fix: use real daily data for growth chart instead of synthetic exponential (PILOT-8)

[matthew-pilot]

What

Replaces the synthetic exponential growth chart on the homepage with real data points from the API's daily[] array.

Before

The chart generated 10 synthetic ticks on a purely mathematical exponential curve (EXP_K=4.2). The comment at index.astro:13 said it plainly: // Chart - synthetic exponential curve, W1=0 → NOW=liveAgents. Always 10 ticks. The real s.daily data from the API was fetched but only used for the growth percentage — never for the chart line itself.

After

• Uses real s.daily[i].online_nodes entries as chart data points
• Labels use actual dates (M/D) instead of synthetic W1..Wn labels
• Falls back to synthetic exponential only when the API returns <2 daily entries
• Polyline through real data instead of 200-point sampled exponential

Ticket

PILOT-8 — Website page integrity sweep (Philip flagged growth graph as "overfitted for exponential growth, raises red flags")

Scope

src/pages/index.astro | 116 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++------------------
 1 file changed, 74 insertions(+), 42 deletions(-)

[matthew-pilot]

Status: PR is OPEN, MERGEABLE. CI 2/2 passing (build ✅, snyk ✅). Canary: not configured for this repo (website has no canary workflow). Linked ticket PILOT-8 (Website page integrity sweep) is in QA/IN-REVIEW — Phase 1 inventory complete (Artemii), Phase 2 implementation pending. Last operator activity: Teodor Calin at 2026-05-29 03:06 UTC (triage comment on PILOT-8). No blocking reviews or merge conflicts.

[matthew-pilot]

Diff walkthrough — src/pages/index.astro (+74/−42)

Build-time chart (lines 68–132)

Removed (old): Synthetic exponential curve — EXP_K=4.2, 10 ticks for (let i = 0; i < TICKS; i++). Used finalVal * (Math.exp(EXP_K * t) - 1) / (Math.exp(EXP_K) - 1), producing misleading growth curve from arbitrary math.

Added (new, lines 71–92): Real s.daily[] data loop. Iterates actual API entries, reads online_nodes (preferred) or total_nodes (fallback), skips invalid/zero values. Labels use real dates via new Date(ts * 1000) → M/D format instead of synthetic W1…Wn. Last entry labeled NOW. Fallback to old synthetic curve only when s.daily.length < 2 (line 98).

Line 124–129 (polyline): Old code sampled the exponential function at 200 points for a smooth curve. New code draws straight segments directly through real data points (coords array), one segment per data point.

Page text fix (line 505)

Minor: Ellipsis character … replaced with ... — likely a linter or consistency fix.

Runtime refresh (lines 961–1080)

Same pattern in the JavaScript rebuildChart() function:

• Removed: EXP_K=4.2 synthetic curve, 200-sample polyline
• Added (lines 1008–1026): Uses dailyEntries array (passed from s.daily at line 1110) to build real data points. Same date labels, same NOW for last entry.
• Added (lines 1028–1041): Fallback synthetic curve retained for API failure
• Line 1110 (call site): Changed from rebuildChart(activeN) → rebuildChart(activeN, s.daily) — passing real daily data into the function

Net effect: The growth chart now shows actual node-count trajectory from the API, not a pre-fitted exponential. Philip flagged the old chart as "overfitted for exponential growth, raises red flags" — this fix makes it data-driven with a safety fallback.

[TeoSlayer]

🌐 Preview: https://openclaw-pilot-8-20260529-02.pilotprotocol.pages.dev/

HTTP 200 · branch openclaw/pilot-8-20260529-025600 · Cloudflare auto-deploy via ci.yml.

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⚠️ Change of direction — please remove the growth chart entirely instead of fixing the data source.

The synthetic-vs-real-data debate misses the point: a homepage growth curve raises "is this overfitted?" questions either way (Philip's original flag), and even the real-data version still implies a forward projection viewers will read as marketing. Cleaner to drop it.

Scope (single file, deletions only — small tier):

• src/pages/index.astro — delete the chart <section>/<svg> block + the scoped .chart-* <style> rules
• Delete the build-time generator (~lines 68–132, the EXP_K/finalVal block)
• Delete the runtime rebuildChart() (~lines 1007–1080) and the caller rebuildChart(activeN, s.daily) at line 1110
• Keep the surrounding hero copy / metrics

Filed as PILOT-227 so triage picks it up cleanly — close this PR when the replacement PR opens.

[TeoSlayer]

@matthew-pilot fix — remove the growth chart entirely from src/pages/index.astro, but keep the surrounding text and numbers (node count, agent count, etc.). The chart is the SVG block + the EXP_K generator + the rebuildChart runtime function. Push as an additional commit on this branch.