@plannotator/ui 0.43.2 → 0.45.0

package/HANDOFF.md

@@ -215,6 +215,7 @@ We deliberately did **not** restructure the exports map in this PR (move-don't-r
 | `shortcuts` (`useHtmlAnnotateShortcuts`, `defineShortcutScope`, the scope registry) | The declarative keyboard-shortcut engine and the per-surface scopes, including the HTML annotate scope (Mod+Shift+A toggles annotate mode, Mod+Shift+X shows/hides the tools). Pure: React plus `utils/platform`; no backend. |
 | `utils/selectionActions` + `components/SelectionActionsDropdown` | The host selection-actions seam: `SelectionAction`, `SelectionActionContext`, the pure `buildSelectionActionContext`, and the dropdown `AnnotationToolbar` opens. Pure React; no backend. *(Blessed in 0.43.0.)* |
 | `utils/mentions` + `components/MentionPicker` + `hooks/useMentionAutocomplete` | The `@` mention seam behind `CommentPopover`'s `mentionSource` (and, since 0.43.1, `Viewer`'s and `HtmlViewer`'s): the pure grammar (`mentionTrigger`, `mentionMatches`, `applyMentionPick`, `survivingMentions`), the portaled picker, and the keyboard state machine. Pure React; no backend. *(Blessed in 0.43.0.)* |
+| `utils/composerTokens` | The comment composer's token highlight ranges: `skillTokenRanges`, `mentionTokenRanges`, `mergeTokenRanges` and `ComposerTokenRange`. Pure (no DOM, no styling) — the one place that decides which bytes of a composer's text are a token and which source wins when two claim the same ones. *(Blessed in 0.44.0.)* |
 | `utils/inputMethod` (`getInputMethod`, `saveInputMethod`, `refreshInputMethodStamp`) | The per-surface pinpoint/drag input-method preference with its TTL. Persists through the `storageBackend` seam; no backend of its own. |
 | `utils/codeHighlight` / `utils/codeBlockMark` / `utils/syntaxTheme` | The Shiki-based fence highlighter, swap-surviving annotation marks, and palette→Shiki theme mapping. Replaces all `.hljs` styling. *(Blessed in 0.29.0.)* |
 | `utils/math` (`loadMathRenderer`, `getMathRenderer`, `getMathRendererSource`, `setMathRenderer`, `setMathRendererLoader`, `getMathRendererLoader`, `resetMathRenderer`) and `utils/math-eager` | The math renderer slot and its eager KaTeX registration. Import `utils/math-eager` for synchronous typesetting on the first commit; call `loadMathRenderer()` to pre-warm the lazy path. `resetMathRenderer()` empties the slot and keeps the registered loader; `setMathRendererLoader(null)` drops it. See "Lazy renderers and eager entries". |
@@ -1171,8 +1172,330 @@ global composer through its button — and
 HtmlViewer through a bridge pinpoint message and its global button. Plus the two DOM-free pins in
 §3 above.
 
