Nomarchy/agent/BACKLOG.md

Backlog — the prioritized task queue

This is the only executable work list for agents. Product themes and v1.0 intent live in docs/VISION.md; design history in docs/ROADMAP.md; map in docs/README.md and agent/README.md.

Rules:

• Agents take the topmost actionable item (see LOOP.md). Finished items are deleted here — the journal + git log are the record; durable design notes get a ✓-entry in docs/ROADMAP.md (and/or a note in VISION) if worth keeping.
• Item numbers are stable IDs — never renumbered or reused. A gap in the sequence means shipped (or dropped) work; new items take the next free number regardless of tier.
• Tags: [blocked:hw] needs real hardware (see HARDWARE-QUEUE.md) · [human] needs Bernardo · [stuck] two failed attempts, needs help · [big] must be split before starting.
• Agents may append to PROPOSED and Decisions freely (include VISION § … or ROADMAP § … when relevant); only Bernardo moves items out of PROPOSED into the tiers.

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NOW

Live ISO hardware findings — Acer Aspire M5-481T (Bernardo, 2026-07-13)

These are separate queue items from one real install/session pass. Preserve that separation when fixing them: the installer blocker, unclear installer copy, and post-install desktop failures have different verification paths.

94. Live ISO/install: no default browser observed

Progress 2026-07-13: installed path VERIFIED at V1 — the exact HM generation the ISO pins for offline installs contains the chromium binary, chromium-browser.desktop, and all three HTTP/HTML handlers (mime.nix sets them; template ships the package). The Acer sighting is the LIVE session, which ships NO browser by design (mime defaults name chromium, GIO skips it while absent) — #103 adds live baseline apps. Live posture is now explicit in the flake comment. Remains: a test-install VM run proving chromium launches post-install (chain #97's Bluetooth-click V2 into the same run).

Chromium is the resolved default-browser decision and is present in the downstream template, but this hardware pass found no usable default browser. Trace the live-to-installed Home Manager path rather than merely checking the template source. Pass = Chromium launches after installation and HTTP/HTTPS mime defaults resolve to chromium-browser.desktop (and the intended live-ISO browser posture is explicit).

95. Live ISO/install: Ghostty does not open

Reproduce from the launcher and a terminal, capture its stderr/journal, and fix the packaging/session/runtime cause. Pass = the default terminal opens in the installed graphical session and the SUPER+Return path works.

98. Boreal: button text renders black and is difficult to read

Audit GTK button foreground/background contrast under Boreal, including the installer surface where it was observed. Follow THEME-DESIGN's two-theme visual protocol. Pass = normal, hover, focused, and disabled button labels remain legible and palette-consistent.

Progress 2026-07-13: scripted checks pass all 24 themes — not palette-level. Stylix gtk.css for Boreal audited: fg roles are light (#d3dae0); the near-black values are accent/warning/error_fg_color (#21272f) on their pastel bgs (deliberate, ~4.4:1). Candidate surfaces: adw-gtk3 (light base) + dark recolor edge cases, or gum's TUI confirm buttons in the installer (VM gum screens under Boreal look legible — artifacts in /tmp/nomarchy-v2-swap-93/). Needs Bernardo's screenshot or an Acer repro to pin the actual widget before fixing.

113. Live session: offline theme switch rebuilds the world from source

Surfaced by #99's evidence run (2026-07-13, /tmp/nomarchy-v2-theme-99/): in the live ISO session, offline nomarchy-theme-sync apply gruvbox fails — its home-manager switch tries to build 1176 derivations from the stage0/hex0 bootstrap up, then dies on offline source fetches (vala, yasm, config.jsonc, ghostty-config, easyeffects.svg, typogrify…), ending error: Build failed due to failed dependency. This contradicts docs/TESTING.md item 6 ("apply gruvbox → switch runs offline"). The failing generation is bvl30ggn…-home-manager-generation.drv; it is not the drv the ISO pins (the pin is the default-theme homeConfigurations.${username}.activationPackage, i.e. Boreal — confirmed drv-identical to the failing one only for gruvbox state, so a non-default theme's generation is unpinned). NOT caused by #99's git-seed: the drv is byte-identical path-seeded vs git-seeded. Decide the contract: either pin every baked theme's live activationPackage into the ISO (size cost) or scope the offline-switch promise to the shipped theme + correct TESTING.md/MEMORY. Pass = a fresh live ISO either switches to any baked theme offline, or fails with a clear "needs network for this theme" message and accurate docs. Not caused by anything in today's batch — separate pre-existing ISO-pinning gap.

NEXT

107. Rename theme.json to reflect that it is the system state

The state file long ago stopped being about themes: it carries night-light, keyboard memory, display resolution and profiles, auto-commit, services and more, so theme.json now misnames its own contents and misleads anyone reading the flake. Rename it to state.json (Bernardo's call, 2026-07-14 — settled, do not revisit), and carry the nomarchy-theme-sync tool name along with it.

