chore: ascii-spec-diagrams

[satyaborg]

ASCII spec diagrams, retire the HTML spec renderer

Problem

The devloop-spec skill makes Python and a browser part of the spec path. Specs are authored with mermaid fences, and the skill ships skills/devloop-spec/scripts/render.py (a ~20k Python file) and instructs running python3 scripts/render.py <spec> to produce an HTML companion (skills/devloop-spec/SKILL.md:19, :165, :168). That renderer is referenced in README.md:52 and pinned by tests (scripts/devloop_test.sh:182, :194, :1129, :1133). A mermaid fence is only a diagram once that HTML is generated and opened in a browser. With glow as the terminal reader (sibling spec) the HTML companion has no audience: specs are read in-terminal via glow and on GitHub directly, and neither renders the Python HTML file. The moment it hurts: every spec carries a mermaid block that you can only see as a diagram by generating HTML and opening Chrome, the exact fragmentation being removed.

Outcome

The devloop-spec skill instructs authoring diagrams as ASCII art inside plain ``` code fences and never mermaid; the spec template uses an ASCII schematic; render.py is removed from the repo and is no longer installed, referenced, or tested; README.md and scripts/devloop_test.sh no longer mention it. A spec then renders identically as monospace in glow, on GitHub, and in any plain-text view, with no renderer and no browser.

Acceptance Criteria

AC1: skills/devloop-spec/SKILL.md contains no mermaid instruction and no render.py or python3 reference, and instructs authoring diagrams as ASCII inside plain code fences.
AC2: skills/devloop-spec/references/spec-template.md's schematic is an ASCII diagram inside a plain ``` fence, not a ```mermaid block.
AC3: skills/devloop-spec/scripts/render.py does not exist in the repo and is not installed by scripts/install.sh into either skills directory.
AC4: README.md contains no render.py reference.
AC5: scripts/devloop_test.sh invokes no render.py and asserts that neither installed skill directory contains render.py.
AC6: bash scripts/devloop_test.sh passes.

Review Trail

Review rounds and the final report are posted as PR comments below.

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Spec: .devloop/specs/2026-06-19-ascii-specs-retire-html-renderer.md

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Status	Name	Latest Commit	Preview URL	Updated (UTC)
✅ Deployment successful! View logs	devloop	3a2684e	Commit Preview URL Branch Preview URL	Jun 24 2026, 01:17 PM

[satyaborg]

Devloop Final Report

Field	Value
Final status	reviewer-error
Pass count	1 / 5
Final verdict	none
PR URL	#78
Branch	chore/ascii-spec-diagrams

Acceptance Matrix Summary

• Not available.

Engineering Quality Summary

• Not available.

Implementation Summary

• Final branch: chore/ascii-spec-diagrams
• Final commit: 3a2684e
• Commit message: chore: ascii-spec-diagrams

Commit References

• pass 1 3a2684e chore: ascii-spec-diagrams (README.md, scripts/devloop_test.sh, skills/devloop-spec/SKILL.md, skills/devloop-spec/references/spec-template.md, skills/devloop-spec/scripts/render.sh)

Tests Run

• Verification hook log: not configured
• Review test evidence: see the acceptance matrix summary above.

Residual Risk

• The run ended as reviewer-error. Inspect the latest findings and missing tests before merging.