Theseus Navigator — Silent Mode's Electron browser with the Ariadne resolver built in.
Bundle of UX + feature work. Split from packaging by intent so the diff
is reviewable; the next Theseus rebuild ships it.
Features
- Download tracker (new): session.on("will-download") → per-item state
{id, filename, url, mime, total, received, state, savePath, startedAt}
with updated/done event handlers. New downloadsPop WebContentsView
loads downloads.html (new file) + downloads-preload.js (new file);
panel positioned under a new #downloads toolbar button between search
and Tor. Full IPC: downloads-get, toggle/close/resize-downloads,
download-open/show/cancel/clear, downloads-clear-all. In-memory only —
cross-session persistence is a future addition. Button badge shows
active count + spin/done/err color.
- Search engines split by kind + tier:
* kind: "search" | "llm" — separate headers in picker + settings
("Search with" / "Ask an AI"). Empty sections hidden.
* tier: "catalog" | "extra" — Settings now has THREE panes behind the
"+ Add search engine" button: curated catalog, wider discoverable
bank filtered by a live search input, custom URL form.
* DEFAULT_ENABLED unchanged (5 major engines).
* Custom user-added engines carry tier="custom" (never in catalog/extra
panes).
- 9 tier="extra" engines added (all non-login ?q=): Marginalia, Stract,
Yep, Presearch, MetaGer, Qwant, Swisscows, Naver, Baidu. Same rot rule
as LLMs: if one starts bouncing to a login gate, drop it.
Bug fixes
- Loadbar collapses to 0px when idle (was reserving a permanent 2px
strip below the address bar). .loadbar {height:0} + .loadbar.on
{height:2px} + 120ms transition.
- Native <select> popup theme sync via :root { color-scheme: dark } +
@media(prefers-color-scheme: light). nativeTheme.themeSource already
drives prefers-color-scheme, so the OS popup color follows the app
theme automatically (fixed light popup on dark app / vice versa).
- .ctl layout flipped to flex-direction: row with flex-wrap so
anti-fingerprint mode + value fields fit side-by-side.
Settings restructure
- General section: Startup group at the top ("Open previous windows and
tabs" toggle), then Appearance below with three visual THEME CARDS
(System / Light / Dark) — small mock-browser previews per theme,
Firefox-style, active card gets a blue ring. System pipes through to
nativeTheme.themeSource = "system".
- Search promoted to a top-level sidebar item between General and
Naming. Search-engine controls moved out of General into Search.
- Search section: enabled list shows only enabled engines, grouped by
kind, drag-reorder within a kind. "+ Add search engine" opens the
catalog/extras/custom-URL panel.
Search engine catalog trims (already flagged in prior work)
- Removed ChatGPT / Claude / You.com (login-gated ?q=).
- Removed SearXNG (federated; every single-instance default rots).
Docs
- TheseusNavigator/PENDING.md and GOTCHAS.md born with this work
(see the HANDOFF.md commit for the convention).
- PENDING.md's own "session: 2026-08-02:theseus-ux-polish" group will be
emptied after this ship lands.
Preview harness
- _preview.html + _settings-preview.html stubs updated with kind + tier
+ downloads seed + tier="extra" samples so the preview reflects reality.
Both files are gitignored — local only.
Coordination
- Parallel session's collision-policy work (chrome.html registry chips,
popover switcher, Naming section, in-tab collision prompt) already
landed in commits 256079d/42b340f/b0d6375/78dddda. This commit adds
cleanly on top.
|
||
|---|---|---|
| dev | ||
| BROWSER-PROMPT.md | ||
| chrome.html | ||
| collision-preload.js | ||
| collision.html | ||
| downloads-preload.js | ||
| downloads.html | ||
| engine-picker-preload.js | ||
| engine-picker.html | ||
| GOTCHAS.md | ||
| home.html | ||
| main.js | ||
| package-lock.json | ||
| package.json | ||
| PACKAGING-PROMPT.md | ||
| PENDING.md | ||
| popover-preload.js | ||
| popover.html | ||
| preload.js | ||
| README.md | ||
| RELEASE-HANDOFF.md | ||
| settings-preload.js | ||
| settings.html | ||
Theseus Navigator
The browser — the consumer face of the stack. Native .bch support with the
resolver built in, so a user installs one app instead of modifying their
operating system. Named for the thread through the labyrinth: the chain is the
thread.
Scope
- Electron shell (Chromium engine, no forking): tabs, address bar, history.
- In-process
.bchresolution — no system daemon, no NRPT, no OS trust-store changes; reusesbns.jsfrom the BNS repo as a library. - Record handling:
hrender,ipconnect,p/s3via in-app gateway,uredirect. - TLS via cert-verify hook (Electron
setCertificateVerifyProc) against the BNS root / on-chaintlsfingerprints — no OS store touched. - Provenance indicator: shows whether a page came from the chain / Sia / a direct server, with NFT category and record type — the decentralized padlock.
Status: not started
Build it in its own session/repo. The ready-to-paste brief is
BROWSER-PROMPT.md (a reference copy in this folder; canonical source is
D:\Dev\NameCoin\BROWSER-PROMPT.md — if they diverge, NameCoin wins). It points
here and reuses the resolver core. theseus.bch is registered and should
eventually serve the browser's own homepage over the protocol it implements.
Roadmap
BUILD-ROADMAP.md Stage 5.