HeroQuest Card Creator - v0.6.0 Technical Release Notes

Overview

Release 0.6.0 introduces the first full release of the new Decks system and represents one of the largest structural expansions of HeroQuest Card Creator so far.

This release evolves the application from a card editor and library-management workflow into a structured deck authoring and organization platform, introducing grouped deck construction, drag-and-drop set management, entry workflows, quantity controls, deck-aware inspector integrations, export preparation flows, and deep-link navigation support.

A substantial portion of the release focused on rebuilding and stabilizing the Decks interaction model, including a major drag-and-drop architecture overhaul, selection synchronization improvements, integrity safeguards, and broader persistence/service-layer expansion.

In addition to the Decks feature set itself, the release includes:

new deck-specific API and persistence layers
extensive localization additions
improved destructive-action safety flows
broader regression coverage
UI/UX consistency refinements
engineering hygiene and structural cleanup work

This document summarizes both user-visible technical capabilities and the underlying architectural changes introduced in 0.6.0.

Baseline: release/0.5.7 → Target: release/0.6.0

Breaking / Behavioral Changes & Workflow Evolution

Decks Introduced as a First-Class Workflow

HeroQuest Card Creator now includes a dedicated Decks workspace with:

deck grid management
focused deck editing
grouped set organization
entry-level card workflows
deck-aware inspector integrations
export preparation flows

Decks are now treated as a first-class application domain rather than an extension of pairing or collections.

Structured Deck Organization Model

Decks now operate using a structured hierarchy:

Deck
- Group
  - Set
    - Front-face entries

This introduces a more deterministic organizational model for:

grouped card sets
playable deck composition
future export workflows
large collection management

Groups automatically clean up when empty and set behavior is now integrity-aware.

Interaction Model Shift

The Decks workflow is intentionally drag-and-drop driven.

The release introduces:

drag-to-create workflows
cross-group movement
insertion-boundary creation
reorder semantics
temporary insertion targeting
recover-oriented entry workflows

Much of the release focused on stabilizing these interactions to behave consistently under complex edge cases.

Feature Details by Subsystem

Deck Workspace & Navigation

Dedicated Decks Workspace

A new Decks product area has been introduced with:

Decks grid view
deck detail editor
right-side source workflows
deck preview fans
metadata/details panels
contextual deck actions

The application now supports transitioning between:

deck overview workflows
focused set editing workflows
entry-management workflows

without leaving the Decks experience.

Deep-Link Routing

Decks now support deep-link routing for:

selected deck
selected group
selected set
selected entry context

This allows direct navigation into specific deck states.

Selection synchronization behavior was hardened to ensure:

reliable route hydration
stable post-create selection
deterministic refresh behavior
resilient navigation state restoration

Deck Grid & Deck Management

Deck Grid Features

The Decks grid now supports:

create deck
duplicate deck
rename deck
delete deck
multi-select deck operations
deck search
contextual empty states

Search behavior includes matching against:

deck titles
included card titles
related deck content

Deck ordering behavior was stabilized to ensure deterministic rendering and interaction consistency.

Deck Preview Fans

Deck preview fans were introduced and refined throughout the release.

Features include:

deterministic card slot ordering
balanced preview composition
radial fan geometry
theme-aware thumbnail fallback rendering
image fade-in handling
hover/reveal affordances

Fan rendering now behaves more consistently across:

deck tiles
inspector previews
metadata panels
toolbar mini-fans

Deck Groups & Set Management

Group and Set Authoring

Decks can now be composed using grouped set structures.

Users can:

create groups
add sets into groups
move sets between groups
reorder sets
create new groups from insertion boundaries
remove sets safely

Additional behavior includes:

automatic cleanup of empty groups
deterministic insertion positioning
stable selected-set persistence after deletion

Group Insertion Boundaries

Insertion boundaries between groups were redesigned several times during the release cycle to improve:

insertion predictability
hover guidance
edge insertion stability
temporary-group handling

Final behavior includes:

dedicated insert-boundary controls
localized hover titles
stabilized insertion anchors
bootstrap-state guidance behavior

Group Fan Geometry

Deck group presentation was rebuilt using a true radial fan layout.

