ersatztv/docs

docs/ — task-signal map

Purpose: route a fresh contributor/agent to the minimal set of docs for the task at hand, instead of a mandatory front-to-back read. Update this doc in the same PR that adds, removes, or retitles a doc below, or that changes which sections a task signal points to.

Start here, always

• CLAUDE.md (repo root) — project intro: architecture, layout, dev commands, conventions, Task Completion Protocol.
• docs/contributing.md — established code patterns (CQRS/MediatR, LanguageExt, the ChicoryTV SPA, EF Core dual-provider migrations, FFmpeg pipeline, analyzers, testing). Read before any non-trivial change.

Task signal → minimal sections

Signal	Read
Session startup / "what's next" (no issue named)	docs/handoffs/chicorytv-issue-queue.md (standing kickoff — two concurrent tracks: orientation ‖ scripts/select-queue.sh 5)
Named-issue pickup	Skip queue selection; go straight to focused retrieval — see "Knowledge retrieval" below, then the issue body
Adding/changing a /api/* endpoint	docs/api-conventions.md checklist + docs/endpoint-index.md
Adding a ChicoryTV SPA screen	docs/spa-conventions.md
Scheduling / playout engine work	docs/domain-model.md + decisions catalog rows keyed sched.* (docs/decisions/README.md)
Concurrency / optimistic-locking work	docs/api-conventions.md §7a/b/c + docs/decisions/optimistic-concurrency.md
Auth / security-surface work	docs/decisions/api-auth-security.md
CI / release pipeline work	docs/ci-cd.md + docs/decisions/release-ci-governance.md
Proposing a new guard / CI check / regression test convention	docs/defect-shapes-773.md §4 (detector menu + the classes where no detector is plausible), then the three rules every guard must satisfy: docs/decisions/records/testing/guard-derives-population-from-source.md, …/guard-ships-with-mutation-proof.md and …/mutation-claims-are-executed.md (a MUTATION grade carries a DECLARED clause mutation that is re-run every suite)
Testing a surface gated by config / an env var / a credential	docs/decisions/records/testing/deny-path-at-production-config-value.md — cover the setting absent, at its production value, and each opt-out, and assert the DENY branch
Touching a full-replace write path or a hand-built request object	docs/decisions/records/testing/full-replace-asserts-field-list.md — derive the field list from the DTO and assert set equality; reconcile by id where child state exists. In the SPA the same rule is enforced by the type system: docs/spa-conventions.md §4b — build the body as Complete<T>, annotating BOTH the wrapper parameter and every construction site
Writing or editing any doc, or answering a review finding in prose	docs/decisions/records/docs/no-session-narrative.md — the doc records the END STATE; the path to it goes in the commit message. Apply the who-benefits test, and read the carve-out before you cut (dated measurements, stated snapshot boundaries and tested-and-rejected results stay)
Adding / changing / deleting a guard file	docs/guard-inventory.md — every guard's row is machine-checked by scripts/tests/test_guard_inventory.py, so a new guard must acquire a row before the suite goes green, and a row graded MUTATION must also acquire a declared clause in scripts/tests/mutation_manifest.py
Writing code that reads live Gitea/remote state and then acts on it	docs/decisions/records/process/check-and-use-pins-a-version.md, then docs/remote-state-inventory.md — a new executable under scripts/ (excluding scripts/tests/), .claude/hooks/, .husky/ or .gitea/workflows/ must acquire a row there before scripts/tests/test_remote_state_inventory.py goes green
Finding every site that references a symbol (multi-site fix/sweep)	docs/local-lsp-tooling.md — which surface answers, and why a delegated agent must be pointed at the csharp-lsp MCP tools rather than the LSP tool
Live local run / Playwright-MCP verification	docs/e2e-local.md + scripts/e2e-local.sh
Adding/changing a UI-E2E browser flow	docs/e2e-local.md → "UI-E2E harness" + scripts/e2e-ui.sh
What does a test suite cover	docs/testing.md
Legacy Blazor route lookup	docs/blazor-route-parity.md (historical #91 phase (b) inventory)
"Why do we do X this way" / challenging a convention	Catalog-first: docs/decisions/README.md (active rows) → follow the row's link to docs/decisions/records/<area>/<topic>.md for full rationale. docs/decisions/archive/<area>/ only for "what did the rule used to be."

Knowledge retrieval (MemPalace + catalog + Gitea)

These four rules are the seam agreed with server-management#642 (the Gitea→MemPalace exporter). They apply whether the question comes up via MemPalace, a grep, or a stale comment:

1. Current conventions/decisions → catalog-first. Start at docs/decisions/README.md; discover via the ErsatzTV-Decisions wing (active) / ErsatzTV-Decisions-Archive (superseded/retired). Resolve by topic/key, never by chasing a file path.
2. Issue history → evidence, not authority. The Gitea-ErsatzTV wing is historical narrative that may be stale; it never overrides current Markdown.
3. The breadcrumb rule (the crux behavior change). A file path named inside a historical issue comment (e.g. "grep docs/decisions.md 2026-07-17", "see …") is a breadcrumb, not a live pointer. Find the current rule via the catalog / active wing by concept; do not treat the named path as current. (Why it's safe: still-current → in the active wing, breadcrumb resolves; superseded → the active wing returns the successor and a literal follow lands on a record that announces its own status: superseded; retired → the active wing returns nothing, which is itself the signal. The validator-enforced move-to-archive/ is what prevents the catastrophic "superseded rule read as current" case.)
4. Fallback when MemPalace is stale/down: docs/decisions/README.md catalog, then rg '^`key: <dotted.key>`' docs/decisions/. MemPalace is never authority nor sole fallback.

