LlamaCasty/MyMistakes.md

# MyMistakes.md

> **Two jobs**, distinguished by heading:
>
> 1. **Per-task failure log** — updated before every commit touching that task:
>    current iteration + why the last one failed. On task complete, committed AND
>    pushed → truncate to this stub. A new task does NOT seed this file until its
>    first failure.
> 2. **Recipes registry** (DERIVED-SOLUTION RULE, see `AGENTS.md` 🔬) — the durable
>    home for one-off derived solutions, recipes, and how-tos. The moment you work
>    out a reusable solution, write it here **in the same session**. GREP THIS FILE
>    FIRST when you hit a "I've done this before but have to figure it out again"
>    wall. Recipe entries stay permanently (they are NOT truncated on task
>    completion) — only the failure log truncates.

## 🔬 Recipes registry

### ⚠ SPIN GUARD TRIGGERED → RESOLVED (take-21, 22) — web overlay transparency + scale

**Take-19 (`0f441d8`): FAILED.** Attempted to feed the compositor the FULL canvas instead of the
alpha crop. User verdict: "didn't work at all — broke additional crap." Reverted (`1295e0e`).
The crop→UniformToFill zoom insight was RIGHT, but the commit ALSO introduced `CanvasRing` (8-deep
full-canvas buffer ring) alongside the fix — the ring reuse poisoned the paste cache (array identity
collisions via the Epoch mechanism), causing additional breakage beyond the transparency issue.

**Take-21 (`e002847`): PARTIAL FIX — transparency confirmed, but widget appeared shrunk and offset.**
Root cause of transparency: `bccdb48` introduced `FindContentBounds` alpha cropping; the CROP was
fed to the compositor (`session.LatestFrame = VideoFrame(cropW, cropH, outPixels)`). `UniformToFill`
then zoomed the opaque crop content to cover the whole element rect, covering whatever was beneath
(webcam). Fix: keep the single `CanvasScratch` buffer (no ring), feed the FULL `1920×1080` canvas
to the compositor (`session.LatestFrame = VideoFrame(pixW, pixH, pixels)`), use the alpha crop only
for the preview `WriteableBitmap`. Transparent margins revealed layers beneath — BUT the widget
content appeared at ~1/3 scale and misplaced: the compositor's `UniformToFill` used `src=1920×1080`
for a WebSource element sized 703×389, computing scale=0.366. The preview showed `Stretch="Fill"` with
the CROPPED `PreviewBitmap` — completely different math, hence "looks correct in preview, wrong in
recording."

**Take-22 (`ed9d7c1`): FULL FIX.** `VideoFrame` gets `CropBounds?: (X,Y,W,H)` metadata. The full
canvas still goes to the compositor, but `BlitContentRaw` detects `CropBounds` and switches from
`UniformToFill` to Fill-style scaling (stretch to cover, no aspect preservation) using the actual
crop dimensions. This matches the preview's `Stretch="Fill"` on the crop. Widget content now fills
the element rect at the correct position; transparent margins still reveal layers beneath.

### Shrink / re-encode an image for the README (screenshots → small hero image)

Worked out 2026-08-29 (the recipe was NEVER recorded the first time it was done, so
it had to be re-derived from scratch — that's the incident this entry exists to end).

**Approach:** a throwaway Windows-dotnet console app uses WPF's imaging stack
(`System.Windows.Media.Imaging`) — same framework the app runs on, zero NuGet
packages, high-quality downscale via `TransformedBitmap`. Screenshots compress
**far smaller as JPEG than PNG** (PNG 1400px = ~1.2MB; JPEG q82 1400px = ~188KB).

