diff --git a/docs/exploration/engineering-review-2026-07.md b/docs/exploration/engineering-review-2026-07.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ecbe012
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/exploration/engineering-review-2026-07.md
@@ -0,0 +1,411 @@
+# Engineering Review — 2026-07-02
+
+> Point-in-time record. Full-project engineering review requested by the maintainer, with a
+> specific question attached: _"as we work session to session, we may forget to look back
+> and see the bigger picture — the end-of-session skill checks aim to mitigate it, but I'm
+> not sure to what extent it is successful."_
+>
+> **Method:** five independent clean-context reviewers (code quality, test suite,
+> documentation, build/tooling/delivery, cross-session coherence), each required to cite
+> file/line/commit evidence, followed by an adversarial verification wave that reproduced
+> every load-bearing claim (rebuilt the bundle, re-ran greps and git archaeology, hand-walked
+> the flagged logic, re-checked the live site). Findings below are only those that survived
+> verification; where a reviewer's number was wrong, the corrected number is used.
+> Reviewed state: working tree at `c5e4c4c` plus the uncommitted spec-params/editor WIP.
+
+## Verdict
+
+The codebase itself is in excellent shape — the architecture contract holds under grep, not
+just in prose, and the per-session review machinery demonstrably works at the session scale.
+The problems are concentrated at two horizons the per-session view cannot see: **delivery**
+(one measurable production defect: the marketing landing executes 1.3 MB gzipped of Monaco +
+Vega it never uses) and **look-back**. The maintainer's fear is confirmed, mechanically: no
+instrument — on-demand or scheduled — owns the whole-project view, so coherence work happens
+only when a session happens to collide with it. (Maintainer clarification after the first
+draft: the eng-council sweep and the ux-second-pass batch were designed as on-demand
+session guardrails, not periodic instruments — which sharpens the finding rather than
+softening it: the on-demand instruments have each fired once, and nothing at all runs on a
+cadence.)
+
+## Scorecard
+
+| Dimension               | Grade | One-line summary                                                                      |
+| ----------------------- | ----- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
+| Code quality            | A     | Zero `any`/suppressions, layering verifies by grep, error discipline is real          |
+| Test suite              | A−    | 1,366 tests, uniform harness, deterministic; one committed coverage hole that matters |
+| Documentation           | A−    | Symbol-level accuracy at scale; drift is localized fossils plus one governance gap    |
+| Build / delivery        | B     | Strong local gates; landing bundle defect shipped because no gate measures output     |
+| Cross-session coherence | B−    | A− for per-session machinery, D for look-back machinery                               |
+
+## Critical findings (all independently verified)
+
+### C1. The landing and /learn/ eagerly load and execute Monaco (940 kB gz) and Vega (285 kB gz)
+
+Verified on the live site and reproduced from a clean build. `dist/index.html` modulepreloads
+both chunks and the landing entry's static import graph executes them
+(`main-*.js` ends with bare `import"./vega-*.js";import"./monaco-*.js"`). `/learn/` is worse:
+both arrive as direct `<script type="module">` tags. Landing eager JS today: ~4.7 MB raw /
+~1.30 MB gzip; the intended payload is ~255 kB raw / ~81 kB gzip — a 16× reduction available.
+
+The source-level lazy-loading discipline is correct (`LandingChart.tsx` dynamic-imports
+chart-renderer; nothing in `src/landing`/`src/learn` mentions Monaco). Two bundling-level
+causes defeat it:
+
+- **Preload-helper placement.** The object-form `manualChunks` in `vite.config.ts` leads
+  Rollup to emit Vite's `__vitePreload` helper _inside_ the `monaco` chunk;
+  `LandingChart-*.js` begins `import{_ as h}from"./monaco-*.js"`, so every chunk that uses
+  `import()` statically depends on all of Monaco. (Attribution to the object form
+  specifically is plausible-but-untested; the observed mechanism is fully reproduced.)
+- **`vega-scale` edge.** `Landing.tsx` → `@core/vega-themes` → `theme-controls.ts:27`
+  `import { scheme } from 'vega-scale'` merges into the `vega` manual chunk, dragging all of
+  Vega into the landing's static graph. The comment at `theme-controls.ts:21-22` ("keeps the
+  umbrella vega out of core") is true at source level and defeated by chunking. The
+  `examples` chunk has a second, independent edge into the vega chunk.
+
+**Fix:** break the `vega-scale` edge (lazy-import or move scheme resolution off the
+landing-reachable path); switch to function-form `manualChunks` and confirm the helper lands
+in a shared micro-chunk; and — the durable part — add a ~10-line post-build assertion that
+`dist/index.html` and `dist/learn/index.html` reference neither `monaco-*` nor `vega-*`.
+That assertion is the missing gate for this entire regression class.
+
+### C2. The project's operating regime is recorded nowhere the machinery reads
+
+The 2026-06-10 phase shift — spec follows code; docs/spec is no longer the authoritative
+contract — appears in exactly one repo location: `docs/exploration/chart-builder-enhancement-scope.md:673`,
+inside the directory whose charter says nothing there is kept current. Meanwhile CLAUDE.md
+("authoritative behavioral specification… This is the contract"), AGENTS.md ("Spec is the
+contract"), SOUL.md, arch 00 ("the spec wins"), and `.claude/skills/alignment/SKILL.md`
+rules #3/#17 all still assert the old regime. Two reviewers independently converged on this,
+and the verification wave reproduced the greps.
+
+This is the worst coherence defect because it corrupts the corrective machinery itself: the
+wrap-up protocol's whole design is clean-context subagents judging against the recorded
+contract — and the recorded contract is wrong. **Fix:** one paragraph in CLAUDE.md/AGENTS.md
+stating the regime (spec is descriptive, kept current with code; on conflict fix the spec),
+softened phrasing in `docs/spec/README.md` and arch 00, and an update to the alignment skill.
