expiring (GET /relay/expiring-subscriptions), Recaps maps user-id → email and sends.
• Tier credit allotments are operator-config-driven, never hardcoded. The cards' "N relay credits each period" comes from the relay's tier-quota config (credits_per_period on /relay/tier-plans); null → "Unlimited". Don't bake a number or "Unlimited" into the UI.
• recaps.cc IS the operator's StartOS box, served via Start9 Pages + StartTunnel. So make install (after a version bump) updates the public cloud site automatically — there is no separate cloud deploy step. A frontend-only change reaches recaps.cc as soon as the box serves the new public/ files.
• render() rebuilds the whole view via innerHTML — preserve live media + scroll across it. It re-attaches the live podcast <audio> node (replaceWith, src-matched) and restores .chunks-scroll scrollTop, so a background re-render (e.g. the ~60s relay-credit poll) doesn't stop playback or bounce the reader to the top. YouTube minimize toggles the .results-left.minimized CSS class in place — never render(), because creating the YT iframe inside a display:none container wedges the IFrame API (black frame, needs reload); ensureYtMounted() + a !state.videoMinimized guard on needsMount keep the player from ever being built hidden, and initPodcastPlayer() is idempotent (dataset.inited). Don't reintroduce a full render() on minimize or drop these preservation steps.

Client-side contract with the relay

The full client-side relay contract — env vars, the /relay/* endpoint list, X-Recap-* header directions, and the file map — lives in docs/guides/relay-client.md. Read it before editing server/providers/relay.js, relay-capabilities.js, relay-default.js, billing-routes.js, credits-purchase.js, subscription-reminders.js, or the relay env-var resolution in config.js. Canonical endpoint shapes are in ../recap-relay/AGENTS.md.

Cross-repo changes (sibling: ../recap-relay)

This repo and the relay (../recap-relay) share a live client/server contract — the /relay/* endpoints, the X-Recap-* headers, request/response shapes, and tier/credit semantics. Before finishing any change that touches that boundary, check whether ../recap-relay needs a matching change. If you add/rename/remove a relay call, alter a payload shape or header, or shift tier/credit/billing behavior, update the relay side too — and reflect it in BOTH repos' AGENTS.md (the contract docs) and ROADMAP.md (if it's staged work). Purely local changes (UI, library handling, packaging) don't need this. When unsure whether a change is contract-affecting, assume it is and check.

Always

• Bump the version before make install. StartOS dedupes sideloads by version string — installing the same version twice silently no-ops. Use make bump or edit startos/versions/index.ts + add a vN.ts file. Applies to EVERY iteration, even a one-line edit.
• Add new version files to BOTH the import block AND the other: list in startos/versions/index.ts, and update current: to the new version constant.
• Ask before make deploy / make redeploy. These push to the Start9 community registry — public-facing, attribution-tracked, irreversible from your laptop. make install is the safe iteration loop.
• Verify mDNS resolution before blaming it when make install fails. Substitute the operator's actual StartOS hostname (the host: field in ~/.startos/config.yaml) and run curl -sk "https://${STARTOS_HOST}/rpc/v1" -X POST -d '{}' -H 'Content-Type: application/json' — if that reaches the box but start-cli doesn't on the same target, it's almost certainly macOS Local Network privacy blocking the third-party start-cli binary (Apple's curl/ping are exempt, so the box looks reachable). Tell: node -e TCP-connect to <box-ip>:443 also gives EHOSTUNREACH while curl gets 200. Fix: System Settings → Privacy & Security → Local Network → enable the Claude app (restart Claude Code if it doesn't take). This often flips off after a Claude Code update. Details: memory feedback_macos_local_network_install.
• Reference env-var names, never values. Secrets live in .env / .deploy.env (both gitignored). Examples for new vars belong in .deploy.env.example.

Never

• No "Co-Authored-By" trailers on commits, no mention of "Claude" in source files, comments, or commit messages. Commits are authored by the user.
• Never claim make install succeeded without verifying it. Confirm the make exit code is 0 AND the new version actually shows on the box (start-cli package list) — not just that the command ran (a tail/pipe can mask a non-zero exit). Installs DO work from this agent's shell now; the old "start-cli is blocked by the sandbox" framing was a misdiagnosis — it was macOS Local Network privacy, which is fixable (see the Always "verify mDNS" rule).
• Never make deploy to the registry without explicit per-action approval, even if a prior session ran one.
• Never edit startos/versions/<v>.ts for a version that's already been built and is being tested. Add a new version file instead — operators may already have the prior .s9pk cached.
• Don't add the relay's internal-meetings feature here. That lives in the sibling ../recap-relay repo. This repo is the client/library; the relay does diarization + clustering + meeting analysis.
• Don't push to GitHub by default. The configured remote is self-hosted Gitea unless the user says otherwise.
• Don't pull cookies.txt into commits — it's an operational yt-dlp artifact, not source.
• Never modify ~/.startos/config.yaml without authorization (contains host credentials).

