Feature: Journaling

[manucompiles]

What we're building

Journaling as its own top-level section (route /journal, sidebar nav link like Time). Structured journal templates whose entries are stored as data and rendered as markdown notes. Three templates ship in v3.0: daily (derived from the user's proven claude.ai journaling practice), gratitude (short list + optional prose), and affirmations (daily list, revisited at the evening close to celebrate wins). Timestamped mood check-ins (own words, energy, optional Map of Consciousness level) modeled like TimeEntries - multiple per day; mood shift derived from first vs last. Task-linked Today's Plan (combobox over existing task text search + explicit '+ Create task' row; created tasks default due-today/no-project) with a derived 'Unplanned, got done' bucket from completed-but-unplanned tasks. Markdown export as download (single day .md / zip of all). This is the spine of the v3 journaling program.

Scope

In scope:

• JournalTemplate (JSON section definitions as TEXT, seeded in code - no template editor UI) + JournalEntry (one per template per date, JSON content as TEXT) + MoodCheckin tables, controllers following existing conventions
• Markdown generation as a pure static helper in Services/ (RecurrenceRule pattern); no Markdig
• /journal page: center = sections in a structured editor (styled auto-grow textareas per section kind - no rich-text library), right sidebar = calendar date picker (reuse DueDatePicker patterns, default today) + mood widgets; edit/preview toggle (react-markdown, new dependency - approved)
• Daily template sections (judged against a full scan of 10 real notes): morning mood check-in, What's Going On, Mind Dump, Projects Today, Today's Plan (Non-Negotiable / If Energy Allows / Easy Wins + derived Unplanned), Front of Mind, Back of Mind, Daily Review, Evening Review (all sub-fields kept), Journal (optional). Thought Check + Chaos to Control cut (dead in real usage)
• Mobile + desktop both required
• Export: download endpoints/UI (day .md, zip all)

Out of scope (later versions of the v3 program):

• Minimal single-user auth (v3.1, before journal content flows through MCP)
• MCP journaling tools; auto-seeded Daily Review; mood/MoC trends; weekly note generation; Obsidian one-way folder sync; internal Agent SDK AI
• Area/spin-off notes (idea-notes, logs) - a general notes system, stays in Obsidian
• Dream journal / wishlist (added to backlog)
• No import of old Drive/Obsidian notes - fresh start

Key decisions:

• Structured storage, markdown is a render (never parse markdown back)
• JSON stored as plain TEXT + System.Text.Json (first JSON-content columns in the codebase; deliberately NOT EF ToJson) - queryable values (mood, energy) get real columns on MoodCheckin
• MoodCheckin mirrors TimeEntry (timestamped, multi/day), not CheckIn (one/day)
• Local-time date conventions follow CheckIns precedent; inherits open TZ caveat GCP deploy: set TZ so computed dueStatus uses a correct local day #62 on the GCP demo only
• One entry per template per date enforced by API
• GCP demo seed DB will need regeneration at ship time (journal tables otherwise empty there)

Plan

docs/plans/P79-journaling.md

Outcome

What was built: Journaling as its own section (/journal + header nav tabs): three code-seeded templates (Daily/Gratitude/Affirmations), structured entries rendered to Obsidian-compatible markdown by a single backend renderer, timestamped mood check-ins via a full 3-ring feelings wheel with derived (never self-tagged) Map of Consciousness scores + mood arc chart, task-linked plan with explicit create + derived Unplanned bucket, transient Front/Back-of-Mind with next-day rollover, calendar with entry dots, edit/preview toggle, day .md + zip-all export, journal-scoped fog/plum/serif identity with dark mode, mobile widget drawer + header quick actions. New: JournalTemplates/JournalEntries/MoodCheckins tables, completedOn task filter, react-markdown dependency.

Verified: 334 backend + 27 new frontend tests green; production build clean; full API + UI flow driven end to end on desktop and phone (LAN); review fixes (1 Block + 10 Warns + design findings) applied and re-verified; test data wiped for fresh start.

Issues raised during this work: #80 (a11y), #81 (hardening), #82 (polish), #83 (pre-existing TaskCard tests), #84 (Doppel persona + draggable).

[manucompiles]

Documentation updated:

• docs/architecture.md - journal tables, endpoints, Services helpers, /journal route, journal components + lib additions, completedOn filter
• docs/product-design.md - product framing updated (task tool -> day-tracking system as of v3.0) + full Journaling feature rules incl. sensitivity note
• docs/engineering-guidelines.md - new v3.0 patterns: JSON-as-TEXT columns, paired cross-language contract, startup upsert seeding, page-scoped theme tokens, react-markdown rationale
• README.md - 'Journal your day (v3.0)' feature section
• CHANGELOG.md - Unreleased journaling entry (version stamped at /ship)

Code review complete (report delivered in session): 1 Block + 10 Warns + follow-ups, none fixed yet per report-only rule.

Ready for user eyeball, then fixes + /ship.

[manucompiles]

Review fixes applied on the branch (commit 5d21d51): R1 (Block - autosave date/content snapshot), R2 (preview frontmatter), R3 (past-date check-ins backfill correctly), R4 (past-day plans read-only), R5 (prose collapse reset), R8 (calendar anchor sync), R10 (markdown/YAML sanitization + img override), R11 (256KB content cap + word caps), R16/R24 (schema comments + paired-contract notes), R17 (empty-words guard), D1/D2 (contrast tokens), D3 (touch targets + always-visible delete affordances on touch), D4 (reduced-motion scroll).

Issues raised from code review (deferred findings):
#80 - keyboard accessibility (combobox, wheel, arc)
#81 - backend hardening (zip streaming, upsert race, extreme dates, URL encoding, CORS note for v3.1)
#82 - UX/code polish (mind-item keys, poll clobber, past-day habits, orphan templates, dead export, projections)
#83 - pre-existing TaskCard Jest failures on main

These are tracked separately and do not block shipping.

[manucompiles]

Closed by v3.0.0 release. See Outcome above; release link follows.