ConformalLabpp/CLAUDE.md

CLAUDE.md

This file provides guidance to Claude Code (claude.ai/code) when working with code in this repository.

Project purpose and long-term goal

conformallab++ is a C++17 reimplementation of ConformalLab — Stefan Sechelmann's Java research library for discrete conformal geometry (TU Berlin, ~850 commits, v1.0.0 2018). The algorithmic foundation is his dissertation:

Stefan Sechelmann — Variational Methods for Discrete Surface Parameterization: Applications and Implementation, TU Berlin 2016. DOI: 10.14279/depositonce-5415 · CC BY-SA 4.0

The long-term goal is a CGAL package — a submission to the CGAL library that brings discrete conformal maps (hyper-ideal, spherical, Euclidean) to the CGAL ecosystem using CGAL::Surface_mesh as the underlying halfedge data structure, with a traits-class design compatible with arbitrary CGAL-conforming mesh types.

The project has four distinct phase blocks (updated 2026-05-22):

• Phase 1–7 (done, v0.7.0): Direct port of the Java library algorithms to C++.
• Phase 8a MVP + 8b-Lite (done, v0.9.0): CGAL public-API surface for all five DCE models via <CGAL/Discrete_*.h>. Phase 8a.2 (generic FaceGraph), 8c (manuals), 8d (CGAL-test-format), 8e (YAML pipeline) deferred on-demand.
• Phase 9a + 9b (done, v0.9.0): Two new functionals (CP-Euclidean port, Inversive-Distance research), two new Newton solvers, block-FD HyperIdeal Hessian.
• Phase 9b-analytic + 9c (planned): Full analytic HyperIdeal Hessian via Schläfli identity (research, see doc/roadmap/research-track.md); 4g-polygon fundamental domain for genus g > 1 (mixed port + research).
• Phase 10+ (research): Holomorphic differentials, Siegel period matrix Ω ∈ H_g, full uniformization for genus g ≥ 2.

Language

All code, comments, documentation, commit messages, and test descriptions must be in English. The project is intended for international collaboration and CGAL submission. Existing German-language comments in older files should be replaced with English when editing those files.

Build commands

All source lives under code/. Three build modes:

# Mode 1 — fast tests, no CGAL, no Boost, no display (CI default)
cmake -S code -B build
cmake --build build --target conformallab_tests -j$(nproc)
ctest --test-dir build --output-on-failure

# Mode 2 — CGAL tests, headless (CI full, requires Boost headers only)
#   macOS: brew install boost    Linux: apt install libboost-dev
cmake -S code -B build -DWITH_CGAL_TESTS=ON
cmake --build build --target conformallab_cgal_tests -j$(nproc)
ctest --test-dir build -R "^cgal\." --output-on-failure

# Mode 3 — full local build: CLI app + viewer + examples (requires Wayland/X11)
cmake -S code -B build -DWITH_CGAL=ON
cmake --build build -j$(nproc)

-DWITH_CGAL=ON automatically enables -DWITH_VIEWER=ON, which pulls in GLFW and requires wayland-scanner. Never use this in headless CI.

Compile-time options (v0.10.0 matrix)

The CGAL test build defaults to PCH + Unity Build ON (CGAL test wall-time 78 s → 55 s, CPU time 676 s → 167 s on Apple M1). Opt-in/opt-out flags — full measurements + macOS-vs-Linux notes in doc/architecture/compile-time.md:

Flag	Default	Effect
-DBUILD_TESTING=OFF	ON	Skip the entire test subtree (headers-only consumers).
-DCONFORMALLAB_USE_PCH=OFF	ON	Disable precompiled headers for conformallab_cgal_tests.
-DCMAKE_UNITY_BUILD=OFF	ON	Disable Unity (jumbo) build.
-DCONFORMALLAB_DEV_BUILD=ON	OFF	Dev iteration: PCH on, Unity forced off (cheaper incremental rebuilds).
-DCONFORMALLAB_FAST_TEST_BUILD=ON	OFF	-O0 -g for tests (faster compile, slower run).
-DCONFORMALLAB_USE_CCACHE=ON	OFF	Route compiles through ccache.
-DCONFORMALLAB_HEADERS_CHECK=ON	OFF	Standalone header self-containment check target.