Adjacent repo

• ../recap-relay — the operator-side credit-metered service this client talks to. Owns Gemini/Parakeet/Sortformer routing, diarization, internal-meeting analysis, and the operator dashboard. See ../recap-relay/AGENTS.md for its endpoint shapes, build/deploy rules, and roadmap. Reference it but do not change it from inside this repo.

Current state

Live on the operator's StartOS box — app 0.2.157 + relay 0.2.124 (0.2.158 built + committed, install in progress). Tests: cd server && npm test → 142 pass.

Done & live: self-serve Pro/Max purchase (Bitcoin inline-Lightning + Zaprite card, prepaid, relay owns tier/expiry), core-decoupling, per-tenant subscriptions, and expiry-reminder emails (POST /api/admin/reminders/run {test_email}). Plans in docs/*-plan.md.

Shipped this session (committed + pushed + verified live): 0.2.156 — iOS sign-in "network error" flake; both sign-in paths now retry 3× with growing backoff (91af0b7). 0.2.157 — mobile/UX cluster: YT-minimize black-frame, podcast-audio + scroll loss on background re-render, redundant loading box, and a best-effort iOS scroll tweak (693bb98). Mechanics now captured as conventions above.

Daily Digest — FEATURE-COMPLETE; 0.2.158 built + committed, install in progress (docs/daily-digest-plan.md). Opt-in (off by default) once-a-day email of a user's last ~24h of library recaps, each a 1–2 paragraph overview synthesized from the recap's stored topic summaries; clones the subscription-reminders.js scan pattern. All 5 phases built: schema (users.digest_enabled/last_digest_at/digest_unsub_token + migrateUserDigestPrefs); GET/POST /api/account/digest (opt-in stamps the watermark to now) + settings-modal toggle; server/daily-digest.js (synthesis via /relay/analyze, operator-absorbed via operator install identity, digestOverview cache; selectDigestEpisodes watermark/cap/overflow; runDigestScan acts at SEND_HOUR=8, MIN_RESEND_MS=20h, advances watermark only on send, never throws; startDigestScheduler; public GET /api/digest/unsubscribe?token=); renderDigestEmail; listScopeSessions; POST /api/admin/digest/run {test_email}. Wired in index.js (multi) + tenant-auth.js public path. 19 digest tests, full suite 138 pass. Verified on a real multi-mode boot (migrations apply, scheduler starts, unsubscribe 400/404/200 flips the flag end-to-end). Q4 — /relay/analyze fits as-is, no relay change. Q1 — operator-absorbed, zero operator action. Pending: on-box smoke test (relay synthesis + SMTP only run on the box) — POST /api/admin/digest/run {test_email} to eyeball the render, then opt in + add a recap + force a scan. No version bump yet. (Aside: relay AGENTS.md:78 mis-describes /relay/analyze as {transcript}→topic sections JSON — stale; flagged for ../recap-relay in the inbox.)

Pending operator actions:

1. Verify the mobile can't-scroll-to-top fix on the iPad — UNVERIFIED in 0.2.157 (iOS-layout-specific, not reproducible off-device); send a screen recording if it persists. Inbox item kept open + annotated.
2. (optional) Rotate the still-live Gemini key in AI Studio, then rm /Users/macpro/Projects/recap-keyleak-purge-backup.bundle.
3. Real-world cloud tests: first Bitcoin purchase; enable Zaprite cards (relay "Set Zaprite Connection" + webhook); eyeball a reminder email.
4. If recaps.cc ever gains a CDN/LB hop, set RECAP_TRUSTED_PROXY_HOPS or the trial-cap bypass reopens.

Backlog in ROADMAP.md: eval P2 known-debt (SSE error-string scrub, credit-debit TOCTOU, multi-tenant gemini-key bypass, GET /api/history perf, dependency CVEs, integration tests, doc drift) + P3 cleanup, and standing decisions (Zaprite recurring, "take Recaps home" broken for relay-tier users, cloud paid-only, no CI lint/type-check).