Standalone task — do not fold it into a feature. Ships with a compatibility shim that keeps reading an existing theme.json so downstream checkouts do not break on a pull, plus a migration note. Pass = a fresh install and an existing downstream checkout both work, every in-repo reference (modules, tools, template, docs) uses the new name, and the shim is documented with the release it can be dropped in.

103. Live ISO baseline desktop applications

Make Chromium and Firefox, libreoffice-fresh, GNOME Text Editor, Amberol, and GNOME Snapshot explicitly available in the live profile and application launcher. Text Editor and Snapshot are the maintained gedit/Cheese successors; HTTP remains assigned to Chromium. Pass = all six launch in the live session and the resulting ISO-size delta is recorded.

104. Runtime Airplane mode

Add Airplane mode under System connectivity controls. It must disable Wi-Fi and Bluetooth together, remember their prior states, and restore those states when disengaged. Pass = the runtime round trip works, and a Waybar indicator is visible only while engaged with parity across every whole-bar swap.

105. [big] System-menu information architecture

Keep exactly six root menu entries while reorganizing System into Connectivity, Devices, Recovery, and Preferences. This item must be split into scoped implementation/verification tasks before work starts. Pass = every current route has one deliberate home, navigation remains shallow, and no root-level entry is added or lost.

106. Internal menu Back/Left navigation contract

Reproduce the reported internal leaf with neither Back nor Left behavior, then fix any breach of the already-intended navigation contract. Add a permanent guard covering every internal leaf; external GUIs and free-text prompts retain their explicit Esc exceptions. Pass = no internal leaf can strand the user and the guard fails on a regression.

108. Keybindings menu presentation and completeness audit

Group the menu as Window, Workspace, Menu, and Media, then prove every live Hyprland binding appears from the canonical source. Do not repeat the obsolete claim that float/move bindings are absent. Pass = presentation is scannable and an automated comparison detects omissions or stale displayed bindings.

110. [big] Retire Control Center safely

Split this into two phases before implementation: first build a migration/drop matrix for every unique setting, then remove the package and all references. Keyboard and terminal replacements must reject unsafe free-text values. Pass = no supported setting silently disappears and the second phase leaves no stale launcher, menu, package, documentation, or generated-artifact reference.

111. Scope-first Recovery menu

Replace confusing Rollback/Snapshots duplication with explicit Desktop generation, System boot generation, and Files/root BTRFS scopes. Pass = labels state what is restored and from where before action, with destructive or reboot effects made clear and each existing recovery path represented once.

112. Installer disk-picker safety

Exclude floppy, pseudo, tiny, and otherwise non-installable devices such as /dev/fd0; never select them by default. Reproduced in QEMU 2026-07-13 (#93's V2 run): with OVMF the guest exposes /dev/fd0 and the picker listed it FIRST — a blind Enter selected it (artifacts: /tmp/nomarchy-v2-swap-93/20-review.png, Disk: /dev/fd0 (WILL BE ERASED)). Pass = the real install disk is clear, invalid devices cannot reach destructive setup, a permanent guard covers the filter/default logic, and a pre-destructive KVM run proves the picker behavior.

LATER

• Wallpapers artifact split (ROADMAP § Faster switches — decided, deferred): pinned Nomarchy-wallpapers input so a state write stops re-copying 86 MB. Follow-on: pre-built theme variants if switches are still slow after.
• Installer round 2 (ROADMAP § Installer): multi-disk BTRFS RAID, impermanence, BIOS/legacy boot.
• Boot-from-snapshot: a systemd-boot equivalent of grub-btrfs.
• MIPI/IPU software-ISP camera support (no-UVC machines).
• NixOS release bump → v2 [human]: deliberate, hand-edited, never automated; the previous attempt was discarded (2026-06-22) over a Hyprland OOM blocker — see MEMORY.md before retrying (NOW#3 should also soften that blocker class).

FUTURE (decided deferred — not the agent queue head)

Work we intend someday but explicitly not NEXT. Agents do not pick these unless Bernardo promotes one into NEXT/NOW.

20. KVM runner → VM suite in CI [human]

Status (2026-07-10): keep eval-only CI on the current Gitea stack (act_runner in docker-compose on the 4c/4 GB IONOS VPS). Nested KVM + RAM headroom on that host are a poor fit next to Gitea; full checks.* VMs stay local / promotion-time until a separate KVM-capable machine exists.

When ready: register a second runner (host-mode nix + /dev/kvm, label nix-kvm — not the existing docker eval runner), then uncomment the vm-checks job in .gitea/workflows/check.yml (runs-on: nix-kvm, nix flake check + toplevel/HM builds). Do not enable the job until that label is online (Gitea queues forever otherwise).