Running a single test

# By GTest suite/test name
./build/conformallab_cgal_tests --gtest_filter="NewtonSolver*"
./build/conformallab_tests       --gtest_filter="Clausen*"

# By CTest regex (prefix "cgal." for all CGAL tests)
ctest --test-dir build -R "cgal.NewtonSolver" --output-on-failure

Rebuilding the CI Docker image

docker buildx build \
  --platform linux/arm64 \
  -f .gitea/docker/Dockerfile.ci-cpp \
  -t git.eulernest.eu/conformallab/ci-cpp:latest \
  --push \
  .gitea/docker/

Architecture

Everything is header-only

All algorithms live in code/include/*.hpp. There is no compiled library. The three CMake targets (conformallab_tests, conformallab_cgal_tests, conformallab_core) compile headers directly from their .cpp entry points. To add a new algorithm: create a .hpp in code/include/, add a test in code/tests/cgal/, and register the test file in code/tests/cgal/CMakeLists.txt.

Central type: ConformalMesh

conformal_mesh.hpp defines the core type:

using ConformalMesh = CGAL::Surface_mesh<Point3>;  // CGAL::Simple_cartesian<double>

This replaces the Java CoHDS (half-edge data structure) and its intrusive CoVertex/CoEdge/CoFace types. Data is attached via named CGAL property maps instead of intrusive fields:

Property map name	Type	Meaning
"v:lambda"	double per vertex	log scale factor (conformal variable uᵢ)
"v:theta"	double per vertex	target cone angle Θᵥ
"v:idx"	int per vertex	solver DOF index; -1 = pinned/boundary
"e:alpha"	double per edge	intersection angle αᵢⱼ (hyperbolic only)
"f:type"	int per face	geometry type (0=Euclidean, 1=Hyperbolic, 2=Spherical)

CGAL_DISABLE_GMP and CGAL_DISABLE_MPFR are defined for all CGAL targets — the library deliberately uses Simple_cartesian<double> (floating-point, no exact arithmetic) because conformal geometry does not require exact predicates.

The five DCE models

Each model has its own Maps struct that bundles all property maps, plus a functional, optional Hessian, Newton solver, and (since v0.9.0) a CGAL public-API entry function:

Model	Space	DOFs	Maps struct	Key headers	Newton function	CGAL entry
Euclidean	ℝ²	vertex	EuclideanMaps	euclidean_functional.hpp, euclidean_hessian.hpp	newton_euclidean()	discrete_conformal_map_euclidean()
Spherical	S²	vertex	SphericalMaps	spherical_functional.hpp, spherical_hessian.hpp	newton_spherical()	discrete_conformal_map_spherical()
Hyper-ideal	H² (Poincaré disk)	vertex + edge	HyperIdealMaps	hyper_ideal_functional.hpp, hyper_ideal_hessian.hpp (block-FD, Phase 9b)	newton_hyper_ideal()	discrete_conformal_map_hyper_ideal()
CP-Euclidean (BPS 2010)	face-based circle packing	face	CPEuclideanMaps	cp_euclidean_functional.hpp	newton_cp_euclidean()	discrete_circle_packing_euclidean()
Inversive-Distance (Luo 2004)	vertex-based circle packing	vertex	InversiveDistanceMaps	inversive_distance_functional.hpp	newton_inversive_distance()	discrete_inversive_distance_map()

DOF-assignment patterns:

• Vertex-only models (Euclidean, Spherical, Inversive-Distance): pin one vertex manually (maps.v_idx[first_vertex] = -1) then assign sequential indices. The CGAL public entries do this automatically with the "natural-theta" trick (so calling them with no arguments returns x = 0 as the equilibrium).
• HyperIdeal: assign_all_dof_indices(mesh, maps) assigns vertex + edge DOFs automatically.
• CP-Euclidean: face-based — assign_cp_euclidean_face_dof_indices(mesh, maps, pinned_face) pins one face and indexes the rest.

