Protected. Next.

Admit a bounded friends-and-family TestFlight candidate

The first outside round is intended for a small friends-and-family group after the exact candidate passes Trakt and OpenAI onboarding, Today and retained library rendering, typed and voice Ask, watched/watchlist actions, silent automatic Encore delivery, Settings/key recovery, navigation, cast/person, and basic accessibility checks. TestFlight upload remains a separate action after this stabilization gate; local builds and historical archives do not count as that proof. **Deferred provider review recorded August 11:** TMDB's published developer terms include language about AI-based applications. Thomas has explicitly accepted that unresolved terms question for this free, noncommercial friends-and-family TestFlight path, so it is not an active candidate blocker. This is an owner product decision, not a claim of legal or provider clearance. Keep the published-terms note visible for later review, and reopen provider permission before any paid, subscription, revenue-generating, or otherwise commercial release. The OpenAI privacy data-flow and App Store answers still need review against the exact signed candidate.

Last changed

August 11, 2026

Last verified

Local candidate preflight in progress

Protect

Outside testing remains BYOK, has no developer-funded OpenAI key or paid subscription, and cannot begin from an old archive or an unverified build.

Evidence required

Clean native and Lab verification, current provider/privacy disclosures, exact signed candidate evidence, one joined retained-data physical-iPhone pass, and Thomas's explicit TestFlight upload decision.

Decide the dark-art treatment on The Executioners

The shared luminance-aware lift is implemented without a title-specific image swap. Thomas still needs to decide whether the retained dark image is now clear enough.

Last changed

August 9, 2026

Last verified

August 9, 2026 · iPhone 17 Pro Simulator

Protect

Keep the exact retained episode still, full-bleed top edge, episode identity, actions, parent-show route, and accepted cinematic height.

Evidence

Current baseline screenshots 19–24 at checkpoint fae1d235.

Finish the retained-real-data product pass

Continue inspecting Today, Shows, Movies, Discovery, details, cast/person, Settings, onboarding, keyboard dismissal, artwork, and navigation as one real product. Fix shared causes and rerun every accepted surface touched by them. The August 12 usability audit found six shared presentation gaps without changing retained data: Today can briefly claim that nothing is scheduled while the useful-library projection is still restoring; Encore search lacks the shared keyboard escape controls and its retry tile does not explain the failed state; a single genuine cast result is stranded in a two-column layout; the Settings setup reminder omits personalized discovery and library intelligence; show ratings visually reserve a full rating tile for an unavailable source; and movie progress can read `Continue from Resume at …`. The active correction slice is limited to those shared causes. It must preserve the approved Today cards, newest-first seasons, genuine artwork fallback order, Cape Fear/Food Truck/Nicholas/Married Encore rendering, provider-read boundaries, and automatic Encore policy. The August 13 Lab refresh re-ran Today, Shows, Movies, Discovery, consumer Settings, Cape Fear, Great Food Truck Race Progress/episode/cast/person, Nicholas Galitzine, and Married with Children Encore against the current retained isolated-test-account Simulator. That review exposed one shared defect before publication: episode rows inside a routed detail destination received the default navigation environment action, so a tap could do nothing. Navigation is now injected into both the root and every routed destination; Cape Fear and Food Truck episode journeys passed on rerun. This fixes the shared route rather than either title. Provider settlement remains separately blocked by the expired isolated test-account Trakt credential.

Last changed

August 13, 2026

Last verified

August 13, 2026 · retained-data read-only Simulator matrix

Protect

Do not alter an accepted page while correcting another page, and never replace missing provider data with invented fixtures.

Evidence

Current product baseline and retained UI gap evidence.

Complete conversational Ask as the app-wide concierge

Grounded ShowNext tools, natural visible-page follow-ups, episode and season understanding, voice recovery, and broader conversational behavior still need a joined retained-data pass. Apple Foundation Models remain bounded R&D rather than the concierge brain.

Last changed

August 6, 2026

Last verified

August 6, 2026 · internal Simulator evidence

Protect

Keep OpenAI compiled in but off by default, BYOK as the current lane, visible sources, exact page context, consent, spoiler limits, and preview-before-mutation safety.

Evidence

Conversational tool architecture and OpenAI Realtime evidence.

