# Oikos — Desktop Mascot Subsystem Model

> **Path note (2026-08-15):** the `web/src/...` paths and relative links
> below predate the Phase 1 client extraction — that tree now lives in the
> `dtoro/oikos-web` repo. Read them as `web/src/...` under that checkout.

> Companion to [the platform Model](../mbse/README.md) and
> [the Framework](../mbse/framework.md). This document is a **subsystem
> Model** in Holt's sense — it conforms to the same Framework (Ontology +
> Viewpoints, Markdown + Mermaid Notation) rather than restating it, scoped
> to a single not-yet-built subsystem of the `web` component: the desktop
> mascot ("Cluck"), a pixel-art chicken that lives on the desktop shell.
> Where the platform-wide Views in [../mbse/README.md](../mbse/README.md)
> and the component View for `web/src` in
> [../mbse/components.md](../mbse/components.md#5-web-control-room) speak
> at the level of "the SPA," this document goes one layer deeper into one
> feature of it — the same relationship [components.md](../mbse/components.md)
> has to [README.md](../mbse/README.md), applied recursively.

**Status of this Model:** the subsystem it describes is **implemented**
in `web/src/lib/mascot/` and `web/public/mascot/` (as of 2026-07-20).
Views below are marked **Implemented** where the code matches; a small
number of requirements (distinct adult art, a true round radial menu)
remain **Planned** as polish items. The corresponding implementation plan
is [plans/2026-07-20-desktop-mascot.md](../../plans/2026-07-20-desktop-mascot.md),
which carries a deviation note at the top covering the changes made
during implementation (hatch-on-naming, PNG-sheet art, button-column
radial menu, 60fps loop), and the physics audit/follow-up is
[plans/2026-07-20-mascot-physics-audit.md](../../plans/2026-07-20-mascot-physics-audit.md).

## Views in this model

| # | View | Concern it addresses |
|---|---|---|
| [1](#1-mission--system-context) | Mission & System Context | Why a mascot, and what is it never allowed to do? |
| [2](#2-requirements) | Requirements | What must it do, traced from the original request? |
| [3](#3-structural-view) | Structural View | What modules make it up, and which are the extension points? |
| [4](#4-behavioral-view) | Behavioral View | How does it move, live, and react, moment to moment? |
| [5](#5-interfaces-view) | Interfaces View | What does it read from the rest of the system, and how does it persist itself? |
| [6](#6-extension-guide) | Extension Guide | How does a future engineer add an animation, behavior, menu action, or reaction? |
| [7](#7-verification-view) | Verification View | How will we know it works, once built? |

## 1. Mission & System Context

**Stakeholders:** the operator (delight, ambient awareness of system
state without opening a window); future engineers extending the mascot's
behaviors/reactions/menu.

**Mission:** give the desktop shell a persistent, living presence that
makes background system activity legible at a glance — a chat streaming,
a knowledge-graph write, a critical signal — without requiring a window to
be open, while doubling as a lightweight tamagotchi for its own sake
(delight is a legitimate requirement here, not a side effect).

**Boundary — what the mascot is, and is not:**

- It is a **purely client-side, read-only observer**. It subscribes to
  existing `web` stores (chat, activity, events, dashboard summary) the
  same way any other UI component does.
- It **never calls a mutating API endpoint** and is not a new actuation
  path — it has no relationship to the `run` gate, `Execution`, or
  `Approval` entities described in [the platform Ontology](../mbse/ontology.md).
  Its only "mutation" is its own tamagotchi state, stored client-side.
- It is scoped entirely inside the `web` component
  ([../mbse/components.md §5](../mbse/components.md#5-web-control-room));
  it introduces no new backend surface, no new MCP tool, no new REST route.

```mermaid
flowchart TB
    subgraph SURFACE["Desktop shell surface (Desktop.svelte)"]
        ICONS["Icon layer\nz-0"]
        LAUNCH["Task launcher\nz-10"]
        WIN["WindowLayer\nz-40"]
        MASCOT["MascotLayer\nz-45\n(this subsystem)"]
        MENU["Desktop context menu\nz-50"]
    end

    MASCOT -->|subscribes, read-only| EVENTS["stores/events.ts\nliveEvents (SSE)"]
    MASCOT -->|subscribes, read-only| CHAT["stores/chat.ts\nstreaming"]
    MASCOT -->|subscribes, read-only| ACTIVITY["stores/activity.ts\nactivityLog"]
    MASCOT -->|subscribes, read-only| CONTEXT["stores/context.ts\nsummary"]
    MASCOT -->|reads/writes| LS["localStorage\noikos-mascot"]

    style MASCOT fill:#fff3e0,stroke:#e65100
```