The full pipeline

load_mesh()                          → ConformalMesh  (OFF/OBJ/PLY)
setup_*_maps(mesh)                   → *Maps  (property maps created, all zero)
compute_*_lambda0_from_mesh(mesh, m) → λ° initialised from 3-D edge lengths
DOF assignment                       → v_idx[v] set; -1 = pinned
check_gauss_bonnet(mesh, maps)       → throws if Σ(2π−Θᵥ) ≠ 2π·χ(M)
enforce_gauss_bonnet(mesh, maps)     → redistributes angle defect uniformly
newton_*(mesh, x0, maps)             → NewtonResult{x*, iterations, converged}
compute_cut_graph(mesh)              → CutGraph  (2g seam edges, tree-cotree)
*_layout(mesh, x*, maps, &cg, &hol) → Layout2D/3D  + HolonomyData
normalise_*(layout)                  → canonical position (PCA / Möbius / Rodrigues)
compute_period_matrix(hol)           → PeriodData{τ∈ℍ}  (genus 1 flat torus)
compute_fundamental_domain(hol)      → FundamentalDomain{vertices, generators}
tiling_neighbourhood(layout, hol)    → vector of translated layout copies
save_result_json/xml()               → serialised result

After compute_*_lambda0_from_mesh() the original vertex positions are no longer used — all subsequent computation is in log-length/scale-factor space.

Newton solver (newton_solver.hpp)

Gradient sign convention differs across the five models:

• Euclidean / Spherical / Inversive-Distance: G_v = Θ_v − actual_angle_sum (target minus actual).
• HyperIdeal: G_v = actual_angle_sum − Θ_v (actual minus target).
• CP-Euclidean: G_f = φ_f − Σ_{h:face(h)=f} (p(θ*,Δρ) + θ*) (face-based; see cp_euclidean_functional.hpp header for the full formula).

Hessian sign and solver per model:

• Euclidean: H is PSD (cotangent Laplacian) → SimplicialLDLT(H).
• Spherical: H is NSD (concave energy) → SimplicialLDLT(−H) (sign flip inside newton_spherical).
• HyperIdeal: H is PSD (strictly convex) → SimplicialLDLT(H). Phase 9b uses a block-FD Hessian (per-face 6×6 local block, ~96× speed-up vs full FD on V=200). Full analytic Hessian via the chain (bᵢ, aₑ) → lᵢⱼ → ζ₁₃/ζ₁₄/ζ₁₅ → αᵢⱼ/βᵢ is planned research — see doc/roadmap/research-track.md Phase 9b-analytic.
• CP-Euclidean: analytic 2×2-per-edge h_jk = sin θ / (cosh Δρ − cos θ) (BPS 2010), strictly convex → SimplicialLDLT(H).
• Inversive-Distance: FD Hessian (inline in newton_inversive_distance). Analytic via Glickenstein 2011 eq. (4.6) is planned research (Phase 9a.2-analytic).

When SimplicialLDLT fails (rank-deficient H — gauge mode on a closed mesh without pinned vertex/face), the solver automatically retries with Eigen::SparseQR to find the minimum-norm step orthogonal to the null space. Public API: solve_linear_system(H, rhs, &used_fallback).

Layout and holonomy (layout.hpp)

BFS-trilateration with a priority min-heap on BFS depth (depth = max(depth[src], depth[tgt]) + 1). Root face = largest 3-D area face. This minimises trilateration error accumulation compared to simple BFS.

Key output fields:

• layout.uv[v.idx()] — primary UV (first/shallowest BFS visit per vertex)
• layout.halfedge_uv[h.idx()] — UV of source(h) as seen from face(h); at seam halfedges the two opposite halfedges carry different UV values, enabling proper GPU texture atlasing without vertex duplication
• hol.translations[i] — lattice generator ωᵢ ∈ ℂ (Euclidean/spherical)
• hol.mobius_maps[i] — Möbius isometry Tᵢ ∈ SU(1,1) (hyperbolic, Poincaré disk)

MobiusMap is defined in layout.hpp: T(z) = (az+b)/(cz+d). Key methods: from_three() (fit to 3 point correspondences via 3×3 complex linear system), compose(), inverse(), apply(Vector2d).

