New Chat Client Specification

Overview

A mobile-first chat client for interacting with AppWeaver. Text-based by default with optional rich UI components that enhance without bloating the screen.

Design Principles

1. Mobile-first: Minimal screen real estate, touch-friendly
2. Text-first, UI-enhanced: Same commands work as text; clients render richer when capable
3. Consistent patterns: Same interaction model across all features
4. Offline-capable: Core features work without UI enhancements

Command Palette

Trigger

• / icon in input bar opens command palette
• Supports immediate filtering: type /job to filter

Layout

[/] Search commands...
─────────────────────────────────
⭐ Recent (weighted by recency)
  /job list
  /todo add
─────────────────────────────────
Favorites ★ (per-bot or global)
  /git status
─────────────────────────────────
All Commands
  > job...
  > todo...
  > git...

Interactions

• Click top-level → shows sub-commands
• Click leaf command → executes or opens UI
• Fav star → prompt: "Add to favorites for this bot? Or globally?"
• Search filters in real-time across all commands

Mobile Adaptations

• Long-press command for quick actions
• Consider swipe gestures for favorites
• Search-first (vs deep hierarchy) works better on mobile

Command Execution Modes

Direct

Runs immediately, returns text output.

Form

Needs user input. Client renders form based on command manifest.

{
  command: 'job create',
  inputMode: 'form',
  ui: {
    fields: [
      { name: 'title', type: 'text', label: 'Job Title', required: true },
      { name: 'company', type: 'text', label: 'Company', required: true },
      { name: 'url', type: 'url', label: 'Link' },
      { name: 'salary', type: 'text', label: 'Salary range' },
      { name: 'notes', type: 'textarea', label: 'Notes' },
    ],
    submitLabel: 'Create Job'
  }
}

Mobile: Full-screen modal with scroll, fixed bottom submit bar.

Preview

Shows data first, action buttons below.

{
  type: 'preview',
  content: 'Job: Senior Engineer @ Acme\nSalary: $150k',
  actions: [
    { label: 'Apply', command: '/job apply {id}' },
    { label: 'Edit', command: '/job edit {id}' },
    { label: 'Delete', command: '/job delete {id}' }
  ]
}

Mobile: Collapsible card with sticky action bar at bottom.

UI Components

actionButton

Tap → sends command back to bot

{
  type: 'actionButton',
  label: 'Mark Done',
  command: '/todo done {id}'
}

expandable

Collapsed text with "show more" tap

{
  type: 'expandable',
  summary: '3 new jobs found',
  details: '...full list...'
}

statusCard

Summary line + actions

{
  type: 'statusCard',
  title: 'Jobs',
  summary: '12 active, 3 new today',
  actions: [...]
}

list

Compact rows with tap actions

{
  type: 'list',
  items: [
    { label: 'Senior Engineer', subtitle: 'Acme', action: '/job view 1' },
    { label: 'Designer', subtitle: 'Beta', action: '/job view 2' }
  ]
}

Data Flow

User Input → Command Parser → Bot Handler → Structured Response
                                              ↓
                                    { toText(), toUI() }
                                              ↓
                        Terminal Client    Mobile Client
                        (text render)     (UI components)

Key principle: Bot returns structured data, not UI. Client chooses how to render.

Offline Support

• Core text commands work offline
• UI components gracefully degrade to text
• Favorites/recent cached locally
• Sync when online

Future Considerations

• Voice input → command mapping
• Rich notifications with inline actions
• Widget support for system UIs