## 2. Requirements

Traced from the original feature request. Status reflects the
2026-07-20 implementation; **Planned** items are deferred polish.

| ID | Statement | Source | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| MASC-1 | The mascot SHALL render as pixel-art from bundled 16x16 PNG sprite sheets (chicken + egg packs), not code-drawn string grids | User request (relaxed from "code-drawn" during implementation — see plan deviation note) | Implemented |
| MASC-2 | The mascot SHALL roam the desktop surface autonomously, walking along the ground (surface bottom, above the taskbar, OR the top edge of any non-minimized window beneath it) under gravity | User request + design decision | Implemented |
| MASC-3 | The mascot SHALL be draggable with the mouse; releasing it mid-air SHALL trigger a flutter-fall back to the ground | User request + design decision | Implemented |
| MASC-4 | Right-clicking the mascot SHALL open an interaction menu supporting nested submenus; rendered as a rounded-button column (relaxed from "round/Sims-style" — see plan deviation note) | User request | Implemented |
| MASC-5 | The mascot SHALL have a tamagotchi lifecycle: egg → chick → adult, with a user-assignable name; the egg → chick transition fires on first naming, not on a timed incubation | User request | Implemented |
| MASC-6 | The mascot's stage, name, and stats SHALL persist across reloads | User request (implied by "tamagotchi") | Implemented |
| MASC-7 | The mascot SHALL have idle states (autonomous behavior when untouched) and interactive states (drag, click, menu) | User request | Implemented |
| MASC-8 | The mascot SHALL react visibly to real application activity: chat streaming, knowledge-graph writes, critical signals | User request ("aware of its environment... feels alive and connected") | Implemented |
| MASC-9 | Animations, behaviors, menu actions, and reactions SHALL each be defined in a single data-driven registry, so a new one can be added without touching the engine code | User request ("easily expansible") | Implemented |
| MASC-10 (NFR) | The mascot's game loop SHALL run via `setTimeout`, not `requestAnimationFrame`, matching the repo's existing [`GraphBackground.svelte`](../../web/src/lib/components/GraphBackground.svelte) convention (rAF suspends in some hidden-tab embeddings); runs at ~60fps (relaxed from 30fps for smoother drag/fall — see plan deviation note) | Codebase convention | Implemented |
| MASC-11 (NFR) | The mascot SHALL never write to the API; all mutation is local (localStorage) | Design decision, this document §1 | Implemented |
| MASC-12 (NFR) | Persistence writes SHALL be debounced (~300ms), never per animation frame | Codebase convention ([`stores/windows.ts`](../../web/src/lib/stores/windows.ts) wmkit persist) | Implemented |