+## Mention token chips in the composer (0.44.0)
+
+0.43.0-0.43.2 gave the composer an `@` picker; the token it inserted was
+then plain text in the textarea. 0.44.0 paints it as a **chip**, so a tag
+looks the same in the picker row, in the input, and in the comment the host
+posts. Same ruling as the three releases before it: an opt-in host
+capability that changes nothing for Plannotator's own users when it is not
+supplied. `packages/editor` and `packages/review-editor` are untouched; core
+is UNCHANGED at `0.25.5`, so **ui 0.44.0 publishes alone**.
+
+### One overlay, two sources (the refactor)
+
+`ComposerTextarea` already used exactly the right technique for skill
+references: a mirrored, aria-hidden overlay rendered BEHIND a
+transparent-text textarea (a textarea cannot style substrings), sharing the
+font/padding/wrapping metrics and mirroring scroll, with `.pn-ref-composing`
+hiding it during IME composition. Chips do not add a second overlay — two
+mirrored layers could never stay pixel-aligned with each other, and only one
+of them could own the scroll sync. Instead the overlay became a TOKEN
+HIGHLIGHT LAYER fed by a merged list of ranges, and it turns on when EITHER
+source is active.
+
+The range computation moved out of the render loop into
+`utils/composerTokens` (pure — no DOM, no styling, no React):
+
+- `skillTokenRanges(tokens)` — today's positioned occurrences, unchanged.
+- `mentionTokenRanges(text, people)` — every occurrence of each surviving
+  person's readable `@Label` token.
+- `mergeTokenRanges(text, groups)` — `groups` in priority order; drops
+  ranges outside `[0, text.length)` and empty/inverted ones, then keeps
+  earlier `start`, longer at the same start, earlier group at the same start
+  and length, and drops anything beginning inside a range already kept.
+  Nothing nests, so the overlay stays a flat sequence of spans.
+
+With a single skill source this reproduces the pre-refactor loop exactly
+(which dropped a token whose `start` fell behind the cursor or whose `end`
+ran past the text). The component keeps the Tailwind classes and the `data-*`
+attributes in `renderTokenSpan`, both so the class scanner still sees them
+and so the metric rule below is read with the classes it governs.
+
+### The chip
+
+A chip is painted only for a person the author PICKED whose token still
+survives — `useMentionAutocomplete` now also returns those survivors as
+`mentions` (frozen-empty with no source, the same treatment `mentionIds`
+gets), so the ranges come from the mention id model and never from a regex
+over arbitrary `@words`. Editing one byte of a token un-chips it in the same
+render that drops the id from `onMentionsChange`, so a chip follows the body
+rather than a stale pick. The one case where the chips and the reported IDS
+can still part company is the prefix case in the limitations below, which
+the chips inherit rather than introduce.
+
+```
+<span data-mention-token="user_1" data-mention-kind="user" class="…">@Marcus Chen</span>
+```
+
+- `data-mention-token` is the opaque host id; `data-mention-kind` carries
+  `MentionPerson.kind` verbatim — the host's styling hook. Know what that
+  means today: the picker offers USERS ONLY (`mentionMatches` drops every
+  person whose `kind !== 'user'`), so only a user can be picked, only a user
+  can be tagged, and the attribute only ever reads `user`. `agent` is the
+  reserved value for the day agents become taggable — a host rule for
+  `[data-mention-kind="agent"]` matches nothing until then.
+- `MentionSource.tokenClassName?: string` (new, optional) is appended to the
+  span verbatim for a host that wants its own look.
+- The package default is `text-primary bg-primary/15` and a 3px radius —
+  the skill-reference treatment one shade stronger, so the two token kinds in
+  one overlay read as siblings. Deliberately no ring: every class it uses is
+  one the package already emitted, so a host's generated CSS is unchanged
+  (and so is the portable guide viewer's bundle — `guide-viewer-manifest.ts`
+  needed no regeneration, which is why core is untouched).
+
+**THE METRIC RULE (and it is the host's too).** A chip may change COLOR,
+BACKGROUND, BORDER-RADIUS, BOX-SHADOW and TEXT-DECORATION only. Padding,
+margin, border width, font-weight, letter-spacing and font-size all move a
+glyph, and the overlay's glyphs must coincide with the textarea's own layout
+or the caret drifts away from the text it is painting. A pill's horizontal
+breathing room is faked with `box-shadow: 0 0 0 Npx <background>`, which
+paints without occupying space — that is the way to a pill look through
+`tokenClassName`, and the reason the rule bans padding rather than the
+appearance.
+
+### What did NOT change
+
+The overlay exists for the whole life of a mention composer, not only once
+somebody is tagged, so the first pick never swaps the textarea element under
+the caret. IME composition, scroll sync, the resize gutter, the placeholder,
+the `/` + `$` skill autocomplete and its menu, the Alt-typing path, drafts
+(`initialDraft` / `draftKey`), image attachments and `Mod+Enter` submit are
+all untouched, and `onSubmit(text, images?, mentions?)` is the same call.
+`Viewer` and `HtmlViewer` needed no change at all: they already forward
+`mentionSource` (0.43.1), and the chips are inside the composer it reaches.
+
+Three inherited limitations are worth stating rather than fixing here:
+
+- **Two people whose labels sanitize to the same token** are
+  indistinguishable in a plain-text body, so the FIRST of them listed owns
+  every occurrence of it. That is the same first-match rule
+  `survivingMentions` already applies to the ids; it renders and never
+  throws.
+- **A restored draft has no chips** until the author picks again, because
+  the survivors come from the picks made in THIS composer — exactly the same
+  reason `onMentionsChange` reports `[]` for a restored draft today (0.43.x
+  behavior, unchanged). It reports no STALE ids either: a reopened draft
+  starts with nobody tagged, so the chips and the ids agree on "none".
+- **A label that is a prefix of another label** (`Ann` and `Anna Lee`, both
+  picked): the CHIPS are right — longest-wins means `@Anna Lee` is painted
+  whole and is never half-covered by an `@Ann` chip. The IDS are the loose
+  end: delete `@Ann` from a body that still reads `@Anna Lee` and
+  `survivingMentions` keeps reporting Ann, because it asks
+  `text.includes('@Ann')`. So the id list can outlive the chip. That is
+  0.43.x behavior in `survivingMentions`, unchanged here — the chips only
+  make it visible.
+
+### The no-op guarantee, and how it is pinned
+
+The same components were mounted on `origin/main` and on this branch in one
+harness and their `outerHTML` diffed:
+
+- **No `mentionSource`, no `skillReferences`:** the composer is
+  byte-identical — 3192 bytes, and the same `addEventListener` and
+  `setTimeout` counts (287 / 1 in that harness). No overlay element exists
+  at all.
+- **`skillReferences` only:** the popover (4821 bytes) and the overlay
+  itself (634 bytes) are byte-identical, same listener and timer counts
+  (150 / 1). `data-skill-ref-overlay="true"` is written only when
+  `skillReferences` is on, so a skill composer's overlay keeps the exact
+  attribute list it had; a mentions-only overlay is found by its
+  `data-pn-mobile-editable-mirror` attribute instead.
+- A mention composer's overlay costs exactly one extra listener (the
+  textarea's `scroll`, which is what mirrors the layer) — the same one a
+  skill composer has always paid.
+- **The portable guide viewer's build is byte-identical** (`viewer.*.js` and
+  `viewer.*.css` hashes and their SRI unchanged against `origin/main`), so
+  `packages/core/guide-viewer-manifest.ts` is in sync and core is untouched.
+  That is also why the default chip reuses classes the package already
+  emitted instead of introducing one.
+
+**Real-browser metric proof** (headless Chromium, throwaway Vite harness):
+typing `Nice catch @ma`, picking Marcus and continuing to type, the chip's
+bounding rect and the textarea's own text run for that token agree to
+**0.000px** on both axes and in width — at 420px and 1200px, on a wrapped
+line (3 lines above it) and with the textarea scrolled (`scrollTop` 40) —
+and the caret x after the token is **0.016px** from the span's end.
+
+Tests: `utils/composerTokens.test.ts` (16, DOM-free) and
+`components/CommentPopover.mentionChips.test.tsx` (11, DOM-gated, in the
+workflow's DOM_TESTS step).
+
+## Annotation card header slot and mentions on the edit box (0.45.0)
+
+0.43.1 closed with an open question: "Editing an existing comment happens in
+`AnnotationPanel`'s card, a plain textarea that has never had an `@` picker…
+If you want the panel editor to pick people too, that is a separate prop on
+`AnnotationPanel` and worth asking for." It was asked for, so 0.45.0 adds it —
+together with the header twin of the panel's existing `renderCardFooter`.
+Same ruling as the four releases before it: opt-in host capabilities that
+change nothing for Plannotator's own users when they are not supplied.
+`packages/editor` and `packages/review-editor` have ZERO source diff in this
+release; core is UNCHANGED at `0.25.5`, so **ui 0.45.0 publishes alone**.
+
+### 1. `renderCardHeader` — the twin of `renderCardFooter`
+
+```ts
+renderCardHeader?: (annotation: Annotation) => React.ReactNode;
+```
+
+Rendered inside each plan-annotation card's HEADER row — the row carrying the
+type word, the `diff` / page / `Unanchored` chips and `author · time` — after
+the timestamp and before the built-in edit/delete cluster, which keeps the
+right edge on its `ml-auto`. That is the slot for a status stamp (resolved,
+needs reply, a reviewer badge); the footer remains the slot for reply and
+resolve UI.
+
+It follows the footer's contract line for line:
+
+- The wrapper is `[data-annotation-card-header="true"]` (the footer's
+  `[data-annotation-card-footer="true"]` spelled for the header — the attribute
+  the host queries and styles), and it stops `click` and `keydown`
+  propagation, so interacting with your stamp never selects the card.
+- **It renders under `readOnly`**, exactly as the footer does and for the same
+  reason: the contents are host-owned and a stamp is a read affordance. The
+  built-in mutation affordances stay hidden.
+- In the All-files grouped view it rides the OPEN document's cards only
+  (`group.isCurrent`), the footer's rule — a slot built from the open
+  document's state has nothing to say about another document's card.
+- Returning `null` / `undefined` / `false` for a card renders no wrapper for
+  that card. Omitting the prop renders no wrapper anywhere: there is no empty
+  container to lay out or style around.
+- The header row is ONE non-wrapping flex line shared with the type word, the
+  `diff` / page / `Unanchored` chips and the timestamp. The wrapper is
+  `min-w-0` and shrinks, but a host node that cannot shrink will overflow
+  toward the built-in actions rather than wrap — keep the stamp compact, or
+  give it its own truncation.
+
+**Not on `CodeAnnotation` cards.** `CodeAnnotationCard` (the review-editor
+shape) takes no `renderCardFooter` either, so neither new prop was threaded
+into it; mirroring the footer is the rule. Ask if a host needs both there.
+
+### 2. `mentionSource` — the `@` picker on the card's edit box
+
+```ts
+mentionSource?: MentionSource;   // the same type, unchanged, from 0.43.0
+```
+
+Supplied on the panel and threaded to every plan-annotation card, it gives the
+card's EDIT textarea the same `@` machinery `CommentPopover` has:
+`useMentionAutocomplete` over the host's `people`, the portaled `MentionPicker`,
+the same grammar (`@` at a word boundary, never inside `a@b.com`), the same
+no-preselection keyboard rule (Enter is a newline until an arrow engages a
+row), the same `onMentionsChange`, and the same `onPickBlocked` no-access
+behavior (a blocked pick inserts NOTHING and the host shows its own dialog).
+
+**Key order at the textarea.** The menu is offered the key FIRST, then the
+card's own handlers run only if it did not consume the event:
+
+- `Escape` while the menu is open closes the MENU (the hook consumes it and
+  stops propagation). A second `Escape` cancels the edit, as it always did.
+- `Enter` with a row arrowed to inserts that person. `Enter` with nothing
+  active is untouched — still a newline.
+- `Mod+Enter` is never consumed by the menu (the hook declines any event
+  carrying a modifier), so save still saves.
+
+ARIA follows `CommentPopover`: `aria-autocomplete="list"` and
+`aria-haspopup="listbox"` exist only when a source is supplied,
+`aria-controls` / `aria-owns` only while the menu is open, and
+`aria-activedescendant` only while a row is active. With no source all five
+resolve to `undefined`, so the rendered attribute list is the one the edit box
+has always had.
+
+### 3. The save rule
+
+`handleSaveEdit` called `onEdit({ text })`. It now calls:
+
+```ts
+if (mentionSource && mentions.length > 0) onEdit({ text: editText, mentions });
+else onEdit({ text: editText });
+```
+
+which is the presence rule the creation composers already keep, one level
+down: **the key exists only when a source was supplied AND at least one id
+survived to save.** Never `mentions: []`, never the key with an `undefined`
+value — an untouched or pick-less edit calls `onEdit({ text })` byte for byte
+as it did in 0.44.0, so it can never wipe tags the annotation already carries.
+`source.onMentionsChange` fires from the hook exactly as it does in the
+composer, which on this surface means it reports `[]` once when the editor
+OPENS, before any pick: it is the live state of this edit session, not the
+annotation's stored `mentions`. Only `onEdit` is authoritative — a host that
+mirrors `onMentionsChange` into its own record must not treat that opening
+`[]` as a clear. The Save BUTTON and `Mod+Enter` go through the same call.
+
+**"This edit session" is literal.** The edit box was extracted into
+`AnnotationEditComposer`, mounted only while a card is in edit mode, so the
+hook's tagged-people state lives and dies with one session: reopen the editor
+and nobody is picked, and a save with no new pick is `{ text }` again — even
+if the previous session's `@Label` token is still sitting in the body. That is
+the conservative direction (the host owns `mentions` from then on, 0.43.1 §4),
+and it is the same reason a restored draft starts with nobody tagged.
+
+### 4. No chips in the edit box (known difference, and the follow-up)
+
+A picked token renders as a CHIP in `CommentPopover` (0.44.0) and as plain
+text here. The chip layer is `ComposerTextarea`'s mirrored, aria-hidden
+overlay behind a transparent-text textarea, with scroll mirroring and IME
+handling; the card's edit box is a plain `<textarea>` with its own sizing and
+classes. Duplicating that overlay for one more textarea is exactly the "two
+mirrored layers" mistake 0.44.0 avoided.
+
+**Named follow-up: move the card's edit box onto `ComposerTextarea`.** That is
+the one change that gets chips here without a second overlay, and it is a
+visible change to a surface Plannotator itself renders — a separate PR with
+its own no-op argument, not a rider on a seam release.
+
+Everything else about mentions is inherited unchanged and documented in the
+0.43.x / 0.44.0 sections above, including the three limits: two labels that
+sanitize to the same token, a restored draft reporting no ids, and a label
+that is a prefix of another label.
+
+### 5. One internal module, not a new seam
+
+`components/MentionAutocomplete.tsx` (`MentionAutocompleteMenu` +
+`mentionActiveOptionId`) is the glue between a `useMentionAutocomplete` result
+and `MentionPicker` — the id→index lookup, the no-op hover and the
+`aria-activedescendant` string. It exists so the third mount did not become a
+third verbatim copy of the same fifteen lines; `CommentPopover`'s two mounts
+were moved onto it in the same change, with no DOM difference (proven below).
+It is **internal**: it is not on the supported-import list and hosts never
+touch it — they pass `mentionSource`.
+
+### The no-op guarantee, and how it is pinned
+
+The same components were mounted on `origin/main` and on this branch in one
+harness and their `outerHTML` diffed, with `addEventListener` and `setTimeout`
+counts taken across each mount. With NEITHER new prop supplied, all six are
+byte-identical with identical counts:
+
+| scenario | bytes | listeners | timers |
+| --- | --- | --- | --- |
+| empty panel | 733 | 140 | 0 |
+| nine cards (comment, deletion, global, quick label, external `source`, unanchored, `inReplyTo` reply, a card with `renderCardFooter`, a `diffContext` card) | 17543 | 141 | 0 |
+| the same panel `readOnly` | 7854 | 141 | 0 |
+| a card in EDIT mode | 18586 | 142 | 0 |
+| the All-files grouped view (two document groups) | 19629 | 141 | 0 |
+| `CommentPopover` (the module the glue refactor touched) | 3130 | 286 | 1 |
+
+The edit-mode row is the one that matters for the hook: mounted with
+`source: undefined`, `useMentionAutocomplete` registers no listener, opens no
+menu state, returns the frozen empty id array, and the picker renders nothing —
+one extra listener would have shown up as 143.
+
+On top of the diff, committed tests pin the structure rather than a snapshot:
+with neither prop there is no `[data-annotation-card-header]` on any card, the
+edit textarea carries none of the five mention ARIA attributes, typing `@`
+opens nothing, and `onEdit` is called with an updates object whose key list is
+exactly `['text']`.
+
+Tests (both DOM-gated, both added to the workflow's DOM_TESTS step):
+`components/AnnotationPanel.cardHeader.test.tsx` (6) and
+`components/AnnotationPanel.editMentions.test.tsx` (10).
+
 ## Publishing & versioning
 