Key mathematical reference for each header

Header	Java original	Key reference
hyper_ideal_geometry.hpp	HyperIdealGeometry.java	Springborn (2020) — ζ₁₃/ζ₁₄/ζ₁₅ functions
euclidean_hessian.hpp	EuclideanHessian.java	Pinkall & Polthier (1993) — cotangent Laplacian
spherical_hessian.hpp	SphericalHessian.java	∂α/∂u from spherical law of cosines
cut_graph.hpp	CuttingUtility.java	Erickson & Whittlesey (SODA 2005) — tree-cotree
period_matrix.hpp	PeriodMatrixUtility.java	Sechelmann (2016) §4 — SL(2,ℤ) reduction
gauss_bonnet.hpp	(distributed across Java)	Gauss–Bonnet: Σ(2π−Θᵥ) = 2π·χ(M)

Java features not yet ported (Phase 9)

The Java library under de.varylab.discreteconformal contains these items not yet in C++:

Java class	Planned C++ header	Phase
InversiveDistanceFunctional	inversive_distance_functional.hpp	9a
Analytic HyperIdeal Hessian	hyper_ideal_hessian.hpp (replace FD)	9b
4g-polygon boundary walk in FundamentalDomainUtility	fundamental_domain.hpp (extend)	9c †
DiscreteHarmonicFormUtility	Phase 10a prerequisite	10
DiscreteHolomorphicFormUtility	Phase 10a	10
HomologyUtility, CanonicalBasisUtility	Phase 10 †	10

When porting a Java class, locate the original in de.varylab.discreteconformal.* at github.com/varylab/conformallab and use it as the reference implementation.

† High-precision requirement (Phase 9c / 10): The Java uniformization classes (FundamentalPolygon, CanonicalFormUtility) use RnBig/PnBig/P2Big with MathContext(50) — 50 significant decimal digits. Reason: products of hyperbolic isometry generators grow exponentially, so double fails when verifying the group relation ∏gᵢ = Id. When porting, replicate this locally with boost::multiprecision::cpp_dec_float_50 (or MPFR mpreal) — only inside the uniformization module, NOT globally and NOT in the Eigen solver. The core flattening (Newton/energy) stays double (see conformal_mesh.hpp:45).

Test design patterns

"Natural theta" — constructing a known equilibrium at x* = 0

// Evaluate gradient at x=0; set target angles = actual angle sums → x*=0 by definition
std::vector<double> x0(n_dofs, 0.0);
auto G0 = euclidean_gradient(mesh, x0, maps);
for (auto v : mesh.vertices())
    if (maps.v_idx[v] >= 0)
        maps.theta_v[v] -= G0[maps.v_idx[v]];  // shift so G(x=0) = 0

This is used in virtually every Newton convergence test — it avoids hardcoding specific angle values.

Gradient check pattern

// Copy from any test_*_functional.cpp — GradientCheck_* test suite
double eps = 1e-5;
for (int i = 0; i < n; ++i) {
    xp[i] += eps;  auto Gp = euclidean_gradient(mesh, xp, maps);
    xm[i] -= eps;  auto Gm = euclidean_gradient(mesh, xm, maps);
    double fd = (energy(xp) - energy(xm)) / (2*eps);
    EXPECT_NEAR(G[i], fd, 1e-7);
    xp[i] = xm[i] = x0[i];
}

All new functionals must have a gradient-check test before being considered complete.

Halfedge traversal

for (auto f : mesh.faces()) {
    auto h0 = mesh.halfedge(f);          // canonical halfedge of face
    auto h1 = mesh.next(h0);
    auto h2 = mesh.next(h1);

    Vertex_index v1 = mesh.source(h0);  // = mesh.target(h2)
    Vertex_index v2 = mesh.source(h1);
    Vertex_index v3 = mesh.source(h2);

    // Angle at v3 is opposite to h0 (edge v1–v2)
    // h_alpha[h0] = α₃,  h_alpha[h1] = α₁,  h_alpha[h2] = α₂

    bool is_boundary = mesh.is_border(mesh.opposite(h0));
}

Attaching custom data to the mesh

auto [my_map, created] = mesh.add_property_map<Vertex_index, double>("v:my_data", 0.0);
my_map[v] = 3.14;