## 3. Structural View

**Stakeholders:** an engineer implementing or extending the mascot.
**Why this View earns its place:** MASC-9 (extensibility) is only real if
the module boundaries actually separate data (registries) from engine
code; this View is the check that they do.

```mermaid
classDiagram
    class types_ts {
        <<module>>
        PixelGrid
        AnimName
        MascotStage
        BehaviorId
        Stimulus
        RadialAction
    }
    class palette_ts {
        <<module, registry>>
        PALETTE: char to CSS color
    }
    class sprites_ts {
        <<module, registry>>
        SPRITES: Stage to AnimName to AnimDef
        resolveAnim(stage, name)
    }
    class render_ts {
        <<module, stateless>>
        drawFrame(ctx, grid, palette, flip)
    }
    class state_svelte_ts {
        <<module, runes>>
        MascotModel state
        grantXp() feed() pet() setName()
        tickLifecycle() advanceStageIfReady()
        persist (debounced, oikos-mascot)
    }
    class behavior_ts {
        <<module, registry>>
        BEHAVIORS: BehaviorId to BehaviorDef
        stepMascot(rt, model, now, dt)
    }
    class stimuli_ts {
        <<module, registry>>
        REACTIONS: id to ReactionDef
        attachStimuli(emit)
    }
    class actions_ts {
        <<module, registry>>
        MASCOT_ACTIONS: RadialAction tree
        registerMascotAction()
    }
    class Mascot_svelte {
        <<component>>
        canvas render loop 30fps
        pointer drag/click/contextmenu
    }
    class MascotLayer_svelte {
        <<component>>
        z-45 absolute overlay
        hosts Mascot + RadialMenu + bubble
    }
    class RadialMenu_svelte {
        <<component>>
        z-60 fixed, nested rings
    }
    class NameDialog_svelte {
        <<component>>
    }

    sprites_ts --> palette_ts : indexes
    sprites_ts --> types_ts : uses
    Mascot_svelte --> render_ts : draws frames
    Mascot_svelte --> sprites_ts : resolves anim
    Mascot_svelte --> behavior_ts : steps FSM
    Mascot_svelte --> state_svelte_ts : reads/mutates model
    MascotLayer_svelte --> Mascot_svelte : hosts
    MascotLayer_svelte --> RadialMenu_svelte : hosts, on contextmenu
    MascotLayer_svelte --> stimuli_ts : attaches on mount
    MascotLayer_svelte --> NameDialog_svelte : hosts, on hatch/rename
    RadialMenu_svelte --> actions_ts : renders tree
    stimuli_ts --> behavior_ts : forceBehavior(react)
```

**The four extension registries** (MASC-9's concrete answer — see also
[§6 Extension Guide](#6-extension-guide)): `SPRITES` (animations),
`BEHAVIORS` (autonomous states), `MASCOT_ACTIONS` (radial menu tree),
`REACTIONS` (environment stimuli). Each is plain data; the engine
(`behavior.ts`'s `stepMascot`, `Mascot.svelte`'s loop, `RadialMenu.svelte`'s
renderer) is generic over whatever the registry currently contains.

**Mount point:** two lines in
[`Desktop.svelte`](../../web/src/lib/components/desktop-shell/Desktop.svelte) —
`<MascotLayer />` rendered inside the surface `<div>` (the `relative
min-h-0 flex-1 overflow-hidden` element), after `<WindowLayer />`, so its
`absolute inset-0` shares the surface's coordinate space and its ground
line is exactly the surface's bottom edge (= the taskbar's top edge).

## 4. Behavioral View

**Stakeholders:** an engineer reasoning about "what does the mascot do
right now, and why." **Why this View earns its place:** a mascot with an
implicit, ad-hoc state machine is unmaintainable the moment a second
behavior or reaction is added; this View is the state machine made
explicit before any of it is coded.

### 4.1 Behavior FSM (moment-to-moment autonomy)

```mermaid
stateDiagram-v2
    [*] --> egg
    egg --> chick : first naming submitted\n(forceHatch: hatchProgress=1)

    state chick_and_adult_behaviors {
        [*] --> idle
        idle --> wander : weighted random pick\non behaviorUntil expiry
        wander --> idle
        idle --> peck : weighted random pick
        peck --> idle
        idle --> hop : weighted random pick
        hop --> idle : touchdown\n(off-edge mid-hop hands to falling)
        idle --> sleep : weighted random pick
        sleep --> idle
        wander --> falling : y below ground\n(off a dragged edge, etc.)
        idle --> dragged : pointerdown + move\npast 5px threshold
        wander --> dragged : pointerdown + move
        sleep --> dragged : pointerdown + move\n(interrupts sleep)
        dragged --> falling : pointerup, released mid-air\n(toss velocity from pointer history)
        falling --> falling : hard impact\n(one diminished bounce)
        falling --> land : y reaches ground\n(sideways momentum -> skid)
        land --> idle
        [*] --> react : stimulus dispatched\n(priority/cooldown gated)
        react --> idle : durationMs elapsed,\nreturns to prior-or-idle
    }

    chick --> adult : xp reaches ADULT_XP\n(advanceStageIfReady)
```

`dragged` always wins over any autonomous behavior; `sleep` is broken only
by a reaction whose `ReactionDef.interruptsSleep` is true (§4.3) or by a
drag. Weighted-random idle selection (`weight` field in `BehaviorDef`)
picks the next autonomous behavior only when the current one's `next()`
returns null past `behaviorUntil` — see
[plans/2026-07-20-desktop-mascot.md](../../plans/2026-07-20-desktop-mascot.md)
for the concrete weights.

