Mark Henderson
4184baca77
Today the chat shows ✓-icon tool trays with no narration between
calls — the user has no idea WHY the AI just called fs_edit or
ship. Meanwhile Gemini is producing 500-1000 chars of first-person
reasoning per round ("Updating the Express Server: A Quick
Production Deployment / Right, so we have a basic Express server
here, nothing fancy. I need to get a new version live...") and
billing us for those tokens — we just weren't asking for them.
Three layers:
1. lib/ai/gemini-chat.ts
- generationConfig.thinkingConfig.includeThoughts = true (default
true, opt-out via includeThoughts: false). We're already paying
for thinking tokens regardless of this flag — it just controls
whether the model returns the human-readable summary or only the
compressed signature.
- callGeminiChat now returns { text, thoughts, toolCalls,
finishReason } and the parser splits parts by `part.thought`.
CRITICAL bug avoided: previously `if (part.text) text += ...`
would have lumped thoughts into the chat bubble verbatim.
- streamGeminiChat yields `{ type: 'thinking' }` for thought parts.
2. app/api/chat/route.ts
- New SSE event: `data: {"type":"thinking","text":"..."}`
- Emitted on every round alongside text + tool_start.
- Recovery-summary branch also emits thoughts so even when the
model produces no user-facing prose, the user sees the model's
reasoning instead of dead silence.
3. components/vibn-chat/chat-panel.tsx
- Message gains optional `thoughts` field (in-memory only — we do
NOT persist thoughts to fs_chat_messages; they're ephemeral and
cheap to drop).
- New ThinkingBubble component: dashed-border italic pill above
the assistant bubble, collapsed by default to show one-line
preview, click to expand for full chain. Strips Gemini's
"**Section Heading**" prefixes from the preview.
- SSE handler accumulates thinking chunks onto the in-flight
assistant message.
UX impact: instead of staring at fs.read ✓ fs.edit ✓ ship ✓ icons,
the user sees "Examining the target server file..." → "Shipping the
twenty-crm project..." in real time. Costs zero additional tokens
(we already paid for the thoughts).
Cleanup: removed scripts/probe-gemini-raw.ts and
scripts/probe-recovery-summary.ts — diagnostic scripts that
identified this opportunity, no longer needed in-tree.
Made-with: Cursor
VIBN Frontend
AI-Powered Development Platform - Track, manage, and deploy your AI-coded projects with ease.
🎨 Features
Built with Plane.so design patterns:
- ✅ Resizable Sidebar - Collapsible sidebar with peek-on-hover
- ✅ Dashboard Layout - Clean, modern interface following Plane's style
- ✅ Overview Page - Project stats, recent activity, and getting started guide
- ✅ Sessions - Track AI coding sessions with conversation history
- ✅ Features - Plan and track product features
- ✅ API Map - Auto-generated API endpoint documentation
- ✅ Architecture - Living architecture docs and ADRs (Architectural Decision Records)
- ✅ Analytics - Cost analysis, token usage, and performance metrics
- ✅ Porter Integration - One-click deployment for AI-coded tools
🛠️ Tech Stack
- Framework: Next.js 15 (App Router)
- Language: TypeScript
- Styling: Tailwind CSS
- UI Components: shadcn/ui
- Icons: Lucide React
- Notifications: Sonner
🚀 Getting Started
Quick Start
# 1. Install dependencies
npm install
# 2. Setup environment variables (see SETUP.md for details)
cp .env.template .env.local
# Edit .env.local with your Firebase credentials
# 3. Start development server
npm run dev
📖 For detailed setup instructions, see SETUP.md
Build
npm run build
npm start
📁 Project Structure
vibn-frontend/
├── app/
│ ├── (dashboard)/
│ │ └── [projectId]/
│ │ ├── layout.tsx # Main dashboard layout
│ │ ├── overview/page.tsx # Dashboard home
│ │ ├── sessions/page.tsx # AI coding sessions
│ │ ├── features/page.tsx # Feature planning
│ │ ├── api-map/page.tsx # API documentation
│ │ ├── architecture/ # Architecture docs
│ │ └── analytics/page.tsx # Cost & metrics
│ ├── layout.tsx # Root layout
│ └── page.tsx # Home redirect
├── components/
│ ├── sidebar/
│ │ ├── resizable-sidebar.tsx # Resizable sidebar wrapper
│ │ └── project-sidebar.tsx # Sidebar content
│ └── ui/ # shadcn/ui components
└── lib/
└── utils.ts # Utility functions
🎯 Routes
/[projectId]/overview- Project dashboard/[projectId]/sessions- AI coding sessions/[projectId]/features- Feature planning/[projectId]/api-map- API endpoint map/[projectId]/architecture- Architecture documentation/[projectId]/analytics- Cost and metrics
📊 Components
Resizable Sidebar
Based on Plane's sidebar pattern:
- Drag-to-resize (200px - 400px)
- Collapse/expand button
- Peek-on-hover when collapsed
- Smooth transitions
Dashboard Pages
All pages follow consistent patterns:
- Header with title and actions
- Content area with cards
- Responsive layout
- Empty states with CTAs
🔄 Next Steps
- Connect to Database - Wire up PostgreSQL data
- Build API Routes - Create Next.js API routes for data fetching
- Real-time Updates - Add live session tracking
- Porter Integration - Implement deployment workflows
- Authentication - Add user auth and project management
🎨 Design System
Following Plane.so patterns:
- Clean, minimal interface
- Consistent spacing and typography
- Subtle animations
- Dark mode support (via Tailwind)
- Accessible components (via shadcn/ui)
📝 Notes
- Built for Porter hosting deployment
- Designed for AI vibe-coded project management
- Real data integration coming next
- Backend API in
/vibn-backendfolder
Status: ✅ Frontend scaffolded and running Next: Connect to PostgreSQL database and build API layer