+- **ui 0.45.0 (annotation card header slot + mentions on the card's edit box): `@plannotator/ui` only — `@plannotator/core` is UNCHANGED at `0.25.5`, so this publishes alone** (core 0.25.5 must already be published). Purely additive over 0.44.0, both props on `AnnotationPanel`: `renderCardHeader` (the header-row twin of `renderCardFooter`, wrapper `[data-annotation-card-header]`, renders under `readOnly`, open-document cards only in the All-files view) and `mentionSource` (the 0.43.0 type, applied to the card's EDIT box, saving `onEdit(id, { text, mentions })` only when a source was supplied and a pick survived). Nothing is removed, no new supported imports (`components/MentionAutocomplete` is internal glue), no export-, share- or archive-visible change, and Plannotator passes neither — `packages/editor` and `packages/review-editor` have zero source diff, and the panel is byte-identical to 0.44.0. Known difference from `CommentPopover`: no chips in the card's edit box (follow-up named in the section). See "Annotation card header slot and mentions on the edit box (0.45.0)".
+- **ui 0.44.0 (mention token chips in the composer): `@plannotator/ui` only — `@plannotator/core` is UNCHANGED at `0.25.5`, so this publishes alone** (core 0.25.5 must already be published). Purely additive over 0.43.2: the `@Label` tokens a `mentionSource` composer inserted render as chips in the composer's existing highlight overlay, `MentionSource.tokenClassName?` lets a host restyle them (under the metric rule), `useMentionAutocomplete` also returns the surviving `mentions`, and `utils/composerTokens` joins the supported-import list. Nothing is removed, no export-, share- or archive-visible change, and Plannotator passes none of it — with neither `mentionSource` nor `skillReferences` the composer is byte-identical to 0.43.2. See "Mention token chips in the composer (0.44.0)".
 - **ui 0.43.1 (`mentionSource` on the viewers): `@plannotator/ui` only — `@plannotator/core` is UNCHANGED at `0.25.5`, so this publishes alone** (core 0.25.5 must already be published). Purely additive over 0.43.0: `mentionSource` on `Viewer` and `HtmlViewer` (forwarded to every comment composer each mounts) and the optional `Annotation.mentions` field the picked ids land on, set only when a source was supplied and a token survived. Nothing is removed, no new modules, no export-, share- or archive-visible change, and Plannotator passes none of it. See "`mentionSource` on the viewers (0.43.1)".
 - **ui 0.43.0 (host toolbar seams): `@plannotator/ui` only — `@plannotator/core` is UNCHANGED at `0.25.5`, so this publishes alone** (core 0.25.5 must already be published). Purely additive: `selectionActions` + `quickLabels` on `AnnotationToolbar` (forwarded by `Viewer`; `selectionActions` also by `HtmlViewer`), `mentionSource` on `CommentPopover`, an optional third `mentions` argument on that component's `onSubmit`, and the new supported modules `utils/selectionActions`, `utils/mentions`, `components/SelectionActionsDropdown`, `components/MentionPicker`, `hooks/useMentionAutocomplete`. Nothing is removed and Plannotator passes none of it. See "Host toolbar seams (0.43.0)".
 - **core 0.25.5 / ui 0.42.0 (diagram FILES, `.mmd`/`.mermaid`/`.dot`/`.gv`): additive on both packages, so the next publish is core-first.** `@plannotator/core/annotatable` gains `DiagramRenderKind`, `diagramRenderKindForPath`, `isDiagramRenderKind` and `annotateDiagramRenderKind`, and its built-in annotatable sets now include the four diagram extensions (`shouldStripFrontmatter` returns false for them — Mermaid's `--- … ---` config block is content — and they can no longer be registered through `markdownExtensions`). `@plannotator/ui` gains `diagramDocumentBlocks(text, kind)` on `utils/parser` (the ONE `code` block a whole-file diagram source renders as), `shareableDocumentMarkdown(markdown, renderAs)` on `utils/sharing`, the `DocumentRenderAs` type on `types` (`'markdown' | 'html' | DiagramRenderKind`, re-exporting core's kind), and an optional `Block.diagramSourceLineOffset` that `DiagramBlock` prefers over `Block.startLine` when resolving a diagram comment's `sourceLine` (unset on every parser-produced fence, so fences are byte-identical). `useLinkedDoc`'s `renderAs`/`setRenderAs`/`LinkedDocLoadData.renderAs` widen from `'markdown' | 'html'` to `DocumentRenderAs` — source-compatible for a host that only ever passes the old two, but a host whose own state is typed `'markdown' | 'html'` must widen its setter. Since core changes, **publish `core` first** and update UI's exact core dependency before packing ui.

