mim/tools/TERMINAL_E2E.md

Terminal E2E artifacts

zig build terminal-e2e runs tools/terminal_e2e.py against the compiled mim binary and writes ignored artifacts under .zig-cache/terminal-e2e/<scenario>/.

Artifact roles:

• manifest.tsv: stable scenario facts, hashes, bare-LF status, and artifact list.
• visible-controls.normalized.txt: primary semantic failure artifact. It shows CR as ␍, LF as ␊, ESC as ␛, tabs as ⇥, and normalizes volatile temp paths.
• transcript.txt: semantic terminal grid after escape/control interpretation.
• screenshot.svg and terminal.html: browser-viewable visual evidence.
• raw.bin: exact PTY bytes for low-level debugging.

Golden policy:

• Investigate before updating any expected artifact or assertion.
• Prefer semantic artifacts (manifest.tsv, visible-controls.normalized.txt, transcript.txt) for assertions; visual artifacts explain what a user would see.
• Updating artifacts is safe only after the change is intentional and the receipt names the changed UI/control-byte behavior.
• Bare LF in raw-mode terminal output is a regression unless a scenario explicitly proves a non-raw stream. Raw-mode rendering should use CRLF to avoid diagonal terminal skew.
• Generated artifacts must remain under ignored build output and must not dirty a clean source tree.