ui-surface-audit

name	ui-surface-audit
description	Audit GUI, TUI, and WASM flows for hidden state, shortcut drift, and parity regressions
domain	ui-review
confidence	high
source	vasquez

Context

Use this skill when reviewing src/gui or src/tui, especially when the task asks for issue finding rather than implementation.

Patterns

Compare promises against gates

Start with the README and the surface-specific README files, then trace each promised shortcut or interaction back to app.rs. In this repo, the highest-value bugs come from documented behaviors that are still gated behind desktop-only state like selected_file.

Verify persistence as a full round trip

A save path is not enough. For WASM, confirm that startup actually calls the code that hydrates LocalStorage-backed editor and environment state; for native/TUI, confirm that saved selections are explicitly restored during app initialization.

Treat run actions as stateful workflows

Check whether buttons and shortcuts share the same enable/disable rules, and whether repeated runs are blocked while a result view is already active. Shared Arc<Mutex<...>> state with no run token or disable gate is a strong smell for interleaved results.

Round-trip the full model

When a UI editor converts between editable fields and HttpRequest, verify that every important field survives the round trip. If the editor serializes only a subset of the request shape, log it as a data-loss bug even if the rest of the app still parses correctly.

Anti-Patterns

• Desktop-only assumptions in WASM code paths — hiding load or run behavior behind file-system state in the web build.
• Shortcut-specific behavior — keyboard actions that run different logic than the visible buttons.
• Partial serializers in editors — request editors that drop assertions, variables, conditions, or delay metadata on save.