fix(ui): background no longer moves — static grid, three glow spots fading in and out on their own slow cycles (owner 2026-08-25)

.agent/user_stories/background-animation.md

@@ -1,5 +1,13 @@
 # Story: Animated Background That Actually Animates
 
+> **SUPERSEDED (owner direction 2026-08-25):** the phase-22 motion
+> design (grid drift + whole-layer breathe) is superseded by the
+> owner's "no movement, only fading light" direction — see
+> `.agent/user_stories/background-no-motion.md` (phase
+> `25_background_no_motion`). The phase-22 history below is preserved
+> as-is; the old E2E suite now pins the phase-25 contract as a
+> regression.
+
 **Phase:** `22_background_animation` · **E2E:** `tests/e2e/test_background_animation.py`
 
 ## Narrative

.agent/user_stories/background-no-motion.md

@@ -0,0 +1,181 @@
+# Story: A Background That No Longer Moves — Only Fading Light
+
+**Phase:** `25_background_no_motion` · **E2E:**
+`tests/e2e/test_background_no_motion.py`
+**Supersedes:** `.agent/user_stories/background-animation.md`
+(phase-22 motion design — history preserved there)
+
+## Narrative
+
+As **the owner**, I reported (2026-08-25, chat) that the phase-22
+background "jitters down and to the right every second and it slowly
+blinks brighter and darker". I want the background to be smooth,
+fluxuating, dimming and brightening — but **not moving** — with
+**different bright spots** that slowly fade in and out.
+
+- **Given** the phase-22 animated background (a 60s one-cell grid drift
+  at 0.73px/s diagonally down-right + a 14s whole-layer glow breathe of
+  opacity 0.85↔1 with scale 1↔1.05)
+- **When** the page is observed in a real Chromium viewport
+- **Then** nothing moves — the grid is a static texture and no
+  background keyframe animates anything but `opacity` — while three
+  independent bright spots each fade in and out on their own slow,
+  out-of-phase cycles (26s/34s/42s), so the total light fluxuates
+  smoothly and irregularly: no jitter, no blink, no static frame, no
+  new overflow at 360px, and no impact on text contrast or
+  interactivity.
+
+## Owner report (verbatim, 2026-08-25, chat)
+
+> It should be smooth, fluxuating, dimming and brightening, but not
+> moving. Different bright spots should slowly fade in and out.
+
+## Owner direction (2026-08-25)
+
+1. **No movement** — no grid drift, no `scale`/`transform`, no
+   `background-position` animation, anywhere in the background.
+2. **Fluxuating brightness** — overall page brightness varies smoothly
+   and irregularly (not one synchronized pulse).
+3. **Different bright spots** — multiple glow spots, each fading in
+   and out on its own slow cycle.
+4. **The static grid stays** — the owner rejected the grid's *motion*,
+   not the grid; it remains as a still texture. (If the owner later
+   wants the grid gone, that is a follow-up, not this phase.)
+
+## Root cause (found from the code + phase-22 measurements)
+
+1. **"Jitters down and to the right every second" = the grid drift.**
+   `bg-grid-drift` moved the 44px grid 44px per 60s (≈0.73px/s)
+   diagonally down-right — exactly the reported direction. A 1px grid
+   line translated sub-pixel by sub-pixel is rasterized with per-frame
+   stepping/shimmer, not smooth motion: it reads as a once-per-second
+   jitter. Phase 22 had made that drift *visible* (60% line alpha,
+   wider mask — measured 1.82/765 mean pixel change over 5s in the
+   grid zone); that is precisely why it now reads as jitter.
+2. **"Slowly blinks brighter and darker" = the whole-layer breathe.**
+   `bg-glow-breathe` swung the ENTIRE glow layer's opacity 0.85↔1 over
+   14s (alternate) plus `scale(1)↔scale(1.05)` (a faint zoom). One
+   synchronized pulse of the whole background reads as a blink; the
+   owner wants independent spots instead.