Changes include:

geometry-based card positioning
consistent collapsed/expanded transitions
dampened spread behavior for low-card fans
improved clipping/overflow handling
reveal scrolling for selected sets

The fan rendering system is now shared more consistently across Decks workflows.

Drag-and-Drop Architecture

Drag-and-Drop Platform Rebuild

A major portion of 0.6.0 focused on rebuilding the Decks drag-and-drop platform.

The implementation evolved into a controller-driven architecture built around:

DeckBoardsCore
board controllers
shared runtime board models
centralized drag orchestration
useDecksDragController

This replaced earlier legacy interaction patterns with a more deterministic interaction model.

Drag Stabilization Work

Significant stabilization work was completed around:

placeholder flicker
drag projection instability
optimistic reorder artifacts
invalid drop commits
snap-back behavior
empty-slot targeting
insertion-index drift
layout jitter during drop
cross-group reorder persistence

The final interaction model separates:

temporary drag-state behavior
committed persisted state
selection-state transitions

to reduce visual instability during interaction.

Drag Guards and Route Validation

Additional drag safety behavior now includes:

face-type drag guards
blocked-route prevention
source-board non-droppable policies
false commit prevention
temporary target cleanup
invalid-drop suppression

These protections improve integrity when working across:

source panel
groups
entries
temporary insertion targets

Card Entry Management

Front-Face Entry Workflows

Selected sets now support:

adding front-face entries
entry reorder
drag insertion
entry multi-select
bulk remove-from-set actions
paired-card recovery workflows

Entry interaction behavior was stabilized to improve:

reorder persistence
empty-set drop targeting
insertion consistency
placeholder behavior
active selection continuity

Quantity Controls

Per-entry quantity controls were added for cards within sets.

Behavior includes:

persisted quantity values
bounded count ranges
hover-revealed controls
legacy fallback handling
dedicated update endpoints
service-level validation

Quantity controls are integrated into:

entry cards
export preparation flows
deck counts
deck metadata updates

Recover-Oriented Workflows

The release shifts several workflows away from destructive terminology and toward recover-oriented interactions.

Examples include:

remove-from-set behavior instead of delete semantics
paired-card recovery flows
safer unpair handling
contextual risk guidance
localized destructive-action messaging

Inspector & Cross-Deck Awareness

Deck Membership Context

The Card Inspector now exposes deck membership awareness.

New functionality includes:

deck membership counts
deck usage panels
reusable deck fan previews
jump-to-deck actions
cross-deck visibility

Cards can now surface where they are currently used throughout Decks.

Shared Inspector Entity Rows

Inspector relationship rows were refactored into shared rendering primitives to improve consistency between:

pairing relationships
deck relationships
membership summaries

Right Panel & Source Workflows

Face Mode Switching

The right-side source panel now supports:

front-face mode
back-face mode
contextual filtering behavior

This improves deck-building workflows when switching between:

set authoring
entry authoring
recovery flows

Source Filtering and Search

The previous collection-tree implementation was replaced with a custom filtering workflow built around react-select.

Enhancements include:

collection-aware searching
improved filtering UX
larger visual previews
clearer active-state handling
better used-vs-available differentiation

Persisted Panel State

Deck right-panel behavior now persists:

panel collapse state
selected tab state
source visibility preferences

This improves continuity between editing sessions.

Export & Safety Workflows

Deck Export Flow

Deck export flows are now accessible from:

deck grid view
deck detail view

The export flow introduces:

confirmation modals
localized messaging
unique-count wording
safer export affordances

This release intentionally lays groundwork for future PDF and print workflows planned for later releases.

Destructive Action Safety

Multiple destructive workflows were hardened throughout the release.

Safety additions include:

mandatory confirmation dialogs
contextual warning styling
hover-risk signaling
remove-state focus modes
clearer destructive-action wording

Additional cleanup behavior now ensures:

orphan prevention
safer unpair cascades
deck integrity preservation
backup-aware delete handling

Localization & Terminology

Decks Localization Expansion

Decks-specific workflows were localized across all supported locales.

