Grow-only dialogs, full raw labels, node rhythm in 15-min slices

Carried over from the last punch-list pass: the packet viewer opts into
a grow-only floating dialog (the box ratchets to its tallest body and
blank-pads shorter ones, so paging never re-centres it); raw payload
field names are shown whole by widening the label lane instead of
clipping at eight chars; the Time Machine node rhythm matches the mesh
page — 96 fifteen-minute slices sharing the Volume gutter — and its
time axis shortens marks to bare dates on multi-day windows; Courier
and Watchtower gain a visible Back exit beside Esc.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>

meshterm/ui/courier_screen.py

@@ -146,6 +146,7 @@ def _menu_items(ctx: "AppContext", entries: list[QueuedMessage]) -> list:
         items.append(Separator("  empty — queued messages wait here for their moment"))
     for message in waiting:
         items.append(Choice(_waiting_row(ctx, message), ("msg", message.ident)))
+    items.append(Separator(""))  # space the action off the outbox rows above it
     items.append(Choice("✉ Queue a message…", _QUEUE))
 
     if done:
@@ -154,6 +155,9 @@ def _menu_items(ctx: "AppContext", entries: list[QueuedMessage]) -> list:
         for message in done[:15]:
             items.append(Choice(_done_row(message), ("msg", message.ident)))
         items.append(Choice("🗑 Clear finished", _CLEAR))
+
+    items.append(Separator(""))
+    items.append(Choice("← Back", None))  # a visible exit beside Esc
     return items
 
 

meshterm/ui/packet_viewer.py

@@ -93,14 +93,6 @@ KIND_ICONS = {
 }
 DEFAULT_ICON = "❔"
 
-#: The floating dialog is sized to its content, which otherwise shrinks and grows as you
-#: page between a five-line advert and a telemetry frame's twenty — a jarring resize on
-#: every keystroke. Padding a short packet's body up to this floor holds the box at a
-#: steady minimum height so navigation stays put; a genuinely tall packet still grows past
-#: it. Sized for the common overheard-packet layout (heard/from/reception/class/route/via)
-#: so paging a burst of similar frames never resizes at all.
-_MIN_BODY_ROWS = 10
-
 
 @dataclass(slots=True)
 class PacketEntry:
@@ -223,8 +215,16 @@ class PacketViewer(Screen):
     packets — the same keys the opening list itself uses — Home/End jump to the
     ends, PgUp/PgDn scroll a tall body, Esc closes. Opened over a single packet (a
     one-entry list) the paging keys simply do nothing.
+
+    The dialog only ever grows (see
+    :attr:`~meshterm.ui.tui.screen.Screen.grow_only`): paging from a short packet to a
+    tall one enlarges the box, but paging back keeps it at that size — blank-padded
+    below the shorter body — rather than re-centering smaller, so the header the reader
+    is looking at never hops around as they page.
     """
 
+    grow_only = True
+
     def __init__(
         self,
         entries: list[PacketEntry],
@@ -360,23 +360,25 @@ class PacketViewer(Screen):
         # same packet, so the title's ``n/total`` and the reachable range stay current.
         self._sync()
         entry = self._entries[self._index]
+        rows = self._rows(entry)
+        # The label lane is one fixed width for the whole grid so wrapped values align with
+        # their own block (the app-wide hanging-indent rule), never with column zero. Size it
+        # to the widest label actually present — a raw payload field's full name included, so
+        # none is clipped — plus a one-cell gutter, but never so wide it leaves the value
+        # column under 20 cells (a pathological key then ellipsises instead of crushing it).
+        widest = max((len(label) for label, _ in rows), default=0)
+        label_w = max(10, min(widest + 1, width - 20))
         grid = Table(
             box=None, show_header=False, show_edge=False, pad_edge=False,
             padding=(0, 0), expand=False,
         )
-        # The label lane is fixed so wrapped values align with their own block
-        # (the app-wide hanging-indent rule), never with column zero.
-        grid.add_column(width=10, no_wrap=True)
-        grid.add_column(overflow="fold", max_width=max(20, width - 10))
+        grid.add_column(width=label_w, no_wrap=True)
+        grid.add_column(overflow="fold", max_width=max(20, width - label_w))
 
