KN-86 Research References

Sibling of: ../inspiration/ (feel) and ../prototype/ (build) Purpose: Implementation techniques, embedded-language pedagogy, Emacs-style keyboard philosophy, retro effects, and runtime patterns — the how-to-build-it reference layer.

This is the third sibling folder under the inspiration corpus. The split across the three folders:

inspiration/ — what the device should feel like: TUI apps, retro UI archetypes, aesthetic references, hardware silhouettes.
prototype/ — what to build it from: candidate application frameworks, single-purpose libraries, concrete hardware-build references (Pelican 1170 print models, QRPπ).
research/ (this folder) — how to build the parts that aren’t a framework choice: the rendering core’s design pattern (tuibox, termui), the embedded-language pedagogy (mal, BuildYourOwnLisp), the Emacs-derived keyboard-driven interaction philosophy (EXWM, webmacs, xiki, history.el, writeroom-mode), the signature retro effects (BOOTSTRA.386, no-more-secrets), and the runtime patterns (game-programming-patterns).

The boundary isn’t strict; every research entry also carries inspiration implications. But the navigation utility is: when you know what you want to build and need a reference for the algorithm or technique, look in research/.

Category	What’s in it	Files
`tech` — TUI libraries / rendering cores	Candidate code-level building blocks for the rendering layer; one entry is the bridge between embedded Lisp and a real terminal	termui, blessed-contrib, tuibox, cl-termbox2
`inspiration` — reference TUI apps	UX-pattern references with a runtime focus (filter expressions, compare/highlight, situational-awareness dashboards)	mop, nba-go, worldmonitor
`tech` — embedded language / “make a Lisp” core	The scripting/macro/extensibility layer KN-86 needs to look like in the Lisp dimension	mal, build-your-own-lisp, xiki
`inspiration` — Emacs / keyboard-driven philosophy	The interaction-model and extensibility doctrine	EXWM, webmacs, writeroom-mode, emacs-request, history.el, pallet
`inspiration` + `effect` — retro aesthetics & effects	Signature visual identity touches: theme + boot animation + reveal effect	BOOTSTRA.386, NES.css, no-more-secrets, loopy
`resource` — generators & books	Algorithmic / pattern references for runtime + content generation	terrain, game-programming-patterns, roro, terminals-are-sexy

Batch 8 — Deckline-core architecture references (2026-06-12)

Six research entries from the Batch 8 corpus, consolidated in ../synthesis-batch8-architecture.md (library shortlist verdict + libuv pattern-only). Canon: 128×75 per ADR-0027.

Category	What’s in it	Files
`tech` — TUI component-model / library	The Ink component model evaluated as an optional internal Fe library (box-composition combinators, focus management, component memoization) — never the cart-facing substrate	ink, ink-web
`architecture` — library shortlist verdict	The C/C++/Rust TUI-field evaluation; verdict: adopt no library beyond termbox2, borrow the cavacore core/render split by name	tui-library-shortlist
`tech` — structured-log query engine	Parse/query engine whose filter mini-language reduces to “a predicate over a row” — which Fe provides for free (`(filter (lambda (row) …) rows)`)	loglens-core
`research` — event-loop substrate (A5)	libuv evaluated as KN-86’s C-level event loop; verdict: pattern-only, do not link (termbox2 already owns the loop; realtime is on the Pico 2)	libuv
`resource` — discovery index	Curated index of TUIs — a corpus-discovery surface for future captures	awesome-tuis

Synthesis pointer

The full consolidated KN-86 build brief — including the rendering-core decision, the scriptability recommendation, the interaction-model synthesis, the aesthetics/polish recommendations, and the runtime-patterns guidance — lives in the inspiration index. This folder is the source material for that brief; the brief is where the recommendations land.

Folder structure

research/
├── index.md                    ← this file
├── termui.md
├── blessed-contrib.md
├── tuibox.md
├── cl-termbox2.md
├── mop.md
├── nba-go.md
├── worldmonitor.md
├── mal.md
├── build-your-own-lisp.md
├── xiki.md
├── exwm.md
├── webmacs.md
├── writeroom-mode.md
├── emacs-request.md
├── history-el.md
├── pallet.md
├── bootstra386.md
├── nes-css.md
├── no-more-secrets.md
├── loopy.md
├── terrain.md
├── game-programming-patterns.md
├── roro.md
├── terminals-are-sexy.md
├── ink.md                      ← Batch 8
├── ink-web.md                  ← Batch 8
├── tui-library-shortlist.md    ← Batch 8
├── loglens-core.md             ← Batch 8
├── libuv.md                    ← Batch 8
├── awesome-tuis.md             ← Batch 8
└── screenshots/
    └── bootstra386.jpg

License notes (read before vendoring anything)

The research corpus pulls from projects under a range of licenses. None of these are vendored or directly included in KN-86 source. The references are pattern-level, algorithm-level, or architectural — not code-dependency-level. License gates worth being explicit about:

AGPL (worldmonitor) — copyleft with network-use trigger. No vendoring, no derivative inclusion. Pattern references only.
GPL v3 (EXWM, webmacs, writeroom-mode, emacs-request, history.el, pallet, no-more-secrets) — copyleft. No vendoring. Reimplement patterns from first principles.
CC-BY-NC-SA (BuildYourOwnLisp book prose; code under BSD-3) — non-commercial book text. Cite/link, do not reproduce passages.
MIT / BSD / MPL / Public Domain — usable freely if there’s ever cause. Most of the corpus is in this category.

The full per-entry license info is in each file.