Localization coverage includes:

Decks UI
metadata/details panels
export confirmations
insert-boundary hints
empty states
remove/recover flows
hover titles
destructive-action messaging

Terminology Refinement

Several wording changes were made to improve workflow clarity.

Examples include:

“Metadata” renamed to “Details”
remove/recover wording improvements
safer deck-action terminology
clearer contextual labels

UI / UX Refinement

Decks Visual Polish

Extensive UI refinement work was completed across the Decks experience.

Areas refined include:

toolbar alignment
hover/focus behavior
border consistency
panel seams
placeholder consistency
empty-state layouts
active-state visibility
drag affordances
guidance messaging

Theme Consistency

Additional refinement work improved parity between:

light theme
dark theme
hover states
toolbar chrome
card overlays
fan presentation

Empty-State Guidance

Decks now includes clearer bootstrap-state guidance and contextual empty states for:

empty decks
empty groups
empty entries
no-results searches

Guidance behavior was refined to avoid visual clutter once active deck-building begins.

Persistence, APIs & Service Layer

New Decks API Surface

Release 0.6.0 introduces a substantial expansion of the typed API layer.

New deck-specific areas include:

deck CRUD operations
group management
set management
reorder endpoints
entry quantity updates
membership queries

This expands the application's abstraction layer around deck persistence and interaction flows.

Deck Service Layer

A dedicated deck service layer was introduced and expanded.

Key responsibilities include:

deck mutation orchestration
integrity enforcement
cascade cleanup
metadata freshness
reorder persistence
quantity validation
membership lookups

Deck Metadata Freshness

Deck metadata now updates reactively after:

set mutations
entry mutations
reorder operations
cascade operations

This ensures deck previews and metadata remain synchronized with deck content changes.

Backup & Cascade Handling

Deck-related cleanup behavior was hardened to ensure safer behavior during:

delete operations
unpair operations
cascade cleanup
backup/restore flows

This reduces the risk of orphaned deck references after destructive actions.

Testing & Regression Coverage

Expanded Regression Coverage

Release 0.6.0 introduces extensive new Decks-focused regression coverage.

Coverage areas include:

drag/drop behavior
reorder persistence
insertion targeting
export confirmation flows
quantity updates
deck membership queries
deep-link synchronization
delete/unpair cascades
placeholder behavior
invalid-drop handling
board-controller logic
fan geometry calculations

Test Types Added

Coverage spans:

UI tests
hook tests
selector tests
service-layer tests
DnD controller tests
cascade integrity tests

The release includes significant new coverage specifically around Decks edge cases and interaction stability.

Engineering Hygiene & Structural Cleanup

Fallow Integration

The release introduces fallow tooling for codebase hygiene checks.

Additions include:

project configuration
GitHub workflow integration
documented hygiene commands
ignore-pattern tuning

Component Cleanup & Refactors

Additional cleanup work includes:

removal of superseded legacy components
controller/view decomposition
board-model separation
CSS cleanup
dependency cleanup
structural reorganization of Decks workflows

Known Limitations & Out-of-Scope

PDF export is not included in 0.6.0
Deck export currently focuses on image/export preparation workflows
Some advanced drag affordance refinements may continue evolving in later releases
Decks interaction behavior may continue receiving polish as broader workflows mature
Export manifest generation is not included in this release
Full print-layout workflows remain planned for future releases

Breaking Changes & Migrations

New Deck Persistence Structures

The application now includes dedicated persistence structures for:

decks
groups
sets
entries
quantity metadata

No manual migration is required for existing libraries.

New API Surface

The typed API layer now includes deck-specific request flows and service integrations.

This expands the application's internal persistence contract significantly compared to previous releases.

Testing & Verification Summary

Validated areas include:

deck creation and deletion
grouped set organization
drag-and-drop reorder behavior
cross-group movement
insertion-boundary creation
empty-slot targeting
export confirmation workflows
entry quantity persistence
deep-link synchronization
deck membership rendering
recover/remove workflows
localization coverage
panel persistence behavior
fan rendering and geometry stability
destructive-action safeguards
cascade cleanup behavior

Summary

Release 0.6.0 transforms HeroQuest Card Creator from a card-centric workflow into a structured deck-authoring platform.