Formatter — adopt later [human]

Intent: add a Nix formatter (likely nixfmt-rfc-style) in a dedicated pass: reformat the tree once, document in CONVENTIONS, optional CI check. Not the queue head — no drive-by reformats until that pass.

PROPOSED (agent suggestions — await human triage)

Agents: append here with a one-paragraph pitch (what/why/cost). Do not implement. Bernardo moves accepted items into a tier.

Open work only. Shipped exam/A–C items (#47–#63, #14, #52 theme high-ROI, etc.) live in the journal + ROADMAP — not here.

Product / day-2

114. Greeter ignores per-device keyboard layouts

Found by Bernardo 2026-07-14: logging out while docked lands on tuigreet, where his external keyboard (remembered as us via settings.keyboard.devices) types the session layout gb — so the password prompt fights him. Not a regression and not docking-related: per-device layouts are applied with hyprctl keyword device[<name>]:kb_layout, which only exists inside a running Hyprland session, while tuigreet draws on a kernel VT whose single keymap comes from console.useXkbConfig ← services.xserver.xkb.layout. A VT structurally cannot do per-device layouts, so this is a design gap, not a bug to patch. Options, cheapest first: (a) document it and stop there; (b) a greeter layout-cycle key (tuigreet has no such feature — would need the keymap swapped under it); (c) host tuigreet inside a small Wayland compositor (cage/labwc), which does get per-device XKB and would let the greeter honour the same in-flake state the session uses — real work, and it changes the greeter's whole rendering path (modules/nixos/greeter.nix themes tuigreet through the 16 ANSI console slots, so (c) is not a drop-in). Worth deciding whether the greeter is meant to be layout-aware at all before costing it.

• NVIDIA first-class options — deferred past v1 (Bernardo 2026-07-10). Keep #59 commented install guidance; no nomarchy.hardware.nvidia.* until a hybrid maintainer + queue.

• Post-install hardware hints (VISION § B) — After the general “you're set” card (#81), optionally fire one additional self-gated notify when the machine actually has the hardware: (a) fwupdmgr on PATH → “System › Firmware to check LVFS updates”; (b) fprintd-list on PATH → “System › Fingerprint to enroll”. One-shot markers in settings.* (same in-checkout discipline as firstBootShown); never a permanent MOTD nag. Cost: small — extend nomarchy-first-boot or a sibling oneshot + checks.first-boot fixture. Control-center / MOTD already mention these; the gap is the silent first graphical session for people who never open those.

(#80–#83 + #85–#88 shipped 2026-07-11. Theme A day-2 + neon-glass finish shipped — VISION ✓. Dock/hibernate V3 → HARDWARE-QUEUE. Parallel fingerprint-or-password shipped 2026-07-12 (Bernardo promoted it live; fingerprint.parallel, pam-fprint-grosshack) — reader V3 → HARDWARE-QUEUE.)

v1.0 pointer

See VISION. Open PROPOSED: post-install hardware hints; NVIDIA deferred past v1; IR portal (b)/(c) need T14s (HARDWARE-QUEUE § T14s). Standing calls: browser = Chromium; power = PPD.

Decisions [human]

Open calls only Bernardo can make; agents add options/evidence but never decide. Resolved entries stay for history; agents treat them as closed.

Resolved (2026-07-10)

• Docs site vs Markdown-in-repo — markdown in-repo for now (docs/, README). A rendered docs site is FUTURE if wanted.
• Default browser — ship Chromium in templates/downstream/home.nix; mime → chromium-browser.desktop. Opt out: delete the line / override mime.
• Default power backend — keep PPD (nomarchy.system.power.backend default). TLP remains the one-line opt-in. Rationale: stability + live profile API for menu/Waybar; Omarchy’s TLP experiment reverted.

Resolved (2026-07-10, more)

• Formatter adoption — yes, but not now. Tracked as FUTURE (below). Nix-source style only (nixfmt-rfc-style or similar); one bulk reformat + CI/check when promoted. Until then: hand-aligned style per CONVENTIONS.

• Hibernation — want by default (product intent). Needs a disk-backed swap (file or partition) sized for resume; not zram alone. Shipped as #76; V3 power-cycle PASSED on TuringMachine 2026-07-12 (ROADMAP § Hibernation + zram by default).

Resolved (2026-07-10, #76 design)

• Swap sizing — exactly RAM (installer default, unchanged). Hibernate image ≤ RAM; zram takes day-to-day paging. swapSize=0 stays no-swap.
• Migration — docs runbook (docs/MIGRATION.md), not a tool.
• No-swap Hibernate — keep the menu row; notify on failure.