mtg_python_deckbuilder/RELEASE_NOTES_TEMPLATE.md

MTG Python Deckbuilder ${VERSION}

Highlights

• Include/Exclude Cards Feature Complete: Full implementation with enhanced web UI, intelligent fuzzy matching, and performance optimization. Users can now specify must-include and must-exclude cards with comprehensive card knowledge base and excellent performance.
• Enhanced CLI with Type Safety: Comprehensive CLI enhancement with type indicators, ideal count arguments, and theme tag name support making headless operation more user-friendly and discoverable.
• Theme Tag Name Selection: Intelligent theme selection by name instead of index numbers, automatically resolving to correct choices accounting for selection ordering.
• Enhanced Fuzzy Matching: Advanced algorithm with 300+ Commander-legal card knowledge base, popular/iconic card prioritization, and dark theme confirmation modal for optimal user experience.
• Mobile Responsive Design: Optimized mobile experience with bottom-floating build controls, two-column grid layout, and horizontal scrolling prevention for improved thumb navigation.
• Enhanced Visual Validation: List size validation UI with warning icons (⚠️ over-limit, ⚡ approaching limit) and color coding providing clear feedback on usage limits.
• Performance Optimized: All operations exceed performance targets with 100% pass rate - exclude filtering 92% under target, UI operations 70% under target, full validation cycle 95% under target.
• Dual Architecture Support: Seamless functionality across both web interface (staging system) and CLI (direct build) with proper include injection timing.

What's new

• Enhanced CLI Experience
  • Type-safe help text with value indicators (PATH, NAME, INT, BOOL) and organized argument groups
  • Ideal count CLI arguments: --ramp-count, --land-count, --creature-count, etc. for deck composition control
  • Theme tag name support: --primary-tag "Airbending" instead of --primary-choice 1 with intelligent resolution
  • Include/exclude CLI parity: --include-cards, --exclude-cards with semicolon support for comma-containing card names
  • Console summary output with detailed diagnostics and validation results for headless builds
  • Priority system: CLI > JSON Config > Environment Variables > Defaults
• Enhanced Visual Validation
  • List size validation UI with visual warning system using icons and color coding
  • Live validation badges showing count/limit status with clear visual indicators
  • Performance-optimized validation with all targets exceeded (100% pass rate)
  • Backward compatibility verification ensuring existing modals/flows unchanged
• Include/Exclude Lists
  • Must-include cards (max 10) and must-exclude cards (max 15) with strict/warn enforcement modes
  • Enhanced fuzzy matching algorithm with 300+ Commander-legal card knowledge base
  • Popular cards (184) and iconic cards (102) prioritization for improved matching accuracy
  • Dark theme confirmation modal with card preview and top 3 alternatives for <90% confidence matches
  • Color identity validation ensuring included cards match commander colors
  • File upload support (.txt) with deduplication and user feedback
  • JSON export/import preserving all include/exclude configuration via permalink system
• Web Interface Enhancement
  • Two-column layout with visual distinction: green for includes, red for excludes
  • Chips/tag UI allowing per-card removal with real-time textarea synchronization
  • Enhanced validation endpoint with comprehensive diagnostics and conflict detection
  • Debounced validation (500ms) for improved performance during typing
  • Enter key handling fixes preventing accidental form submission in textareas
  • Mobile responsive design with bottom-floating build controls and two-column grid layout
  • Mobile horizontal scrolling prevention and setup status optimization
  • Expanded mobile viewport breakpoint (720px → 1024px) for broader device compatibility
• Engine Integration
  • Include injection after land selection, before creature/spell fill ensuring proper deck composition
  • Exclude re-entry prevention blocking filtered cards from re-entering via downstream heuristics
  • Staging system architecture with custom __inject_includes__ runner for web UI builds
  • Comprehensive logging and diagnostics for observability and debugging

Performance Benchmarks (Complete)

• Exclude filtering: 4.0ms (target: ≤50ms) - 92% under target ✅
• Fuzzy matching: 0.1ms (target: ≤200ms) - 99.9% under target ✅
• Include injection: 14.8ms (target: ≤100ms) - 85% under target ✅
• Full validation cycle: 26.0ms (target: ≤500ms) - 95% under target ✅
• UI operations: 15.0ms (target: ≤50ms) - 70% under target ✅
• Overall pass rate: 5/5 (100%) with excellent performance margins

Technical Details

• Architecture: Dual implementation supporting web UI staging system and CLI direct build paths
• Performance: All operations well under target response times with comprehensive testing framework
• Backward Compatibility: Legacy endpoint transformation maintaining exact message formats for seamless integration
• Feature Flag: ALLOW_MUST_HAVES=true environment variable for controlled rollout

Notes

• Include cards are injected after lands but before normal creature/spell selection to ensure optimal deck composition
• Exclude cards are globally filtered from all card pools preventing any possibility of inclusion
• Enhanced fuzzy matching handles common variations and prioritizes popular Commander staples like Lightning Bolt, Sol Ring, Counterspell
• Fuzzy match confirmation modal provides card preview and suggestions when confidence is below 90%
• Card knowledge base contains 300+ Commander-legal cards organized by function rather than competitive format
• Strict mode will abort builds if any valid include cards cannot be added; warn mode continues with diagnostics
• Visual warning system provides clear feedback when approaching or exceeding list size limits

Fixes

• Resolved critical architecture mismatch where web UI and CLI used different build paths
• Fixed form submission issues where include cards weren't saving properly
• Corrected comma parsing that was breaking card names containing commas
• Fixed backward compatibility test failures with warning message format standardization
• Eliminated debug and emergency logging messages for production readiness

Highlights

• Mobile UI polish: collapsible left sidebar with persisted state, sticky controls that respect the header, and banner subtitle that stays inline when the menu is collapsed.
• Multi-Copy is now opt-in from the New Deck modal, and suggestions are filtered to match selected themes (e.g., Rabbit Kindred → Hare Apparent).
• New Deck modal improvements: integrated commander preview, theme selection, and optional Multi-Copy in one flow.

What’s new

• Mobile & layout
  • Sidebar toggle button (persisted in localStorage), smooth hide/show.
  • Sticky build controls offset via CSS variables to avoid overlap in emulators and mobile.
  • Banner subtitle stays within the header and remains inline with the title when the sidebar is collapsed.
• Multi-Copy
  • Moved to Commander selection now instead of happening during building.
  • Opt-in checkbox in the New Deck modal; disabled by default.
  • Suggestions only appear when at least one theme is selected and are limited to archetypes whose matched tags intersect the themes.
  • Multi-Copy runs first when selected, with an applied marker to avoid redundant rebuilds.
• New Deck & Setup
  • Setup/Refresh prompt modal if the environment is missing or stale, with a clear path to run/refresh setup before building.
  • Centralized staged context creation and error/render helpers for a more robust Step 5 flow.

Notes

• Multi-Copy selection is part of the interactive New Deck modal (not a JSON field); it remains off unless explicitly enabled.
• Setup helpers: is_setup_ready() and is_setup_stale() inform the modal prompt and can be tuned with WEB_AUTO_SETUP and WEB_AUTO_REFRESH_DAYS.
• Headless parity: tag_mode (AND/OR) remains supported in JSON/env and exported in interactive run-config JSON.

Fixes

• Continue responsiveness and click reliability on mobile/emulators; sticky overlap eliminated.
• Multi-Copy application preserved across New Deck submit; duplicate re-application avoided with an applied marker.
• Banner subtitle alignment fixed in collapsed-menu mode (no overhang, no line-wrap into a new row).
• Docker: normalized line endings for entrypoint to avoid Windows checkout issues.