From c480276a978ecb8675c7a8b57ed5f59388a12d7d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Duncan Tourolle <duncan@tourolle.paris>
Date: Tue, 11 Aug 2026 20:41:50 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] docs(spec): native video confirmed working on device
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The spike's central question — can a SurfaceView be composited behind a
transparent Tauri WebView on Android — is answered yes, verified on a physical
device. No upstream issue blocked it and none demonstrated it; this appears to
be the first working instance.

Marks DR-148 done behind the flag and records what is confirmed versus what is
still open: playback and positioning are verified, but the individual native
controls (seek, audio-track, subtitle), the mini-player transition, and the
MediaCodec hardware-decode claim are not yet each measured. The mini-player
transition is called out as the known gap, since it is the one case where the
fullscreen assumption behind "no rect plumbing needed" does not hold.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
 docs/requirements.md                     |  2 +-
 docs/specs/android-native-video-spike.md | 27 +++++++++++++++++-------
 docs/traceability.md                     |  2 +-
 3 files changed, 21 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)

diff --git a/docs/requirements.md b/docs/requirements.md
index 6a2b7bc1..d49dd3e8 100644
--- a/docs/requirements.md
+++ b/docs/requirements.md
@@ -312,7 +312,7 @@ Internal architecture, components, and application logic.
 | DR-146 | The no-audio-track fallback picks a track the renderer can actually play. When ExoPlayer selected no audio track, the recovery forced group 0 / track 0 unconditionally — but the most likely reason nothing was selected is that this very track cannot be decoded on this device, so the override reinstated the silence it was meant to fix. It now scans the groups for the first `isTrackSupported` track and overrides to that, and clears `setTrackTypeDisabled(TRACK_TYPE_AUDIO)` because audio may equally have been off at the type level, which an override alone does not undo. When no group holds a supported track the condition is logged as an error — the server was expected to transcode — rather than leaving a silent video with no explanation in the log | Playback | UR-004 | Done |
 | DR-148 | The video direct-play profile advertises only what the **webview** can decode. The audio codec list comes from `MediaCodecList`, which describes ExoPlayer — but video does not play through ExoPlayer on either platform: Android force-renders every video in the webview `<video>` element (the interim override in `VideoPlayer.svelte`, because the native SurfaceView sits behind an opaque webview) and Linux always has. Chromium and WebKit decode a far narrower set than the platform does, and the gap is widest on devices whose vendor licenses Dolby: a phone shipping `/vendor/etc/media_codecs_dolby_audio.xml` reports `ac3,eac3`, so Jellyfin direct-played an E-AC-3 track with `static=true` and the webview built a video decoder and no audio decoder at all — full picture, no sound. The defect is triggered by *capability*, not the lack of it, which is why it reproduced on one Motorola while a Fairphone and an Honor tablet played the same file on the same build: a device without the Dolby decoder never claims the codec, so the server transcodes to AAC and it plays. `video_audio_codecs` narrows the platform list to the webview-decodable set (`aac,mp3,opus,vorbis,flac`) for the video direct-play profile *only* — the audio-only profile keeps the full list, since that playback really is the native player's and narrowing it would transcode music that plays perfectly well. A list with nothing decodable still claims `aac` rather than going out empty, because a profile that claims nothing invites the server to give up instead of transcoding. The video codec list is deliberately untouched: HEVC direct-plays through the webview correctly, so the constraint is specific to audio | Playback | UR-004 | Done |
 | DR-149 | The client decides whether its own renderer can decode the audio, rather than trusting the server's negotiation. Advertising a webview-shaped profile (DR-148) turned out to be necessary but not sufficient: Jellyfin 10.11.5 enforces a `DirectPlayProfile`'s `Container` and `VideoCodec` — excluding either returns `SupportsDirectPlay: false` with `TranscodeReasons=ContainerNotSupported` / `VideoCodecNotSupported` — but **ignores its `AudioCodec`**, offering an E-AC-3 track for direct play against a profile listing only `aac,flac,mp3,opus,vorbis`. Neither a `VideoAudio` `CodecProfile` forbidding the codec nor a `MaxAudioChannels: 2` against a 6-channel track changes the answer, so no profile the client can send fixes it and the picture plays silent. The negotiated source's audio is therefore checked locally against what the webview decodes, and an undecodable track forces the existing h264/aac HLS transcode URL regardless of the server saying direct play is fine — `direct_play` and `needs_transcoding` are corrected to match, so the frontend and the reporting path agree with the URL actually used. The track judged is the one the server would serve: the default, or the first when nothing is marked default, since a supported track further down the list is not the one that plays. A source with no audio streams, or a stream whose codec the server did not name, is left alone — forcing a transcode on a guess spends server CPU on files that already play | Playback | UR-004 | Done |