**Recipe (run via the Windows dotnet host from WSL):**

1. Create `imgresize.csproj` targeting `net8.0-windows` with `<UseWPF>true</UseWPF>`
   (SDK controller). Put it in a Windows-visible temp path, e.g.
   `C:\Users\gramp\AppData\Local\Temp\imgresize` — NOT `/tmp` (Windows dotnet can't
   reach a Linux-only path reliably).
2. `Program.cs`: load `BitmapImage` (`CacheOption=OnLoad` → `Freeze()`), downscale
   with `TransformedBitmap(src, new ScaleTransform(scale, scale))` to max width
   (1400 for the README hero), encode with `JpegBitmapEncoder { QualityLevel = 82 }`,
   save.
3. Run:
```bash
"/mnt/c/Program Files/dotnet/dotnet.exe" run -c Release --project .
   -- "C:\Users\gramp\Downloads\Screenshot 2026-08-29 075626.png"
      "C:\Users\gramp\Documents\Code\projects\ytLive\docs\ytLlive-preview.jpg" 1400
```
4. Point `README.md` at the `.jpg` (not `.png`).

**Result:** 3.2MB screenshot → 1400×794 → **188KB** `ytLlive-preview.jpg` in `docs/`.

---

### Feeding a rawvideo pipe at 60fps: deadline pacing + row-blit budget

Derived 2026-09-03 (take-3 diagnosis — the stats seam from `97ffc42` named the stage
in one line: `17/300 frames per 5s, avg render 258.1ms, avg submit 1.5ms`).
Both halves were solved by OBS/libyuv long ago; do not re-derive:

1. **Pacing is a DEADLINE, never a post-render sleep.** `sleep(interval)` after each
   frame makes the period `render + submit + interval` — the producer can hit ≤ half
   the declared rate even with a free render. OBS's `video_thread`
   (`libobs/media-io/video-io.c`) advances an absolute `nextTick += intervalTicks` and
   sleeps only the remainder; if the deadline blew, skip the wait AND the missed ticks
   (rebase, no catch-up burst — a burst queues stale frames). Critical with rawvideo:
   pts is stamped by ARRIVAL, so a starved producer silently time-lapses the file.
2. **A 1080p frame is ~2.07M pixels — the hot path must be row-simple.** Per-pixel
   `Math.Round` + float source-over in managed code costs ~100ns/px = the whole 258ms.
   libyuv's pattern (https://chromium.googlesource.com/libyuv/libyuv/): branch per
   pixel on source alpha (opaque → 4-byte copy, transparent → skip), integer
   fixed-point blend `(s*a + d*(255-a) + 127)/255` otherwise; and ALWAYS clip the loop
   to the intersection rect (our social-bar overlay scanned all 2M dst px for a 64px
   strip). A full-cover 1:1 blit also obsoletes the opaque-black pre-fill — skip dead
   writes.
3. **On Windows, `Task.Delay` is a 15.6ms QUANTUM, not a timer.** Any request under one
   system-clock tick sleeps a full tick (documented — learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.threading.tasks.task.delay:
   "approximately 15 milliseconds on Windows systems"). A deadline pacer built on Task.Delay caps the
   producer at ~40fps-ish EVEN IF render is instant — take 9 proved the signature: work fell 26.5→22.4ms
   but the period sat at ~37ms (≈ one padded wait/frame), so two real optimizations read as "zero change".
   Frame-accurate loops (OBS/Chromium/game-loop canon — stackoverflow.com/questions/5441464) do:
   `timeBeginPeriod(1)` for the session (paired with `timeEndPeriod`), sleep only the BULK of the
   remainder, SPIN the last ~2ms across the deadline. Diagnostic before touching the compositor again:
   period ≈ work + 15.6 → the SLEEP is the bug, not the work.

   Related (take 14, 2026-09-04): **recycled ring buffers are a race you must SIZE, not just own.**
   Deepening shared frames to kill GC churn (a fresh 8.3MB/tick array) hands out REUSED memory — the
   ring's depth × source period must EXCEED the worst consumer hold (compositor read + lagged UI
   preview copy), not just "a few frames". 4 slots at 144Hz capture laps in ~27ms vs a ≤50ms read: half
   a new screen frame flashed over an old one in the recording ("bits flashing over other bits").
   Depth 8 everywhere (screen/camera/web output rings); the paste-cache Epoch still guards identity.

