What is the 'Neural Link'?

The Neural Link is a bi-directional bridge that connects AI agents (like Gemini or Claude) directly to the Neo.mjs runtime. It allows agents to 'see' the application's Scene Graph, inspect component state, verify event listeners, and even mutate the running application in real-time. This turns the application into a 'glass box' for AI, enabling autonomous debugging and feature development.

Why is Neo.mjs called an 'Application Engine' instead of a framework?

Traditional frameworks are general-purpose libraries (like a Toyota) that help you organize code, but they compile away into ephemeral DOM nodes. Neo.mjs is a precision-engineered runtime (like an F1 car), similar to Unreal Engine for games. It maintains a persistent 'Scene Graph' of objects in a separate worker thread. These objects retain their identity, state, and relationships, allowing for advanced capabilities like multi-window orchestration, runtime permutation, and deep AI introspection that are impossible with 'melted plastic' DOM-based frameworks.

What is 'Context Engineering'?

Context Engineering is the practice of curating the environment and information flow for AI agents to maximize their autonomy. In Neo.mjs, this is implemented via three Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers: a Knowledge Base for semantic code understanding, a Memory Core for learning from past sessions, and a GitHub Workflow server for project management. This ecosystem allows agents to work as fully integrated members of the development team.

What is 'Object Permanence' in the context of Neo.mjs?

In Neo.mjs, UI components are persistent JavaScript objects living in the App Worker, not just transient rendering results. This 'Object Permanence' means a component (like a Dashboard) maintains its state (scroll position, user input, internal logic) even if it is detached from the DOM or moved to a different browser window. This is the 'Lego Technic' approach versus the 'Duplo' approach of traditional frameworks.

What is an 'Agent Operating System'?

Neo.mjs v11 introduced the concept of an Agent OS, where the platform itself provides the tools and interfaces for AI agents to operate. It combines a standalone, type-safe AI SDK for autonomous 'Code Execution' with the Neural Link for runtime control. This enables agents to monitor, debug, and heal the application autonomously, effectively acting as an operating system for synthetic intelligence.

How does Neo.mjs handle multi-window applications?

Neo.mjs uses shared web workers to run a single application instance across multiple browser windows. All windows share the same application state and data in real-time. Components can even move between windows while retaining their JavaScript instances. This enables desktop-class experiences like multi-window IDEs, browser-based email clients, and multi-screen control rooms.

What makes Neo.mjs different from React, Angular, or Vue?

Neo.mjs is fundamentally different in its architecture: (1) It uses True Multithreading via web workers to prevent UI jank, (2) It is an AI-Native Application Engine with built-in bridges for AI collaboration, and (3) It treats components as persistent objects in a Scene Graph, enabling native multi-window support and runtime permutation.

Frontmatter

id	8595
title	Investigate TreeList Chimera VDOM Corruption (Handover)
state	Closed
labels	bugai
assignees	tobiu
createdAt	Jan 13, 2026, 1:47 PM
updatedAt	Jan 13, 2026, 2:08 PM
githubUrl	https://github.com/neomjs/neo/issues/8595
author	tobiu
commentsCount	1
parentIssue	null
subIssues	[]
subIssuesCompleted	0
subIssuesTotal	0
blockedBy	[]
blocking	[]
closedAt	Jan 13, 2026, 2:08 PM

Investigate TreeList Chimera VDOM Corruption (Handover)

Name: Neo.mjs Application Engine
Author: Neo.mjs

Closed v11.21.0 bugai

tobiu commented on Jan 13, 2026, 1:47 PM

Current State:

Fixed: Sticky header behavior (missing styles in expandParents), horizontal scrolling (added inline: 'start'), header bold styling (SCSS), getListItemsRoot robustness.
Unresolved: "Chimera" bug where a folder LI appears to merge with its children UL (the UL acquires the LI's ID and styles, causing layout breakage).
Tested: Unit tests (TreeList.spec.mjs, TreeListRaceTest.spec.mjs) confirm that standard expansion and store-update race conditions do not reproduce the Chimera structure in isolation.

Hypothesis: The issue likely involves complex VDOM patching interactions or race conditions not yet simulated in unit tests, possibly involving waitForDomRect timing or multiple interleaved updates in the real App Worker environment.

Next Steps for Investigation:

Log App Worker Updates: Instrument Neo.currentWorker.promiseMessage or update() in src/tree/List.mjs to log the exact VDOM structure being sent to the VDOM worker during the expansion sequence.
Log Main Thread Deltas: Monitor the delta stream arriving at the Main Thread to see if the "Chimera" structure (UL with LI ID) is present in the applied deltas.
Neural Link Inspection: Use the Neural Link tools (inspect_component_render_tree) in the next session to inspect the live application state when the bug occurs.
Review VDOM Engine: If the App Worker sends correct VDOM but Main Thread applies Chimera, investigate vdom.Helper or DomApi patching logic for specific edge cases involving sibling tag changes or ID reuse (though improbable).

tobiu added the bug label on Jan 13, 2026, 1:47 PM

tobiu added the ai label on Jan 13, 2026, 1:47 PM

tobiu assigned to @tobiu on Jan 13, 2026, 1:47 PM

tobiu referenced in commit 294c372 - "fix: Assign deterministic IDs to TreeList UL containers to prevent Chimera VDOM corruption (#8595)" on Jan 13, 2026, 2:06 PM

tobiu Jan 13, 2026, 2:07 PM

Input from Gemini 3 Pro:

✦ I have identified and fixed the root cause of the "Chimera" VDOM corruption.

Root Cause Analysis: The UL container used to group child items in Neo.tree.List was created without an explicit ID. This made it vulnerable during rapid state changes (e.g., expanding a folder while scrolling/loading).

When a folder expands, the UL transitions from removeDom: true (hidden/filtered out) to removeDom: false (visible).

In a race condition, the App Worker VDOM reflects the new state (visible UL), but an incoming VNode update from the VDOM Worker (based on the previous hidden state) aligns the UL in the local VDOM with the next LI in the incoming VNode.

Neo.util.VDom.syncVdomState attempts to sync IDs. Since the UL had no ID, and the aligned LI node did, the utility erroneously copied the LI's ID onto the UL.

This resulted in a "Chimera" node: a UL tag bearing the ID of a sibling LI, causing stylesheets and logic to misidentify the container as an item.

Fix: I have modified src/tree/List.mjs to assign a deterministic ID (parentId + '__ul') to every child container UL. This prevents syncVdomState from overwriting the ID during misalignment, effectively creating a shield against this class of race condition.

Verification:

Added a new test case in test/playwright/unit/tree/ListRaceCondition.spec.mjs verifying that UL containers now possess the correct, deterministic IDs.

Confirmed that standard expansion tests still pass.

The fix has been pushed to dev.

tobiu closed this issue on Jan 13, 2026, 2:08 PM

tobiu cross-referenced by #8596 on Jan 13, 2026, 2:11 PM