Complete library actions without teaching magic phrases

Thomas explicitly approved real episode-action testing on the isolated isolated Trakt test account on August 13. Progress rows, multi-select, season actions, mark-through actions, and episode detail now share exact Trakt episode identities and one durable mutation/read-back path. A normal episode mark is one action, not a preview or a second confirmation. Provider snapshot, pending action, and verified read-back state are merged so a later mark cannot erase an earlier visible mark. Interrupted and ambiguous requests persist a scheduled read-back before any retry, and launch restoration is owned by the account runtime rather than a disposable view task. Controlled evidence passed, but Thomas's retained-data walkthrough rejected the result: a Reacher row remained spinning without changing progress, a bulk episodes 1–3 action did not settle, and an episode-detail mark did not remain visible on return to Progress. The retained outbox confirmed one transport-ambiguous episode and two unsent pending episodes. The active repair removes the redundant normal-row dot and secondary action sheet, keeps the existing left swipe shared with Today as the single-episode action, shows selection controls only after `Select`, and unifies compact and route-rich episode identities so detail, Progress, restoration, and bulk state cannot diverge. One shared projection must drive the unmistakable gray watched row, checked `WATCHED` label, inverse action, selected-season count, season-strip count, progress bar, and episode detail state. A retained relaunch then exposed the shared external blocker: the saved isolated test-account Trakt refresh token is rejected with HTTP 400, so no single or batch action can currently reach provider settlement. The DEBUG row now keeps that same learned gesture: it says `SAVING` while the write settles, then either remains visibly gray as `WATCHED` or rolls back and says `NOT SAVED · SWIPE TO RETRY` instead of looking successfully watched. The isolated DEBUG Simulator continues to use the test account for repeatable and destructive verification, while normal connected accounts—including Thomas's phone account—must receive the same user-initiated watched experience intended for TestFlight users. Shipping gateway admission is unchanged. Completion now requires reconnecting the isolated test account, then real add, cumulative bulk, detail/list, relaunch, provider read-back, and cleanup proof there; controlled tests alone cannot return this item to owner review. This authorizes ordinary in-app actions Thomas performs while testing; it does not authorize a separate bulk-maintenance script or unattended personal-account mutation campaign. Thomas rejected a reduced Progress gesture that copied only Today's left-swipe mutation. Progress vertical cards must use Today's complete interaction: tap opens, left swipe reveals the exact watched action, right swipe reveals More, and action colors, motion, feedback, edge lighting, verified treatment, and retry behavior stay consistent. `Select` is the sole Progress-only addition for batch changes. Earlier rendered state tests remain useful for count/progress convergence but no longer count as interaction-parity evidence. **August 13 physical-iPhone rejection:** the installed Shows collection could reorder while Thomas was scrolling because individual poster metadata changed the live Popular sort. The same build exposed Mark Watched on a main-account episode while an obsolete username gate refused the write, so the action could only end as `NOT SAVED`. Thomas explicitly rejected that laboratory restriction: his connected phone account is the real pre-TestFlight experience and must support normal in-app actions. The active shared repair must freeze the visible Popular order while metadata hydrates, preserve legitimate catalog membership changes without snapping the scroll position, and make watched-action capability derive from a real connected runtime—not a hard-coded account name—on Progress and episode detail. This rejection is not resolved by a successful build or a Cape Fear-specific exception: it requires a long retained Shows scroll, controlled shared-action regression, and a real single-action/read-back pass before acceptance. **August 13 internal repair evidence:** Popular order is now frozen for the visible Shows session while metadata hydrates, with explicit filter/sort changes remaining the only user-driven reorder. A retained-data iOS 27 UI test scrolled seven pages, held for eight seconds while metadata continued loading, and kept the same real show card at the same screen position. Controlled UI journeys also passed for single watched state, cumulative bulk selection, inverse action, Today-compatible swipe behavior, and the truthful read-only account rendering. This is internal Simulator evidence, not provider settlement or owner approval. The authorized real write/read-back gate remains blocked until the isolated test account is reconnected; the app must not substitute a personal-account write. **August 13 account-capability correction:** Thomas clarified that his account on his phone is the real pre-TestFlight product experience, not a protected read-only laboratory. The username restriction was removed from visibility, submission, launch restoration, and season-action restoration. Five focused iOS 27 UI journeys passed with zero failures, and the physical-device Debug app built and signed successfully. No phone install or Trakt action was performed during this internal verification; Thomas's next in-app action is the real provider evidence. **Permanent account-testing boundary:** the personal account is writable through normal ShowNext actions on Thomas's physical iPhone. Simulator, UI automation, and repeatable development verification use the isolated test account only and must never sign into or mutate the personal account. A Simulator-only connection guard enforces this without changing physical-device or TestFlight product capabilities.

