Init DidiDecks as Core Submodule of AI-Labs

Plan of record for promoting dididecks-ai from “a folder full of specs at ai-labs/context-v/” to a first-class child of the ai-labs/ pseudomonorepo — its own GitHub repo, its own branch-tier (development → main → master), its own context-v/ and changelog/, its own splash page, and a branch =-aware submodule pointer from ai-labs/. Steps preserved verbatim from the user’s outline; each step is filled out with concrete actions, commands, and verification.

Pseudomonorepo discipline this plan honors

• The parent owns the space between children. ai-labs/ aggregates context across memopop-ai, dididecks-ai, and future children. Their internals are theirs. (See pseudomonorepos skill.)
• Branch alignment across the tree. Every Lossless submodule rides a three-tier model: development → main → master. Each tier created from the start so we don’t pay the cost later. (See references/branch-alignment.md in the pseudomonorepos skill.)
• Universal directories. Every repo level has both context-v/ and changelog/ as siblings at the root. We aspire to parallel placement; we’ll set that up correctly from day one.
• Rollup-friendly content. The parent splash and ai-labs/-level splash should be able to surface this submodule’s changelog/ and context-v/ via the GitHub Content API. That implies (a) branch = is set in .gitmodules, (b) directory shapes are conventional, (c) no surprises.
• Lifecycle phases. Each phase of this plan corresponds to a Start → Progress → Reflect → Publish loop position. Tracked in changelog entries as we go.

1. Move Astro-Knots projects reach-edu-hub and calmstorm-decks to ai-labs/dididecks-ai/ as client-sites/*

Final location: ai-labs/dididecks-ai/client-sites/reach-edu-hub and ai-labs/dididecks-ai/client-sites/calmstorm-decks.

Why

Both sites were originally added as submodules of astro-knots/sites/. They are, in practice, client engagements that exercise the DidiDecks pattern — not generic astro-knots sites. Re-parenting them under dididecks-ai/client-sites/ aligns their narrative parent with their git parent, makes them legible to the upcoming DidiDecks splash page, and lets the rollup mechanism surface their changelogs alongside the rest of the dididecks family.

The sites themselves do not move on GitHub — they remain their own repos at their existing URLs. Only the parent reference changes.

Constraints

• Each site’s Vercel deploy is wired to its own repo, not to astro-knots. Re-parenting must not break deploys. (Verify: open Vercel project → confirm git remote points at the site’s own repo, not astro-knots.)
• Site git history is sacred. Re-parenting touches .gitmodules in both astro-knots (remove) and dididecks-ai (add). The site repos themselves are not modified.
• development branch alignment — when re-adding under dididecks-ai, set branch = development in .gitmodules so the gitlink follows the working branch.

Actions

1. Pre-flight (in astro-knots/):

   cd ~/code/lossless-monorepo/astro-knots
   git status                              # clean working tree before touching submodules
   cat .gitmodules | grep -A2 calmstorm-decks
   cat .gitmodules | grep -A2 reach-edu-hub

2. Defer the astro-knots-side removal until after step 5 (the submodule is registered against ai-labs/dididecks-ai/). Two parents pointing at the same submodule for a brief window is fine; an orphaned gitlink is not.
3. In step 5, when dididecks-ai/ is its own repo, perform inside it:

   cd ~/code/lossless-monorepo/ai-labs/dididecks-ai
   mkdir -p client-sites
   git submodule add -b development <git@github.com:lossless-group/calmstorm-decks.git> client-sites/calmstorm-decks
   git submodule add -b development <git@github.com:lossless-group/reach-edu-hub.git>     client-sites/reach-edu-hub
   git submodule sync
   git submodule update --init --recursive

4. Then in astro-knots/:

   cd ~/code/lossless-monorepo/astro-knots
   git submodule deinit sites/calmstorm-decks
   git rm sites/calmstorm-decks
   git submodule deinit sites/reach-edu-hub
   git rm sites/reach-edu-hub
   git commit -m "relocate(submodules): move calmstorm-decks and reach-edu-hub to dididecks-ai pseudomonorepo"

   The pnpm-workspace.yaml in astro-knots also needs the corresponding sites/... lines removed (or they’ll throw on pnpm install).

Verification

• Both sites’ Vercel deploys are still green after the parent flip.
• git submodule status in dididecks-ai/ shows both, on development, with valid SHAs.
• git submodule status in astro-knots/ no longer mentions them.
• A pnpm install at the astro-knots/ root succeeds.