4. **Hermetic pacing test:** inject the delay seam to RECORD the requested TimeSpan and
   genuinely await it (`Task.Delay(d, ct)`) — a fake that returns
   `Task.CompletedTask` synchronously makes the whole pump loop run on `StartAsync`'s
   sync continuation and hang the test run (hit this 2026-09-03; the existing fakes all
   yield for exactly this reason). Assert the REQUESTED wait (< interval with a
   ≥cost-ms fake render) — never wall-clock rate, which flakes on loaded machines.
5. **Expensive content: raster on change, never on read (take 5, 2026-09-04).** A source
   that updates once a minute (chat text!) must not full-rasterize (`FormattedText` +
   `RenderTargetBitmap` + `CopyPixels` ≈ 15-25ms) every compositor tick. OBS text sources
   re-render on property/message change; the per-tick pass blits the cache. Implement as:
   content version (collection-changed counter) + config key (size/appearance) → cached
   immutable `VideoFrame` returned by identity. Gotcha: buffers that SURVIVE sessions
   (the chat log) silently arm the per-tick cost even in flows that never touch the
   feature (signed-out record-only takes paid chat rendering!).

6. **An async loop started from a UI handler runs ON THE UI THREAD until you take it off.**
   `await` continuations re-capture the current `SynchronizationContext` — the frame pump was started
   from a WPF command handler, so the "WPF-free, hermetic" compositor rendered and read capture state
   ON THE DISPATCHER, serialized behind the live preview itself, for the whole starvation saga. The
   `wait` stat caught it only when the numbers became self-contradictory (render 22 + wait 10 > any
   rebasing deadline — a blown deadline cannot sleep). OBS runs `obs_graphics_thread`/`video_thread`
   as dedicated threads for exactly this reason. Pattern: `_task = Task.Run(() => Loop())` (null
   context inside), then audit EVERY object the loop touches for UI affinity (RenderTargetBitmap /
   DrawingVisual / WriteableBitmap: marshal the work or the rare miss; plain locked byte[] lookups:
   fine) and pin it with a context test (`Pump_Produces_OffTheStartingContext`, inline-pumping
   SynchronizationContext that the old code failed by construction). Cost: takes 3–10.

7. **Prove the stage, then the fix — and re-prove after every slice (2026-09-04, takes 6-8).**
   The chat raster fix was REAL but the composer blamed it for the residual slowness it did not
   own; two takes burned before the render/resolve split showed `resolve ≈ 0` and pointed at the
   compositor pasting static layers per tick (`BlitCachedLayer` finished the job OBS-style). Before
   shipping a perf fix: name the stage with a measurement, not a story; after shipping one, the
   NEXT number must move — a fix that doesn't change the stat wasn't the bottleneck.


   **Take-4 follow-ups (2026-09-04) — the symptom needed a second pass, so cite again:**
   render was still 58.9ms after slice 1. Slice 2 (buffer pool + opaque-row memcpy +
   integer bilinear) followed the same libyuv research
   (https://chromium.googlesource.com/libyuv/libyuv/ — `row.cc`/`scale.cc` keep both
   interpolation stages in ONE fixed-point scale; rounding constant only at the end).
   My first `Bilinear` shifted stage 1 back to 8-bit AND shifted the final result >>16 —
   double scaling turned solid-255 samples into ~1, i.e. the "fixed" general path drew
   NOTHING (green webcam silently vanished from output; the pixel probes caught what
   the eye in a 2x time-lapse would not). **Rule: multi-stage fixed point shifts only
   at the end; verify against a uniform-255 sample before believing it.** Second trap:
   a stale-byte sentinel test whose source pattern can generate the sentinel value
   itself (0xAB was a legitimate `x+y` pixel) — pick the sentinel coprime/out-of-range
   to every channel formula (0xFD: odd, not ×4, above the R max). Third: a fake encoder
   that HOLDS submitted frames now must snapshot them (`Clone`) once the producer
   legitimately recycles buffers — mirror the real consumer's copy semantics in the fake.