Last changed

August 13, 2026

Last verified

August 13, 2026 · retained isolated-test-account rejection after controlled tests

Protect

The model interprets natural intent; ShowNext owns exact identity, Trakt operations, ambiguity, read-back, and visible cumulative state. Normal user-initiated product actions work for every connected Trakt account; account names never determine product capability.

Evidence

Current tool architecture, mutation-engine receipts, retained isolated-test-account review, and the August 13 episode-action audit.

Make Season Encores a complete reward system

The visual reward experience, hook quality, completion celebration, notifications, imported-library backfill, failure recovery, and true cost of a large archive need continued measurement. Automatic generation stays enabled for an eligible BYOK account; a missing key pauses the queue without discarding it. Automatic back-catalog results must accumulate silently instead of repeatedly interrupting the active page. Any later unread badge must support multi-select and Mark all seen without deleting permanent Encores.

Last changed

August 9, 2026

Last verified

August 9, 2026 · retained Simulator and queue audit

Protect

Genuine artwork, rare verified facts, permanent keepsakes, automatic metered BYOK generation, sequential durable queueing, and token/cost receipts.

Evidence

Encore archive, ceremony, queue, and current-baseline evidence.

Review the simplified consumer Settings experience

The root now prioritizes Accounts & Connections, Your Experience, Privacy & Data, and Help & About. Trakt disconnect lives inside Trakt, ShowNext deletion lives inside Manage Data, OpenAI security detail is disclosed on demand, and developer tools require seven taps on the About version row in DEBUG builds. Thomas approved the seven-tap Developer Tools reveal on August 10. The Trakt attention state now says `Connected · using saved library` instead of claiming an incomplete sync, explains that the latest check did not finish, preserves the last-confirmed date, and offers an explicit read-only Check Again action. The retained isolated-test-account rendering is ready for Thomas's visual judgment; the Check Again request was intentionally not triggered during the visual review. The August 11 physical-iPhone candidate exposed a presentation bug: the visible Trakt detail button requested a confirmation owned by the hidden parent Settings view, so Disconnect could appear inert. The correction keeps the destructive confirmation on the visible Trakt destination and retains the existing account runtime as the only owner of the actual disconnect operation.

Last changed

August 11, 2026

Last verified

August 11, 2026 · physical-iPhone disconnect defect reproduced by Thomas

Protect

Required Trakt-first and verified OpenAI-BYOK-second onboarding, transactional Save → Verify → Enable, consumer-first root groups, destructive actions inside their detail pages, and hidden DEBUG-only developer controls.

Evidence

Focused required-onboarding and Settings UI checks plus the normal retained-data Simulator launch; truthful Trakt attention-state test and retained isolated-test-account rendering.

Converge every catalog entry on the accepted full detail experience

The walkthrough found that the installed retained Simulator artifact was older than current source. The current source has now been rebuilt and installed without clearing retained data. The shared full-bleed destination container restores a reliable left-edge back gesture across media, episode, and person pages. Shows now begins at Popular on its first render and Movies begins at Newest Available; compact Filter and Sort controls remain in the collection header. Automated UI evidence confirms the full episode actions, Discovery's Add to Watchlist and Open Progress menu actions, keyboard dismissal, the streamlined Settings hierarchy, and the visible Trakt disconnect confirmation. Thomas's rendered retained-data judgment remains the acceptance gate. Physical iPhone behavior and provider writes remain separate. The August 12 retained polish pass also identified two shared presentation corrections and one confirmed provider limitation. Compact cast cards should preserve the top of genuine portrait artwork without changing the accepted full-screen person hero. Movies must describe their Watch Next shelf as movies, not episodes. The Great Food Truck Race Season 19 episodes 3–7 have no exact still from either TMDB or TVmaze. Thomas's latest rendered direction replaces the empty state with genuine exact-season artwork, then genuine show artwork only when the season also has no poster; a later real episode still always wins. Shows Progress presents the latest numbered season first while preserving chronological episode order inside each season. The Xcode 27 build-for-testing and strengthened opt-in retained-data Food Truck audit pass. The audit verifies newest-first Season 19/18 ordering, genuine art for poster-less Seasons 4, 5, 7, and 18, fallback art for Season 19 episodes 3–7, and preservation of exact stills for episodes 1–2. The proof did not trigger or spend on the automatic Encore queue; the approved enabled policy was left unchanged. Thomas approved the Movies wording during this review; this correction did not alter Movies. Step 2 now covers Ask, OpenAI voice, source-grounded Season Encore rewards, personalized discovery, and library intelligence; it cannot be dismissed until Save → Verify → Enable succeeds. First-run error recovery still needs a later physical/onboarding pass.