+
+Phase 22 served the phase-08 design intent (grid drift + whole-layer
+breathe). The owner's 2026-08-25 direction supersedes that **design
+intent** — no LOCKED anchor changed (A11 stays pure CSS / zero JS / no
+CDN / no new assets; the no-`filter: blur` perf anchor is honored).
+
+## Fix (styles.css — pure CSS, zero JS, no blur, palette untouched)
+
+| property | phase 22 | phase 25 |
+|---|---|---|
+| grid (`body::before`) | `bg-grid-drift 60s linear infinite` (0→44px) | **static** — no animation, `bg-grid-drift` deleted (44px cells, 60% `--line` 1px lines, widened mask kept) |
+| glow layer count | one whole-layer breathe | **three independent spot layers** |
+| spot A (`body::after`) | indigo + cyan spots, 14s opacity 0.85↔1 + scale 1↔1.05 | **indigo `rgb(109 120 242 / 0.14)` 56rem at 12%/8%**, `bg-glow-a` **26s** ease-in-out infinite, low opacity **0.25** |
+| spot B (`html::before`) | — (cyan shared body::after) | **cyan `rgb(34 211 238 / 0.10)` 60rem at 88%/92%**, `bg-glow-b` **34s** ease-in-out **−12s** infinite, low **0.20** |
+| spot C (`html::after`) | — | **indigo `rgb(109 120 242 / 0.09)` 52rem at 14%/86%**, `bg-glow-c` **42s** ease-in-out **−23s** infinite, low **0.15** |
+| keyframes | `bg-grid-drift` (background-position), `bg-glow-breathe` (opacity + transform) | **`bg-glow-a/b/c` — opacity only** (0%/100% low → 50% 1) |
+| reduced motion | stills `body::before/::after` | stills **all four** layers |
+
+All four layers keep `content: ""; position: fixed; inset: 0;
+z-index: -1; pointer-events: none`. `<html>` keeps the `var(--bg)`
+canvas and `<body>` stays transparent (the no-occlusion contract):
+`html` is the root stacking context, so its `z-index: -1`
+pseudo-elements paint above the canvas and below the transparent,
+non-stacking `<body>`'s content. The 26/34/42s periods with negative
+delays (LCM 4641s) keep the cycles out of phase — the composite
+pattern effectively never repeats within a viewing session.
+
+## Acceptance criteria
+1. **No movement:** the grid is static (`body::before` computed
+   `animationName: none`; no `bg-grid-drift` in
+   `document.getAnimations()`; grid texture still painted) and —
+   audited in real Chromium via `document.styleSheets` — **no `bg-*`
+   keyframe animates anything but `opacity`** (the deterministic
+   no-movement proof).
+2. **Three distinct bright spots** (`body::after`, `html::before`,
+   `html::after`) run distinct slow opacity fades (26s/34s/42s,
+   ease-in-out, infinite, pairwise distinct, out of phase); all three
+   timelines advance; the layer's computed opacity AND a clipped
+   screenshot of the bottom-left glow region measurably change within
+   a few seconds (a real fade, not a frozen frame).
+3. **Contracts hold:** all four layers `position: fixed`, `z-index:
+   -1`, `pointer-events: none`, full-viewport `inset: 0`; `<html>`
+   keeps the `var(--bg)` canvas (`rgb(10, 14, 23)`) and `<body>` stays
+   transparent (`rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)`) — no occlusion.
+4. **Reduced motion** stills all four layers
+   (`animationName: none`), the static grid + spot images remain.
+5. No new horizontal overflow at 360px (the phase-07 pin).
+6. Pure CSS, zero JS, no `filter: blur`, no new assets (A11 + phase-08
+   perf anchor); WCAG AA palette untouched (the layers carry no text).
+7. Regressions green in isolation:
+   `tests/e2e/test_background_animation.py` (adapted to the phase-25
+   contract), `tests/e2e/test_dark_tech_theme.py` (grid static +
+   26/34/42s spots; reduced motion across all four layers),
+   `tests/e2e/test_responsive_polish.py`.
+8. Unit + integration green, `app/` coverage >90%, story E2E green in
+   isolation, ruff + pyright clean.
+
+## UI Visualization & Structure