---

## Splitting a large file into partials — NEVER `awk … > SRC` while awking SRC

(2026-08-31, Commit D) Tried to split `SocialsDialogViewModel.cs` in one line:
`{ awk '…' SRC; echo ""; awk '…2…' SRC; } > SRC`. The **first write truncated
SRC to 1 line**, so the second `awk` read the already-truncated file → the whole
source was lost (1 line left). Recovered with `git checkout -- SRC`, then redid
it, but the same bug could have meant making it up from scratch.

**Rule:** when a cut needs N blocks from one source into N files, never write a
block back onto the source that the `awk`s still read. Instead:
1. Read the source **once** at the start into temp files (`mktemp -d`, one file
   per block), with a `$D` variable you carry forward.
2. Verify block sizes (`wc -l`) and brace balance (`python3 -c` counting `{`/`}`)
   before touching any real file.
3. Then assemble each new file from `cat D/block …` — never truncating the source
   until every read is done.

`git status` can't save you here if you don't notice until the file is gone —
`git checkout -- <path>` from the last commit is the recovery. Cheap insurance:
restore-then-retry, do it atomically from temp files the first time.

---

## Verifying an ffmpeg decode contract from WSL (no real CLR needed)

(2026-08-31, TASK 21) When a change depends on ffmpeg producing output with an
exact frame-size contract (rawvideo W×H×4 BGRA), you can prove the **command +
frame accounting** here without any .NET process:

1. Fetch a **static Linux ffmpeg** into `/tmp/opencode` (no sudo needed):
   `curl -sLO https://johnvansickle.com/ffmpeg/releases/ffmpeg-release-amd64-static.tar.xz
   && tar -xf …`
2. Generate a tiny known clip: `ffmpeg -f lavfi -i "testsrc2=duration=1:size=640x360:rate=30" -pix_fmt yuv420p clip.mp4`
3. Decode with **exactly the app's args**: `-f rawvideo -pix_fmt bgra -vf scale=640:360 -an`
4. Assert `total_bytes % (W*H*4) == 0` (python3) → exact integer frames, no pad.

**Why not a dotnet-spawned ffmpeg here:** the only CLR on this box
(`/home/gramps/bin/dotnet`) is a **Windows-bound shim** — `Process.Start` resolves
paths to `\\wsl.localhost\Debian\…` and throws "not a valid application for this
OS" when handed a Linux ELF ffmpeg. So never plan to have dotnet exec a Linux
ffmpeg here; verify the contract with shell/python instead, and leave the
CLR→real-ffmpeg run to the native Windows suite.

## WPF hit-test truth in tests: `UIElement.InputHitTest`, NOT `VisualTreeHelper.HitTest`

(2026-09-01, the RoundClip "known failure" post-mortem — a failure the map carried as
"not a regression" for weeks without ever recording WHY.)

**The trap:** `VisualTreeHelper.HitTest(window, pt)` returned the window's
`WebViewHostPanel` overlay (`IsHitTestVisible="False"`, `Opacity=0`, ZERO children) for
EVERY point in the window — so a "corner is grabbable" assertion could never pass, and
it looked like a real interaction bug. The actual input pipeline (`UIElement.InputHitTest`,
what Mouse routing uses) correctly returned the element's Grid at elem-center/corner-in/
corner-exact and fell through to CanvasGrid just past the corner. The product was fine;
the TEST was probing an API that doesn't model input semantics.

**Rule:** any test asserting "where does a click land" uses `window.InputHitTest(pt)` +
`IsDescendantOf` — never `VisualTreeHelper.HitTest`.

**Diagnosis recipe (how the lie was caught in ~3 probe cycles, no guessing):** add a TEMP
probe `[Fact]` in the RealApp collection that hit-tests a spread of points
(elem-center / corner-in / corner-exact / corner-out / bg-center) and `Assert.Fail`s with a
composed dump: per-point VTH hit + `InputHitTest` hit + ancestor chain (`GetParent` walk
with `#Name`) + panel properties (`IsHitTestVisible/Opacity/children/actual size`) +
`TranslatePoint` origins. Run the class alone, read the message, delete the probe.