Last changed

August 12, 2026

Last verified

August 12, 2026 · retained-data read-only Simulator R&D walkthrough

Protect

The accepted Today hierarchy, Cape Fear/Food Truck cinematic detail language, real retained Trakt state and artwork, Discovery ranking evidence, compact library controls, and the existing visible Trakt disconnect correction.

Evidence

Current source inspection; Xcode 27 Debug Simulator build; focused joined-navigation, episode-detail, and visible Trakt-disconnect UI regressions; retained-data Today launch without clearing the application container.

Complete physical-iPhone and accessibility acceptance

The latest preserved visual state has not completed a new joined physical-phone pass. Microphone, OpenAI voice, gestures, interruption, routes, direct VoiceOver, and real-device performance require Thomas's separate ready confirmation.

Last changed

August 9, 2026

Last verified

Simulator evidence only for the latest shared-cause pass

Protect

Simulator, physical phone, VoiceOver, audio-route, TestFlight, and live-service evidence remain separate claims.

Evidence

Current product baseline and prior phone-review chronology.

TestFlight and App Store release work

TestFlight begins only after the app is genuinely ready for outside product feedback. Distribution archive, App Store Connect, StoreKit pricing, shared OpenAI funding, and public release remain separate decisions.

Last changed

August 9, 2026

Last verified

Not a current candidate

Protect

Do not turn an old archive, build, or isolated test into release-readiness evidence.

Evidence

Release-readiness reset and current product baseline.

Current Lab imagery and routed episode navigation refreshed

Date

August 13, 2026

Changed

Replaced every image presented as the current app on the Lab homepage with a fresh retained-data iPhone 17 Pro Simulator capture. The current reel now covers Today, Shows, Movies, Discovery, consumer Settings, Cape Fear, Great Food Truck Race show/progress, Nicholas Galitzine, and Married with Children Encore. Historical August 9/12 evidence remains preserved but is no longer labeled as the current build.

Evidence

Five-tab screenshot matrix plus retained Cape Fear, Food Truck, Nicholas, and Married Encore journeys. The screenshot audit caught a shared no-op navigation environment inside routed destinations; the shared app-shell injection was corrected and the three affected retained journeys passed on rerun.

Protect

Current-site imagery must come from the current retained-data app, not a fixture, old gallery, or historical goal. Keep Today and every accepted cinematic/person/Encore surface unchanged while updating the site. Simulator evidence does not prove phone, provider settlement, voice, TestFlight, or App Store behavior.

Episode actions became real on the isolated test account

Date

August 13, 2026

Changed

Removed the inherited `Preview only` and duplicate-confirmation paths. Progress rows, episode detail, multi-select, season actions, and mark-through now share exact Trakt episode identities, cumulative presentation state, and durable mutation/read-back recovery.

Evidence

Signed iOS 27 Simulator build; 22 ShowNextStore tests; 29 mutation-engine tests; three focused UI journeys for direct reversal, navigation, and whole-season selection; retained isolated-test-account Today rendering without clearing its container.

Remaining gate

Two exact requests from the earlier live investigation are still transport-ambiguous and have no confirmed remote history IDs. No further writes were sent during final verification, so live Trakt settlement remains unclaimed until the provider can be read back.

Protect

The isolated test account is the repeatable mutation laboratory; normal connected accounts use ordinary product actions. Never reintroduce username-based capability gates, preview-only controls, a second confirmation, title-derived identities, duplicate POST retries, or a fixture as the retained-data baseline.

