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	8906
title	Preserve Functional Component Scroll State with Early ID Generation
state	Closed
labels	bugaicore
assignees	tobiu
createdAt	Jan 29, 2026, 3:04 PM
updatedAt	Jan 29, 2026, 4:06 PM
githubUrl	https://github.com/neomjs/neo/issues/8906
author	tobiu
commentsCount	1
parentIssue	null
subIssues	[]
subIssuesCompleted	0
subIssuesTotal	0
blockedBy	[]
blocking	[]
closedAt	Jan 29, 2026, 4:06 PM

Preserve Functional Component Scroll State with Early ID Generation

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

Closed v11.24.0 bugaicore

tobiu commented on Jan 29, 2026, 3:04 PM

Problem: Functional Components recreate their VDOM on every update. This wiped transient state stored on the VDOM object, such as scrollTop captured from the Main Thread via onScrollCapture. When VDom.syncVdomState ran, it sometimes overwrote valid scroll state with stale VNode state. Additionally, late ID generation caused state preservation logic to fail for child nodes because they lacked IDs during processing.

Solution:

Early VDOM Update & Root ID Assignment: In continueUpdateWithVdom, me.vdom is now updated with the new parsedVdom immediately. The root is then identified using me.getVdomRoot() and the component ID is assigned unconditionally and before ID generation. This ensures generateIds uses the correct scope prefix.
State Preservation with O(1) Lookup: processVdomForComponents now accepts a pre-calculated vnodeMap (flattened from me.vnode). It uses this map to preserve scrollTop/scrollLeft from the persistent VNode tree to the new VDOM tree efficiently.
Refactoring: The method continueUpdateWithVdom was refactored to support this new flow, removing redundant logic.

Verification:

New unit test test/playwright/unit/functional/ScrollState.spec.mjs verifies state preservation for root and child nodes.
Regression tests IdGeneration.spec.mjs and Button.spec.mjs passed.

tobiu added the bug label on Jan 29, 2026, 3:04 PM

tobiu added the ai label on Jan 29, 2026, 3:04 PM

tobiu added the core label on Jan 29, 2026, 3:04 PM

tobiu referenced in commit 4768c03 - "fix: Preserve Functional Component Scroll State with Early ID Generation (#8906)" on Jan 29, 2026, 4:03 PM

tobiu assigned to @tobiu on Jan 29, 2026, 4:05 PM

tobiu Jan 29, 2026, 4:05 PM

Input from Gemini 3 Pro:

✦ I have implemented the fix for preserving functional component scroll state.

Changes:

Early VDOM Update: continueUpdateWithVdom now updates me.vdom with the parsed VDOM before identifying the root and assigning IDs.

State Preservation: processVdomForComponents now accepts a vnodeMap (O(1) lookup) to efficiently copy scrollTop and scrollLeft from the persistent VNode to the new VDOM.

VdomLifecycle Hardening: Added a null check for me.vnode in syncVnodeTree to prevent crashes during initialization sequences where the vnode might not yet exist.

Tests: Added test/playwright/unit/functional/ScrollState.spec.mjs to verify state preservation for both root and child nodes. Verified against existing ID generation and Button tests.

The solution ensures that transient state like scroll position, which is captured from the main thread into the App Worker's VNode tree, is not lost when a Functional Component regenerates its VDOM structure.

tobiu closed this issue on Jan 29, 2026, 4:06 PM