**Two sibling facts learned the same session (record-once):**
1. A UserControl owns its own XAML namescope — after extracting a region out of a window,
   `window.FindName("InnerPart")` returns null; resolve the UserControl by its window-level
   name, then `pane.FindName("InnerPart")`. And window-scope STYLES are invisible to a
   UserControl's `StaticResource` at parse time — move such styles to `Themes/Controls.xaml`
   (the app-scope rule exists for this).
2. Per-class `dotnet.exe vstest` from WSL DOES execute the RealApp/`MainWindow` tests fine
   (they passed natively 2026-09-01) — only the FULL suite hangs (WASAPI startup). And the
   test process shares `%APPDATA%\ytLlive\startup.log` with the real app: lines like
   `camera 'test-camera' failed` are test noise, not DB state — to check pollution, query
   the DB directly (`python3 sqlite3`, `SELECT DeviceId FROM Webcam`), not the log.

## A "known failure" label without a recorded cause = a bug on life support

(2026-09-01, the audio triple-take) One line — `_delayedMix` (nullable, added by TASK 22,
never initialized) dereferenced as `delayed.Length` — produced THREE symptoms that lived in
the map as two separate "pre-existing, do-not-chase" entries: (a)
`Mix_HonorsProviderGains…` "known failure", (b) `AudioPipelineTests` hangs when run at all
(a test reading a named pipe with no writer blocks — hung test ≠ flaky test, it's a starved
producer), (c) startup.log flooded "Audio live loop error" every 10ms (the mixer loop caught
and logged only `ex.Message` — stack thrown away).

Rules derived:
1. NEVER label a test "known/pre-existing" without writing WHY (exception type + first app
   frame). An unexplained known-failure is deferred archaeology that hardens into fog.
2. A test that waits on IPC + a producer whose output vanished are usually ONE bug — look
   for the producer before blaming the test.
3. Catch-and-log-swallow of `ex.Message` hides root causes; log with stack (`AppLog.Write(ex,
   ...)`) and throttle (5s) instead of dropping or flooding.
Bonus: the "failing" test encoded the MAP's contract (`loopbackGain = GameAudioVolume`); the
code had drifted to unity on a disproven premise (loopback capture does NOT follow endpoint
volume — creator's 20%-volume/pegged-meter observation killed it). The test was right all
along — failing tests may be the last honest witnesses; interrogate, don't pardon.

## Feature provenance: record WHO asked and WHY, in the task entry itself

(2026-08-31/09-01, the SYNC slider scare) TASK 22's lip-sync slider surfaced on the preview rail and
the creator's reaction was "totally don't remember ordering that" — because the queue entry recorded
WHAT shipped (a slider, 0-500ms, a converter class) but not WHO asked (the creator, explicitly, for
OBS's delay-filter fix built natively). Eight days later his own request read like AI drift and nearly
got deleted. Rule: the moment a creator-driven feature is queued or shipped, its entry carries a
one-line provenance — *who asked, what triggered it* ("creator: OBS delay-filter lip-sync fix, native").
Features without attribution become roadmap orphans that get punted, removed, or re-litigated. Same
disease as an unexplained "known failure" label — a fact recorded without its reason is a future
argument.

## An un-attributed build invalidated three takes of a perf saga — stamp the binary

(2026-09-04, takes 4–6) After each render-perf fix the creator "exed the code" and re-recorded, but
the exe timestamp ≠ binary contents (incremental builds reuse whatever compiles clean; a source edit
with no rebuild serves the OLD exe). Take 6 measured render WORSE than take 5 (35-41ms) and there was
no honest way to tell "the chat cache fix doesn't work" from "the fix was never running" — three
hours of diagnosis on an unattributable sample. Rule: if takes measure the app, EVERY build carries
an id and EVERY log line traces to it — `GenerateBuildStamp` (csproj) writes a fresh GUID per
compile (deliberately defeating incremental lies), the wordmark shows it as a superscript, startup.log
records `Build <id> (compiled <time>)`. A perf claim without build attribution is a guess; ask for the
stamp BEFORE theorizing. (Also this session: a sentinel-byte test where the source pattern could
GENERATE the sentinel, and a fixed-point bilinear that shifted BOTH stages and silently drew nothing —
see the rawvideo recipe.)