Current retained-data Lab gallery and signed OpenAI setup proof refreshed

Date

August 12, 2026

Changed

The Lab's current-build hero and reel now use a fresh iPhone 17 Pro Simulator capture set for Today, Shows, Movies, Discovery, consumer Settings, and the enabled ShowNext Intelligence controls. The August 9 cinematic detail and Encore images remain dated protected-decision evidence rather than being presented as today's current gallery.

Evidence

Source-controlled `current-build/2026-08-12` screenshots from the single retained-data iOS 27 Simulator, including a verified OpenAI key enabled through the normal Settings destination. The same current native source built successfully for Simulator and physical iPhone; those build classes remain separate from TestFlight or App Store evidence.

Protect

Do not relabel older screenshots as current. Keep retained-account data, required Trakt-first and verified OpenAI-BYOK-second onboarding, the transactional Save → Verify → Enable path, and the accepted August 9 cinematic pages intact.

Defer the TMDB terms question for the free TestFlight candidate

Date

August 11, 2026

Changed

Thomas explicitly directed the project to continue with TMDB in the free, noncommercial friends-and-family TestFlight candidate and to retain the published-terms question for possible later review rather than treating it as an active blocker.

Reason

ShowNext is not charging for this candidate, and Thomas does not want the unresolved provider-terms interpretation to stop the current product-learning round.

Protect

Do not describe this owner decision as legal or provider clearance. Preserve attribution and cache controls, and reopen provider permission before any paid, subscription, revenue-generating, or otherwise commercial release.

Xcode 27 beta 5 Simulator lane is current

Date

August 11, 2026

Verified

`/Applications/Xcode-beta.app` reports Xcode 27.0 build `27A5237l`; the retained iPhone 17 Pro uses iOS 27 runtime build `24A5408d`.

Changed

The current retained-data Simulator is the only booted ShowNext test device. The older installed iOS 27 runtime build `24A5390f` remains shutdown and was not deleted.

Protect

Build and render against the exact current runtime build, keep only one review Simulator booted, and do not erase retained app data or delete older runtimes without Thomas's approval.

Retained-app usability gaps corrected without changing accepted artwork

Date

August 12, 2026

Changed

Today now distinguishes library restoration from a genuinely empty schedule; Encore search has an explicit keyboard dismissal and failed preparation says `Try Again`; a one-person cast is a deliberate centered portrait card; Settings names personalized discovery and library intelligence; missing rating sources no longer appear as fake `Not rated` score cards; movie resume copy no longer says `Continue from Resume`.

Evidence

The complete ShowNextKit package suite passed on rerun, the iOS 27 beta 5 Simulator build-for-testing passed, Settings and Encore focused UI checks passed, and the final retained Food Truck/Tyler visual audit passed after an additional screenshot-led cast-card correction.

Protect

Preserve the accepted Today card design, hero artwork/crops, three genuine Food Truck ratings, person detail treatment, reverse season order, episode artwork fallback, and every unrelated retained-data surface.

Still needs owner review

These corrections remain `Ready for Thomas`, not `Approved for Now`, until Thomas inspects the open retained Simulator.

OpenAI capabilities are preselected but explicitly confirmed

Date

August 11, 2026

Changed

Required OpenAI onboarding now explains each token-using capability, defaults every capability on, and requires an explicit final confirmation. Settings owns the same controls afterward.

Owner review

Thomas approved the rendered Step 2 direction for now after reviewing it in the dedicated iPhone 17 Pro Simulator.

Reason

A generic required-key step does not give people enough information to make an educated decision about their own OpenAI usage, especially a large imported Encore archive.

Protect

Do not turn this into optional OpenAI onboarding, silently spend before confirmation, invent cost estimates, or disable automatic Encore generation by default.

Trakt and OpenAI BYOK are both required onboarding

Date

August 10, 2026

Changed

Step 2 must describe ShowNext Intelligence across conversational Ask, OpenAI voice, Encore rewards, personalized discovery, and library intelligence. A verified personal OpenAI API key is required before first-run onboarding can finish.

Protect

Keep Trakt first; retain separate API billing, key-security, fictional verification, usage metering, and cached-library recovery boundaries.

