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VSCode Extension: Dashboard & AT Firehose#

Vision#

Replace the current "Source Changes" welcome panel with a live dashboard that acts as a firehose for all Aesthetic Computer platform activity — git changes, AT Protocol events, and Tangled knot repo activity — all in one view.

Current State#

The welcome panel (extension.ts:966-1100) is a simple git status viewer:

  • Runs git status --porcelain + git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD for the main repo + vault
  • Displays file list with status badges (M/A/D/?)
  • Click-to-open files in editor
  • Debounced refresh on file changes (300ms)

Known bug: git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD fails on repos with no commits (e.g. freshly cloned submodules), showing a raw error in the UI instead of a graceful fallback.

Phase 1: Fix the Git Error + Improve Layout#

Goal: Make the existing git status panel work correctly and look better.

  • Handle rev-parse failure gracefully — show (no commits) or (init) instead of the raw error
  • Improve the visual layout: tighter spacing, better typography, cleaner status badges
  • Add a collapsible section header for "Source Changes" (so it can coexist with new sections)
  • Add timestamp showing last refresh time

Phase 2: Dashboard Shell#

Goal: Transform the panel from a single-purpose git viewer into a multi-section dashboard.

  • Redesign the HTML structure with distinct dashboard sections:
    1. Source Changes — the existing git status (cleaned up from Phase 1)
    2. AT Firehose — live AT Protocol events (Phase 3)
    3. Tangled — knot/repo activity (Phase 4)
  • Add a sticky nav/header with section toggles (show/hide each section)
  • Support auto-scroll vs. paused mode (like a terminal — new events stream in, but scrolling up pauses the feed)
  • Add theme-aware styling for all new sections (dark/light support already exists)
  • Consider making this a sidebar webview instead of (or in addition to) an editor panel

Phase 3: AT Protocol Firehose#

Goal: Show live AT Protocol activity happening on the Aesthetic Computer PDS.

The AC platform already has deep atproto integration:

  • PDS at at.aesthetic.computer
  • Lexicons: computer.aesthetic.tape, computer.aesthetic.mood, computer.aesthetic.painting, etc.
  • Existing scripts in at/scripts/atproto/
  • News posted to atproto via system/backend/news-atproto.mjs
  • Tapes synced to atproto via system/backend/tape-atproto.mjs

What to show in the firehose:#

  • New tapes — when users record/publish tapes (video content)
  • Moods — mood updates from users (computer.aesthetic.mood)
  • Paintings — shared paintings (computer.aesthetic.painting)
  • News posts — new news articles published
  • Handle registrations/updates — new users or handle changes
  • Standard site updates — page edits, new pages

Implementation options:#

  • Option A: WebSocket relay — Add a firehose WebSocket endpoint to the session server or a new lightweight service that subscribes to the PDS com.atproto.sync.subscribeRepos firehose and relays events to the extension.
  • Option B: Polling — Periodically query com.atproto.repo.listRecords for each collection on the PDS. Simpler but less real-time.
  • Option C: Direct firehose — Connect the extension directly to wss://at.aesthetic.computer/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.subscribeRepos and decode the CBOR/CAR stream in the extension itself. Most direct but complex.

The extension already has a WebSocket connection to the session server (extension.ts:2132). We can add a firehose:event message type that the session server relays from the PDS subscription. This keeps the extension lightweight and reuses existing infrastructure.

Event display format:#

Each event in the feed should show:

  • Timestamp
  • Event type icon/badge (tape, mood, painting, news, etc.)
  • Actor handle (clickable — opens their AC profile)
  • Brief content preview (tape thumbnail, mood text, painting preview, etc.)
  • Link to view the full content on aesthetic.computer

Phase 4: Tangled Knot Activity#

Goal: Show activity from the Tangled knot (AT Protocol-native git hosting).

The AC repo is mirrored on Tangled at tangled.org/aesthetic.computer/core. The knot server runs on the same PDS droplet (knot.aesthetic.computer).

What to show:#

  • Commits — recent commits pushed to the Tangled knot
  • Issues/PRs — if Tangled supports these (check API)
  • Stars/forks — social activity on the repo
  • Cross-reference with GitHub — show if a commit exists on both GitHub and Tangled

Implementation:#

  • Research Tangled API (likely atproto-based — check tangled.org for API docs)
  • The knot server is at knot.aesthetic.computer — check what XRPC endpoints it exposes
  • Display as a feed of events similar to the AT firehose section
  • Include both the main aesthetic-computer repo and any other knot-hosted repos

Phase 5: Polish & Interaction#

  • Add filtering — filter firehose by event type, user, time range
  • Add notification badges on the sidebar icon when new events arrive
  • Keyboard shortcuts for navigating the dashboard
  • Click-through actions: clicking a tape opens it, clicking a commit shows the diff, etc.
  • Sound/visual ping option for specific event types (e.g., new user signups)
  • Consider a compact "ticker" mode that shows a single scrolling line of recent events in the status bar

Architecture Notes#

Data flow#

PDS (at.aesthetic.computer)
  └─ com.atproto.sync.subscribeRepos (firehose)
       └─ Session Server (relay)
            └─ WebSocket → VSCode Extension
                 └─ Dashboard Webview

Knot Server (knot.aesthetic.computer)
  └─ XRPC / atproto API
       └─ Session Server or direct polling
            └─ WebSocket → VSCode Extension
                 └─ Dashboard Webview

Local Git Repos
  └─ git status --porcelain (child_process)
       └─ Extension host
            └─ postMessage → Dashboard Webview

Key files to modify#

  • vscode-extension/extension.ts — welcome panel HTML + git status logic
  • session-server/session.mjs — add firehose relay endpoint
  • vscode-extension/embedded.js — may need message bridging updates
  • vscode-extension/package.json — new commands, settings

Dependencies to consider#

  • @atproto/api — already in system/package.json
  • CBOR decoding for firehose (if doing direct connection)
  • The extension currently bundles with esbuild — any new deps need to be bundleable