[ashtonanderson]

Seventh round: /play shows its setup dialog at first paint, and a game appears the moment you choose a side. Stacked on #328 (claude/perf-round-6); this PR's base is that branch. Details are in LOADING.md ("Round 7").

Changes

• The setup dialog is in /play's server HTML (b04ed0c).
  • /play used to draw nothing until the app had loaded, the router was ready and the dialog's code (a dynamic import in ModalContext) had arrived. Now /play renders the dialog itself, on the server too.
  • It appears without the fade and slide it has when a button opens it (ModalContainer's animateIn).
  • Until the app has started, the dialog ignores taps (pointer-events). A choice made before then would show on screen but not be used.
  • A URL with settings (a challenge, a position to continue from) hides the server's default dialog until the app has read the URL, as before.
• The game appears at once (30d4a55).
  • After you choose a side, /play/maia used to show nothing while play/start_game created the game (~0.6 s on the backend).
  • Now it shows the game straight away, with the board at the starting position.
  • Your moves and their logging wait for the game's id (usePlayController, useVsMaiaController). Maia's moves already did, and the clocks start with the first move, as before.
  • A new game (Play again) gets a new PlayMaia (gameKey) instead of PlayControllerContext's key on the id.
• start_game is sent as you choose (f3d1b7a).
  • With the game drawn at once, the request was only sent after /play/maia had rendered. On the phone the board then took moves ~0.35 s later than before.
  • Now the dialog sends start_game as you choose (startGameEarly), and /play/maia takes that request if its settings match (takeEarlyGame), or starts its own.

Results (round 6 → this branch)

play_flow.mjs opens /play, chooses "Play as white" as soon as the dialog takes taps, and waits for the game. The phone is Chrome's 4x CPU throttling with 4G. 5 runs each, builds alternating.

	phone	desktop
Setup dialog on screen	1.64 → 0.58 s	0.45 → 0.30 s
Dialog takes taps	1.66 → 1.41 s	0.46 → 0.42 s
After choosing: board with its pieces	1.99 → 1.29 s	1.02 → 0.46 s
After choosing: board takes moves	1.60 → 1.29 s	0.90 → 0.83 s
Main-thread work after choosing	1.50 → 1.36 s	0.51 → 0.58 s

Testing

• npm test (89, with main's), npx tsc --noEmit and npm run lint pass, rebased on main after Capture PostHog web vitals again #330 and Track what visitors do, and stop losing events #332.
• Checked in local production builds:
  • Placement: the dialog is in the same place in the server's HTML and once loaded, on a Pixel 7 and at 1440 × 900. No React errors.
  • Settings in the URL: a URL with modalTitle and forcedColor shows nothing until the app has read it, then its own title.
  • A game: it takes e4 once it has its id, and Maia answers ("1. e4 e5"). Both moves are logged under that id.
  • Play again: resigning, then Play again as black, gives a new id, black at the bottom and the starting position.
  • One game per start: two games make two start_game calls, on this branch as on round 6.
• No Stockfish check: nothing here touches the analysis page.
• Not tried on real phones or in Safari.

Not done

• Hand and Brain (/play/hb) still waits for its game as before.
• The dialog that buttons elsewhere open still loads its code on the first click.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

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Project	Deployment	Actions	Updated
maia-platform-frontend	Ready	Preview	Nov 3, 2026 6:32am UTC