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Phase 4 — Typed Data Artifact Views

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Goal

Let an answer or Investigation dataset appear as a trustworthy table, metric set or chart without allowing the model to generate arbitrary executable UI or redefine the underlying data.

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Architectural decision

Driftless owns a stable, versioned DataArtifactSpec. assistant-ui may render it through an adapter, but its experimental Generative UI schema is not persisted as the domain contract. The authoritative chain is: persisted dataset -> validated Driftless view spec -> React renderer -> user interaction Never: model-authored HTML/JS -> iframe -> authoritative result

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First vocabulary

Keep the first vocabulary deliberately small:
  • DataTableView
  • MetricGridView
  • BarChartView
  • LineChartView only when the x field is temporal
  • EvidenceListView
  • ComparisonView
No pie chart, map, diagram, dashboard builder or arbitrary Markdown component in the first slice.

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Stable spec

Define a discriminated union resembling:
Views reference validated field ids and aggregation operations; they do not embed a second copy of the entire dataset. The server validates:
  • artifact/dataset belongs to the workspace;
  • referenced fields exist and have compatible types;
  • aggregation is allowlisted (count, sum, avg, min, max);
  • grouping cardinality and row limits are bounded;
  • URLs and evidence references come from persisted provenance;
  • actions are allowlisted and permission-checked.

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assistant-ui compatibility spike

Before adding production behavior, run a small isolated spike:
  1. Keep @assistant-ui/react@0.15.8 pinned.
  2. Evaluate the oldest compatible @assistant-ui/react-generative-ui release that satisfies the repository’s seven-day minimumReleaseAge; do not add an exclusion.
  3. Render a static MetricGrid + BarChart + Table from fixtures inside the existing ExternalStoreRuntime path.
  4. Prove build, SSR assumptions, React 19, Zod version, CSS isolation, accessibility and lazy chunk impact.
  5. Prove no request reaches Assistant Cloud.
Decision gate:
  • If it integrates cleanly and adds less maintenance than it removes, create a thin adapter from DataArtifactSpec to its component registry.
  • If its 0.0.x API, dependencies or transport assumptions fight the External Store, implement a small local DataArtifactRenderer over Driftless components. Preserve the spec so the renderer remains replaceable.
Do not upgrade @assistant-ui/react merely to unlock this phase unless a separate dependency review proves the migration and package-age guard.

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Chat integration

The current assistant message reserves a slot between prose and sources. A Chat response may link a persisted artifact id in message metadata; the UI fetches and renders it there. It must not infer an artifact by parsing prose. For large Investigation artifacts, the message shows a compact preview and an explicit Open Investigation action. The full table/chart surface remains the Investigation route.

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Actions

UI actions dispatch typed intents such as:
  • switch view;
  • filter/group locally through the server-supported query contract;
  • inspect evidence;
  • export CSV/JSON;
  • select rows for Collection promotion.
An assistant-ui $action or component callback is only the frontend dispatch mechanism. The server still authenticates, authorizes and validates every mutation.

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Accessibility and truthful visualization

  • Every chart has a textual/table alternative and an accessible name.
  • Tooltips are not the only place values exist.
  • Truncated categories say how many are shown of the total.
  • Missing values remain missing; they are never coerced to zero.
  • Mixed currencies/scopes never share an aggregate series.
  • A chart title states the metric, scope and period.
  • Color never carries status alone.

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Acceptance

  • The same persisted dataset can render as table and chart without regenerating data.
  • Invalid fields/aggregations fail closed with a typed error.
  • A saved artifact renders identically after refresh.
  • Every visible value can be traced to a persisted row or deterministic aggregate.
  • Assistant UI/renderer failure degrades to the canonical table, not to an empty answer.
  • Ordinary text-only messages remain unchanged and do not pay the artifact chunk.

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Rollback

Disable rich rendering and show the canonical DataTableView. Persisted artifact specs and datasets remain valid because they are Driftless-owned.