-| DR-150 | Android video renders on the native ExoPlayer surface behind a transparent WebView, behind the `experimentalNativeVideo` opt-in. Rust already reported `use_html5_element: false` on Android, but two frontend overrides discarded it — `createAdapter()` hardcoded `"html5"`, and `VideoPlayer.svelte` forced `useHtml5Element = true` and stopped the native backend `player_play_item` had just started. The flag is a **suppressor, never a promoter**: off forces HTML5 even where Rust says native, so an in-progress spike cannot ship as the default, but it can never select native where Rust reported HTML5 (Linux cannot composite behind WebKitGTK, so promoting there is a black screen). Compositing requires clearing two independent opaque layers, and clearing only one leaves audio over a black picture — the WebView widget background and window drawable from Kotlin (`AndroidVideoSurface.setTransparent`), and the page's `html`/`body` and app-shell background from CSS (`data-native-video`). Transparency is declared in `tauri.android.conf.json` rather than the base config, because a transparent window on Linux has nothing behind it, and is toggled per playback session rather than set once, because a permanently transparent window shows the launcher through the rest of the app | Playback | UR-003, UR-004 | In Progress |
+| DR-150 | Android video renders on the native ExoPlayer surface behind a transparent WebView, behind the `experimentalNativeVideo` opt-in. Rust already reported `use_html5_element: false` on Android, but two frontend overrides discarded it — `createAdapter()` hardcoded `"html5"`, and `VideoPlayer.svelte` forced `useHtml5Element = true` and stopped the native backend `player_play_item` had just started. The flag is a **suppressor, never a promoter**: off forces HTML5 even where Rust says native, so an in-progress spike cannot ship as the default, but it can never select native where Rust reported HTML5 (Linux cannot composite behind WebKitGTK, so promoting there is a black screen). Compositing requires clearing two independent opaque layers, and clearing only one leaves audio over a black picture — the WebView widget background and window drawable from Kotlin (`AndroidVideoSurface.setTransparent`), and the page's `html`/`body` and app-shell background from CSS (`data-native-video`). Transparency is declared in `tauri.android.conf.json` rather than the base config, because a transparent window on Linux has nothing behind it, and is toggled per playback session rather than set once, because a permanently transparent window shows the launcher through the rest of the app | Playback | UR-003, UR-004 | Done (behind `experimentalNativeVideo`, default off) |
 | DR-151 | The player's video SurfaceView actually reaches the view hierarchy. `JellyTauPlayer.setActivity()` had zero callers, so `currentActivity` was always null and `autoAttachSurface()` returned at "Cannot attach surface - no Activity reference". The surface was created and handed to ExoPlayer but never added to the content view, so native video decoded to a surface that was never on screen — independent of any webview transparency. `MainActivity.onCreate` now supplies the reference, which also revives PiP on the video path: `canEnterPip()` gates on `isVideoSurfaceAttached()`, which had been permanently false | Playback | UR-003, UR-041 | Done |
 | DR-152 | Platform playback facilities are reported by Rust, not sniffed from the user agent. `webviewAudio.ts` re-derived "does this platform have a native audio backend" by matching `navigator.userAgent` against `android`/`linux` — a second copy of the `cfg!` gate the backends are compiled under, free to drift from it. `player_get_capabilities` now returns `usesWebviewAudio` and `supportsNativeVideo` from the same cfg gates, and the frontend consumes them; the settings toggle for native video is hidden entirely where the platform cannot support it | Player | UR-003, UR-005 | Done |
 | DR-143 | Flipping the offline downloaded-only gate actually re-queries the listing. The gate (DR-078) is a process-wide flag in Rust consulted only *while a query runs*, but no library surface re-queried when its inputs changed: `useServerReachabilityReload` fires only on the offline → **online** transition, and `GenericMediaListPage`, `GenericGenreBrowser` and the favourites page never even called its `checkServerReachability`. So going offline left the full server catalog on screen under a now-closed gate, and toggling "Show all server media" only greyed cards — `MediaCard.isServerOnly` is a pure frontend derivation that updates instantly — without adding or removing a single row. The filter therefore read as "shows everything until I filter, then greys some of it" while the backend gate was correct and simply never exercised. `catalogFilterVersion` is the refetch signal: `pushCatalogVisibility` now awaits `set_show_server_catalog` and bumps the version only **after** the backend accepts the new flag, since a reload racing the push would re-query under the old gate and undo itself. A failed push clears `lastIncludeCatalog` instead of latching it, so the next identical transition is retried rather than skipped as a no-op and left permanently disagreeing with the backend. `useOfflineFilterReload` subscribes pages to that signal, skipping the value they already loaded under; it is wired into both generic list components and the movies/music/tv/favourites landing pages and the `/library/[id]` detail page | UI | UR-052 | Done |
diff --git a/docs/specs/android-native-video-spike.md b/docs/specs/android-native-video-spike.md
index 4120103d..9b1f30df 100644
--- a/docs/specs/android-native-video-spike.md
+++ b/docs/specs/android-native-video-spike.md
@@ -1,7 +1,14 @@
 # Spec: Android native video — transparent-webview spike
 
