# Plexuses

A **plexus** is a full app — the vocabulary has always said so
(*"full app with backend, frontend and DB"*). What was missing is that a plexus
is **exported, not served**. It is compiled to a distributable file the way vite
builds for production, and that compile is the whole point of the format.

```bash
make dist                 # compile the plexus UIs for standalone
make dist sample          # for a named room
```

Output is one `index.html` per plexus under `gen/<room>/plexuses/<name>/`,
carrying its theme, its data and its diagrams inline. No server, no node, no
network. Zip it, mail it, double-click it.

`make build` runs the same step as part of a room build. `make dist` exists for
the loop where the UI is what you are working on — rebuilding a whole room to
see a CSS change is a slow way to iterate.

## The constraint that shapes it

It has to open from a **double-clicked file on a machine with no egress**. That
is the state a regulated Windows box is usually in, and it rules out three
things a normal web app does:

| Ruled out | Because |
| --- | --- |
| `fetch("bundle.json")` | `file://` treats every sibling file as cross-origin |
| `<link href="/theme.css">` | an absolute path assumes a server at the root |
| a webfont `@import` | a blocked stylesheet is a stall, not a fallback |

So the data is a JS object, the theme is inlined at compile time, and the fonts
are stacks. The test that matters is opening the output with the network off and
seeing zero failed requests — everything else is cosmetic.

## Declaring one

A room opts in through `cfg/<room>/data/plexuses.json`, the same shape and the
same place as its sibling `data/*.json` files:

```json
{ "items": [ { "name": "bundle" } ] }
```

A room may override anything the plexus declares — most usefully the theme:

```json
{ "items": [ { "name": "bundle", "theme": "mcrn" } ] }
```

## Writing one

```
soleprint/artery/plexuses/<name>/
  plexus.json      identity, theme, the data the page renders
  app/index.html   the template
```

`build.py` fills these placeholders and writes one file:

| Placeholder | Becomes |
| --- | --- |
| `%%THEME_CSS%%` | tokens plus every theme, so the switcher has something to switch to |
| `%%BUNDLE%%` | `plexus.json` as a JS object |
| `%%GRAPH%%` | a rendered SVG from `docs/graphs/`, inlined |
| `%%TITLE%%` `%%DESCRIPTION%%` `%%DEFAULT_THEME%%` `%%BUILT%%` | from the manifest |

Anything else in `app/` is copied alongside, for a plexus that outgrows one file.

## The bundle plexus

The one that ships. It answers "what does a rig installation have at its
disposal" — tools, cabinets, veins, themes — and embeds the system diagram.

Because the SVG is **inlined** rather than `<img>`-linked, the theme switch
recolours the diagram too: graphviz writes `class="node accent"` into the SVG,
and CSS outranks the presentation attributes it bakes in. Switching to `lucid`
turns both the page and the diagram into something printable, which is the
demonstration the format exists for.

## Not the same as rig's bundle

Two artifacts, both called bundle, generated by different repos:

| | soleprint | rig |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Command | `make dist` | `make manifest` in `sample-rig` |
| Artifact | `plexuses/<name>/index.html` | `generated/<slug>.yaml` |
| Needs | nothing | kind + MetalLB |
| Answers | what shipped, on any machine | whether this cluster install is sound |

Complementary. One proves the environment, the other travels.