-        for label, value in self._rows(entry):
+        for label, value in rows:
             grid.add_row(Text(label, style="muted"), value)
         lines = render_lines(grid, width)
         self._scroll_total = max(1, len(lines))
-        # Hold the dialog at a steady minimum height so paging between a short packet and
-        # a tall one doesn't resize the box out from under the reader (see _MIN_BODY_ROWS).
-        if len(lines) < _MIN_BODY_ROWS:
-            lines += [""] * (_MIN_BODY_ROWS - len(lines))
         return lines
 
     def _rows(self, entry: PacketEntry) -> list[tuple[str, RenderableType]]:
@@ -520,5 +522,8 @@ class PacketViewer(Screen):
             body = str(value)
             if len(body) > 200:
                 body = body[:199] + "…"
-            rows.append((f"  {key[:8]}", Text(body, style="muted")))
+            # The label lane widens to fit the full key (see :meth:`render_body`), so the
+            # field name is shown whole rather than clipped; the two-space indent nests it
+            # visually under the "payload" heading above.
+            rows.append((f"  {key}", Text(body, style="muted")))
         return rows

meshterm/ui/timemachine_screen.py

@@ -96,19 +96,24 @@ def _snr_cell_style(values: list[float]) -> str:
 
 
 def _time_axis(start: datetime, end: datetime) -> Callable[[float], str]:
-    """An axis labeller over a real time span: timestamps left of the closing ``now``."""
+    """A compact axis labeller over a real time span, closing on ``now``.
+
+    A window wider than a couple of days reads its marks as bare dates (``Jul 4``); a
+    tighter one, where the calendar day barely changes, reads them as times (``18:30``)
+    — the same "shorten what you can" the day charts' dates use, so the volume and SNR
+    axes stay legible instead of repeating a full ``Jul 04 18:30`` stamp at every tick.
+    """
+    wide = (end - start).total_seconds() > 2 * 86400
+
     def label_at(frac: float) -> str:
         if frac >= 1.0:
             return "now"
-        return _when_label(start + (end - start) * frac)
+        when = (start + (end - start) * frac).astimezone()
+        return f"{when:%b} {when.day}" if wide else f"{when:%H:%M}"
+
     return label_at
 
 
-def _hour_axis(frac: float) -> str:
-    """The node rhythm's labeller: the local hour of day at ``frac`` of the 24-slot sweep."""
-    return f"{round(frac * 23)} h"
-
-
 def _quarter_axis(frac: float) -> str:
     """The mesh rhythm's labeller: the local hour at ``frac`` of a full-day quarter-hour sweep.
 
@@ -221,10 +226,16 @@ def _node_sections(
         (o.observed_at, float(o.snr)) for o in observations if o.snr is not None
     ]
 
-    # Volume and SNR share one y-axis gutter width (like the mesh page's day pair) so
-    # their axes line up; a provisional width finds the peaks that size the gutter, then
-    # the real width re-buckets the bars flush with it. The rhythm below is its own
-    # narrow chart, so it keeps its own gutter.
+    # Volume, SNR, and the rhythm share one y-axis gutter width (like the mesh page's
+    # charts) so their left edges line up. A provisional width finds the peaks that size
+    # the gutter, then the real width re-buckets Volume/SNR flush with it. The rhythm folds
+    # every reception into 96 fifteen-minute local-time slices — a slice's tally can top a
+    # single volume bucket's — so its peak joins the sizing too.
+    slots = [0] * 96
+    for stamp in stamps:
+        local = stamp.astimezone()
+        slots[local.hour * 4 + local.minute // 15] += 1
+
     def _layout(label_w: int) -> tuple[int, int]:
         chars = max(20, width - 2 * (label_w + 2))
         return chars, chars * 2
@@ -232,7 +243,9 @@ def _node_sections(
     chars, buckets = _layout(1)
     volume = bucketize(stamps, start, now, buckets)
     lo, hi = chart_span(bucket_medians(snr_pairs, start, now, buckets)) if snr_pairs else (0.0, 0.0)
-    label_w = max(1, len(str(max(volume))), len(str(round(hi))), len(str(round(lo))))
+    label_w = max(
+        1, len(str(max(volume))), len(str(round(hi))), len(str(round(lo))), len(str(max(slots)))
+    )
     chars, buckets = _layout(label_w)
     volume = bucketize(stamps, start, now, buckets)
 
@@ -257,12 +270,14 @@ def _node_sections(
             )
         )
 
