Drive Client Playtest

Exercise the genuine build-5875 client without disturbing the user's desktop, Steam session, or ordinary Wine prefixes. Treat client presentation, authoritative server state, and logs as separate evidence surfaces.

Prepare

Read references/thistle-tea.md before testing instance routing, timed scripts, or live BEAM state.

Define the exact acceptance facts before launching anything: character, content chain, initial and final world, expected position or packets, timing, copy isolation, and forbidden warnings. Prefer a fresh server for stateful instance or EventAI scenarios.

Start the server in a retained PTY:

mix run --no-halt

Keep SPEC.md and unrelated worktree changes untouched.

Launch an isolated client

Use the bundled helper directly. It enters a one-off Nix shell when the selected renderer's tools are unavailable.

.agents/skills/drive-client-playtest/scripts/wow-client launch

Record the printed session directory. Pass it to every later command:

playtest_session=/home/pikdum/.cache/thistle-wow-playtest.example
.agents/skills/drive-client-playtest/scripts/wow-client status "$playtest_session"
.agents/skills/drive-client-playtest/scripts/wow-client login-debug "$playtest_session"

The launcher creates a new Wine prefix, a private headless Gamescope/Xwayland display, and a dedicated systemd user service. GPU rendering is the default. Check renderer.log in the session directory for the selected renderer. Use THISTLE_PLAYTEST_RENDERER=software to explicitly select Xvfb and software OpenGL when needed. Never point a playtest at an existing prefix or the user's active display.

Drive the client

Prefer semantic keyboard actions and stable UI frames. Capture a screenshot before using uncertain coordinates.

.agents/skills/drive-client-playtest/scripts/wow-client chat "$playtest_session" ".instance info"
.agents/skills/drive-client-playtest/scripts/wow-client key "$playtest_session" w
.agents/skills/drive-client-playtest/scripts/wow-client click "$playtest_session" right 650 430
.agents/skills/drive-client-playtest/scripts/wow-client click "$playtest_session" left 130 353
.agents/skills/drive-client-playtest/scripts/wow-client drag "$playtest_session" right 640 360 790 330
.agents/skills/drive-client-playtest/scripts/wow-client capture "$playtest_session" before-action

Coordinates are relative to the fixed 1280x720 client window. Recheck screenshots whenever the UI state changes. Use /target Name and the fixed target frame when a world model moves unpredictably.

Verify the real path

Enter instances through the actual area trigger. Do not replace a required entry lifecycle with .go ... <instance-map-id>. Once inside a copy, omit the optional map argument from .go xyz so the current WorldRef is retained.

Use client diagnostics such as .instance info, .instance data, .guid, and .debug position <guid>. Correlate them with server logs and, when necessary, small Tidewave reads of the running BEAM. Do not add mutation commands merely to make acceptance easy.

For timed transitions, start a read-only sampler before triggering the client action. Capture the first authoritative change rather than sampling after a subsequent scripted movement has already begun.

Prove all relevant layers:

• the real client sent the intended action and displayed the result;
• the authoritative entity owner retained the expected world and state;
• projections, observers, and other instance copies behaved correctly;
• no owner, network, visibility, movement, or unsupported-command errors appeared.

Finish

Stop the helper-owned session while retaining logs and screenshots:

.agents/skills/drive-client-playtest/scripts/wow-client stop "$playtest_session"

Stop the retained server PTY. Keep evidence until the result is recorded. Trash the exact helper-owned session directory only after it is no longer needed; never clean a broad cache or temporary root.

Cleanup must go through the session's recorded systemd unit and matching invocation ID. The helper stops the entire owned cgroup, including detached Wine children. Do not use broad Wine, Proton, Steam, or user-session kill commands. Legacy sessions without ownership records require individual process inspection; do not substitute a process-name match. See references/thistle-tea.md for ownership checks and helper validation.