Why

PR #575 follow-up review surfaced eight Index-tab improvements that are each non-trivial enough to ship as their own PR — each carries a small policy, verification, or design decision that doesn't fit the static-disclosure bundle (#5.1a) or the namespace cluster (#5.NS). This issue is an umbrella for tracking them; individual PRs should reference back here when they land.

Tasks

4.2 — force re-index metadata cascade

• (Spike) Determine the intent of force=True's metadata cascade.
  • Inspect indexing/engine.py: IndexEngine.index_file() force branch (~656). Run git blame and walk back through related PRs / commits.
  • delete_by_source(file_path) followed by re-embedding currently resets access_count, importance_score, and created_at. Decide which case applies:
    • Case 1 (intentional) — design contract is "fresh start, including metadata"
    • Case 2 (accidental) — metadata cascade is incidental coupling, should be preserved
    • Case 3 (undefined) — never decided, undocumented
• (Implementation, branches on the spike result)
  • Case 1 → tooltip on the force re-index checkbox: "Existing chunks plus access/importance metadata will be regenerated."
  • Case 2 → code change: preserve metadata by default, add an explicit --reset-metadata opt-in. Plus the tooltip.
  • Case 3 → ADR or docstring on force documenting the chosen contract, then either case 1 or case 2 flow.

4.10a — Surface the Search NS filter dropdown in prod

• Remove the STATE.uiMode !== 'dev' early return in loadNamespaceDropdowns() (web/static/settings-namespaces.js ~59).
• Backend /api/namespaces already has no dev gating (web/routes/namespaces.py) — frontend-only change, ~1 line.
• (Note: NS CRUD — color/description/rules editing — stays dev-only and is tracked separately as 4.10b in the ADR track.)

4.11 — Indexing in-flight visibility + double-click guard

• External indicator — spinner next to the header chips, or a dot on the 폴더 인덱싱 toggle button when an index is running. Avoids "where did my index go?" when the user switches mode mid-run.
• Double-click guard — while in-flight, the Index button should be disabled (verify current btnLoading behavior first); a second click should show a toast "Already in progress" instead of resetting the status panel of the first click.
• Pre-work: confirm whether btnLoading already disables; if so this is just a status-reset guard.

4.12 — Folder mode directory picker

• Add a 📁 Browse button beside the path text input. Keep the text input free-form (current behavior).
• New GET /api/fs/list?path=... endpoint returning subdirs.
• Picker UI starts from an allow-list (memory_dirs + ~) with breadcrumb navigation. To go outside the allow-list, the user closes the picker and types the path explicitly.
• Decision baked in: the allow-list is a discoverability boundary, not a security boundary. Trust model stays "local user only"; the split between text (free) and picker (allow-listed) reflects different UX paths, not different risk policies.

Prev #1 — Collapse the two index buttons

• Decide between (a) always show progress, drop the "Index" button entirely, or (b) keep one Index button + a small "Show progress" toggle.
• Current state: side-by-side 인덱스 (primary) + 진행률 표시 인덱스 (ghost) buttons make users guess which to pick. The two-button shape dilutes the form's primary action.

Prev #2 — Upload dropzone proportions

• Drop zone currently spans the full card width and ~240px tall — disproportionate when the inner content is one icon and two lines. Options: max-width: 480-560px centered, or a left/right split (drop zone on the left, file list on the right).

Prev #4 — Visual hierarchy between main tab nav and mode toggle

• Both rows render their active state as a blue outline today, so the main vs. sub tablist hierarchy is weak. Suggested: keep the outline for main tabs, switch the mode toggle's active state to a bottom-border style (sub-tab convention). Or add a subtle background to the mode-toggle row to push it visually further from the main nav.

Decisions already made (linked above)

• 4.10a: backend /api/namespaces is not dev-gated; the change is frontend-only (verified).
• 4.12: allow-list is a discoverability boundary, not a security boundary. Text input stays free-form.
• 4.2: requires the spike before implementation; the spike outcome determines whether this is a doc fix, a code fix, or an ADR.

References

All paths under packages/memtomem/src/memtomem/.

• IndexEngine force path: indexing/engine.py: IndexEngine.index_file() force branch (~656)
• Storage delete by source: indexing/engine.py: IndexEngine._storage.delete_by_source()
• Namespace dropdown loader: web/static/settings-namespaces.js: loadNamespaceDropdowns() (~59)
• Namespaces endpoint: web/routes/namespaces.py: list_namespaces()
• Index button + handler: web/static/index.html folder panel; web/static/app.js: index-btn listener (~2950)
• Upload dropzone markup: web/static/index.html upload panel
• Mode toggle CSS: web/static/style.css (.index-mode-toggle)

Out of scope

• 4.10b NS CRUD prod exposure — needs an ADR on auto-create vs. predefine model.
• 4.13/4.3/4.14 Namespace cluster — handled in feat(web): Namespace cluster — placeholder/echo/hot-reload/default polish (single PR) #581 (single PR).
• 4.6a Compose privacy warning — handled in feat(web): Compose privacy warning — secret pattern confirm + client pattern sync #580.
• Static-disclosure bundle — handled in feat(web): Index tab — surface hard-to-discover behaviors in one bundle (static surfacing) #579.

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