+
+### C3. The spec stopped absorbing new behavior at a verifiable cutover (2026-06-21 → 06-25)
+
+Adjudicated timeline, commit-dated: through `d76a7a5` (06-21) every feature landed with its
+spec section in the same commit (Theme Builder, FontAsset, data inspector, onboarding, URL
+datasets — all specified at full fidelity). From `c19857b` (06-25) onward the discipline
+inverted: 12 of 13 feature commits through 06-30 updated `docs/architecture/` in-commit and
+**zero** touched `docs/spec/`. Unspecified user-facing surfaces at HEAD:
+
+- the entire **/learn/** section (`grep -ril learn docs/spec/` → nothing);
+- the **composition wireframe** (drag reorder / pull-out / stack / Simplify — zero matches);
+- **editor transform actions and CodeLens scaffolds** (wrap/simplify/add-view, add-transform);
+- the **multi-view Data Inspector view picker** (`docs/spec/04-live-preview.md:84` references
+  "the chosen view's table" — the chooser it refers to is specified nowhere);
+- the current uncommitted params-scaffolding work continues the pattern (arch 08 only).
+
+Even under the spec-follows-code regime this is debt: the "then amend the spec to match"
+half of the bargain has not happened for ten days of features. Root cause is structural, not
+negligence: `/doc-update` flushes what a session remembers and `/alignment` reviews diffs —
+no instrument owns "the spec describes the product." Alignment rule #17 covers removed/moved
+surfaces only, not never-specified additions.
+
+## Significant findings
+
+### S1. No instrument owns the big picture on any cadence
+
+- **Eng-council sweep:** once, 2026-06-12 (`0e225d7`). Since then non-test source grew
+  ~**+76%** (16.8k → 29.7k ts/tsx LOC; ~21.3k → ~37k all-source). `docs/codebase-metrics.md`,
+  whose stated purpose is the trend, holds two same-day rows. Specific unswept accretion: the
+  six-module `spec-*` service family plus `editor-snippet`/`editor-cursor-lens` (~1,900 LOC,
+  mostly post-sweep) — which alignment rule #16 already notes "has grown by copy-paste twice."
+- **Batched council pass over `docs/ux-second-pass.md`:** once, 2026-06-13 (`92bfe88`,
+  76→25 lines — the design worked). The file has regrown 25→48; oldest open item is from
+  06-16.
+- **TODO gardening:** never. Lifecycle is bimodal — 56 added / 43 removed over history
+  (~71–77% resolution, usually within 0–3 days, at least 10 by dedicated commits), but every
+  TODO that survived its first week is still alive. Oldest two are from 06-12:
+  `src/app/modals/ModalCoordinator.ts:36` (a **latent init-ordering bug**, not polish) and
+  `ChartBuilderModal.tsx:524`. The open set is increasingly the hard/ambiguous residue no
+  session claims.
+
+**Fix direction (maintainer to ratify):** give each instrument a trigger — re-sweep when
+source LOC grows ~25% past the last metrics row; batch council pass when ux-second-pass open
+items exceed a count or age past two weeks; a spec-reconciliation clause in `/doc-update`
+("did this session add user-facing behavior? name the spec section or write it"); TODO
+gardening as a standing sweep agenda item.
+
+### S2. The scaffold insertion math is untested, duplicated, and validity-critical
+
+Verified: `runAddTransform` (`spec-transform-scaffold.ts:130-146`, committed `c5e4c4c`) and
+`runAddParam` (`spec-param-scaffold.ts:109-142`, WIP) compute insert offsets, indentation,
+and the trailing-comma decision; a bug here writes **invalid JSON into the user's editor**.
+No test exercises the composition — no `SpecEditor.test.tsx` exists, so there is no indirect
+path either. The create-property block is a verbatim 7-line duplicate between the two files;
+the completion providers share ~35 structurally identical lines. Hand-walking the current
+logic found **no live bug** — this is a coverage hole, not a defect — but a future inversion
+of the ternary or offset drift ships silently. The repo's own TODOs
+(`spec-param-scaffold.ts:33`, `spec-params.test.ts:6`) already point at the fix: extract a
+neutral core module (working name `spec-snippet`) computing
+`(text, host offset, existing-array?) → {insertOffset, snippetText}` and table-test it over
+empty-host / host-with-following-key / compact-one-line / host-as-last-property.
+
+Related: `spec-transform-actions.ts` (663 lines, largest service, no test file) carries pure
+unexported helpers with real branching — `reindent`, `defaultFacet`, `defaultRepeat` (:106,
+:123, :136) — one layer short of tested core, mitigated by `buildNext` being a thin
+dispatcher over tested core wrappers.
+
+### S3. Documentation drift cluster (6/6 claims verified)
+
+All in otherwise highly accurate docs; each is a fossil a maintainer would act on:
+
+1. **5 MB budget fossil.** `docs/spec/09-data-model.md` §E and `08-import-export.md` describe
+   a budget-with-fill-warnings storage monitor that spec 02/10, arch 02 §6, and the code all
+   contradict (the monitor is a composition breakdown; the only 5 MB logic is the import
+   pre-check in `transfer.ts:42`). Arch 02:445's "80% threshold" Do-line contradicts the same
+   doc's line 425 and matches nothing in code.
+2. **"Not installable" is false.** Arch 10:625 claims the manifest ships no icons; four icons
+   ship (`vite.config.ts:85-89`, files in `public/`), and manual-verification actively tests
+   install.