package/README.md

@@ -258,6 +258,24 @@ in 0.42.0 (proven by diffing the mounted `outerHTML` against the base commit).
   no-access dialog) and inserts normally when you do not. Not wired to any
   Plannotator data and not a `configurePlannotatorUI` seam — pass it where you
   render the composer.
+- **`CommentPopover` mention chips** (0.44.0): with a `mentionSource`, the
+  `@Label` tokens the picker inserted render as chips in the composer's text —
+  the same mirrored overlay skill references use, never a second layer. Each
+  chip span carries `data-mention-token="<person id>"` and
+  `data-mention-kind`, which is `MentionPerson.kind` verbatim — today that is
+  always `user`, because the picker offers users only; `agent` is reserved
+  and matches nothing yet. `MentionSource.tokenClassName?` is appended to the
+  span for your own look. **Metric rule, yours to keep too:** a chip
+  may change color, background, border-radius, box-shadow and text-decoration
+  ONLY — padding, margin, border width, weight, tracking or size move a glyph
+  and drift the caret off the painted text (want a pill? add
+  `box-shadow: 0 0 0 Npx <background>`, which paints without taking space).
+  Only a person you supplied and the author picked is a chip, and editing a
+  byte of the token un-chips it in the same render that drops the id. Two
+  inherited limits: two labels that sanitize to the same token are one token
+  in a plain-text body, so the first person you list owns every occurrence of
+  it; and a restored draft has no chips (and reports no ids) until the author
+  picks again. No source → no overlay element at all.
 - **`Viewer` / `HtmlViewer` `mentionSource`** (0.43.1): the same prop on the two
   viewers, forwarded to every comment composer each of them mounts, so a host
   wires mentions once per surface instead of per composer. The ids the author
@@ -268,7 +286,51 @@ in 0.42.0 (proven by diffing the mounted `outerHTML` against the base commit).
 