CI pipeline

Three jobs in .gitea/workflows/cpp-tests.yml:

Job	CMake flags	Deps	Triggers on	Status
test-fast	(none)	Eigen + GTest only	all branches	active
test-cgal	-DWITH_CGAL_TESTS=ON	+ Boost	pull requests only	DISABLED 2026-05-26 (if: false)
quality-gates	(none)	+ codespell, shellcheck	all branches (needs: test-fast)	active

Runner: eulernest — self-hosted Raspberry Pi, ARM64, Ubuntu 22.04. Docker image: git.eulernest.eu/conformallab/ci-cpp:latest. test-cgal and quality-gates both need test-fast to pass first (needs: test-fast).

quality-gates runs four required structural gates: license-headers.sh, cgal-conventions.py, codespell.sh, shellcheck.sh --strict. Seven more gates (clang-format, cmake-format, cppcheck, sanitizers, clang-tidy, multi-compiler, reproducible-build) are local-only — see scripts/quality/README.md.

test-cgal is gated off (if: false, see the DISABLED-2026-05-26 comment block in the workflow): the -j1 CGAL build is too memory-heavy for the 1.6 GB runner and OOMs intermittently without exposing real regressions. Consequence: the two structural sub-gates that lived inside it — scripts/check-test-counts.sh and scripts/try_it.sh — are currently un-gated; run them locally before tagging a release. Re-enable by restoring if: github.event_name == 'pull_request'.

Two other workflows are also restricted to workflow_dispatch: only (auto-trigger disabled 2026-05-26 while the codeberg pages-branch push is being stabilised):

• .gitea/workflows/doxygen-pages.yml — publishes Doxygen HTML + reviewer hub to the codeberg pages branch.
• .gitea/workflows/perf-compile-time.yml — Linux ARM64 compile-time benchmark.

Expected results: test-fast + quality-gates green on every push, 0 skipped, 0 failed. The canonical counts live in doc/api/tests.md — do not hardcode them anywhere else (see doc/release-policy.md).

Release state

Current release: v0.10.0 (tag on main, released 2026-05-26 — the "reviewer-ready" release). Phases 1–9a complete, Phase 8b-Lite CGAL API surface complete (all 5 DCE models reachable via <CGAL/Discrete_*.h>), Phase 9b block-FD HyperIdeal Hessian shipped (~96× speed-up). v0.10.0 added: 100 % Doxygen public-API coverage (396/396 symbols, 0 warnings), a 14-gate structural quality suite (4 required in CI), the reviewer materials package (doc/reviewer/), output_uv_map for 4 of 5 DCE entries, six new roadmap phases + three RESEARCH phases, and a six-mode compile-time workflow matrix. Numbers at release: 259/259 tests pass, 0 skipped (23 non-CGAL + 236 CGAL). Next planned milestones: Phase 9c (4g-polygon, genus g > 1) and Phase 9b-analytic (Schläfli identity). See doc/release-policy.md for the version-tag policy, CHANGELOG.md for full release notes, and doc/roadmap/phases.md for the phase plan.

Phase 8 CGAL-package decisions (frozen 2026-05-19)

Locked architecture choices — full design in doc/api/cgal-package.md, locked-vs-flexible split in doc/architecture/locked-vs-flexible.md: MIT license (no LGPL switch) · Named Parameters (CGAL::parameters::...) · default kernel Simple_cartesian<double> · dual-layer wrapper (code/include/*.hpp = implementation, include/CGAL/*.h = thin wrapper, no duplication) · target design is generic FaceGraph + HalfedgeGraph but ships Surface_mesh-only · upstream CGAL submission is pre-submission-ready, not bound (12+ month horizon). Phase 8 extensions (8a.2 generic FaceGraph, 8c manuals, 8d CGAL-format tests, 8e YAML pipeline) are deferred to on-demand.

