Veritas · the story over time

Purpose#

How a story changed week by week. A single thread that preserves the entire update + correction history: events, updates, contested entries, and retractions are all shown — retractions are struck through, never erased. Beside the timeline, a small "picture moved" chart and change notes summarise the trajectory. Thin server component awaits getStoryTimeline() and renders VeritasTimeline.

Entry points#

• Sub-nav "Story updates" tab on /veritas — verify the tab links here
• Linked from /veritas/mobile — the bottom "Story · over time" primary button (currently unwired) implies this route as the target
• Linked from /veritas/retraction — the letter copy says "The piece carries a struck-through line and a correction note. If you re-read it…"
• Linked from /veritas/topic — settled/open rows could open the canonical story
• Direct URL / bookmark — yes (auth required)

Layout regions#

page.tsx awaits getStoryTimeline() → <VeritasTimeline>. The component mounts LWebShell with LCustomerNav active="library".

• Header: Lilith customer nav (Library tab active)
• Masthead (VrMast): Veritas · the story | <data.windowLabel> | <data.meta or "N updates · M retractions">, display title "The story, over time.", italic lede ("…retractions are struck through, never erased. What was once read remains readable.")
• Two-column grid (1fr / 280px):
  • Left — Timeline rail (relative, paddingLeft: 26):
    • Vertical 2px rule on the left
    • One entry per data.entries[i]:
      • 12×12 dot positioned absolute on the rule, filled accent when entry.tag === 'today' else hollow, bordered with the entry's kind colour (retracted=VR_LOW, contested=VR_MED, event=accent, else=ink)
      • Header line: LCode date + LEyebrow kind + optional LEyebrow accent tag ('today')
      • Title (22px italic serif), struck through when entry.struck
      • Body (15px serif), muted+struck when entry.struck
      • Optional retraction notice card with medium-confidence border: eyebrow "retraction notice" + italic correction note
  • Right — Trajectory column (280px):
    • VrHead: — · The picture, moved · What changed in how readers saw this.
    • Inline SVG chart (280×240 viewBox, decorative — aria-hidden="true", data-veritas-story-trajectory):
      • X-axis rule at y=120
      • "CONFIDENCE · PEAK FIGURE" mono label top-left
      • Accent line path derived from data.entries[] in chronological order; each mapped point carries data-veritas-story-trajectory-point=<date>, data-veritas-story-trajectory-kind, confidence, and current-marker attributes
      • Labelled points come from entry data: the first-reading retraction label, later retraction label, and current today · <confidence> label
    • LRule
    • "What changed about the story" eyebrow + italic list of data.changeNotes[]
    • LRule
    • "If a claim you read becomes false" accent eyebrow + italic copy linking to "the retraction board ›" (text only; not a Link)

States#

• Loading — getStoryTimeline() awaited server-side; no client skeleton
• Populated — fixture renders multiple entries with kinds (event, update, contested, retracted) and at least one struck entry with a correction note
• Today entry — entry.tag === 'today' makes the dot solid accent and surfaces a "today" eyebrow (verify visually)
• Retraction notice on a struck entry — only shown when entry.struck && entry.correctionNote
• No change notes — data.changeNotes[] empty; the block maps unconditionally
• Error (recoverable) — getStoryTimeline() rejects → nearest error.tsx
• Offline — cached HTML; nothing client-side
• Standalone PWA — verify the 1fr/280px grid collapses on narrow screens
• Empty — N/A; the route always loads one story timeline
• Gated — none coded

Interactions#

Timeline rail (left)#

• Timeline entry — non-interactive container; verify whether each entry should be clickable to the canonical story snapshot at that point
• LCode date — text only; not a link
• LEyebrow kind / tag — text only
• Title — italic serif, struck when entry.struck; non-link
• Body — serif copy, struck when entry.struck; non-link
• Retraction notice card — eyebrow + italic correction note; not a link; verify whether it should jump to /veritas/retraction for that claim

Trajectory column (right)#

• SVG chart — decorative (aria-hidden="true") but data-derived: data.entries[] maps to the line path and point metadata, with the current and retracted labels asserted by Playwright
• Change-notes list — non-interactive
• "See the retraction board ›" — text only in code (not a <Link> or <a>); confirm where the link belongs (likely /veritas/retraction)

Data & contracts#

• Reads: getStoryTimeline() from @/lib/lilith-data/veritas-depth — returns StoryTimelineData ({ windowLabel, meta, entries[].{date, kind, tag?, title, body, struck?, correctionNote?, confidence?, trajectoryLabel?}, changeNotes[] })
• Writes: none
• Realtime: none in this view (a real "story over time" likely subscribes to new updates; verify the V1 plan)
• Caching: server fetch; revalidation per fixture policy
• Auth/role check: shell middleware (verify); the chart's current point reflects entry.tag === 'today' and entry.confidence
• Page metadata: title: "Veritas · the story over time", description "How a story changed week by week. Retractions are struck through, never erased.", alternates.canonical: /veritas/story

Cross-references#

• Component: apps/oshun/web/src/components/lilith/veritas.tsx — VeritasTimeline (lines 849–1072)
• Data: apps/oshun/web/src/lib/lilith-data/veritas-depth.ts (getStoryTimeline)
• Internal namespace counterparts:
  • domains-veritas-story.md — fixed story id
  • domains-veritas-story-id.md — dynamic [id] route
• Sibling routes:
  • veritas.md, veritas-claim.md, veritas-counterclaims.md, veritas-retraction.md, veritas-topic.md
• Feature spec: V1/features.md

Open questions / known gaps#

• The trajectory SVG chart's data is derived from data.entries[]; fixed 2026-06-30 with E2E coverage for the line path, current marker, retracted marker, confidence attributes, and visible labels
• "See the retraction board ›" is text only — not a hyperlink in code
• No dynamic route segment in the path; the fixture models a single story. The /domains/veritas/story/[id] route does take an id — confirm the production plan
• Timeline entries are not clickable; if each should link to the canonical story snapshot at that date, file as a wiring gap
• LCustomerNav active="library" — consistent with the /veritas hub and the other depth views, which all use Library (no Explore inconsistency)