 See HANDOFF.md § "Host toolbar seams (0.43.0)" for the grammar, the keyboard
 rules and the threading points, and § "mentionSource on the viewers (0.43.1)"
-for the two viewer props and the annotation field.
+for the two viewer props and the annotation field. § "Mention token chips in
+the composer (0.44.0)" covers the chips, the metric rule, the merged-range
+refactor behind them, and the three inherited limits (duplicate labels,
+restored drafts, and a label that is a prefix of another label).
+
+### Annotation card seams (`AnnotationPanel`; 0.45.0)
+
+Two more opt-in props, both on the panel and both defaulting to today's
+behavior — pass neither and the panel renders byte-for-byte what it rendered
+in 0.44.0 (proven by diffing mounted `outerHTML` against the base commit for
+an empty panel, every card kind, a card in edit mode, `readOnly` and the
+All-files view).
+
+- **`renderCardHeader?: (annotation) => ReactNode`** — the twin of
+  `renderCardFooter`, rendered inside each plan-annotation card's header row
+  after `author · time` and before the built-in edit/delete actions: the place
+  for a status stamp (resolved, needs reply, a reviewer badge). Its wrapper is
+  `[data-annotation-card-header]` and swallows clicks and keydowns, so
+  interacting with your stamp never selects the card. It renders under
+  `readOnly` for the same reason the footer does — a stamp is a read
+  affordance — and, like the footer, only on the OPEN document's cards in the
+  All-files grouped view. Return `null` for a card and no wrapper exists for
+  it; omit the prop and no wrapper exists at all. The header row is one
+  non-wrapping flex line, so keep the stamp compact: the wrapper shrinks but
+  a node that cannot will overflow toward the built-in actions.
+- **`mentionSource?: MentionSource`** — the same source `Viewer` and
+  `HtmlViewer` take (0.43.1), applied to the card's EDIT box, so a comment can
+  be re-tagged after it was written. The grammar, the picker, the keyboard
+  rules and `onPickBlocked` are the ones documented above. Saving an edit
+  calls `onEdit(id, { text, mentions })` **only** when a source is supplied
+  AND at least one person was picked in that edit session whose token
+  survives; otherwise it is the `onEdit(id, { text })` it always was, so an
+  untouched or pick-less edit can never wipe tags the annotation already
+  carries. Reopening the editor starts a fresh session with nobody picked, and
+  `onMentionsChange` follows that session — it reports `[]` once when the
+  editor opens, so treat it as the live picker state, never as the
+  annotation's stored tags.
+  **One difference from `CommentPopover`: no chips** — the token stays plain
+  text, because the chip layer lives in the composer's mirrored overlay and is
+  not worth duplicating; the follow-up is to move the card's edit box onto
+  `ComposerTextarea`.
+
+Neither prop reaches `CodeAnnotation` cards (the review-editor shape), which
+take no `renderCardFooter` either. See HANDOFF.md § "Annotation card header
+slot and mentions on the edit box (0.45.0)".
 
 ### WebMCP provider (`@plannotator/ui/webmcp`; 0.32.0)
 

package/components/AnnotationPanel.tsx

@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
-import React, { useState, useRef, useEffect } from 'react';
+import React, { useState, useRef, useEffect, useId } from 'react';
 import { AnnotationType, type Annotation, type Block, type CodeAnnotation, type EditorAnnotation } from '../types';
+import type { MentionSource } from '../utils/mentions';
+import { useMentionAutocomplete } from '../hooks/useMentionAutocomplete';
+import { MentionAutocompleteMenu, mentionActiveOptionId } from './MentionAutocomplete';
 import { isCurrentUser } from '../utils/identity';
 import { ImageThumbnail } from './ImageThumbnail';
 import { EditorAnnotationCard } from './EditorAnnotationCard';
@@ -126,6 +129,21 @@ interface PanelProps {
     *  resolve UI). The panel stays presentation-only; clicks inside the slot
     *  do not select the card. Default: nothing rendered. */
   renderCardFooter?: (annotation: Annotation) => React.ReactNode;
+  /** Host slot rendered inside the header row of each plan-annotation card,
+    *  after `author · time` and before the built-in edit/delete actions — the
+    *  place for a status stamp (resolved, needs reply, a reviewer badge). Twin
+    *  of `renderCardFooter`: the panel stays presentation-only, clicks inside
+    *  the slot do not select the card, and it renders under `readOnly` too
+    *  (a stamp is a read affordance). Default: nothing rendered, and no
+    *  wrapper element exists at all. */
+  renderCardHeader?: (annotation: Annotation) => React.ReactNode;
+  /** Opt-in host capability: an `@` mention source for the EDIT box of each
+    *  plan-annotation card, the same `MentionSource` `Viewer` and `HtmlViewer`
+    *  take for their creation composers. Supplied → the edit textarea grows
+    *  the `@` picker and a save that follows a pick carries the surviving ids
+    *  as `Annotation.mentions`. Absent → the edit box is exactly what it was:
+    *  no listener, no picker, no `mentions` key. */
+  mentionSource?: MentionSource;
   /** Hide every built-in mutation affordance (delete/edit, direct-edit
     *  discard). The host footer slot still renders: its contents are
     *  host-owned and may be read affordances (replies, links), so the host
@@ -183,6 +201,8 @@ export const AnnotationPanel: React.FC<PanelProps> = ({
   onOtherFileAnnotationsClick,
   directEdits = null,
   renderCardFooter,
+  renderCardHeader,
+  mentionSource,
   readOnly = false,
   presentation = 'panel',
   unanchoredIds,
@@ -421,6 +441,8 @@ export const AnnotationPanel: React.FC<PanelProps> = ({
                               : (onEditInDocument ? (updates: Partial<Annotation>) => onEditInDocument(group.path, annotation.id, updates) : undefined)}
                             readOnly={readOnly}
                             footer={group.isCurrent ? renderCardFooter?.(annotation) : undefined}
+                            header={group.isCurrent ? renderCardHeader?.(annotation) : undefined}
+                            mentionSource={mentionSource}
                             unanchored={group.isCurrent ? (unanchoredIds?.has(annotation.id) ?? false) : false}
                           />
                         );
@@ -528,6 +550,8 @@ export const AnnotationPanel: React.FC<PanelProps> = ({
                       onEdit={onEdit ? (updates: Partial<Annotation>) => onEdit(entry.annotation.id, updates) : undefined}
                       readOnly={readOnly}
                       footer={renderCardFooter?.(entry.annotation)}
+                      header={renderCardHeader?.(entry.annotation)}
+                      mentionSource={mentionSource}
                       unanchored={unanchoredIds?.has(entry.annotation.id) ?? false}
                     />
                   </div>
@@ -542,6 +566,8 @@ export const AnnotationPanel: React.FC<PanelProps> = ({
                   onEdit={onEdit ? (updates: Partial<Annotation>) => onEdit(entry.annotation.id, updates) : undefined}
                   readOnly={readOnly}
                   footer={renderCardFooter?.(entry.annotation)}
+                  header={renderCardHeader?.(entry.annotation)}
+                  mentionSource={mentionSource}
                   unanchored={unanchoredIds?.has(entry.annotation.id) ?? false}
                 />
                 )
@@ -762,6 +788,87 @@ const DirectEditsCard: React.FC<{
   );
 };
 
