idea: interactive plan creation in web dashboard

[umputun]

@melonamin - since you built the web dashboard (#17), wanted to share an idea.

the --plan mode (#22) was designed with web integration in mind. the architecture already supports it:

what we have:

• InputCollector interface - pluggable input collection (pkg/input/input.go)
• BroadcastLogger already emits Q&A events to SSE (pkg/web/broadcast_logger.go)
• progress file stores full Q&A history - enables browser reconnect
• QUESTION signal with JSON payload containing question + options
• PLAN_READY signal when Claude finishes the plan

how terminal flow works:

1. Claude explores codebase, emits <<<RALPHEX:QUESTION>>> with JSON
2. TerminalCollector.AskQuestion() displays options via fzf
3. user selects, answer logged to progress file
4. next Claude iteration sees prior Q&A, asks follow-up or creates plan
5. PLAN_READY signal → user confirms → full execution begins

web adaptation:

• create WebInputCollector implementing same interface
• when QUESTION signal detected, pause execution loop
• emit SSE event with question/options to browser
• browser renders form/modal for selection
• POST /api/sessions/{id}/answer → unblocks runner
• continue to next iteration

the tricky part is bidirectional coordination - runner blocks on AskQuestion() waiting for web client response. options:

1. channel-based: runner waits on channel, HTTP handler sends answer
2. polling: runner checks for answer file/flag periodically
3. context-based: inject answer via context value

leaning toward (1) - cleaner, no polling overhead.

open question: how does user navigate to project directory? current web dashboard assumes you're already in the right dir when starting ralphex. maybe:

• A) browser-based file picker (complex)
• B) predefined project list in config
• C) just document that user should cd to project first (same as CLI)

thoughts? feel free to take this in a different direction - just wanted to share that the groundwork is there.

[melonamin]

On it. I have a picture in my head of how it could work from the user perspective, let me try to put it together.