+3. **The ajv layer was never built.** Arch 08 presents it as planned-M2 and claims "we
+   deliberately do better: map ajv errors to editor positions" — no such module exists; ajv
+   isn't even in `package.json`. The current WIP on arch 08 does not touch this.
+4. **Wrong store name in three docs.** Arch 01/03/04 name `useSettingsPopoverStore` /
+   `openSettingsPopover`; the code is `usePopoverStore` / `openPopover`
+   (`PopoverStore.ts:22,30`, called from `EventRouter.ts:96`). Grep by the documented name
+   finds nothing.
+5. **Arch 03's "closed union" is stale.** Five modals listed; `modals/types.ts` has six
+   (`themeBuilder`). Same doc's add-a-modal checklist instructs `hasError`/`getError` on
+   `ModalConfig` — fields the real type doesn't have; following it fails typecheck.
+6. **Spec 09's UserSettings omits `ui.dataInspectorOpen`/`ui.dataInspectorHeight`**, which
+   spec 04 mandates and `settings-store.ts:158-183` persists (they're also absent from
+   `core/settings.ts`'s type — the code half of the same gap).
+
+### S4. Delivery gates never observe build output, and caching is misconfigured
+
+- All quality gates live in the (excellent) pre-commit hook — lint-staged + full typecheck +
+  the whole test suite — but nothing anywhere runs or inspects `vite build`. Cloudflare's
+  build fails safe on compile errors (previous deploy stays live) but silently; the escape
+  class is green-but-wrong output, which is exactly how C1 shipped. Cheapest durable fix: the
+  C1 post-build assertion in the `build` script; optionally a minimal CI workflow
+  (typecheck + lint + test + build + assertion) to cover `--no-verify` and web edits.
+- Hashed `/assets/*` are served `cache-control: max-age=14400, must-revalidate` (Cloudflare
+  Pages default; no `public/_headers` exists). Content-hashed files are the textbook
+  `max-age=31536000, immutable` case; today every returning visitor revalidates a 3.6 MB
+  chunk every 4 hours. HTML cache headers are correct.
+
+### S5. Module-size outliers in the chart builder
+
+`src/core/chart-builder.ts` (1,851 lines: catalog + rules + smart defaults + assembly/parse)
+and `ChartBuilderModal.tsx` (1,653 lines, ~25 private subcomponents; 2.1× the next-largest
+component). Internally cohesive, well-documented — maintainability risk, not defect. Split on
+next substantive touch (`chart-builder/{catalog,rules,defaults,assemble}.ts`; hoist the
+modal's sections into sibling files).
+
+### S6. Smaller verified items
+
+- `noUncheckedIndexedAccess` is off in a parser-heavy codebase (jsonc-parser node walking in
+  `spec-params.ts`, `spec-cursor.ts`, `spec-insert.ts`) that is exactly its target class.
+  Enable and sweep; if parser noise proves disproportionate, record the rejection.
+- `ajv` is imported by `spec-params.test.ts:1` but undeclared — a phantom transitive
+  dependency; add it to devDependencies (found during verification).
+- `npm audit`: monaco 0.54.0 bundles a vulnerable DOMPurify (moderate; fix is 0.55.1, flagged
+  breaking — plan deliberately); esbuild advisory is dev-only/Windows-only.
+- Landing/learn light-dark toggle duplicated since 06-25, TODO'd in both copies and reworded
+  06-28 instead of extracted — a breadcrumb treated as the deliverable.
+
+## Minor findings
+
+- Per-editor CodeLens providers register on the global `'json'` language
+  (`editor-cursor-lens.ts:83`) while closing over one editor's cursor — safe with today's
+  single editor (verified: one `monaco.editor.create`), latent cross-wiring if a second JSON
+  editor appears. One guard line: `if (model !== editor.getModel()) return`.
+- One avoidable non-null assertion in the WIP: `spec-transform-scaffold.ts:176`.
+- `navigator.platform` (deprecated) in `EventRouter.ts:38`.
+- Hooks are untested as a class; `useFocusTrap` (a11y-load-bearing, shared by all overlays)
+  is the one worth a cheap happy-dom test. `ModalCoordinator`'s open/close/replace sequencing
+  likewise (~5 tests).
+- No coverage reporting exists; for a philosophy that is explicitly proportional ("core
+  hardest"), nothing measures the proportion. `@vitest/coverage-v8` scoped to
+  `src/core` + `src/app/{stores,services}`, no thresholds, visibility only.
+- localStorage write failures are console-only (`settings-store.ts:80`, `ux-prefs.ts:80`) —
+  judged an acceptable, explicit low-stakes swallow; noted so the asymmetry with the
+  IndexedDB path stays a decision.
+- `/learn/` is reachable only from the landing; nothing in the app links it. Deliberate or
+  forgotten is unrecorded — which is itself the gap.
+- Doc/housekeeping nits: pre-commit hook is stronger than AGENTS.md documents (says eslint;
+  runs typecheck + tests too — drift in the good direction); PWA precache carries ~150–200 kB
+  of landing/learn assets the `/app/`-scoped SW can never serve; spec 00 still calls settings
+  a modal; spec 02 overstates the "imported" tag (only foreign/older shapes are tagged — spec
+  08 has it right); `docs/embedding-vega-lite.md` (447 lines) is orphaned — index it with a
+  charter line or move it; `core/settings.ts:64` and `HeaderControls.tsx:2` cite the old
+  pre-move path of the theming scope doc; IMPLEMENTATION-PLAN files a completed item under
+  "Next"; empty `ops/` directory; `vega-themes` pinned exact with no recorded rationale;
+  manual-verification.md lacks checks for the shipped theming/export surface (Theme Builder
+  gallery, font upload incl. variable fonts, PNG/SVG export, clipboard).