+/**
+ * The plan-annotation card's edit box.
+ *
+ * Mounted only while a card is in edit mode, which is also what scopes an
+ * `@` pick to ONE edit session: `useMentionAutocomplete`'s tagged-people
+ * state lives and dies with this component, so reopening the editor starts
+ * with nobody picked and a pick-less save is `{ text }` again.
+ *
+ * Without a `mentionSource` every mention path here is inert — no listener,
+ * no menu state, no picker DOM, and the textarea's attributes are exactly
+ * the ones it rendered before the prop existed (all five mention-related
+ * ARIA attributes resolve to `undefined`).
+ *
+ * KNOWN DIFFERENCE from `CommentPopover`: no chip overlay. The token stays
+ * plain text here. Chips live in `ComposerTextarea` (mirrored overlay behind
+ * a transparent-text textarea) and duplicating that layer is not the way to
+ * get them — the follow-up is to make this box use `ComposerTextarea`.
+ */
+const AnnotationEditComposer: React.FC<{
+  value: string;
+  onChange: (text: string) => void;
+  /** Save with the mention ids the body still tags (empty without a source). */
+  onSave: (mentions: readonly string[]) => void;
+  onCancel: () => void;
+  mentionSource?: MentionSource;
+}> = ({ value, onChange, onSave, onCancel, mentionSource }) => {
+  const textareaRef = useRef<HTMLTextAreaElement>(null);
+  const mention = useMentionAutocomplete({ text: value, setText: onChange, textareaRef, source: mentionSource });
+  const listboxId = `annotation-card-mentions-${useId().replace(/:/g, '')}`;
+  const menuOpen = mention.menu !== null;
+
+  // Focus-on-open, unchanged: this component mounts exactly when editing starts.
+  useEffect(() => {
+    if (textareaRef.current) {
+      textareaRef.current.focus();
+      textareaRef.current.select();
+    }
+  }, []);
+
+  const handleKeyDown = (e: React.KeyboardEvent<HTMLTextAreaElement>) => {
+    // The menu is offered the key FIRST: while it is open Escape closes it
+    // (and only a second Escape cancels the edit), and an arrowed-to row
+    // takes Enter. Mod+Enter is never consumed by the menu.
+    if (mention.onKeyDown(e)) return;
+    if (e.key === 'Enter' && (e.metaKey || e.ctrlKey) && !e.nativeEvent.isComposing) {
+      e.preventDefault();
+      onSave(mention.mentionIds);
+    } else if (e.key === 'Escape') {
+      e.preventDefault();
+      onCancel();
+    }
+  };
+
+  return (
+    <div onClick={(e: React.MouseEvent) => e.stopPropagation()}>
+      <textarea
+        data-pn-mobile-editable="true"
+        ref={textareaRef}
+        value={value}
+        onChange={(e: React.ChangeEvent<HTMLTextAreaElement>) => { onChange(e.target.value); mention.onSelect(); }}
+        onSelect={mention.onSelect}
+        onKeyDown={handleKeyDown}
+        placeholder="Add your comment..."
+        aria-label="Annotation comment"
+        aria-autocomplete={mentionSource ? 'list' : undefined}
+        aria-haspopup={mentionSource ? 'listbox' : undefined}
+        aria-controls={menuOpen ? listboxId : undefined}
+        aria-owns={menuOpen ? listboxId : undefined}
+        aria-activedescendant={mentionActiveOptionId(listboxId, mention.menu)}
+        className="w-full resize-none rounded-lg border border-border/50 bg-card px-2.5 py-2 text-base leading-relaxed text-foreground outline-none transition-colors placeholder:text-muted-foreground/50 focus:border-primary/40 focus:ring-1 focus:ring-primary/20"
+        style={{ fieldSizing: 'content', minHeight: 44 } as React.CSSProperties}
+      />
+      <div className="mt-1.5 flex justify-end gap-1.5">
+        <Button variant="ghost" size="xxs" onClick={onCancel}>Cancel</Button>
+        <Button size="xxs" disabled={!value.trim()} onClick={() => onSave(mention.mentionIds)}>Save</Button>
+      </div>
+      <MentionAutocompleteMenu id={listboxId} menu={mention.menu} onSelect={mention.select} />
+    </div>
+  );
+};
+
 const AnnotationCard: React.FC<{
   annotation: Annotation;
   isSelected: boolean;
@@ -771,19 +878,15 @@ const AnnotationCard: React.FC<{
   onEdit?: (updates: Partial<Annotation>) => void;
   readOnly?: boolean;
   footer?: React.ReactNode;
+  /** Host slot in the card's header row (see `renderCardHeader`). */
+  header?: React.ReactNode;
+  /** An `@` mention source for the edit box (see `mentionSource`). */
+  mentionSource?: MentionSource;
   /** The annotation has no live location in the document (host-reported). */
   unanchored?: boolean;
-}> = ({ annotation, isSelected, isMe, onSelect, onDelete, onEdit, readOnly = false, footer, unanchored = false }) => {
+}> = ({ annotation, isSelected, isMe, onSelect, onDelete, onEdit, readOnly = false, footer, header, mentionSource, unanchored = false }) => {
   const [isEditing, setIsEditing] = useState(false);
   const [editText, setEditText] = useState(annotation.text || '');
-  const textareaRef = useRef<HTMLTextAreaElement>(null);
-
-  useEffect(() => {
-    if (isEditing && textareaRef.current) {
-      textareaRef.current.focus();
-      textareaRef.current.select();
-    }
-  }, [isEditing]);
 
   // Update editText when annotation.text changes
   useEffect(() => {
@@ -798,9 +901,14 @@ const AnnotationCard: React.FC<{
     setIsEditing(true);
   };
 
-  const handleSaveEdit = () => {
+  const handleSaveEdit = (mentions: readonly string[]) => {
     if (onEdit) {
-      onEdit({ text: editText });
+      // The presence rule, same as the creation composers': the key exists
+      // only when a source was supplied AND at least one id survived to save,
+      // so an untouched or pick-less edit can never wipe tags the annotation
+      // already carries.
+      if (mentionSource && mentions.length > 0) onEdit({ text: editText, mentions });
+      else onEdit({ text: editText });
     }
     setIsEditing(false);
   };
@@ -810,39 +918,19 @@ const AnnotationCard: React.FC<{
     setIsEditing(false);
   };
 