-**Status:** In progress — implemented behind `experimentalNativeVideo`, pending
-on-device confirmation. Branch `feat/android-native-video`.
+**Status:** Spike succeeded — native video confirmed working on a physical
+device (2026-08-11) with `experimentalNativeVideo` on. Shipped behind that flag,
+default off. Branch `feat/android-native-video`.
+
+**The spike's central question is answered: yes.** A `SurfaceView` *can* be
+composited behind a transparent Tauri WebView on Android. Nothing upstream
+blocked it and nothing upstream demonstrated it — this is, as far as the issue
+trackers show, the first working instance. The remaining flag is about test
+coverage and the unverified cases below, not about viability.
 **Requirements:** IR-004, UR-003, UR-004 → DR-001, DR-023, DR-024
 **UX spec:** n/a — no intended visual change; the video surface must land exactly where the `<video>` element is today
 **Supersedes / revises:** acts on finding 2 of [playback-backend-unification.md](playback-backend-unification.md)
@@ -175,9 +182,12 @@ is handled by an `OnLayoutChangeListener` that re-fits on any bounds change. The
 frontend's native branch is a bare `flex-1` box, so there is no rect to report
 and nothing to keep in sync.
 
-This does mean **the mini-player transition is untested** for the native path —
-it is the one case the fullscreen assumption does not cover, and it remains an
-on-device check.
+Fullscreen playback is confirmed working on device. But this reasoning rests
+entirely on the fullscreen assumption, so **the mini-player transition is the
+known gap** — it is the one case where the surface is *not* fullscreen, and
+therefore the one case where the "no rect plumbing needed" conclusion could
+still turn out to be wrong. If artefacts appear there, the fix is the rect
+reporting this section originally proposed, scoped to that transition alone.
 
 ### A trap for the next implementer
 
@@ -212,9 +222,10 @@ The spike is **complete** when one of these is true:
 - [x] Transparent WebView confirmed working on a physical device (reported by the maintainer; the config that enables it is now committed in `tauri.android.conf.json`).
 - [x] `experimentalNativeVideo` off → behaviour byte-identical to today. Guarded by `adapterSelection.test.ts`, which asserts the flag-off case forces HTML5 even when Rust reports native.
 - [x] `webviewAudio.ts` no longer inspects `navigator.userAgent`; the platform's audio backend is read from Rust (`player_get_capabilities` → `usesWebviewAudio`).
-- [ ] `experimentalNativeVideo` on → video plays via ExoPlayer/MediaCodec, correctly positioned, with working seek, audio-track switch, and subtitle selection through the existing `PlayerAdapter` contract.
-- [ ] No artefacts on rotation, background/foreground, or mini-player transition.
-- [ ] `adb shell dumpsys media.metrics` (or logcat) confirms a hardware decoder is in use.
+- [x] `experimentalNativeVideo` on → video plays via ExoPlayer, correctly positioned, on a physical device (2026-08-11). The surface reaches the hierarchy and is visible through the transparent WebView — the whole point of the spike.
+- [ ] Seek, audio-track switch and subtitle selection exercised through `NativePlayerAdapter`. Playback is confirmed; these individual controls are not yet each verified on the native path.
+- [ ] No artefacts on rotation, background/foreground, or **mini-player transition** — the last is the one case the fullscreen assumption does not cover, so it is the likeliest place to find a problem.
+- [ ] `adb shell dumpsys media.metrics` (or logcat) confirms a hardware decoder is in use. Plausible but unmeasured — do not claim the MediaCodec win until this is read.
 - [ ] Measured battery/thermal or CPU improvement over the HTML5 path on the same clip.
 
 **Failure path**
diff --git a/docs/traceability.md b/docs/traceability.md
index e2302b68..bce4bcef 100644
--- a/docs/traceability.md
+++ b/docs/traceability.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Code Traceability Matrix
 
-**Generated:** 8/11/2026, 6:51:55 PM
+**Generated:** 8/11/2026, 6:53:36 PM
 
 ## Summary