A settings proposal reads at a glance, its values whole where the sender is proven (issues 383 and 639)

The operator could not read the settings proposals on the phone: the change, the fingerprint and a how-to
paragraph in one wall of plain text, and the values masked as ‹path› and ‹address›, so the approval was
blind.

The ask is now a summary of what changes where ("Changes 3 setting(s) of mounts on shanks; approved, the
layer is set at once and shanks takes it at its next push."), then at most three points, one key each (more
keys: the first two and the names of the rest). Who proposed it, the fingerprint and how to read it whole
are its Details, which the router notes after the answers. The change is carried twice: under the content
rule, and whole (asks.Ask.Whole), shown only on a channel that proves who answers, a value shaped like a
secret withheld in both (from the earlier work on issue 383, #202).

Vendors mesh-sdk at 9588871 (fix/639-an-ask-reads-at-a-glance: Message.Note, asks.Glance), and captures its
conformance events at that commit.

vendor/git.novox.be/novox/mesh-sdk/go/asks/asks.go

@@ -202,11 +202,55 @@ type Ask struct {
 	// The asker withholds a value shaped like a secret in it, and the router refuses the ask when one is left;
 	// Explanation stays under the whole content rule everywhere else. Empty, Explanation is shown everywhere.
 	Whole string `json:"whole,omitempty"`
-	// Details is what the Details answer on the ask's message shows, line by line under the content rule: a
-	// fingerprint, how to read the proposal whole at the terminal. Empty, an ask's own message offers no Details.
+	// Details are the ask's secondary words, line by line under the content rule: who proposed it, a
+	// fingerprint, how to read it whole. The router shows them in the note of the ask's own message
+	// (Message.Note), after what the ask's options do and when it expires — never in its body (novox/hq
+	// issue 639).
 	Details string `json:"details,omitempty"`
 }
 
+// What an ask's explanation is held to, so it reads at a glance on a phone (novox/hq issue 639): a summary
+// of two or three short sentences on its first line — what changes, why, what it costs or risks — then at
+// most three points, a line each, only where they add something. Whole is held to the same. Who asked, when,
+// the fingerprint and how to read it whole are Details, never the explanation.
+const (
+	SummaryLength = 300
+	MostPoints    = 3
+	PointLength   = 160
+)
+
+// Glance says why an explanation does not read at a glance, or nil: its first line, the summary, longer than
+// SummaryLength; more than MostPoints lines after it; a point longer than PointLength. Blank lines are not
+// counted. An asker holds its asks to it in its own tests; the router says, without refusing, an ask that
+// does not hold to it.
+func Glance(explanation string) error {
+	var lines []string
+	for _, l := range strings.Split(explanation, "\n") {
+		if strings.TrimSpace(l) != "" {
+			lines = append(lines, strings.TrimSpace(l))
+		}
+	}
+	var problems []string
+	switch {
+	case len(lines) == 0:
+		problems = append(problems, "it has no summary")
+	case len([]rune(lines[0])) > SummaryLength:
+		problems = append(problems, fmt.Sprintf("its summary is %d characters, more than %d", len([]rune(lines[0])), SummaryLength))
+	}
+	if len(lines) > 1+MostPoints {
+		problems = append(problems, fmt.Sprintf("it has %d points after its summary, more than %d", len(lines)-1, MostPoints))
+	}
+	for i, l := range lines {
+		if i > 0 && len([]rune(l)) > PointLength {
+			problems = append(problems, fmt.Sprintf("its point %d is %d characters, more than %d", i, len([]rune(l)), PointLength))
+		}
+	}
+	if len(problems) > 0 {
+		return errors.New("the explanation does not read at a glance: " + strings.Join(problems, "; "))
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
 // The bounds of an ask (novox/hq ADR 0234 §8, ADR 0259 §4).
 const (
 	MostOptions    = 4
@@ -435,8 +479,12 @@ type Message struct {
 	Title   string   `json:"title"`
 	Body    string   `json:"body"`
 	Buttons []Button `json:"buttons,omitempty"`
-	Urgent  bool     `json:"urgent,omitempty"`
-	Silent  bool     `json:"silent,omitempty"`
+	// Note is the message's secondary words, after its body and its buttons: who asked and when, what each
+	// answer does, when it expires, and the ask's Details. A channel shows it smaller, collapsed or set apart
+	// where it can, and after the body where it cannot; it is never left out (novox/hq issue 639).
+	Note   string `json:"note,omitempty"`
+	Urgent bool   `json:"urgent,omitempty"`
+	Silent bool   `json:"silent,omitempty"`
 	// Reply is the Choice or LinkAsked this answers, by its ID: the channel shows it where that was made.
 	Reply string `json:"reply,omitempty"`
 	// To is the account linked as the operator on this kind, for a channel that verifies its sender: where

vendor/modules.txt

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# git.novox.be/novox/mesh-sdk/go v0.1.14-0.20261010191001-33917f91ac3c
+# git.novox.be/novox/mesh-sdk/go v0.1.14-0.20261013141520-9588871d6629
 ## explicit; go 1.22
 git.novox.be/novox/mesh-sdk/go/asks
 # github.com/antithesishq/antithesis-sdk-go v0.7.0-default-no-op