Port-vs-research maintenance rule

Before claiming something "ports X from Java", verify empirically — if zero matches, it is new research (→ doc/roadmap/research-track.md with citations, not doc/roadmap/java-parity.md):

find /Users/tarikmoussa/Desktop/conformallab -iname "*X*"
grep -r "ClassName" /Users/tarikmoussa/Desktop/conformallab/src

The 2026-05-21 audit corrected four mis-labels (now fixed): InversiveDistanceFunctional, both HyperIdeal Hessians (FD + analytic), and the inversive-distance tutorial were all wrongly tagged "Java port" — they are research (no Java parent; Java declares hasHessian()==false). Details in research-track.md.

Java↔C++ math-correctness audit (2026-05-29)

Full line-by-line audit of all math-critical headers against de.varylab.discreteconformal.* lives in doc/reviewer/java-port-audit.md (read it before re-investigating any of these). All 11 findings are resolved or noted; the four that needed code changes are now ✅ FIXED and all CGAL tests pass (240 after the Euclidean holonomy/τ end-to-end tests + the spherical edge-DOF closed-form oracle landed on top — see doc/api/tests.md):

• Finding 3 (spherical_functional.hpp) — spherical edge-DOF now uses Java's replacement parameterization (Λ = λ_e when the edge is a DOF, via helper spher_eff_lambda); edge gradient is α_opp⁺ + α_opp⁻ − θ_e (dropped the extra −(S_f⁺+S_f⁻)/2 term). Vertex-only path is bit-for-bit unchanged.
• Finding 4 (spherical_hessian.hpp) — added an always-compiled throw std::logic_error edge-DOF guard (mirrors Finding 2 for Euclidean).
• Finding 6 (period_matrix.hpp) — compute_period_matrix now calls the faithful normalizeModulus (matches Java oracle: 0 ≤ Re ≤ ½, Im ≥ 0, |τ| ≥ 1); reduce_to_fundamental_domain retained for the canonical SL(2,ℤ) domain.
• Finding 9 (inversive_distance_functional.hpp) — degenerate-face gradient now uses limiting angles instead of skipping (mirrors Finding 1); the genuinely-non-real l*sq <= 0 skip is kept.

Open follow-ups (tests only, not bugs): the edge-DOF paths for Findings 3 & 4 are verified for compilation + the unchanged vertex-only case but not yet against a Java oracle at the solution level — missing-test items 4, 7, 10 in the audit doc (golden-value oracle tests, period-matrix sign-convention test, inversive-distance degenerate test). Build/test reminder: the CGAL build dir used for this audit is build-cgal at the repo root (not under code/), target conformallab_cgal_tests, filter ctest -R '^cgal\.'.

Documentation map

38 documents across 7 categories. Read the relevant one before reasoning from scratch — do not hallucinate content that is already written down.

Mathematics & theory

Question	Document
What problem does this library solve mathematically?	doc/math/discrete-conformal-theory.md
How do the three geometry modes differ (Euclidean/Spherical/HyperIdeal)?	doc/math/geometry-modes.md
What analytic invariants can be used to validate correctness?	doc/math/validation.md
What are the exact ctest commands with expected terminal output?	doc/math/validation-protocol.md
What is the O() complexity and how does it scale with mesh size?	doc/math/complexity.md
Which papers are referenced by which header?	doc/math/references.md
How does conformallab++ compare to libigl, CGAL, geometry-central, pmp-library?	doc/math/software-landscape.md
What is unique about conformallab++ (novelty, target audience)?	doc/math/novelty-statement.md

Architecture & design

Question	Document
Full pipeline diagram and data-flow overview	doc/architecture/overall_pipeline.md
Directory tree, build targets, file organisation	doc/architecture/project-structure.md
Key architectural decisions and their rationale	doc/architecture/design-decisions.md
Detailed comparison with geometry-central (CMU): overlap, adoption, scientific value	doc/architecture/geometry-central-comparison.md
Phase 9a validation report (CP-Euclidean port + Luo-inversive-distance literature check)	doc/architecture/phase-9a-validation.md
Compile-time measurements + six-mode workflow matrix (macOS-vs-Linux honesty notes)	doc/architecture/compile-time.md
Required vs optional dependencies + standalone-verification recipe	doc/architecture/dependencies.md
Which 12 architecture decisions are locked vs still flexible	doc/architecture/locked-vs-flexible.md