-    hours = [0] * 24
-    for stamp in stamps:
-        hours[stamp.astimezone().hour] += 1
     out.append(Text())
-    out.append(_heading("Rhythm", "receptions by local hour of day"))
-    out.extend(axis_chart(timeline_rows(hours, rows=_CHART_ROWS), max(hours), 12, _hour_axis))
+    out.append(_heading("Rhythm", "receptions by local time of day · 15-min slices"))
+    out.extend(
+        axis_chart(
+            timeline_rows(slots, rows=_CHART_ROWS), max(slots), 48,
+            _quarter_axis, label_w=label_w,
+        )
+    )
 
     out.append(Text())
     out.append(_heading("Record", "this window"))

meshterm/ui/tui/frame.py

@@ -272,6 +272,26 @@ def compose_startup(screen: Screen, cols: int, rows: int) -> str:
     return "\n".join(lines)
 
 
+def _dialog_layout(screen: Screen, cols: int, rows: int) -> tuple[int, int, int, list[str]]:
+    """Size a floating dialog: ``(outer_width, vpad, viewport, body_lines)``."""
+    # Most dialogs stretch to a generous cap; a screen may instead request a natural width
+    # (a short confirm sized to its content), still bounded to the terminal.
+    cap = min(cols - 6, 100)
+    natural = getattr(screen, "dialog_width", None)
+    max_w = cap if natural is None else max(24, min(cap, natural))
+    # Rows the box may spend between its borders — on body lines and breathing room alike.
+    budget = max(3, rows - 6)
+    body_lines = screen.render_body(max_w - 4)
+    # A grow-only screen (the packet viewer paging between packets) sizes to the tallest
+    # body it has shown, not this one, so a shorter body keeps the larger box instead of
+    # re-centring smaller — the frame blank-pads the slack. The breathing room is taken
+    # from that ratcheted height, so the box stays put as the body shrinks below it.
+    body_h = screen.ratchet_viewport(max(1, len(body_lines)))
+    vpad = _breathing_room(body_h, budget)
+    viewport = min(budget - 2 * vpad, body_h)
+    return max_w, vpad, viewport, body_lines
+
+
 def compose_dialog(screen: Screen, cols: int, rows: int) -> str:
     """Compose a centered dialog panel for a floating screen, bounded to the terminal.
 
@@ -283,16 +303,7 @@ def compose_dialog(screen: Screen, cols: int, rows: int) -> str:
     Returns:
         An ANSI string sized to the dialog's content (never larger than the terminal).
     """
-    # Most dialogs stretch to a generous cap; a screen may instead request a natural width
-    # (a short confirm sized to its content), still bounded to the terminal.
-    cap = min(cols - 6, 100)
-    natural = getattr(screen, "dialog_width", None)
-    max_w = cap if natural is None else max(24, min(cap, natural))
-    # Rows the box may spend between its borders — on body lines and breathing room alike.
-    budget = max(3, rows - 6)
-    body_lines = screen.render_body(max_w - 4)
-    vpad = _breathing_room(len(body_lines), budget)
-    viewport = min(budget - 2 * vpad, max(1, len(body_lines)))
+    max_w, vpad, viewport, body_lines = _dialog_layout(screen, cols, rows)
     visible, more_above, more_below = _visible_slice(screen, body_lines, viewport)
     body = Text.from_ansi("\n".join(visible))
     border = getattr(screen, "border_style", "accent")

meshterm/ui/tui/screen.py

@@ -36,6 +36,11 @@ class Screen:
         future: Resolved with the screen's result (or :data:`CANCEL`) when it commits.
         floating: Whether the session should draw this screen as a centered dialog over
             the dimmed screen beneath it (deeper layers float; the base does not).
+        grow_only: Whether a floating dialog may only ever grow. Its box is sized to the
+            tallest body it has shown, not the current one, so a screen whose body height
+            swings as its content changes (the packet viewer paging between packets) keeps
+            a steady, centred box — blank-padded when the current body is shorter — instead
+            of resizing on every page.
         chrome: Whether, as the base screen, this layer is wrapped in the session's
             persistent header/footer frame. A startup splash sets this ``False`` so the
             session instead centers it under the :attr:`banner` with no status bars.
@@ -48,6 +53,7 @@ class Screen:
     title: str = ""
     footer_hint: str = "Esc back"
     floating: bool = True
+    grow_only: bool = False
     chrome: bool = True
     banner: Optional[Sequence[str]] = None
     footnote: Optional[str] = None
@@ -65,6 +71,11 @@ class Screen:
         # clamp to the content without every caller threading the sizes through.
         self._scroll_total = 1
         self._scroll_viewport = 1
+        # A grow-only screen's high-water body height: the tallest body it has rendered
+        # into a dialog, so its box can be held at that size once reached (see
+        # :meth:`ratchet_viewport`). Zero until the first paint; irrelevant while not
+        # :attr:`grow_only`.
+        self._viewport_floor = 0
 
