Feature plan: Step 1 · Step 2 · Step 3 · Step 4

Debug mode: enabled Effort study: railspike-effort / v3/ui_tools_launcher — ledger (standing P2 enrollment) Extended estimates: enabled

Cycle estimate: 0.45

Direction: Step 1 Option A, approved 2026-10-31 ("approved step 1").

Problem

/tools/ shows every tool twice in an order nobody would recognise, with long descriptions, and includes Account, which the main navigation already has.

User stories

• As a visitor, I want to find a tool by what it's for so that I don't read through sixteen entries.

• As an operator, I want operator tools together so that I can see at a glance where site controls live.

• As someone inside a tool, I want the Tools bar to follow the same groups so that the layout I learned on /tools/ still applies.

• As a theme author, I want stable hooks on each tool and group so that later themes can style them without changing markup.

Core requirements

• /tools/ lists each tool exactly once, in four groups: Your device (Outbox, Offline reading, Bookmarklets), Reading (Activity, Forte, Platform docs), Community (User access, Visitor statistics), Operator (Feature flags, System status, SQLite viewer, Backup, LLM exchanges, Fastmod, Operations).

• Each tool has a one-line description saying what it is for; "System State" becomes "System status". Account is no longer listed in Tools.

• Every tool page's Tools bar shows the same tools in the same group order, with the current tool marked.

• Each tool carries a stable data-tone key and each group heading a data-shape hook; server HTML is the same for every viewer.

• Existing rules stay: Backup is hidden when both backups are disabled; tools that refuse a viewer still refuse them.

Delivery scope

Work type: application change (templates, the tool registry, Tools CSS, tests, and the UI copy checklist record).

Completion boundary

• Normal entry: Tools in the main navigation, and the Tools bar inside any tool.

• End-to-end outcome: every tool is reachable once from /tools/ and from each tool's bar, on every site, in every permitted theme, on phone and desktop, with icons in Word97, Chicago and Midnight.

• Recovery: none new; a tool a viewer can't use keeps its existing refusal.

• Release condition: theme matrix checked with contact sheets, Bookmarklets page unchanged, affected tests updated and passing.

Risks

• Bookmarklets shares the launcher's classes, styles and icon rules. Impact: regrouping could change the Bookmarklets page. Earliest validation: before changing shared styles, screenshot Bookmarklets in the four icon themes. Mitigation: new group styles apply only to the Tools page; Bookmarklets is checked in every stage that touches shared CSS.

• Themes style the launcher buttons differently (Word97, Midnight and QDB override them). Impact: overflow or broken tiles in some themes. Validation: render /tools/ in every permitted theme at 390px and 1280px early. Mitigation: keep the button class and links so theme rules and icons still match.

• Tests and docs assume the current list, labels and order. Impact: false failures, or stale "Tools → Account" guidance. Validation: search tests and docs before the first change. Mitigation: update each deliberately and record it.

Shared component inventory

• ToolsPageSupport::registry() / navOptions(): the single tool list; extended with group, tone and short description (reuse).

• templates/pages/tools.php: the launcher; rebuilt as one grouped list (extend).

• templates/partials/tools_nav.php: the Tools bar on every tool page and in TemplateRenderer::navigationState; reordered by group (extend).

• public/assets/tools.css and the Word97, Midnight and QDB launcher rules: reused; group styles added for the Tools page only.

• public/assets/theme-nav-icons.css: icons keyed to tool links; reused unchanged (all tools already mapped).

• templates/pages/bookmarklets.php and tools_bookmarklets.js: share launcher classes; must stay unchanged.

Concepts touched

• Tools launcher (proposed entry, created with this cycle): one registry builds the launcher and every Tools bar.

• Theme navigation icons (proposed entry, used unchanged): icons keyed to tool links in three themes.

User flow

1. Open Tools from the main navigation.

2. Scan the four group headings, then pick a tool by its one-line description.

3. Inside the tool, use the Tools bar (same groups and order) to move to another tool.

Success criteria

• /tools/ contains each of the 15 tools exactly once and no Account entry, on ZenMemes, Chouse, QDB and MIT Rap Club.

• Each tool's bar lists the same 15 tools in the same order, current one marked.

• No horizontal overflow and no page errors in every permitted theme at 390px and 1280px; icons visible in Word97, Chicago and Midnight; contact sheets reviewed.

• The Bookmarklets page matches its pre-change screenshots in the four icon themes.

— Claude · 2026-10-31 UTC · Model: claude-opus-5-5

Study checkpoint

Same rater (Claude, claude-opus-5-5, single exposed), R1 (hashes verified 2026-10-31), P2, starting revision 41a6dbe9c. No implementation, measurement or accepted outcome.

Approval

Awaiting Approved Step 2.