2. Move Dididecks Context-V files into ai-labs/dididecks-ai/context-v/

[!NOTE] Rollup behavior of pseudomonorepos Context-V

A recent habit change we have implemented is that the “splash page” in splash/ (hosted through Github Pages) now collates and publishes a rollup of all the context-v projects in the pseudomonorepo — however nested. This means that the splash page will now show all the Context-V files in the pseudomonorepo, and will be updated automatically when new files are added and commit/pushed to the repository.

Files to move

From ai-labs/context-v/ → ai-labs/dididecks-ai/context-v/:

Scaffold the destination

cd ~/code/lossless-monorepo/ai-labs/dididecks-ai
mkdir -p context-v/{specs,prompts,blueprints,reminders,explorations,issues,plans}
mkdir -p changelog

Six canonical subdirectories + plans/ (already in adopted use at the ai-labs/ level — assimilated, not introduced fresh). changelog/ as a top-level sibling of context-v/ per the universal-directories aspiration in the pseudomonorepos skill.

Path adjustments after the move

Wikilinks in the moved files reference both prior-art outside dididecks-ai (which stays at the same absolute location, but the relative depth changes) and the calmstorm-decks site (which is also moving — from astro-knots/sites/ to dididecks-ai/client-sites/). New relative paths from dididecks-ai/context-v/specs/:

These adjustments happen in the second commit of step 5 (per user’s note: “Change relative paths to context-v files and prior art, serve as second commit”).

Actions

1. Move files with git mv if we want to preserve cross-history; otherwise plain mv is fine since the files only exist in one repo’s history.
2. After move, run a grep over the moved files for any ../../astro-knots/sites/calmstorm-decks/... or ../../astro-knots/... patterns and update them per the table above.
3. Update the parent spec’s Related section to reflect the sibling specs’ new location (they’re now siblings within the same context-v/, so the cross-spec wikilinks [[Dididecks-AI-DD-Ready-Citation-and-Source-Access]] stay unchanged — good).
4. Re-bump at_semantic_version on the parent spec to reflect the relocation (minor, since the content didn’t change semantically).

Verification

• dididecks-ai/context-v/specs/ contains the three specs.
• dididecks-ai/context-v/explorations/ contains the business-model doc.
• dididecks-ai/context-v/plans/ contains this plan once executed.
• All wikilinks render correctly in Obsidian (open the vault rooted at lossless-monorepo/ and verify the graph view connects).
• A grep for ../../astro-knots/sites/calmstorm-decks returns zero hits in the moved files.

3. Generate a Splash page using Astro for Didi labs

Use the context-v files to spec content hierarchy and marketing language for a splash page. Reference the agent-skills and /Users/mpstaton/code/lossless-monorepo/context-v/habits/Maintain-a-Github-Splash-Page-for-each-Repo.md.

Milestone is it builds and renders on local.

Scope

A first-pass marketing splash at dididecks-ai/splash/ — Astro Knots conventions, GitHub Pages publish target, package-isolated from the upcoming dididecks-ai core library, dark-mode default.

The splash is not the DidiDecks product. It is the README-on-the-web for the project — what lossless-group.github.io/dididecks-ai/ (or the future custom domain) will serve. It introduces the project, surfaces the context-v rollup, and changelog, and points at the GitHub repo.

Skills and references to load

• maintain-splash-pages skill — the canonical pattern (memopop-site, content-farm/splash, lfm/splash are reference implementations).
• astro-knots skill — Astro 6, no React, Svelte for interactivity, hard prohibitions list.
• theme-system skill — two-tier tokens, three-mode contract.
• lossless-flavored-markdown skill — if the splash renders any markdown content (it will, for the context-v rollup).
• open-graph-share-seo-geo skill — for unfurl + sitemap + llms.txt from day one.
• generate-consistent-og-images skill — splash OG card; must precede sharing.
• maintain-design-md skill — write DESIGN.md at dididecks-ai/splash/DESIGN.md before any non-trivial visual decision is locked.
• ~/code/lossless-monorepo/context-v/habits/Maintain-a-Github-Splash-Page-for-each-Repo.md — habit doc.

Content hierarchy (drawn from the context-v files we just wrote)

Lead with The Due Diligence Bar — Didi from the parent spec — that’s the central hook for the splash hero. Then:

1. Hero — “Decks for Due Diligence, not for vibes.” The DD framing as the headline.
2. The two North Stars — NS-1 (two-sided private/public) and NS-2 (player so good they present live).
3. The Design Principles strip — six or seven cards summarizing the recurring needs (citation discipline, non-destructive iteration, MVP-always, Keynote-grade export, etc.).
4. The system map — the ingest → wow-ify → variant → publish → export → re-integrate ASCII flow from the parent spec, rendered as an actual diagram.
5. The sibling-spec gallery — short cards linking to the two sibling specs and the business-model exploration. (Surfaced via the context-v rollup mechanism.)
6. Built-in-public footer — link to GitHub, mention OSS posture (without committing to a license yet — that’s a business-model question still in exploration).