**Physics feel (implemented 2026-07-20, second pass):** the fall is a
losing attempt at flight, not a drop — wing-beat impulses on a
speed-scaled, jittered flap cycle (panic flapping) shave the descent;
falls faster than terminal velocity (hard downward tosses) decay back
under drag instead of clamping; hard impacts bounce once, squash via a
damped-spring render layer scaled by impact speed, and poof a burst of
feather pixels; sideways momentum becomes a friction skid on touchdown
and ricochets off the surface's side bounds mid-fall; the sprite
stretches along its motion in the air and tilts into horizontal velocity
(fall, drag, and skid); walking bobs at step frequency. All of it is
tuning in `behavior.ts` plus the pure render layer in `Mascot.svelte`'s
`updateJuice()` — no new assets, no new states beyond `hop`.

### 4.2 Tamagotchi lifecycle (long-lived state)

```mermaid
stateDiagram-v2
    [*] --> egg : first load,\ndefaultModel()
    egg --> chick : first naming submitted\n(forceHatch sets hatchProgress=1)\n+ NameDialog shown
    chick --> adult : xp >= ADULT_XP (200)
    adult --> [*]
```

This is a separate state machine from §4.1: §4.1 governs frame-to-frame
motion/animation, §4.2 governs the tamagotchi's slow-moving `MascotModel`
(persisted, ticked ~1x/sec via `tickLifecycle`, not every frame). The
egg → chick transition fires on first naming, not on a timed incubation
— see the deviation note in
[plans/2026-07-20-desktop-mascot.md](../../plans/2026-07-20-desktop-mascot.md).

### 4.3 Example sequence — an environment stimulus becomes a visible reaction

```mermaid
sequenceDiagram
    participant SSE as stores/events.ts (SSE)
    participant Stim as stimuli.ts attachStimuli
    participant Layer as MascotLayer.svelte (emit callback)
    participant FSM as behavior.ts
    participant Mascot as Mascot.svelte (canvas)

    SSE->>Stim: liveEvents updates,\nnew head event severity=critical
    Stim->>Stim: check REACTIONS['alarmed']\ncooldown + priority
    Stim->>Layer: emit(reaction)
    Layer->>Layer: if model.stage === 'egg': drop\n(egg isn't "alive" yet)
    Layer->>FSM: forceBehavior(rt, 'react', {anim, durationMs})
    FSM->>FSM: interrupts current behavior\n(even sleep, interruptsSleep=true)
    FSM->>Mascot: rt.behavior = 'react', rt.anim = 'react-alarm'
    Mascot->>Mascot: next ~60fps tick draws\nreact-alarm frame + bubble
    Note over FSM: after durationMs,\nnext() returns to idle
```

**Egg-stage suppression:** MascotLayer's `emit` callback drops any
reaction when `model.stage === 'egg'`. The egg isn't "alive" yet (no
name, no hatched chick to react), so stimulus events are silently
ignored until the egg hatches — this keeps the egg calm during the
naming dialog rather than playing alarm animations behind it.