-  const handleKeyDown = (e: React.KeyboardEvent<HTMLTextAreaElement>) => {
-    if (e.key === 'Enter' && (e.metaKey || e.ctrlKey) && !e.nativeEvent.isComposing) {
-      e.preventDefault();
-      handleSaveEdit();
-    } else if (e.key === 'Escape') {
-      e.preventDefault();
-      handleCancelEdit();
-    }
-  };
-
   const typeColor = TYPE_COLOR[annotation.type] ?? 'text-muted-foreground';
   const typeLabel = TYPE_LABEL[annotation.type] ?? 'Note';
   const isGlobal = annotation.type === AnnotationType.GLOBAL_COMMENT;
 
-  // Shared edit textarea — matches the prototype composer primitive
+  // The edit box, mounted only while editing (see AnnotationEditComposer).
   const editComposer = (
-    <div onClick={(e: React.MouseEvent) => e.stopPropagation()}>
-      <textarea
-        data-pn-mobile-editable="true"
-        ref={textareaRef}
-        value={editText}
-        onChange={(e: React.ChangeEvent<HTMLTextAreaElement>) => setEditText(e.target.value)}
-        onKeyDown={handleKeyDown}
-        placeholder="Add your comment..."
-        aria-label="Annotation comment"
-        className="w-full resize-none rounded-lg border border-border/50 bg-card px-2.5 py-2 text-base leading-relaxed text-foreground outline-none transition-colors placeholder:text-muted-foreground/50 focus:border-primary/40 focus:ring-1 focus:ring-primary/20"
-        style={{ fieldSizing: 'content', minHeight: 44 } as React.CSSProperties}
-      />
-      <div className="mt-1.5 flex justify-end gap-1.5">
-        <Button variant="ghost" size="xxs" onClick={handleCancelEdit}>Cancel</Button>
-        <Button size="xxs" disabled={!editText.trim()} onClick={handleSaveEdit}>Save</Button>
-      </div>
-    </div>
+    <AnnotationEditComposer
+      value={editText}
+      onChange={setEditText}
+      onSave={handleSaveEdit}
+      onCancel={handleCancelEdit}
+      mentionSource={mentionSource}
+    />
   );
 
   return (
@@ -890,6 +978,19 @@ const AnnotationCard: React.FC<{
         <span className="text-[10px] text-muted-foreground/50 truncate">
           {annotation.author ? `${annotation.author}${isMe ? ' (me)' : ''} · ` : ''}{formatTimestamp(annotation.createdA)}
         </span>
+        {/* Host header slot (a status stamp etc.) — interactions inside it
+            must not toggle card selection, exactly like the footer slot.
+            Rendered under readOnly too: its contents are host-owned. */}
+        {header != null && header !== false && (
+          <div
+            data-annotation-card-header="true"
+            className="flex min-w-0 items-center"
+            onClick={(e: React.MouseEvent) => e.stopPropagation()}
+            onKeyDown={(e: React.KeyboardEvent) => e.stopPropagation()}
+          >
+            {header}
+          </div>
+        )}
         {!readOnly && (
           <div className="ml-auto flex items-center gap-0.5 opacity-0 transition-opacity group-hover:opacity-100 [@media(hover:none)]:opacity-100">
             {onEdit && annotation.type !== AnnotationType.DELETION && !isEditing && (

package/components/CommentPopover.tsx

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import React, { useState, useEffect, useRef, useCallback, useId } from 'react';
+import React, { useState, useEffect, useMemo, useRef, useCallback, useId } from 'react';
 import { createPortal } from 'react-dom';
 import type { ImageAttachment } from '../types';
 import { AttachmentsButton } from './AttachmentsButton';
@@ -9,9 +9,15 @@ import { hasUnsavedCommentContent } from '../utils/commentContent';
 import { useSkillReferenceAutocomplete } from '../hooks/useSkillReferenceAutocomplete';
 import { HumanOnlySkillNotice, SkillReferenceMenu } from './SkillReferenceMenu';
 import type { SkillReferenceToken } from '../utils/skillReferences';
+import {
+  mentionTokenRanges,
+  mergeTokenRanges,
+  skillTokenRanges,
+  type ComposerTokenRange,
+} from '../utils/composerTokens';
 import { useMentionAutocomplete } from '../hooks/useMentionAutocomplete';
-import { MentionPicker } from './MentionPicker';
-import type { MentionSource } from '../utils/mentions';
+import { MentionAutocompleteMenu, mentionActiveOptionId } from './MentionAutocomplete';
+import type { MentionPerson, MentionSource } from '../utils/mentions';
 import {
   hasPrimaryCoarsePointer,
   shouldUseExpandedComposer,
@@ -474,6 +480,19 @@ export const CommentPopover: React.FC<CommentPopoverProps> = ({
     source: mentionSource,
   });
 
+  // The mention half of the composer's highlight layer: present for the whole
+  // life of a mention composer (so the first pick never swaps the textarea
+  // element), null without a source (so the overlay does not exist at all).
+  const mentionChipPeople = mentionAc.mentions;
+  const mentionTokenClassName = mentionSource?.tokenClassName;
+  const mentionChips: ComposerMentionChips | null = useMemo(
+    () =>
+      mentionSource
+        ? { people: mentionChipPeople, tokenClassName: mentionTokenClassName }
+        : null,
+    [mentionSource, mentionChipPeople, mentionTokenClassName],
+  );
+
   const handleSubmit = useCallback(() => {
     const canSubmitEmpty = allowEmptySubmit && initialText.trim().length > 0;
     if (hasUnsavedContent || canSubmitEmpty) {
@@ -532,10 +551,7 @@ export const CommentPopover: React.FC<CommentPopoverProps> = ({
   // the textarea's ARIA relationship points at whichever one is. All three are
   // `undefined`/false with no menu open, which is every render Plannotator
   // makes without a `mentionSource`.
-  const activeMentionOptionId =
-    mentionAc.menu === null || mentionAc.menu.activeIndex === null
-      ? undefined
-      : `${mentionListboxId}-option-${mentionAc.menu.activeIndex}`;
+  const activeMentionOptionId = mentionActiveOptionId(mentionListboxId, mentionAc.menu);
   const composerListboxId = mentionAc.menu !== null ? mentionListboxId : skillListboxId;
   const composerListboxOpen = skillAc.menu !== null || mentionAc.menu !== null;
   const activeComposerOptionId = activeSkillOptionId ?? activeMentionOptionId;
@@ -684,26 +700,17 @@ export const CommentPopover: React.FC<CommentPopoverProps> = ({
               sizeClassName="min-h-32 max-h-full"
               skillReferences={skillReferences}
               tokens={skillAc.referenceTokens}
+              mentionChips={mentionChips}
               listboxId={composerListboxId}
               listboxOpen={composerListboxOpen}
               activeOptionId={activeComposerOptionId}
             />
             <HumanOnlySkillNotice skills={skillAc.humanOnlyReferences} />
-            {mentionAc.menu && (
-              <MentionPicker
-                id={mentionListboxId}
-                people={mentionAc.menu.items}
-                emptyNotice={mentionAc.menu.emptyNotice}
-                heading={mentionAc.menu.heading}
-                active={mentionAc.menu.activeIndex}
-                anchor={mentionAc.menu.anchor}
-                onPick={(person) => {
-                  const index = mentionAc.menu?.items.findIndex((p) => p.id === person.id) ?? -1;
-                  if (index >= 0) mentionAc.select(index);
-                }}
-                onHover={() => {}}
-              />
-            )}
+            <MentionAutocompleteMenu
+              id={mentionListboxId}
+              menu={mentionAc.menu}
+              onSelect={mentionAc.select}
+            />
           </div>
 