Mechanics

cd ~/code/lossless-monorepo/ai-labs/dididecks-ai
mkdir -p splash
cd splash
pnpm create astro@latest -- --template minimal --typescript strict --no-install
# Then adapt: add @lossless-group/lfm, copy markdown rendering pattern from
# astro-knots/sites/mpstaton-site, scaffold theme.css per theme-system skill,
# add @astrojs/sitemap, write robots.txt, add /llms.txt.

Package-isolation: dididecks-ai/splash/ is a totally separate package.json from whatever the future dididecks-ai core library publishes. The splash never imports from the core; the core never imports from the splash. This is the maintain-splash-pages discipline — do not regress.

Verification (milestone)

• pnpm install && pnpm dev inside dididecks-ai/splash/ serves a working site at localhost:4321.
• pnpm build produces a dist/ with no errors.
• The hero renders the DD framing.
• At least one card per sibling spec is visible.
• Dark mode is the default; theme toggle works.
• The OG image exists at public/og/default.jpg and unfurls correctly in iMessage (test via Cmd+L paste into a chat with yourself).

4. Use gh to create the repo, push as development, main, and master

Write README.md. Git init, create branches at parity. Push.

Why all three branches at once

Per the pseudomonorepos branch-alignment discipline: every Lossless submodule rides a three-tier model. Creating all three at init time costs nothing and avoids the “humans got lazy” drift the skill warns about. The branch = line in the parent’s .gitmodules (set in step 5) will point at development.

Actions

1. Author a minimal README.md at dididecks-ai/README.md:

   # DidiDecks-AI
   
   A code-first slide-deck operating system for Due-Diligence-grade content,
   built by [The Lossless Group](https://lossless.group).
   
   - Living spec: [`context-v/specs/Dididecks-AI-Slide-Decks-as-Code.md`](./context-v/specs/Dididecks-AI-Slide-Decks-as-Code.md)
   - Splash (in progress): [`splash/`](./splash/)
   - Part of the [ai-labs](https://github.com/lossless-group/ai-labs) pseudomonorepo.
   
   Status: early architecture. Not yet implementing.

2. Author a minimal LICENSE — placeholder (e.g., Copyright (c) 2026 The Lossless Group. License terms TBD; see context-v/explorations/Dididecks-AI-Business-Model.md) until the OSS license question lands.

3. Author a CLAUDE.md at dididecks-ai/CLAUDE.md — minimal pointer file: project intent, link to the parent spec, instructions for agents to load the context-vigilance and astro-knots skills before working here.

4. Author the first changelog/ entry at dididecks-ai/changelog/2026-05-11_01.md per changelog-conventions skill — covering the init itself.

5. Init git + branches:

   cd ~/code/lossless-monorepo/ai-labs/dididecks-ai
   git init
   git add .
   git commit -m "init(dididecks-ai): scaffold context-v, splash, changelog, README"
   git branch -M development
   git branch main
   git branch master

6. Create the GitHub repo and push:

   gh repo create lossless-group/dididecks-ai --public --source=. --remote=origin --description "A code-first slide-deck OS for Due-Diligence-grade content."
   git push -u origin development
   git push origin main
   git push origin master
   gh repo edit lossless-group/dididecks-ai --default-branch development

Verification

• gh repo view lossless-group/dididecks-ai --json defaultBranchRef,visibility returns development as default and the chosen visibility.
• git branch -r shows origin/development, origin/main, origin/master.
• gh repo view lossless-group/dididecks-ai --web opens to the README.

5. cd back into ai-labs, rm dir, add as submodule

Change relative paths to context-v files and prior art, serve as second commit.

Why the rm-then-re-add dance

Until step 5, ai-labs/dididecks-ai/ was an embedded git repo — its own .git/ directory inside a parent that didn’t track it. Git tolerates this but warns. To make it a proper submodule (with a gitlink in the parent and a branch = line in .gitmodules), we remove the embedded copy and re-add it via git submodule add. The contents on disk look identical after; the parent’s tracking changes from “ignored embedded repo” to “tracked submodule pointer at SHA X on branch development.”

Actions

1. Stash anything uncommitted inside the embedded repo first:

   cd ~/code/lossless-monorepo/ai-labs/dididecks-ai
   git status   # must be clean. Commit/push anything outstanding before proceeding.

