[feature] interactive TUI (synapto[tui]) — REPL with browse, search, approve

[ramonlimaramos]

Problem

synapto search from the terminal is fine for one-shot queries, but daily memory hygiene (browsing recent additions, approving consolidations, fixing trust) requires switching to psql or the future web UI. devs who live in the terminal want a TUI. competitor byterover-cli proved this with their React/Ink TUI — it is what makes brv feel like a daily-driver tool, not a library.

Proposed Solution

opt-in TUI shipped as synapto[tui] extra (not default — keep base install lean).

tech

• Textual (rich TUI, async-native, mouse + keyboard)
• launched via synapto (no args) when extra is installed; falls back to current REPL otherwise

views

view	keys	purpose
dashboard	(default)	recent memories, decay alerts, pending consolidations
search	/	incremental hybrid search, preview pane shows full content + entities
graph	g	ascii-rendered entity neighborhood; arrow keys to walk
review queue	r	approve/reject pending consolidations, contradictions
trust	t (on selected)	thumbs up/down on the focused memory
forget	x (with confirm)	soft-delete

why textual specifically

• async-native — fits existing codebase
• ssh-safe (works over remote terminals)
• doesn't compete with web UI; complements it (some devs prefer terminal)

Trade-offs

• scope overlap with web UI (P1.1 issue): TUI = terminal-native, daily-driver. webui = visual graph, sharing screenshots. both are valid.
• maintenance: two UIs. mitigation: shared service layer (both consume the same query/mutation API).
• dependency weight: textual is ~5MB. mitigated via extra (pip install synapto[tui]).

Out of scope

• tmux pane management
• vim-mode keybindings (use textual defaults)

Success criteria

• pip install synapto[tui] && synapto opens dashboard
• 100% functionality reachable without leaving keyboard
• works over SSH on a 80x24 terminal

References

• byterover TUI: React/Ink in src/tui/ — proves the pattern