+- **Grid layer (`body::before`):** 44px cells, 1px lines at 60% of
+  `--line` (`rgb(38 48 74 / 0.6)`), widened radial mask
+  (`140% 110% at 50% 0%, black 40%, transparent 90%`) — a STATIC
+  texture, no animation.
+- **Glow spot A (`body::after`):** indigo `rgb(109 120 242 / 0.14)`
+  56rem circle at 12%/8% (phase-08 position/color); opacity-only fade
+  0.25↔1 over 26s ease-in-out.
+- **Glow spot B (`html::before`):** cyan `rgb(34 211 238 / 0.10)` 60rem
+  circle at 88%/92% (phase-08 position/color); fade 0.20↔1 over 34s,
+  −12s delay.
+- **Glow spot C (`html::after`):** indigo `rgb(109 120 242 / 0.09)`
+  52rem circle at 14%/86%; fade 0.15↔1 over 42s, −23s delay.
+- **Stacking / no occlusion:** the `<html>` canvas
+  (`var(--bg)` = `#0a0e17`) sits under all four `z-index: -1` layers;
+  `<body>` stays transparent and non-stacking, so nothing can paint
+  over the layers — verified live, not assumed.
+- **Motion:** opacity-only keyframes (compositor-friendly); no
+  `transform`, no `background-position`, no `filter` anywhere in the
+  background; `prefers-reduced-motion: reduce` stills all four layers
+  (the static background remains visible).
+
+## Playwright Mapping Rule
+**Test Scenario → `tests/e2e/test_background_no_motion.py`** (the
+layers are CSS pseudo-elements — asserted via computed style + the Web
+Animations API + a live `document.styleSheets` audit; Chromium
+enumerates pseudo-element CSS animations in `document.getAnimations()`,
+not `document.body.getAnimations()`, and the `html` pseudo-layers'
+computed styles come from
+`getComputedStyle(document.documentElement, "::before"/"::after")`):
+1. `test_grid_layer_is_static` — computed `animationName` of
+   `body::before` is `"none"`; no `bg-grid-drift` entry in
+   `document.getAnimations()`; the grid `backgroundImage` is still
+   present (the static texture survives).
+2. `test_three_glow_layers_run_distinct_fades` — `body::after` →
+   `bg-glow-a` (26s), `documentElement::before` → `bg-glow-b` (34s),
+   `documentElement::after` → `bg-glow-c` (42s); each `ease-in-out` +
+   `infinite`, with a matching `playState === "running"` entry in the
+   document animation list; the three durations are pairwise distinct.
+3. `test_no_motion_properties_in_background_keyframes` — walk
+   `document.styleSheets`; for every `CSSRule.KEYFRAMES_RULE` whose
+   name starts with `bg-`, collect the declared property names of
+   every keyframe frame; the set across all frames is exactly
+   `{"opacity"}` — the deterministic no-movement proof.
+4. `test_glow_timelines_advance` — poll until all three timelines
+   report `currentTime > 0` (headless Chromium starts the document
+   timeline ~1s after load), sample all three, wait ~500ms, each
+   advanced ≥ 200ms.
+5. `test_background_light_actually_changes` — (a) the computed opacity
+   of `body::after` changes by ≥ 0.05 within ~8s (a real fade, not a
+   frozen frame); (b) two clipped screenshots ~4s apart of the
+   bottom-left glow region (the `html::after` spot at 14%/86%) differ
+   in bytes — the light visibly changes while nothing moves.
+6. `test_background_layers_contracts` — all four pseudo-layers:
+   `position: fixed`, `z-index: -1`, `pointer-events: none`,
+   top/right/bottom/left all `0px`; `documentElement` computed
+   background is `rgb(10, 14, 23)` (canvas stays on `html`);
+   `document.body` computed background is `rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)` (no
+   occlusion).
+7. `test_reduced_motion_stills_all_layers` —
+   `reduced_motion="reduce"` context: all four pseudo-layers report
+   computed `animationName` `"none"` and still carry a
+   `backgroundImage`.
+8. `test_no_horizontal_overflow_with_layers` — 360px viewport:
+   `documentElement.scrollWidth <= clientWidth` (the phase-07 pin).