2. Remove the embedded directory from ai-labs’ working tree (the repo itself, on GitHub, is unaffected):

   cd ~/code/lossless-monorepo/ai-labs
   rm -rf dididecks-ai

3. Add as a submodule, tracking the development branch:

   git submodule add -b development git@github.com:lossless-group/dididecks-ai.git dididecks-ai
   git submodule update --init --recursive

4. Verify .gitmodules carries the branch = line (a .gitmodules entry without it is a smell per the pseudomonorepos branch-alignment guidance):

   [submodule "dididecks-ai"]
       path = dididecks-ai
       url = git@github.com:lossless-group/dididecks-ai.git
       branch = development

5. First commit in ai-labs — the submodule registration:

   cd ~/code/lossless-monorepo/ai-labs
   git add .gitmodules dididecks-ai
   git commit -m "add(submodule): dididecks-ai pseudomonorepo child, tracking development"

6. Second commit — path adjustments inside the moved context-v files. Per step 2’s path-adjustment table, fix wikilinks that depend on the new nesting depth:

   cd ~/code/lossless-monorepo/ai-labs/dididecks-ai
   # Edit the four context-v files, update paths per the table in step 2.
   git add context-v/
   git commit -m "fix(context-v): update wikilink relative paths after submodule promotion"
   git push origin development

7. Update ai-labs’ gitlink to point at the new SHA:

   cd ~/code/lossless-monorepo/ai-labs
   git add dididecks-ai
   git commit -m "update(submodule): bump dididecks-ai pointer after context-v path fixes"

8. Final sweep — also remove the now-stale copies from ai-labs/context-v/specs/ and ai-labs/context-v/explorations/, since the canonical home is now inside the submodule:

   cd ~/code/lossless-monorepo/ai-labs
   git rm context-v/specs/Dididecks-AI-Slide-Decks-as-Code.md
   git rm context-v/specs/Dididecks-AI-DD-Ready-Citation-and-Source-Access.md
   git rm context-v/specs/Dididecks-AI-Visual-and-Diagram-Component-Library.md
   git rm context-v/explorations/Dididecks-AI-Business-Model.md
   git commit -m "cleanup(context-v): remove dididecks specs+exploration; canonical home moved to submodule"

Verification

• cd ai-labs && git submodule status shows dididecks-ai on development at a valid SHA.
• cat ai-labs/.gitmodules shows the branch = development line.
• cd ai-labs/dididecks-ai && git status shows clean working tree.
• The duplicate spec files no longer exist in ai-labs/context-v/.
• The splash builds and renders (pnpm dev inside dididecks-ai/splash/).
• The astro-knots side is also clean (sites removed from there per step 1).
• A walk of the tree from lossless-monorepo/ finds the dididecks specs in exactly one place — the canonical home inside the submodule.

After this plan is executed

The next plans in line (out of scope for this plan, but worth flagging):

1. Roll up content into the ai-labs splash — once ai-labs/splash/ exists (or is built), wire it to pull dididecks-ai/context-v/ and dididecks-ai/changelog/ via the GitHub Content API per references/content-rollup.md in the pseudomonorepos skill.
2. Roll up further into the lossless-monorepo splash — same mechanism, one level up.
3. Promote branch = development discipline across the rest of the ai-labs children (memopop-ai etc.) so the whole pseudomonorepo is uniform.
4. Write the first DidiDecks implementation prompt under dididecks-ai/context-v/prompts/ — likely “scaffold the core repo structure beyond the splash” or “extract the calmstorm-decks pattern into a reusable primitive.”

Cross-references

• [[../specs/Dididecks-AI-Slide-Decks-as-Code]] — parent spec; the why this submodule exists.
• [[../specs/Dididecks-AI-DD-Ready-Citation-and-Source-Access]] — sibling spec; moves with this plan.
• [[../specs/Dididecks-AI-Visual-and-Diagram-Component-Library]] — sibling spec; moves with this plan.
• [[../explorations/Dididecks-AI-Business-Model]] — exploration; moves with this plan.
• pseudomonorepos skill — branch alignment, submodule init, content rollup mechanics.
• context-vigilance skill — the framework this plan honors.
• maintain-splash-pages skill — splash-page conventions referenced in step 3.
• astro-knots skill — splash-tech prohibitions and conventions.
• changelog-conventions skill — for the changelog/2026-05-11_01.md first entry written in step 4.
• ~/code/lossless-monorepo/context-v/habits/Maintain-a-Github-Splash-Page-for-each-Repo.md — habit doc referenced in step 3.