     # --- rendering -----------------------------------------------------------
 
@@ -79,6 +90,19 @@ class Screen:
         """
         raise NotImplementedError
 
+    def ratchet_viewport(self, body_h: int) -> int:
+        """The body height a :attr:`grow_only` dialog is sized to: its running maximum.
+
+        The frame calls this each paint with the current body's height. A grow-only
+        screen returns the tallest height it has yet shown — so its box never shrinks,
+        and the frame blank-pads a now-shorter body to fill it — while an ordinary
+        screen returns the height unchanged and is sized to each body as it comes.
+        """
+        if not self.grow_only:
+            return body_h
+        self._viewport_floor = max(self._viewport_floor, body_h)
+        return self._viewport_floor
+
     def cursor_line(self) -> Optional[int]:
         """Return a body line that must stay visible, or ``None`` for free scrolling.
 

meshterm/ui/tui/session.py

@@ -677,9 +677,7 @@ class TuiSession:
             content=base_window,
             floats=[
                 Float(
-                    ConditionalContainer(
-                        float_window, filter=Condition(self._has_float)
-                    )
+                    ConditionalContainer(float_window, filter=Condition(self._has_float))
                 ),
                 Float(
                     ConditionalContainer(

meshterm/ui/watchtower_screen.py

@@ -152,6 +152,9 @@ def _menu_items(
             _TOGGLE_NEW,
         )
     )
+
+    items.append(Separator(""))
+    items.append(Choice("← Back", None))  # a visible exit beside Esc
     return items
 
 

tests/test_packet_viewer.py

@@ -98,13 +98,17 @@ def test_packet_viewer_without_a_source_stays_a_snapshot() -> None:
     assert viewer.footer_hint == "Esc close"
 
 
-def test_packet_viewer_holds_a_minimum_height() -> None:
-    """A short packet's body is padded to a floor, so paging never shrinks the dialog."""
-    from meshterm.ui.packet_viewer import _MIN_BODY_ROWS
-
-    tiny = PacketEntry(when=utcnow(), kind="ack", where="01c3")  # a two-row packet
+def test_packet_viewer_grows_its_dialog_only() -> None:
+    """The viewer opts into a grow-only dialog so paging enlarges but never shrinks it."""
+    tiny = PacketEntry(when=utcnow(), kind="ack", where="01c3")
     viewer = PacketViewer([tiny], 0, resolve=lambda h: "")
-    assert len(viewer.render_body(80)) >= _MIN_BODY_ROWS
+    assert viewer.grow_only is True
+    # The body is left at its natural (unpadded) height; the frame, not a floor, pads it.
+    assert len(viewer.render_body(80)) < 10
+    # ratchet_viewport is the grow-only contract: it rises to a taller body and never drops.
+    assert viewer.ratchet_viewport(6) == 6
+    assert viewer.ratchet_viewport(14) == 14  # a taller packet enlarges the box
+    assert viewer.ratchet_viewport(4) == 14   # a shorter one after keeps the larger box
 
 
 def test_packet_viewer_raw_dump_skips_fields_folded_into_flavoured_rows() -> None:
@@ -116,4 +120,14 @@ def test_packet_viewer_raw_dump_skips_fields_folded_into_flavoured_rows() -> Non
     body = _plain(_viewer(entry).render_body(80))
     assert "path_len" not in body
     assert "header" not in body
-    assert "novel_fi" in body  # an unrecognized field still surfaces (label truncates to 8)
+    assert "novel_field" in body  # an unrecognized field surfaces with its full name
+
+
+def test_packet_viewer_shows_full_raw_field_labels() -> None:
+    """A long raw-field name is shown whole — the label lane widens rather than clipping it."""
+    entry = _grp_txt_entry({
+        "chan_hash": "ab", "cipher_mac": "0000", "crypted": "00" * 16,
+        "battery_millivolts": 4102,
+    })
+    body = _plain(_viewer(entry).render_body(80))
+    assert "battery_millivolts" in body  # the 18-char key is not clipped to 8

tests/test_timemachine.py

@@ -295,12 +295,43 @@ def test_node_page_renders_all_sections(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
     body = _plain(_node_sections(ctx, NODE, "YUL", None, 90))
     assert "Volume" in body and "24 receptions" in body
     assert "SNR" in body and "-2.0" in body and "+8.0" in body
-    assert "Rhythm" in body and "local hour" in body
+    assert "Rhythm" in body and "15-min" in body  # 15-minute slices, like the mesh page
     assert "Record" in body and "median" in body
     assert "advert 24" in body  # kinds breakdown, packet rows absent
     repo.close()
 
