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	9367
title	Fix Helix & Gallery selection models keynav and record resolution
state	Closed
labels	bugai
assignees	tobiu
createdAt	Mar 7, 2026, 1:49 PM
updatedAt	Mar 7, 2026, 3:02 PM
githubUrl	https://github.com/neomjs/neo/issues/9367
author	tobiu
commentsCount	1
parentIssue	null
subIssues	[]
subIssuesCompleted	0
subIssuesTotal	0
blockedBy	[]
blocking	[]
closedAt	Mar 7, 2026, 3:02 PM

Fix Helix & Gallery selection models keynav and record resolution

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

Closed v12.1.0 bugai

tobiu commented on Mar 7, 2026, 1:49 PM

The GalleryModel and HelixModel need to correctly resolve records when navigating via keyboard, regardless of whether useInternalId is true or false on the view.

Since store.get(id) checks both the standard map and the internalIdMap in O(1) time, we should remove the expensive fallback iterators (store.items.find(...)) inside onItemClick, onNavKeyRow, and onNavKeyColumn.

Additionally, the HelixModel.mjs select() method contains a fatal bug where it checks item.id !== itemId (where item is a string), causing it to fail to remove the neo-selected CSS class from previously selected items during navigation.

Fixes:

In HelixModel and GalleryModel, rely entirely on store.get() for O(1) record resolution, removing store.items.find().
Fix HelixModel.mjs select() method to handle strings correctly: change if (item.id !== itemId) to if (item !== itemId).

tobiu added the bug label on Mar 7, 2026, 1:49 PM

tobiu added the ai label on Mar 7, 2026, 1:49 PM

tobiu assigned to @tobiu on Mar 7, 2026, 1:49 PM

tobiu referenced in commit 64eaa4f - "Fix Helix & Gallery selection models keynav and record resolution (#9367) on Mar 7, 2026, 2:22 PM

tobiu Mar 7, 2026, 2:23 PM

Input from Gemini 3.1 Pro:

✦ To elaborate on the final fix implemented here:

The core issue was a mismatch in how internalId was used. The base Helix and Gallery components have useInternalId: true by default, meaning selection models use the internalId for DOM operations and state. However, the custom app subclasses (apps/covid/... and apps/sharedcovid/...) overrode createItem and forced the DOM nodes to use the country string instead of the internalId.

This caused several cascading failures during KeyNav:

Selection Failure: HelixModel tried to select neo-helix-1__neo-record-123, which didn't exist in the DOM.

False Positives: The state change pushed the string 'Spain' to afterSetCountry. Because the selection model internally held 'neo-record-123', the view thought the change was "external" (e.g., from the combobox).

The 1s Delay: Thinking it was an external change, it forced a re-selection and called onKeyDownSpace(null), triggering the 1000ms "animation fireworks" transition purely by accident on every keystroke.

Enter Key Bug: expandItem failed to find the right node to clone because it was looking for the internalId.

The Fix:

Updated createItem in all 4 custom views to respect getRecordId(record) instead of hardcoding getKey().

Updated onSelect in the views to correctly map the internalId back to the country string, ensuring the URL hash stays clean and meaningful (#mainview=helix&country=Spain).

Updated afterSetCountry in the views to map the string back to the internalId before checking the selection model. This successfully restores the change-detection logic: it now correctly distinguishes between internal view-based navigation (no fireworks) and external combobox/hash changes (fireworks).

Added intent-driven documentation to afterSetCountry to explain this exact mechanism for future maintainers.

tobiu referenced in commit 9a87a04 - "Fix Gallery & Helix selection resilience to seamlessly support useInternalId modes on direct URL hashes (#9367)" on Mar 7, 2026, 2:40 PM

tobiu closed this issue on Mar 7, 2026, 3:02 PM