# Planning Guide

A secure container management dashboard that displays active containers and enables administrators to launch interactive shell sessions with credential-based authentication.

**Experience Qualities**:
1. **Authoritative** - Professional security-focused interface that conveys control and system oversight
2. **Efficient** - Streamlined workflows with minimal clicks from viewing containers to accessing shells
3. **Technical** - Terminal-inspired aesthetics that resonate with developer and operations audiences

**Complexity Level**: Light Application (multiple features with basic state)
This is a focused management tool with authentication, container listing, and shell interaction—multiple coordinated features but not extensive state management beyond session auth.

## Essential Features

### Authentication Gate
- **Functionality**: Username and password validation against configured credentials
- **Purpose**: Protect container access from unauthorized users
- **Trigger**: User loads the application without valid session
- **Progression**: Login form display → Credential input → Validation → Dashboard access or error feedback
- **Success criteria**: Valid credentials grant access; invalid credentials show clear error; session persists across page refreshes

### Container List View
- **Functionality**: Display all active containers with key metadata (name, image, status, uptime)
- **Purpose**: Provide visibility into running container infrastructure
- **Trigger**: Successful authentication or app load with valid session
- **Progression**: Dashboard load → Fetch container data → Render container cards → Auto-refresh every 10 seconds
- **Success criteria**: All active containers visible with accurate real-time data; clear empty state when no containers exist

### Interactive Shell Access
- **Functionality**: Launch terminal session within selected container
- **Purpose**: Enable debugging, inspection, and administration tasks
- **Trigger**: User clicks "Open Shell" action on a container card
- **Progression**: Container selection → Shell modal opens → Terminal initializes → User interacts with container shell → Close to return to dashboard
- **Success criteria**: Terminal displays container shell prompt; commands execute and return output; session closes cleanly

### Session Management
- **Functionality**: Logout capability and session timeout handling
- **Purpose**: Security and access control
- **Trigger**: User clicks logout or session expires
- **Progression**: Logout action → Clear session → Return to login screen
- **Success criteria**: User can explicitly log out; returns to login without residual access

## Edge Case Handling
- **No Active Containers**: Display friendly empty state with icon and helpful message
- **Authentication Failure**: Clear error messaging without exposing security details
- **Container Stops Mid-Session**: Terminal shows disconnection message, returns user to dashboard
- **Network Interruption**: Loading states and retry mechanisms for data fetching
- **Malformed Credentials**: Input validation and sanitization before submission

## Design Direction
The design should evoke precision, technical competence, and security. Think command-line interfaces elevated to GUI form—monospace typography, high contrast, structured layouts with clear information hierarchy. The aesthetic should feel like a professional operations dashboard: serious, focused, and trustworthy.

## Color Selection

A dark, terminal-inspired palette with high-contrast accents for critical actions and status indicators.

- **Primary Color**: Deep slate blue `oklch(0.25 0.02 250)` - Commands authority and technical sophistication, used for primary actions
- **Secondary Colors**: 
  - Dark charcoal background `oklch(0.15 0.01 250)` - Reduces eye strain for prolonged monitoring
  - Slate gray surfaces `oklch(0.22 0.015 250)` - Cards and elevated elements
- **Accent Color**: Electric cyan `oklch(0.75 0.15 195)` - High-visibility accent for interactive elements and status indicators
- **Foreground/Background Pairings**:
  - Background (Dark Charcoal `oklch(0.15 0.01 250)`): Light cyan text `oklch(0.92 0.02 195)` - Ratio 7.2:1 ✓
  - Primary (Deep Slate `oklch(0.25 0.02 250)`): White text `oklch(0.98 0 0)` - Ratio 8.5:1 ✓
  - Accent (Electric Cyan `oklch(0.75 0.15 195)`): Dark text `oklch(0.15 0.01 250)` - Ratio 6.1:1 ✓
  - Card (Slate Gray `oklch(0.22 0.015 250)`): Light cyan text `oklch(0.92 0.02 195)` - Ratio 6.8:1 ✓

## Font Selection
Typography should evoke terminal interfaces while maintaining excellent readability—monospace for technical data and code, geometric sans-serif for UI labels.

- **Typographic Hierarchy**:
  - H1 (Page Title): JetBrains Mono Bold/32px/tight tracking (-0.02em)
  - H2 (Section Headers): Space Grotesk SemiBold/24px/normal tracking
  - H3 (Container Names): JetBrains Mono Medium/18px/normal tracking
  - Body (Metadata): Space Grotesk Regular/14px/relaxed leading (1.6)
  - Code/Terminal: JetBrains Mono Regular/14px/normal leading (1.5)
  - Labels: Space Grotesk Medium/12px/wide tracking (0.02em)

## Animations
Animations should be crisp and purposeful, reinforcing the technical, responsive nature of the interface.

- Terminal modal: Scale up from 0.95 with fade, 250ms ease-out
- Container cards: Subtle hover lift (2px translate-y) with 150ms ease
- Status indicators: Pulse animation for active/running state
- Login form: Shake animation on authentication error
- Data refresh: Subtle opacity pulse on container list update
- Button interactions: Quick scale (0.98) on press, 100ms

## Component Selection

- **Components**:
  - `Card` - Container display with metadata, modified with border-l accent for status
  - `Button` - Primary actions (login, open shell, logout) with variant customization
  - `Input` - Credential fields with secure password masking
  - `Dialog` - Full-screen terminal modal overlay
  - `Badge` - Status indicators (running, healthy, error states)
  - `Separator` - Visual dividers between container metadata sections
  - `ScrollArea` - Container list and terminal output scrolling
  - `Alert` - Error messages and system notifications

- **Customizations**:
  - Terminal component: Custom component using monospace font and scrollable output area
  - Container card: Custom status indicator with colored left border
  - Auth layout: Custom centered card with gradient background overlay

- **States**:
  - Buttons: Default slate, hover electric cyan glow, active pressed, disabled muted
  - Inputs: Default with subtle border, focus with cyan ring, error with red border
  - Cards: Default elevation-1, hover elevation-2 with cyan accent glow
  - Terminal: Active (connected) vs disconnected states with visual feedback

- **Icon Selection**:
  - Container: `Package` - represents containerized applications
  - Shell/Terminal: `Terminal` - universal terminal symbol
  - Status running: `Play` - active operation
  - Status stopped: `Pause` or `Stop` - inactive state
  - Login: `LockKey` - security and authentication
  - Logout: `SignOut` - session termination
  - Refresh: `ArrowClockwise` - data reload
  - Error: `Warning` - alert states

- **Spacing**:
  - Page padding: p-6 (desktop), p-4 (mobile)
  - Card padding: p-6
  - Card gaps: gap-4
  - Section spacing: space-y-6
  - Button padding: px-6 py-3
  - Form field spacing: space-y-4
  - Container grid gap: gap-4

- **Mobile**:
  - Container grid: 1 column on mobile, 2 on tablet (768px+), 3 on desktop (1024px+)
  - Terminal modal: Full screen on mobile with close button in header
  - Header: Stack logo and logout button vertically on small screens
  - Auth form: Full width on mobile (max-w-sm) with reduced padding
  - Metadata: Stack container info vertically on mobile, horizontal on desktop