+
+## Strengths (verified, and worth keeping deliberate)
+
+1. **The architecture contract verifies by grep, both directions.** No browser APIs, React,
+   or Monaco in `src/core/`; storage APIs confined to `infrastructure/`; landing/learn import
+   no stores/orchestration/components.
+2. **TypeScript rigor at the top of the distribution.** Zero `any`, zero
+   `@ts-ignore`/`@ts-expect-error`, exactly one non-null assertion across ~30k lines;
+   type-aware ESLint (incl. `no-floating-promises`) passes clean; every intentionally
+   unawaited promise is an explicit `void` with a comment.
+3. **Error-handling discipline is real.** Every swallowed catch inspected carries a rationale
+   naming the sanctioned fallback; real failures route to notifications with actionable copy;
+   quota errors are normalized and surfaced.
+4. **Concurrency/resource engineering above typical app code.** `LivePreview`'s generation
+   token + render mutex (with reasoning written down), full Monaco disposable cleanup, the
+   finalize-before-unsubscribe edge handled in chart-renderer.
+5. **The test suite is engineered, not accumulated.** 1,366 tests / 8.5s, zero snowflake
+   harnesses across all 17 component test files, injected clocks and fake timers keyed to
+   exported constants, fresh `IDBFactory` per test (including interrupted-upgrade
+   self-healing), tests that assert contracts with the why inline
+   (`spec-refs.test.ts`, `chart-renderer.test.ts`).
+6. **Session-scale coherence is solved.** All 12 stores share one canonical shape and cite
+   their canonical sibling in doc comments; modals go through one registry/coordinator/shell;
+   subtraction happens (`PreviewStore` deleted when obsoleted). The "written by strangers"
+   failure mode is absent.
+7. **The breadcrumb→fix pipeline works.** At least 10 TODOs resolved by dedicated commits
+   (quota rollback, hash routing, splitter ARIA, field-name escaping…); the eng-council→law
+   loop is real (sweep findings became alignment rules #15–#17; skills keep evolving).
+8. **Docs are accurate at symbol level at scale** — of ~35 spot-checked claims (constants,
+   record shapes, hash grammar, keyboard maps, API surfaces), nearly all exact — and the
+   "shipped divergence" fencing discipline keeps pedagogical sketches from lying.
+9. **PWA configuration is best-practice**: `registerType: 'prompt'` properly consumed with a
+   durable update toast, SW scope narrowed to `/app/`, sophisticated font precache strategy
+   with reasoning in the config.
+
+## Recommended sequence
+
+1. **Record the regime** (C2): CLAUDE.md/AGENTS.md paragraph + alignment-skill update +
+   soften spec README/arch 00. Smallest fix, unblocks every future clean-context review.
+   _Done same day: CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, SOUL.md, spec README, and alignment rules #3/#17
+   now state the spec-follows-code regime; #17 extended to cover never-specified additions._
+2. **Fix the landing bundle and add the post-build assertion** (C1): the only
+   production-visible defect, and the assertion closes the gate gap (S4) for free. Add
+   `public/_headers` for immutable assets while in there.
+   _Done same day: `schemeColors` split into `core/scheme-colors.ts`; function-form
+   `manualChunks` with explicit homes for the preload helper and the shared light packages
+   (vega-themes, vega-expression, vega-util, json-stringify-pretty-compact — Rollup was
+   absorbing each into the nearest vendor chunk); `scripts/check-light-entries.mjs` gates
+   every build; `public/_headers` ships immutable caching. Landing eager JS measured
+   ~98 kB gzipped, down from ~1,300 kB; all three entries smoke-tested on the production
+   build (charts + Monaco render, zero console errors)._
+3. **Spec back-fill sprint** (C3): specify /learn/, the wireframe, editor actions/scaffolds,
+   and the view picker; add the spec-reconciliation clause to `/doc-update`.
+4. **Give the periodic instruments triggers** (S1) and run the overdue ones: an eng-council
+   re-sweep (which naturally absorbs S5's splits and the `spec-*` family consolidation), a
+   ux-second-pass batch pass, and TODO gardening — starting with `ModalCoordinator.ts:36`.
+5. **Extract and test the scaffold insertion core** (S2) before the params WIP is committed —
+   the TODOs already name the module.
+6. **Doc drift batch** (S3 + minors): one session, mostly deletions of fossils.
+
+---
+
+## Addendum: subtraction audit (same day)
+
+Follow-up requested by the maintainer: how much of the codebase is duplication, boilerplate,
+or unnecessary wrapping — with the explicit instruction that **deliberate architecture layers
+are not exempt**; "less LoC = less surface for bugs" outranks ceremony. Two auditors (a
+jscpd-quantified duplication pass and a wrapper/indirection pass with the contract layers on
+trial); the largest verbatim-copy claims were independently re-diffed before inclusion.
+
+### The numbers
+
+- **Production duplication is low: ~0.9%** by jscpd at min-tokens 50 (268 duplicated lines
+  over ~29.5k production TS/TSX; roughly double counting renamed semantic twins). Test-file
+  duplication is ~5.4% but is the documented harness convention — benign. CSS Modules are
+  the highest-duplication format at 5.4% and deserve one deliberate pass.
+- **Pure ceremony is ~1.5% of non-test LoC.** The plumbing layers (infrastructure +
+  orchestration + modals + hooks, ~2.8k lines, ~9% of src) are overwhelmingly load-bearing:
+  `db.ts`'s promise wrapping/self-healing/quota normalization, `url-hash.ts`'s total-parse
+  grammar, `remote-data.ts`'s size-cap and error classification, the modal coordinator's
+  snapshot/confirm/URL lifecycle all earn their lines on inspection. No generic machinery
+  with a single instantiation was found — `editor-cursor-lens` has three real consumers,
+  `wireEntityWriteThrough` four, and every modal-registry field varies across entries.