MemPalace is candidate discovery only — every passage is verified against its cited Markdown/Gitea source before use. Never derive live queue state from MemPalace, #237, or historical comments; queue state is live Gitea state, retrieved via scripts/select-queue.sh (see docs/handoffs/chicorytv-issue-queue.md). Full retrieval contract (altitude/precedence, staleness bounds, what's mined per issue): docs/handoffs/chicorytv-issue-queue.md → "Knowledge retrieval".

Also present in docs/

• docs/domain-model.md — what the app IS: entity glossary, channel→playout→schedule/block concept map, where each concept is edited in the SPA.
• docs/api-conventions.md — checklist for adding/changing a /api/* endpoint (controllers, DTOs, error mapping, auth, OpenAPI regen, tests).
• docs/spa-conventions.md — playbook for adding a screen to the ChicoryTV React SPA.
• docs/e2e-local.md (+ scripts/e2e-local.sh) — how to run a live local instance for manual or Playwright-MCP verification.
• docs/local-lsp-tooling.md — the code-intelligence surfaces (the LSP tool's three servers and the csharp-lsp MCP server): how each is configured, which one a subagent can actually reach, the traps (a cold server answers the first query with a confidently partial result), and scripts/check-local-lsp.sh to verify the preconditions. Read before briefing an agent to find every site referencing a symbol.
• docs/testing.md — testing map: what each *.Tests project / web suite covers, golden-file nets, the timezone-independence rule, how to run subsets, the per-PR verification gate.
• docs/blazor-route-parity.md — historical record of the completed #91 phase (b) cutover: the Blazor Server UI is removed and every legacy route now 302-redirects to its SPA equivalent (or falls through to the catch-all → /app). Read it for the full legacy→SPA route inventory.
• docs/decisions/records/<area>/<topic>.md — one active decision record per file, YAML frontmatter (key/title/status/since/supersedes/superseded-by, plus optional stale-after/sources — ersatztv#603), rationale prose in the body. The filename is the key, so one-active-record-per-key is a filesystem property (ersatztv#610). docs/decisions.md and the topic files remain as the lifecycle-schema narrative plus a "Records formerly in this file" index, which is what keeps older date-based pointers resolvable. Generated active view: docs/decisions/README.md (catalog / task router) — start there. Superseded/retired records live in docs/decisions/archive/ and are read only for history, never for "what is the current rule."
• docs/ci-cd.md — build/test/release pipeline, versioning, dependency management.
• docs/rest-api.md — REST API design doc for ersatztv#2 (goals, conventions, per-slice plan). Largely superseded day-to-day by docs/api-conventions.md; read this for the original rationale.
• docs/mcp.md — the ErsatzTV.Mcp stdio JSON-RPC MCP server (#58): how it wraps /api/v1 as read + cautious-write tools, its config/env vars, auth, security posture, and the tool catalog.
• docs/channels.md — Channel entity field reference.
• docs/m3u-xmltv.md — M3U/XMLTV generation overview (ChannelPlaylist, GetChannelGuideHandler).
• docs/fork-strategy.md — divergence policy vs upstream ErsatzTV.
• docs/design-sync.md — Claude Design ↔ repo screen workflow (#92).
• docs/endpoint-index.md — generated REST endpoint index (method/path/operationId/summary per OpenAPI tag). Do not edit by hand; regenerated by scripts/generate-endpoint-index.py / scripts/update-openapi.sh.
• docs/handoffs/chicorytv-issue-queue.md — static session kickoff prompt + workflow lore. Queue state is live Gitea state, retrieved each session via scripts/select-queue.sh — see that file's standing kickoff for the two concurrent tracks (orientation ‖ selection). ersatztv#237 is a closed, archival historical tracker (superseded by startup.parallel-orientation in docs/decisions.md) — not a live pointer.
• docs/defect-shapes-773.md — root-cause analysis of the recurring defect shapes across the whole closed-issue corpus (#773): the measured class ranking, the four families they consolidate into, the cheapest mechanical detector per class, the classes where no detector is plausible, and an audit of which configured hooks/MCP servers/LSPs are actually invoked. Read it before proposing a new guard or CI check — §4 is the detector menu, and it argues against enumerating cases one incident at a time.
• docs/remote-state-inventory.md — every executable in scripts/ (excluding scripts/tests/), .claude/hooks/, .husky/ and .gitea/workflows/ that reads live remote state and acts on that read, classified PINNED / CAS / UNSAFE-KNOWN / N/A with the window and what bounds it. Code outside those directories — C#/TypeScript guards, web/, and the test suites themselves — is out of scope, and the doc states that rather than implying coverage. The population is derived from git ls-files and compared for set equality by scripts/tests/test_remote_state_inventory.py, so a new script that talks to a remote service cannot ship unclassified. Read it with process.check-and-use-pins-a-version; it is that record's detector, since the class has no plausible linter (docs/defect-shapes-773.md §4 detector D).
• docs/guard-inventory.md — every executable guard file, what it blocks, whether it is a GUARD or TOOLING, and whether it ships a mutation proof (MUTATION / BEHAVIOUR-ONLY / NONE) with a file::function ref. The population is derived from the filesystem and the workflow/hook call sites and compared for set equality by scripts/tests/test_guard_inventory.py, so a new guard cannot ship unclassified and a renamed test cannot leave a row claiming coverage it has lost. Guards implemented inline in workflow YAML are deliberately outside that population — the doc states the limit rather than implying coverage.
• docs/tracker-retrofit-triage-237.md — audit trail for the #524 triage of ersatztv#237's 111 comments (method, per-comment classification, totals). Evidence for the docs.tracker-comment-retrofit decision; read it only when triaging another over-cap tracker.
• docs/handoffs/rest-api.md — original handoff prompt for kicking off the REST API work (#2).