FnHCI Conversation Reading Surface

This note defines the first requirements for a human-readable conversation surface over canonical conversation projection files.

Example motivating artifact:

Purpose

The canonical conversation projection TOML files are excellent durable records, but they are not a comfortable reading surface for a human trying to follow a conversation.

NEXUS needs a reading surface that can:

  • open a projection file
  • render it as a chat-style transcript
  • preserve provenance and metadata
  • let a human follow the thread without reading raw TOML

Why This Matters

This requirement is important for:

  • reviewing imported chat history
  • harvesting concepts and discoveries
  • understanding project memory in context
  • following design and requirement discussions such as LaundryLog, FnHCI, and LOGOS

Core Requirement

Given a canonical conversation projection TOML file, FnUI must be able to render a human-readable conversation view.

That view should present:

  • conversation title
  • provider list
  • provider conversation identifiers
  • message count
  • first and last occurrence times
  • ordered messages in a chat-like flow

Message Rendering Requirements

The reading surface should present each message with:

  • role
  • occurred-at time
  • sequence position
  • excerpt or body text when available
  • artifact reference count when relevant

The message flow should be readable as a conversation first, not as a table dump.

Provenance Requirements

The reading surface must preserve traceability.

That means the user should be able to move from the reading surface back toward:

  • canonical conversation id
  • message ids
  • projection file location
  • related graph scope exports or later graph views

UX Requirements

The first reading surface should favor:

  • readable chat chronology
  • easy scanning
  • collapsible metadata instead of metadata-first overload
  • mobile-friendly rendering where practical
  • desktop readability for long conversations

Non-Goals For The First Pass

The first pass does not need:

  • rich markdown re-rendering of every provider feature
  • provider-perfect visual imitation
  • inline raw event editing
  • full search across every projection at once

The first goal is a good reading surface, not a full conversation IDE.

Relationship To FnUI

This belongs under the FnUI line because it is one of the clearest examples of:

  • TOML as durable truth-shaped storage
  • a human-facing visual surface over that stored projection
  • provenance-preserving GUI design

Likely First Use

LaundryLog-related history, FnHCI/FnUI history, and other design conversations are good first use cases because they are actively shaping the repo and are already being read by hand from projection files.