+- **Confidently deletable today, behavior identical: ~450–500 LoC**, plus ~100–150 more
+  behind design decisions.
+
+The diagnosis, verbatim from the audit because it generalizes: **the abstractions are
+right; the residue is photocopied instantiation files and hand-unrolled adapter pairs that
+the abstractions should have absorbed.** Nothing calls for architectural change — only
+tidying inside the architecture. Notably, one suspicion from the main review was stale: the
+orchestration wirers were already consolidated behind `wireEntityWriteThrough`; the leftover
+per-entity files are the residue that consolidation should have deleted.
+
+### The cut list (verified; ranked by value)
+
+Do right away — all mechanical, most protected by existing tests:
+
+1. **Per-preference persistence chain** (~90–110 LoC; the compounding win). Five
+   near-identical load/save pairs in `settings-store.ts:116-184`, four identical 10-line
+   init/wire pairs in `orchestration/preferences.ts`, same shape again in
+   `orchestration/settings.ts`/`snippet-sort.ts`, ten sequential calls in `main.tsx`.
+   Collapse: a `uiSlicePref(key, validate, fallback)` adapter factory + a
+   `wireStorePref(store, selector, save)` orchestration helper. Every future preference then
+   costs ~8 lines instead of ~30 across four files. `theme.ts` (FOUC ordering) and
+   `panes.ts` (debounce) stay bespoke — they carry real variation.
+2. **Entity-adapter photocopies** (~55–60 LoC). `snippet-store.ts` / `dataset-store.ts` /
+   `theme-store.ts` / `font-store.ts` are the identical 28-line load/save/delete triple
+   differing only in store name, migrate fn, and version constant (re-diffed: confirmed).
+   Collapse: `makeEntityAdapter<T>(storeName, version, migrate)` in `db.ts` + four 3-line
+   instantiations. Migration files stay — real per-entity logic.
+3. **Wirer residue files** (~55 LoC). `dataset-persistence.ts` / `theme-persistence.ts` /
+   `font-persistence.ts` are 25-line modules whose body is one 6-line
+   `wireEntityWriteThrough` call. Move the calls into `entity-persistence.ts` or
+   `startup.ts` (their only caller). `snippet-persistence.ts` stays — the debounced
+   autosave is real logic.
+4. **`editor.addAction` ceremony** (~55 LoC). Thirteen copies of the same 6-line
+   registration object across `spec-transform-actions.ts:524-585` and
+   `spec-config-actions.ts:210-235` → one table + `.map(addAction)`.
+5. **Scaffold-twin merge** (~40–50 LoC; overlaps main-review S2 and shares its fix). The
+   completion prologue, suggestion mapping, and create-property block are verbatim between
+   `spec-transform-scaffold.ts` and `spec-param-scaffold.ts`. Collapse into
+   `editor-snippet.ts` helpers; the pure indent math moves to the TODO'd core module, where
+   it also becomes testable.
+6. **Core jsonc-helper copies** (~25–30 LoC). `objectKeys` byte-identical between
+   `spec-params.ts:85-93` and `spec-data-transforms.ts:103-111` (re-diffed: confirmed);
+   `paramsArrayNode`/`transformArrayNode` identical modulo key string; two more shared
+   shapes. Extract/share — both sides have strong tests.
+7. **localStorage adapter shell** (~28 LoC). `readRaw`/`writeRaw`/`available` identical
+   between `settings-store.ts` and `ux-prefs.ts` modulo type name and log tag (re-diffed:
+   confirmed) → `jsonLocalRecord<T>(key, tag)` in the same layer.
+8. **Batch of micro-cuts** (~90 LoC): `UrlStateSync`'s argument-ignoring
+   `syncModalToUrl`/`clearModalFromUrl` wrappers (delete when fixing the
+   `ModalCoordinator.ts:36` ordering TODO they paper over); `DatasetStore`'s
+   thrice-repeated save epilogue; `readTextFile`/`readBinaryFile` 1:1 renames of `File`
+   methods; `initPersistentStorage` pass-through; `modals/types.ts` folded into the
+   registry; `SpecEditor`'s seven subscribe/dispose pairs → array; the landing's four-times
+   repeated `shot` block + TODO'd `UiTheme` redeclaration; `Icon.tsx`'s four-times copied
+   panel frame; one dead CSS rule (`ChartBuilderModal.module.css:213`).
+
+Needs design thought (~100–150 LoC more): the splitter triple (`ResizeHandle` /
+`PaneSplitHandle` / `InspectorSplitHandle` share a near-verbatim `role="separator"` block —
+worthwhile but untested a11y surface, do with manual keyboard verification); the theme-panel
+Color+Size+Weight row groups (60–100 LoC vs greppability of accessible names); the modal
+master-detail CSS block; the landing/learn theme-toggle hook (blocked on where a shared
+React hook may live under the entry-isolation rule — needs a maintainer call).
+
+Adjudicated and acquitted (challenged per the widened mandate, earn their lines): the modal
+registry/coordinator/shell trio (every registry field varies; flattest honest version saves
+only ~35 lines); the Zustand store shapes (a generic collection-slice helper would cost more
+in typing than the ~60 lines it saves and obscure real per-store invariants); core purity
+shims (minimal — the altitude problem runs the other way, app services holding pure logic);
+the non-photocopy infrastructure adapters (real normalization, migration, error mapping).
