Repurpose manual sources as Favorites

[loganj]

Summary

• Repurpose legacy manual sources into a dedicated Favorites section in the project sidebar.
• Manage favorites from context menus instead of showing a star next to every row.
• Allow adding and removing favorites from any file or directory row, regardless of source section.

Most Noticeable

Behavior	Before	After
Sidebar organization	Manually added paths and directories showed up as ordinary source groups mixed into the normal sidebar.	They show up in a dedicated Favorites section at the top of the project sidebar.
How you add one	Adding one felt like source management.	You right-click a file or directory row and choose Add to Favorites.
How you remove one	Removing one felt like removing a manual source entry.	You right-click the favorite again and choose Remove from Favorites.
Visual clutter	Every file and directory row had an inline star affordance.	Inline stars are gone; rows look normal and favorites actions live in the context menu.
Default visibility	There was no favorites area to notice.	If a project has favorites, the Favorites section auto-opens the first time you view that project/worktree.

Everyday Behavior

Behavior	Before	After
Access from normal sources	Manual entries were mixed into the same mental model as All Markdown, thoughts, and other source sections.	You can favorite files and directories directly from any source tree without changing how those sources render.
Access from Favorites	There was no dedicated favorites surface.	You can remove a file or directory from Favorites by right-clicking it there.
Access from In Review	There was no favorites affordance there.	In Review rows also support Add to Favorites / Remove from Favorites.
Clicking a favorited file	It was just another source entry.	It still opens like any other file, but it also stays pinned in Favorites.
Clicking a favorited directory	It expanded as a source group.	It expands as a pinned subtree inside Favorites.
Empty state	There was no dedicated place for saved items.	A dimmed No Favorites row appears when nothing is favorited.
Existing saved manual items	They appeared as legacy manual sources.	They appear automatically as favorites, so existing users keep their saved items.

Overlap Rules

Behavior	Before	After
Favorite + normal source	Manual items felt source-like, so the relationship to other source buckets was murkier.	The same file can appear in Favorites and still appear in its normal source section below.
Favorite directory + favorite child file	This was awkward and source-oriented.	Both appear separately in Favorites, making the overlap explicit.
Duplicate-looking entries	The UI nudged toward one “home” per file.	Seeing the same file multiple times is expected when it is both favorited and otherwise discoverable.

Managing Favorites

Behavior	Before	After
File favorite action	The affordance lived inline on the row.	The action lives in the file row context menu.
Directory favorite action	The affordance lived inline on the row.	The action lives in the directory row context menu.
Scope of the action	Favorites were mainly surfaced through All Markdown and Favorites.	Favorites can be managed from any source tree, plus Favorites, plus In Review.
Directory contents reliability	Favorite directory contents depended more tightly on internal source tagging.	Favorite directories build their contents from known markdown files under that path, so they behave more robustly across source views.

Subtle Edge Cases

Behavior	Before	After
Exactness of a favorite	Source semantics mattered more than exact row identity.	A favorite reflects whether that exact file or exact directory is a favorite root.
Directory descendants	Descendants were implicitly “in that source.”	Descendants shown under a favorited directory are visible because of the parent favorite, not because each one is separately favorited.
Worktrees	Manual-source behavior was tied more directly to source plumbing.	Favorites follow the currently viewed project/worktree, so the contents reflect that context.
Badges and review state	Manual sources could feel like a separate source identity.	Favorites mainly change placement and pinning; files still keep their usual badges and review markers.

Validation

• go test ./internal/server ./internal/cache
• npm --prefix frontend run typecheck
• npm --prefix frontend run build

Anchors

• Sync PRODUCT.md, ERD.md, and TESTING.md with the shipped Favorites UX and remove stale traceability IDs.
• Align stale code/test trace tags with the current ERD and PRODUCT requirements.
• Add targeted coverage for the macOS file-handler plist and Tauri request construction.
• anchors check .
• go test ./internal/server ./internal/agents
• cargo test --manifest-path frontend/src-tauri/Cargo.toml