Vancetope — App scribblebook

Scribblebook for Handwriting: a folder as an app container for kind: scribble sheets — a notebook with sheets, menu switching, live index. See also: doc-kind-scribble (the sheet kind), app-canvasbook (the model; there, the authoring interface is the app — here, the sheet is also editable standalone), app-workbook (the same container pattern over Workpages). Implementation track: planning/scribble.md.

1. Purpose

An app: scribblebook is a folder = a notebook: it collects all *.scribble.yaml files of a project folder, maintains a machine-owned index (_index.md), and serves as the authoring interface with sheet switching via a menu. To tear out a sheet means: create a new sheet — the rest is the Scribble Editor.

Manifest (_app.yaml):

$meta:
  kind: application
  app: scribblebook
title: "My Notebook"

Optional Config (Manifest body): index.outputPath (default _index.md).

2. Server

ScribblebookApplication (VanceApplication) owns exactly one derived artifact, the _index.md index; sheet discovery is handled by the ScribblebookFolderReader (scan over the folder, filter on $meta.kind: scribble). promptInject provides the sheet list to the agent — titles and paths, never strokes.

Route (under /brain/{tenant}/addon/scribble) Purpose
GET /scan?projectId&folder Sheets of the folder (Id, path, title).
POST /page Create new sheet in the folder (folder, title).
POST /rebuild Recreate _index.md (Scan → Workpage body).

The index is machine-owned like an installed/ record: rebuild overwrites it, the user does not edit it. It exists so that folder browsing, search, and agent context can see the notebook without reading every sheet body.

Tool Purpose
scribblebook_app_create(folder, title?) New app in folder (manifest + first index).
scribblebook_page_create(folder, title?) New sheet in notebook.

When creating a new app, the client directly opens the first sheet. The document template templates/scribble.yaml (+ Pebble body) creates a single sheet without a notebook — the way for “a handwriting note, not a notebook”.

3. Web-UI

ScribblebookAppKind.vue (Addon @vance-addon/scribble):

  • Header (Slim-Header, App manifest): ☰ <Title> ▾ opens the sheet menu (all sheets, active one marked), + New Sheet, ↻ Rebuild Index, Save-State-Dot (saved / changes / saving).
  • Body: the Scribble Editor with the active sheet.
  • Sheet switching is per-tab-state in the host (?entry=): F5 and permalink open the same sheet; a switch does not remount, it jumps in the editor (:key = active path) and loads the sheet.
  • Chat binding: reportActiveSubDoc reports the open sheet to the session (chat selection points to the sheet, not the app manifest).
  • Live-Watch: useDocumentPrefixReaction on the folder — if another client saves a sheet (or creates one), it appears in the menu and index without a reload. A Self-Write-Window prevents feedback: its own debounce-save does not trigger a re-scan/re-set of the editor.

Printing follows the kind: the app header is no-print, only the sheet is on paper (see Kind-Spec §3).

4. Anti-Patterns / v1-Scope

  • Sheets as app-internal data. Rejected — each sheet is a full document (export, search, agent access, OCR later).
  • Editing the index manually. Machine-owned; the rebuild button is the only way.
  • Strokes in the index. The index lists titles/paths — handwriting remains in the sheet and becomes visible via scribble_sheet_image, never copied as text.
  • Not in v1: Reordering sheets (array order = filename), deleting sheets from the app (handled by document management), notebook PDF export (noted follow-up track scribble_book_pdf).