+
+### Wrap-up follow-ups (recorded from the params-feature review passes, same day)
+
+The params WIP was closed through the full wrap-up protocol (alignment + eng-council, both
+clean-context). Fixed in that pass: an `isUnitNode` bug (nested layer containers offered
+schema-invalid selection params), the S2 extraction (`core/spec-snippet.ts`, insertion math
+now table-tested applied-and-reparsed), spec §03 scaffolding coverage, the transforms
+catalog upgraded to real-schema validation, `ajv` declared. Deferred with recorded homes:
+
+- `src/core/lesson-parse.ts` exports five unused types (knip) — verify and unexport. Same
+  check for `LensFactory` in `editor-cursor-lens.ts:24` (exported, consumed only in-module).
+- `spec-transform-actions.ts` has an internal ~8-line clone (~:269-276 vs ~:346-353) —
+  fold into the existing 663-LOC consolidation item.
+- The Ajv compile boilerplate now lives in two test files; a third schema-validating
+  catalog test should extract a shared helper — and at that point promote the rule
+  "seeded editor catalogs validate against the bundled VL schema, not just JSON.parse"
+  to an `/alignment` check.
+- A small knip config (ignore `@fontsource/*`, `marked` false positives) would make
+  future dead-export sweeps one command.
diff --git a/docs/exploration/lessons-roadmap.md b/docs/exploration/lessons-roadmap.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..126b040
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/exploration/lessons-roadmap.md
@@ -0,0 +1,272 @@
+# Learn Section — Lesson Roadmap
+
+_Point-in-time planning memo, 2026-07-04. Detailed briefs for the next lessons, written to
+be authorable one at a time (draft → maintainer edit, like the why-astrolabe workflow).
+Format for every lesson: the existing progression machinery — hook, `:::data`, staged
+specs with diff highlighting, `:::sharp-edge`, a "take it further" closer that uses the
+per-stage "Open in Astrolabe" links._
+
+## Positioning
+
+The Vega-Lite docs are an example gallery plus a property reference — hundreds of
+_finished_ specs. Lessons that showcase charts compete with that and lose. What the docs
+don't have, and where middle+ users plateau, is the **invisible machinery and its failure
+modes**: where data actually flows, how selections resolve, why scales unify or don't.
+Every lesson below is organized around a _misconception_, not a chart type. The
+progression format (the path from almost-right to right) and the sharp edges (documented
+failure modes) are the moat; keep both in every lesson.
+
+## Tracks & ordering
+
+Two informal tracks once the roster grows past ~4 lessons (add a `level` field to lesson
+frontmatter; the index groups by it — "foundations" and "deeper", not course-like
+numbering):
+
+- **Foundations**: binning, labels-on-bars, long-vs-wide, data-flow.
+- **Deeper**: linked-views, highlight-vs-filter, faceting, resolution, time,
+  interactive-binning.
+
+Cross-link map (a lesson references another only once it exists): linked-views' "gap
+math" stage → long-vs-wide; long-vs-wide → data-flow; highlight-vs-filter ← linked-views'
+closer; interactive-binning ← binning's sharp edge; resolution ← faceting's scale caveats.
+
+The sharp-edge blocks are accumulating into a corpus nothing else on the Vega-Lite
+internet has; once there are ~8, an "edges" index page (auto-collected from lesson
+frontmatter or the parsed callouts) becomes a destination of its own.
+
+---
+
+## 1. `highlight-vs-filter` — the two answers to a selection
+
+**Thesis / misconception**: a selection can drive a view two fundamentally different ways
+— _highlight_ (conditional encoding: context preserved, scales still) or _filter_ (rows
+removed: everything recomputes, scales included). Most people know one and reach for it
+everywhere; the choice is the actual design decision.
+
+**Scenario**: six product lines' weekly revenue — a spaghetti chart where the reader
+cares about one line at a time.
+
+**Stages**:
+
+1. _spaghetti_ — six lines, one color scale; unreadable but honest baseline.
+2. _+ point selection on the legend_ — `params: [{select: {type: "point", fields:
+["product"], on: legend-binding}}]`; nothing reads it yet.
+3. _+ highlight_ — `opacity: {condition: {param, value: 1}, value: 0.2}`: the chosen line
+   pops, the rest stay as context. Note: the y-scale did not move.
+4. _+ the filter variant_ — same selection, second view (or swapped response) with
+   `transform: [{filter: {param}}]`: the y-axis re-fits the chosen line. Note the trade
+   explicitly: filtering _loses the comparison_ but gains resolution.
+5. _polished_ — both responses side by side over one selection; titles that name the
+   difference ("in context" / "re-scaled").
+
+**Sharp edges**: `empty` default makes condition + filter behave differently before any
+click (highlight: everything full-opacity; filter: everything shown) — set `empty:
+"none"` deliberately. Point selections toggle on re-click (shift-click accumulates);
+that's `toggle` and it surprises people.
+
+**Take it further**: change the condition channel from opacity to color/size; try
+`select: {type: "point", on: "pointerover"}` for hover-highlight.
+
+## 2. `long-vs-wide` — reshaping rows for the chart you want
+
+**Thesis / misconception**: "my data is in columns" is a data-_shape_ problem, not a
+chart problem. Vega-Lite wants long rows for encoding channels (`fold` gets you there);
+row-wise arithmetic wants columns (`pivot` gets you back). SQL framing for the
+analyst audience: fold ≈ UNPIVOT, pivot ≈ crosstab/GROUP BY columns.
+
+**Scenario**: a spreadsheet-shaped budget — one row per team, columns `jan feb mar` —
+then a two-step signup funnel where the metric is a _ratio between rows_.