 
+def test_node_page_rhythm_is_fifteen_minute_and_shares_the_volume_gutter(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
+    """The node rhythm matches the mesh's: a full-day 15-min sweep, gutter-aligned to Volume."""
+    repo = _seeded_repo(tmp_path)
+    ctx = SimpleNamespace(repo=repo)
+    lines = _plain(_node_sections(ctx, NODE, "YUL", None, 90), width=90).split("\n")
+
+    def border_col(heading: str) -> int:
+        start = next(i for i, line in enumerate(lines) if heading in line)
+        border = next(line for line in lines[start:] if "└" in line)
+        return border.index("└")
+
+    assert border_col("Volume") == border_col("Rhythm")  # shared gutter → aligned left edge
+    rhythm = next(i for i, line in enumerate(lines) if "Rhythm" in line)
+    caption = next(lines[i + 1] for i in range(rhythm, len(lines)) if "└" in lines[i])
+    assert "24 h" in caption  # the full-day sweep closes on 24 h, like the mesh rhythm
+
+
+def test_time_axis_shortens_to_dates_on_wide_windows_and_times_on_narrow() -> None:
+    """A multi-day window labels marks as bare dates; a same-day one, as times."""
+    from datetime import datetime, timedelta, timezone
+
+    from meshterm.ui.timemachine_screen import _time_axis
+
+    start = datetime(2026, 7, 1, 8, 0, tzinfo=timezone.utc)
+    wide = _time_axis(start, start + timedelta(days=10))
+    narrow = _time_axis(start, start + timedelta(hours=12))
+    assert wide(1.0) == "now" and narrow(1.0) == "now"
+    assert any(ch.isalpha() for ch in wide(0.0))  # a month name, e.g. "Jul 1"
+    assert ":" in narrow(0.0)                      # a clock time, e.g. "08:00"
+
+
 def test_node_page_empty_window_offers_widening(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
     """A window with nothing recorded says so instead of drawing empty charts."""
     repo = _seeded_repo(tmp_path)

tests/test_tui.py

@@ -417,6 +417,45 @@ def test_compose_dialog_is_bounded() -> None:
     assert out.count("\n") + 1 <= 20
 
 
+def _box_height(screen: Screen) -> int:
+    """The row height of the dialog box ``compose_dialog`` draws for ``screen``."""
+    return frame.compose_dialog(screen, 80, 40).count("\n") + 1
+
+
+def test_ordinary_dialog_box_resizes_to_each_body() -> None:
+    """A plain (non grow-only) dialog sizes to whatever body it is currently showing."""
+    short = _box_height(ScrollScreen(Text("one line"), title="d"))
+    tall = _box_height(ScrollScreen(Text("\n".join(f"row {i}" for i in range(15))), title="d"))
+    assert tall > short
+
+
+class _GrowScreen(Screen):
+    """A grow-only dialog whose body height is set per paint, for the ratchet test."""
+
+    grow_only = True
+
+    def __init__(self) -> None:
+        super().__init__()
+        self.title = "d"
+        self.footer_hint = ""
+        self.n = 1
+
+    def render_body(self, width: int) -> list[str]:
+        return [f"row {i}" for i in range(self.n)]
+
+
+def test_grow_only_dialog_box_holds_its_tallest_size() -> None:
+    """A grow-only dialog grows its box for a taller body and never shrinks for a shorter one."""
+    screen = _GrowScreen()
+    screen.n = 2
+    small = _box_height(screen)
+    screen.n = 16
+    grown = _box_height(screen)
+    assert grown > small       # a taller body enlarges the box
+    screen.n = 2
+    assert _box_height(screen) == grown  # a shorter body after keeps the larger box
+
+
 def test_compose_startup_is_chromeless_and_shows_banner() -> None:
     """The startup splash fills the height, draws the banner, and omits header/footer bars."""
     screen = SelectScreen("pick", [Choice("alpha", 1), Choice("beta", 2)])