Clarification

A later OpenAI outage must not erase or hide the confirmed local library, but that recovery state is not presented as the complete ShowNext experience.

Trakt attention copy now protects the saved library truth

Date

August 10, 2026

Changed

The Settings root no longer claims `last sync incomplete` for the broad `.attention` state. Trakt details now explain that the latest check did not finish, show the last-confirmed date, and provide an explicit Check Again action.

Evidence

Retained SQLite receipt audit, focused attention-state UI test, and normal retained isolated-test-account Simulator rendering.

Protect

Do not infer partial writes from `.attention`, retry merely by opening Settings, or move Disconnect back to the root.

Consumer Settings became account-first and debug-light

Date

August 10, 2026

Changed

Settings now leads with Trakt and OpenAI account state, groups normal experience/privacy/help choices, moves destructive controls into their relevant detail pages, and hides developer tools behind seven version taps in DEBUG builds.

Evidence

Focused Trakt-first onboarding, OpenAI onboarding, and Settings hierarchy UI checks.

Protect

Do not place disconnect, delete, provider diagnostics, fixture controls, or cost internals back on the normal Settings root.

Required onboarding begins at the top safe area

Date

August 10, 2026

Changed

Removed the artificial vertical offset from the Trakt-first screen so its identity and purpose begin directly below the system safe area. The OpenAI step retains the same top-led hierarchy.

Protect

Keep both required steps scrollable, preserve status-bar clearance, and keep their approved copy and actions unchanged.

Evidence

Focused first-run frame assertion plus rendered iPhone 17 Pro Simulator review.

Living Lab recaptured from the protected native baseline

Date

August 9, 2026

Changed

Current Lab pages and product records replaced stale checkpoint imagery with a fresh read-only iPhone 17 Pro Simulator matrix covering Today, Shows, Movies, Discovery, Settings, retained detail, episode, cast/person, and Encore surfaces.

Evidence

Fresh source-controlled `current-build/2026-08-09` screenshots and rendered Lab audit.

Protect

Historical screenshots remain evidence, but current-build pages must not silently fall back to them or to an older goal description.

Living product progress replaces automatic goal migration

Date

August 9, 2026

Changed

Numbered goals and successor rollovers became historical evidence rather than active implementation authority.

Reason

Older plans repeatedly reintroduced superseded layouts and created regression loops.

Protect

Latest owner approval and the accepted baseline always outrank an old goal.

Full pre-transition recovery checkpoint preserved

Date

August 9, 2026

Changed

The complete repository and exact Lab source were preserved before introducing this progress system.

Evidence

Gitea fae1d235 and OpenAI Sites version 95.

Protect

The transition can be reversed without losing the accepted native state.

Shared top-edge, luminance, artwork, person, and Encore repair

Date

August 9, 2026

Changed

Shared renderers replaced title-specific crop behavior and restored genuine artwork across accepted retained-data pages.

Evidence

Current baseline screenshot matrix 19–24.

Protect

Cape Fear, Food Truck, Married with Children, and Nicholas remain mandatory regression checks.

Automatic eligible BYOK Encore preparation stays enabled

Date

August 9, 2026

Changed

Manual-only, sample-only, and daily-cap language was superseded.

Reason

Encores are a core reward promise, including for imported libraries.

Protect

Sequential drain and detailed cost accounting remain required.

Automatic archive Encores no longer interrupt active use

Date

August 10, 2026

Changed

Back-catalog generation continues in the background but no longer enters the full-screen ceremony queue.

Reason

The phone became unusable while multiple imported seasons presented one after another.

Protect

Newly completed seasons and manual requests may still celebrate; future unread badges require multi-select and Mark all seen.

OpenAI BYOK became the current concierge lane

Date

August 6, 2026

Changed

The shared built-in key lane was disabled without removing it; Apple free-form replacement remained R&D.

Reason

The Apple approach did not provide the open conversational behavior the product requires.

Protect

Do not require TestFlight users to consume a developer-funded key without a later explicit decision.

Typed Ask grounded foundation accepted

Date

August 4, 2026

Changed

The verified typed answer object became the shared foundation for later voice and Realtime work.

Protect

Preserve grounding and provenance while replacing bounded phrase matching with real conversation intelligence.