+
+**Stages**:
+
+1. _the spreadsheet wall_ — wide data charted naively: one bar per team, months
+   inaccessible to color/facet. The failure is the hook.
+2. _+ fold_ — `fold: ["jan","feb","mar"]` → key/value rows; suddenly month is an
+   encoding channel like any other.
+3. _tidy names_ — fold's `as: ["month","spend"]`; real field names, temporal parse.
+4. _+ pivot for row math_ — the funnel: long rows (step, count) pivoted to columns so
+   `calculate: datum.purchase / datum.visit` can produce a conversion rate per cohort.
+5. _polished_ — both charts labelled; the note states the rule of thumb: _encode long,
+   compute wide_.
+
+**Sharp edges**: pivot drops rows with missing keys silently — the `isValid` patching
+dance (exactly what linked-views' gap stage does; link back). Fold keeps _other_ columns
+duplicated per folded row — aggregate afterwards or double-count.
+
+**Retro-link**: linked-views' "+ the gap math" note gains a pointer here once shipped.
+
+## 3. `data-flow` — where your data actually flows
+
+**Thesis / misconception**: transforms run in _array order_, and encoding-level
+`aggregate`/`bin` run _after_ the transform array — so "why is my filter not working"
+is usually "your filter runs at a different point in the pipeline than you think".
+
+**Scenario**: percent-of-total by category — the one chart that needs the pipeline
+understood, because it needs a total _alongside_ rows, not instead of them.
+
+**Stages**:
+
+1. _encoding aggregate_ — plain `sum` bar chart; fine, but a dead end for percent-of.
+2. _transform aggregate_ — the same chart via `transform: [{aggregate}]`; identical
+   pixels, different pipeline position — now downstream transforms can read the result.
+3. _+ joinaggregate_ — the star of the lesson: totals attached to every row (rows kept,
+   unlike `aggregate`), then `calculate` percent.
+4. _order matters_ — move a `filter` before vs after the joinaggregate; percentages of
+   the filtered subset vs of the whole. Same transforms, opposite meanings.
+5. _polished_ — percent-of-total bars with a `window` rank ordering.
+
+**Sharp edges**: `window` without `sort` is row-order-dependent (works in the example,
+breaks on real data); `frame: [null, 0]` means "start through current row" — the
+cumulative default everyone copies without reading.
+
+## 4. `labels-on-bars` — layering, taught by the most-searched task
+
+**Thesis**: putting values on bars is the internet's most-asked Vega-Lite question, and
+the answer is layer mechanics: a `text` mark sharing the bar's encodings, plus the
+handful of properties that make labels sit right.
+
+**Scenario**: a ranked horizontal bar chart (top categories by value) — the chart people
+actually want labels on.
+
+**Stages**:
+
+1. _bars, sorted_ — includes the `sort: "-x"` idiom in passing.
+2. _+ a text layer_ — same data, `mark: "text"`, x/y duplicated; labels land ON the bar
+   ends, ugly but working. Note how shared encodings could be hoisted to the layer root.
+3. _+ placement_ — `align`, `dx`, `baseline`: labels just past the bar end.
+4. _+ formatted_ — `format`/`formatType`, and a `calculate` for compact units (e.g.
+   "1.2k").
+5. _polished_ — de-emphasized axis (the labels now carry the values; drop the x-axis
+   grid/ticks — say why: double-encoding).
+
+**Sharp edges**: labels don't avoid each other or the bar end — there is no collision
+avoidance in Vega-Lite; for inside-vs-outside placement use a `condition` on bar length.
+Dual-axis via `resolve: {scale: {y: "independent"}}` looks adjacent but is a trap —
+mention, defer detail to `resolution`.
+
+## 5. `time` — the sharpest axis
+
+**Thesis / misconception**: temporal data has two independent honesty problems — _when
+is a date_ (timezone parsing: the off-by-one-day bug) and _what is a time bucket_
+(`timeUnit` vs binning vs exact timestamps).
+
+**Scenario**: daily signups spanning a year, authored as date-only strings — the exact
+shape that triggers the UTC/local trap.
+
+**Stages**:
+
+1. _the off-by-one_ — date-only strings (`"2026-03-01"`) charted naively; for viewers
+   west of Greenwich every point sits on the previous day. Explain: JS parses date-only
+   strings as UTC midnight, then Vega-Lite renders in _local_ time.
+2. _+ honest parsing_ — the fixes shown together: `utcyearmonthdate` timeUnits (stay in
+   UTC end-to-end) vs. explicit local parsing; pick one side and stay on it.
+3. _+ timeUnit bucketing_ — `yearmonth` collapses days to months _in the chart_, no
+   transform needed; contrast with `timeUnit` as a transform when the bucket must feed
+   later steps.
+4. _+ axis formatting_ — `axis.format` vs `axis.formatType`, and why tick labels lie
+   when format and timeUnit disagree.
+5. _polished_ — a monthly chart that renders identically in Kyiv and California.
+
+**Sharp edges**: the date-only/datetime parsing asymmetry (date-only → UTC, with-time →
+local) is the single most-reported "bug" that isn't one; `timeUnit` without `utc` prefix
+re-buckets per-viewer-timezone — dashboards that disagree between offices.
+
+## 6. `resolution` — one legend or two
+
+**Thesis / misconception**: who shares scales by default differs by composition kind —
+**layer: shared; facet: shared; concat/repeat: independent** — and `resolve` is the knob.
+Most "my colors don't match between panels" bugs are this table, unknown.
+
+**Scenario**: the same two-metric dashboard composed three ways (layer, concat, facet),
+watching the color scale and legends merge or split.
+
+**Stages**:
+
+1. _concat, two legends_ — the bug as the baseline: same field, two views, two legends,
+   possibly two color assignments.