API & extension

Question	Document
All 24 public headers with descriptions	doc/api/headers.md
Full pipeline API for all three geometries	doc/api/pipeline.md
What does each processing unit require/provide (contracts)?	doc/api/contracts.md
How to add a new functional / geometry mode / port from Java	doc/api/extending.md
Per-suite breakdown and counts (single source of truth)	doc/api/tests.md
Phase 8 CGAL package design + Declarative YAML pipeline spec	doc/api/cgal-package.md

Concepts & specs

Question	Document
Declarative YAML pipeline: token vocabulary, 5 examples, validation algorithm	doc/concepts/declarative-pipeline.md

Roadmap & porting

Question	Document
Phases 1–10 with status and sub-tasks	doc/roadmap/phases.md
Which Java classes are ported, which are planned, which are skipped?	doc/roadmap/java-parity.md
New research items (beyond Java) — citations, acceptance criteria	doc/roadmap/research-track.md

Tutorials & onboarding

Question	Document
Build modes, single-test invocation, CLI, Docker image rebuild	doc/getting-started.md
Step-by-step: port the Inversive Distance functional (Phase 9a template)	doc/tutorials/add-inversive-distance.md
Language policy, test standards, release flow	doc/contributing.md
Versioning rules + release process + single-source-of-truth list	doc/release-policy.md

Reviewer materials (v0.10.0)

Question	Document
One-page reviewer briefing	doc/reviewer/briefing.md
Seven scoped reviewer questions (Q1–Q7)	doc/reviewer/questions.md
Internal meeting agenda	doc/reviewer/agenda.md
Reviewer landing index	doc/reviewer/README.md
Hand-curated reviewer landing page (HTML, source-of-truth for codeberg pages)	doc/reviewer/hub.html

The published hub lives at https://tmoussa.codeberg.page/ConformalLabpp/ (Doxygen index at /doxygen.html). See the "Codeberg pages" quirk below for how it is republished.

geometry-central context

geometry-central (Keenan Crane, CMU) implements the same discrete conformal equivalence problem (Gillespie, Springborn & Crane, SIGGRAPH 2021) but uses Ptolemaic flips on intrinsic triangulations instead of Newton on the original mesh. It has no period matrix, holonomy, or spherical geometry mode. The shared mathematical core (Springborn 2020) means cross-validation is meaningful. Full analysis: doc/architecture/geometry-central-comparison.md. Optional adoption roadmap (GC-1/2/3): doc/roadmap/phases.md (Optional section).

Agentic workflow patterns

Recommended loops when working in this repo. Prefer the cheapest gate that catches the class of error you just touched.

• Add/port an algorithm: new .hpp in code/include/ → test in code/tests/cgal/ (must include a gradient-check, see Test design patterns) → register in code/tests/cgal/CMakeLists.txt → build conformallab_cgal_tests → ctest -R "^cgal\.". Before claiming "ports X", run the empirical port-vs-research check above.
• Inner dev loop (fast iteration): -DCONFORMALLAB_DEV_BUILD=ON (PCH on, Unity off) for cheap incremental rebuilds; run a single suite via --gtest_filter. Switch back to the default (Unity on) for a final full build.
• Before any commit: run the four required gates locally — they mirror CI exactly and are seconds-cheap: bash scripts/quality/license-headers.sh, python3 scripts/quality/cgal-conventions.py, bash scripts/quality/codespell.sh, bash scripts/quality/shellcheck.sh --strict.
• Before tagging a release: also run the two now-un-gated structural gates (test-cgal is disabled in CI): BUILD_DIR=build bash scripts/check-test-counts.sh and bash scripts/try_it.sh. Update CHANGELOG.md, CITATION.cff, and the doc/api/tests.md counts (single source of truth).
• Touching public-API headers: rebuild Doxygen (cmake --build build --target doc) and re-check coverage (bash scripts/doxygen-coverage.sh --threshold 100); regenerate doc/api/headers.md via python3 scripts/gen-headers-md.py (or bash scripts/regen-docs.sh).
• Landing to main (origin is protected): branch → push to origin → open PR via gh/Gitea API → merge via API → also push codeberg/main directly → keep both remotes in sync.
• Republishing the reviewer hub: see the Codeberg pages quirk below — manual force-push of an orphan branch; verify the live URL with a cache-bust query.
• Delegation: this repo's heavy builds are slow on the ARM64 runner — when a task is genuinely parallelisable and independent, consider a background agent; otherwise handle inline. Always verify an agent's actual diff, not just its summary.
• settings.json: .claude/settings.json (committed) pre-allows the safe read/build/test/quality commands so they don't prompt, and denies destructive git on main. Extend the allowlist as new safe commands recur rather than re-approving each time.