## 5. Interfaces View

**Stakeholders:** an engineer wiring a new store into the mascot's
awareness, or auditing what it depends on.

| Interface | Direction | Shape | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| [`stores/events.ts`](../../web/src/lib/stores/events.ts) `liveEvents` | consumed | `Writable<OikosEvent[]>`, newest-first, ref-counted via `subscribeEvents()` | `OikosEvent.type` families: `approval.*`, `signal.*`, `execution.*`, `health.changed`; `severity: 'info'\|'warning'\|'critical'` |
| [`stores/chat.ts`](../../web/src/lib/stores/chat.ts) `streaming` | consumed | `Writable<boolean>` | false→true edge triggers the `thinking` reaction, held while true |
| [`stores/activity.ts`](../../web/src/lib/stores/activity.ts) `activityLog` | consumed | derived `Readable<ActivityEntry[]>`, **recomputed wholesale** on every emission — not append-only | new entries with `type === 'knowledge'` detected by diffing entry `id`s between emissions, not by treating it as a stream |
| [`stores/context.ts`](../../web/src/lib/stores/context.ts) `summary` | consumed | `Writable<DashboardSummary\|null>` | ambient state (open signal counts via `openSignalCount(summary)`) |
| `localStorage['oikos-mascot']` | owned | `MascotModel` JSON, `{ version: 1, stage, name, hatchProgress, happiness, xp, hatchedAt, lastPos: {x}, lastSeen }` (hatchProgress is binary 0/1: 0 until first naming, 1 after) | debounced write (~300ms, mirrors [`stores/windows.ts`](../../web/src/lib/stores/windows.ts) wmkit persist) + `beforeunload` flush; `version` field reserved for a future `migrate()`; multi-tab is last-writer-wins (accepted, documented, not solved) |
| [`Desktop.svelte`](../../web/src/lib/components/desktop-shell/Desktop.svelte) mount | owned | `<MascotLayer />`, 2-line insertion | see §3 |

No interface in this table is a write path to the Oikos API — consistent
with §1's boundary statement (MASC-11).

## 6. Extension Guide

**Stakeholders:** a future engineer adding one new animation, behavior,
menu action, or reaction — this is the Viewpoint 4's "why" made concrete
as a recipe rather than prose (mirrors [../mbse/framework.md §7](../mbse/framework.md)'s
Process Set treatment).

| To add a... | Touch only | Nothing else changes because |
|---|---|---|
| **Animation** | Add the name to the `AnimName` union in `types.ts`; add frames to `SPRITES[stage]` in `sprites.ts` | `resolveAnim()` and the renderer are generic over the registry |
| **Behavior** | Add the id to `BehaviorId`; add one `BehaviorDef` entry to `BEHAVIORS` in `behavior.ts` | `stepMascot()` and the weighted-random idle selector consume `BEHAVIORS` generically |
| **Radial menu action** | Add a `RadialAction` node to `MASCOT_ACTIONS` in `actions.ts` (or call `registerMascotAction()`), optionally nested under `children` | `RadialMenu.svelte` renders whatever tree it's given, including nesting depth |
| **Environment reaction** | Add a `ReactionDef` to `REACTIONS` in `stimuli.ts`; wire one `store subscription -> predicate -> emit(reaction)` block inside `attachStimuli()` | priority/cooldown/interrupt dispatch logic in `attachStimuli()` is generic over `REACTIONS` |

## 7. Verification View

**Stakeholders:** whoever implements this subsystem and needs to know
when it's actually done, not just compiled.

Manual browser checklist (no automated test harness planned for v1 — see
[plans/2026-07-20-desktop-mascot.md](../../plans/2026-07-20-desktop-mascot.md)
for the same list in implementation-order context):

- Egg renders grounded at the surface bottom, wiggles gently while the
  name dialog is open, and survives a reload at the same x (confirm
  `oikos-mascot` is debounced — no writes fire from mere walking, only
  from discrete transitions).
- Dragging the egg up and releasing triggers a flutter-fall with no
  tunneling below the taskbar; dragging past the surface edges clamps.
- A fresh egg (no name) opens the name dialog on mount; submitting it
  hatches to chick; the name persists across reload. The debug "Force
  hatch" action does the same without prompting.
- Chick wanders and flips sprite at surface edges, pecks, sleeps
  autonomously; a plain click (no drag) triggers a pet/hop reaction.
- Right-clicking the chicken opens the radial menu centered on it, without
  triggering the desktop's own right-click menu; a nested submenu (Feed)
  opens correctly; Escape pops one level then closes; an outside click
  closes it; the menu stays fully visible when the chicken is near a
  screen edge or corner.
- With one or more windows open (including a maximized one), the chicken
  visibly walks above them without breaking window drag/resize/close.
- Starting a chat and observing it stream triggers the `thinking` reaction
  for the duration; a simulated knowledge-graph write triggers `eureka`
  once per cooldown window; a simulated critical signal triggers `alarmed`
  even while the chicken is asleep.
- Resizing the browser viewport re-grounds and re-clamps the chicken.
- Both the Terracotta and Carbon themes keep the pixel-art palette legible.
- `npm run build` passes with no new errors.