+2. _+ resolve shared_ — `resolve: {scale: {color: "shared"}}`: one legend, one truth.
+3. _manual pinning_ — `scale: {domain: [...], range: [...]}` per view as the other
+   route (what linked-views does — call it out); when explicit domains beat resolve.
+4. _layer's inverse problem_ — layered dual-metric where _sharing_ is the bug;
+   `resolve: {scale: {y: "independent"}}`, and the honest warning about dual axes.
+5. _polished_ — the corrected dashboard with a note naming the default-by-kind table.
+
+**Sharp edges**: axis resolution is separate from scale resolution (shared scale can
+still draw two axes); legends for `condition`-driven encodings don't exist (conditions
+have no legend — a recurring surprise after the highlight lesson).
+
+## 7. `interactive-binning` — the promised binning sequel
+
+**Thesis**: which knobs of a spec are _live_ (parameterizable) and which are
+compile-time. Binning is the teaching case: `step`/`maxbins` are frozen; `extent` is
+live.
+
+**Scenario**: the delivery-times histogram from the binning lesson, upgraded to an
+overview-detail pair.
+
+**Stages**:
+
+1. _the slider that does nothing_ — **show the failure live**: a `param` bound to a
+   slider, referenced where `step` wants a number; compiles, renders, slider moves,
+   bars don't. The strongest inoculation the format can deliver.
+2. _the working knob_ — overview histogram with an interval brush.
+3. _+ extent_ — detail histogram whose `bin: {extent: {param: "brush"}, maxbins: 20}`
+   re-bins inside the brushed range: coarse overview, fine detail.
+4. _polished_ — labeled pair, brush styling, tooltips.
+
+**Sharp edges**: recap step/maxbins immutability (now demonstrated, not asserted);
+`extent` re-bins but does not _filter_ — pair it with a `filter: {param}` or the detail
+view still draws out-of-range rows at the edges.
+
+**Retro-link**: binning's sharp edge gains "see the sequel" once this ships.
+
+## 8. `faceting` — the goldmine: small multiples and their caveats
+
+**Thesis / misconception**: there are _three_ ways to repeat a chart — the `facet`
+channel/operator (split by a field's values), `repeat` (split by _different fields_),
+and hand-built `concat` — and most frustration comes from using one where another is
+meant, then fighting its constraints.
+
+**Scenario**: sales by region — first split by region (facet), then the same chart
+repeated across _metrics_ (revenue, units, margin — repeat), showing why facet can't do
+the latter.
+
+**Stages**:
+
+1. _the encoding facet_ — `encoding.facet` / `row` / `column`: one extra line, small
+   multiples with shared scales ("honest comparison for free" — link the landing's
+   showcase claim).
+2. _wrapped + sorted_ — `columns: 3`, and sorting facets by a data value (`sort` on the
+   facet field def) — the "my panels are alphabetical but I want by total" fix.
+3. _the operator form_ — `facet: {...}, spec: {...}`: same output, but now the child can
+   be a _layered_ spec — the form you need the moment panels contain more than one mark.
+4. _repeat, not facet_ — the metrics case: `repeat: {column: [fields]}` +
+   `{repeat: "column"}` field references; facet cannot do this (it splits by values, not
+   by fields).
+5. _polished_ — headers styled (`header` vs axis titles), spacing, independent y where
+   metrics differ in unit (`resolve` callback to lesson 6).
+
+**Sharp edges** (the caveat goldmine — candidates, pick 2–3 for the block and push the
+rest into stage notes):
+
+- Facet children can't take `width/height: "container"` — faceted charts size by
+  per-panel `width`/`height` and ignore fit-to-container (the app's own fit modes fall
+  back to `pad`; arch 05 records the engine-side truth).
+- A facet spec can't be layered _over_ (facet must be outermost; layer inside the child,
+  never outside).
+- Selections in facets resolve per-panel by default — a brush in one panel doesn't
+  select in the others until `resolve: "union"`/`"global"` on the param.
+- `header` vs `axis`: facet labels live on headers; styling them via axis config
+  silently does nothing.
+
+---
+
+## Authoring workflow
+
+One lesson per session-slice: I draft the full markdown (scenario data included, specs
+verified rendering via the dev server before review), the maintainer edits voice and
+pedagogy, then it ships with its retro-links applied to earlier lessons. Order proposed:
+**highlight-vs-filter → long-vs-wide → faceting → time → labels → data-flow → resolution
+→ interactive-binning** (interest-first: interactivity and faceting are the section's
+strongest differentiation; data-flow and resolution are load-bearing but drier, better
+once the section has gravity).
diff --git a/knip.json b/knip.json
index a3edba9..cc4cd08 100644
--- a/knip.json
+++ b/knip.json
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 {
   "$schema": "https://unpkg.com/knip@5/schema.json",
+  "entry": ["src/main.tsx", "src/landing/main.tsx", "src/learn/main.tsx", "scripts/*.ts"],
   "ignoreDependencies": ["@fontsource/.*", "@fontsource-variable/.*", "marked"]
 }
diff --git a/src/app/services/editor-cursor-lens.ts b/src/app/services/editor-cursor-lens.ts
index e52ec55..5a16dee 100644
--- a/src/app/services/editor-cursor-lens.ts
+++ b/src/app/services/editor-cursor-lens.ts
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ import * as monaco from 'monaco-editor/esm/vs/editor/edcore.main';
 import { useSnippetStore } from '../stores/SnippetStore';
 
 /** Builds a zero-width CodeLens at the start of `line` invoking command `id` with `args`. */
-export type LensFactory = (
+type LensFactory = (
   line: number,
   title: string,
   id: string | null,