Token hygiene — session-cut (Tier 1, highest impact)

Every turn re-sends the whole conversation, so context accumulation is the largest avoidable cost.

• One session per task. After a task is done, start a fresh session (/clear) instead of pivoting to an unrelated task in the same thread — the old task's context is dead weight in every later turn.
• Compact proactively at clean breakpoints. Run /compact <what matters> when a task finishes and before the next starts, rather than waiting for auto-compaction at the limit (which you don't control).
• Delegate read-heavy sweeps to a subagent. An Explore/Plan subagent reads large amounts in its context and returns a short summary — the bulk never enters the main context. Use it for "where is X used / what depends on Y"; for a known path, Read directly (a subagent starts cold and only pays off on a large search space).

Token hygiene — command discipline (Tier 2)

• Scope + filter together. Path-scope searches (grep -rn "newton_" code/include/, not repo-wide). Filter test output (ctest -R "cgal.NewtonSolver" --output-on-failure, or --gtest_filter for one suite) instead of dumping all 259 results.
• Never read raw logs into context. Redirect to a file, then grep/tail it. With run_in_background, read the output file selectively rather than pulling it whole.
• Don't re-read a file you just edited. Edit errors on stale state — the harness tracks it; a Read-back after a successful edit is wasted context.
• Reference by line number (newton_solver.hpp:147) instead of re-pasting code blocks.

Cache discipline (Tier 3) is a user-facing guide — see .claude/token-hygiene.md. Remind the user of the relevant Tier-3 rule when you observe the matching anti-pattern (mid-session CLAUDE.md edits, chained sub-5-minute waits, long multi-topic sessions).

Known quirks

• No GTEST_SKIP stubs remain (since v0.9.0): the three stale HDS-port stub files were removed because the CGAL test suite covers the same functionality with real tests. The pure-math conformallab_tests target now only contains active tests.
• Boost is header-only: CGAL 6.x uses only Boost headers (Boost.Config, Boost.Graph). No compiled Boost libraries are needed. find_package(Boost REQUIRED) only locates the include path.
• main branch is protected on origin (Gitea). Push to dev, then merge via pull request. Codeberg main can be pushed to directly.
• Both remotes must stay in sync: origin = git.eulernest.eu (CI runs here), codeberg = codeberg.org/TMoussa/ConformalLabpp (public mirror, SSH). Push to both after every significant change.
• Codeberg pages branch is an orphan publish target that serves the reviewer hub + Doxygen HTML at https://tmoussa.codeberg.page/ConformalLabpp/. Its source-of-truth is doc/reviewer/hub.html (installed as index.html) + a local Doxygen build (cmake --build build --target doc, demoted to /doxygen.html). Because the auto-publish workflow (doxygen-pages.yml) is on workflow_dispatch: only, the branch is not refreshed on normal pushes and has been accidentally lost during force-push/merge cleanups. To republish manually: build Doxygen, copy doc/doxygen/html/. into a scratch dir, mv index.html doxygen.html, copy hub.html → index.html, then git init -b pages && git commit && git push -f codeberg pages:pages. Codeberg pages caches for ~10 min (Cache-Control: max-age=600) — verify with a cache-busting ?cb=$(date +%s) query. Protect the branch in codeberg settings to prevent deletion (leave force-push allowed so CI/manual republish still works).
• Both main branches are independent for the pages cycle: origin/main is protected (PR-only); codeberg/main can be pushed directly.