           {/* Footer — DOM order sets tab order (Save first); row-reverse keeps the visual layout unchanged */}
@@ -849,26 +856,17 @@ export const CommentPopover: React.FC<CommentPopoverProps> = ({
           sizeClassName="max-h-64 min-h-[4.5rem]"
           skillReferences={skillReferences}
           tokens={skillAc.referenceTokens}
+          mentionChips={mentionChips}
           listboxId={composerListboxId}
           listboxOpen={composerListboxOpen}
           activeOptionId={activeComposerOptionId}
         />
         <HumanOnlySkillNotice skills={skillAc.humanOnlyReferences} />
-        {mentionAc.menu && (
-          <MentionPicker
-            id={mentionListboxId}
-            people={mentionAc.menu.items}
-            emptyNotice={mentionAc.menu.emptyNotice}
-            heading={mentionAc.menu.heading}
-            active={mentionAc.menu.activeIndex}
-            anchor={mentionAc.menu.anchor}
-            onPick={(person) => {
-              const index = mentionAc.menu?.items.findIndex((p) => p.id === person.id) ?? -1;
-              if (index >= 0) mentionAc.select(index);
-            }}
-            onHover={() => {}}
-          />
-        )}
+        <MentionAutocompleteMenu
+          id={mentionListboxId}
+          menu={mentionAc.menu}
+          onSelect={mentionAc.select}
+        />
       </div>
 
       {/* Footer — same DOM-order/row-reverse pattern as the dialog footer above */}
@@ -993,6 +991,78 @@ function syncOverlayGutter(
   state.applied = scrollbar;
 }
 
+/**
+ * The default chip look: the theme's primary at a wash, one shade stronger
+ * than a skill reference's so the two token kinds in one overlay read as
+ * siblings rather than the same thing. Deliberately no ring: every class here
+ * is one the package already emitted, so a host build's CSS (and the portable
+ * guide viewer's) is byte-identical to 0.43.2. A host that wants a pill adds
+ * `box-shadow: 0 0 0 Npx <background>` through `tokenClassName` — paint, not
+ * layout, per the metric rule above.
+ */
+const MENTION_CHIP_CLASSES = 'text-primary bg-primary/15 rounded-[3px]';
+
+/**
+ * One token's span in the highlight overlay.
+ *
+ * METRIC RULE, load-bearing for every token kind: a span may change COLOR,
+ * BACKGROUND, BORDER-RADIUS, BOX-SHADOW and TEXT-DECORATION only. Anything
+ * that moves a glyph — padding, margin, border width, font-weight,
+ * letter-spacing, font-size — would shift the overlay's text off the
+ * textarea's own layout and drift the caret away from the painted glyphs. A
+ * pill's breathing room is faked with a paint-only `box-shadow` ring in the
+ * chip's own background color.
+ */
+function renderTokenSpan(
+  range: ComposerTokenRange,
+  text: string,
+  mentionTokenClassName?: string,
+): React.ReactNode {
+  if (range.kind === 'mention') {
+    // `data-mention-token` / `data-mention-kind` are the host's styling hook;
+    // `tokenClassName` is appended verbatim and is the host's to keep
+    // metric-safe (see the rule above).
+    return (
+      <span
+        key={`mention-${range.start}`}
+        data-mention-token={range.person.id}
+        data-mention-kind={range.person.kind}
+        className={`${MENTION_CHIP_CLASSES}${
+          mentionTokenClassName ? ` ${mentionTokenClassName}` : ''
+        }`}
+      >
+        {text}
+      </span>
+    );
+  }
+  // Human-only tokens carry a quiet dotted underline as their inline marker
+  // (text-decoration never affects glyph layout, so overlay alignment is
+  // safe). The accessible explanation lives in HumanOnlySkillNotice below
+  // the textarea — this overlay is aria-hidden.
+  return (
+    <span
+      key={`skill-${range.start}`}
+      data-skill-ref-token={range.skill.entry.name}
+      data-skill-ref-human-only={range.skill.entry.humanOnly ? 'true' : undefined}
+      className={`text-primary bg-primary/10 rounded-[3px] ${
+        range.skill.entry.humanOnly
+          ? 'underline decoration-dotted decoration-primary/60 underline-offset-2'
+          : ''
+      }`}
+    >
+      {text}
+    </span>
+  );
+}
+
+/** The mention half of the highlight layer. Null → no mention source at all. */
+export interface ComposerMentionChips {
+  /** The people whose `@Label` token still survives in the text. */
+  readonly people: readonly MentionPerson[];
+  /** Host class appended to each chip (see `MentionSource.tokenClassName`). */
+  readonly tokenClassName?: string;
+}
+
 interface ComposerTextareaProps {
   value: string;
   onChange: (e: React.ChangeEvent<HTMLTextAreaElement>) => void;
@@ -1005,8 +1075,14 @@ interface ComposerTextareaProps {
   textareaRef: (el: HTMLTextAreaElement | null) => void;
   /** Positioned skill-reference occurrences to highlight. */
   tokens: SkillReferenceToken[];
-  /** Off → render the plain pre-feature textarea, byte-for-byte. */
+  /** Off → no skill-reference contribution to the highlight layer. */
   skillReferences: boolean;
+  /**
+   * The mention contribution, or null with no `mentionSource`. Present (even
+   * with nobody tagged yet) it turns the overlay on, so the first pick paints
+   * a chip without swapping the textarea for a different element.
+   */
+  mentionChips: ComposerMentionChips | null;
   /** ARIA relationship to the skill-reference listbox. */
   listboxId: string;
   listboxOpen: boolean;
@@ -1014,13 +1090,15 @@ interface ComposerTextareaProps {
 }
 
 /**
- * The composer's textarea. With `skillReferences` off this is exactly the
- * pre-feature `<textarea>`; with it on, inserted skill-reference tokens are
- * highlighted via a mirrored, aria-hidden overlay rendered BEHIND a
- * transparent-text textarea (a textarea cannot style substrings). The overlay
- * shares the exact font/padding/wrapping metrics and mirrors scroll position,
- * and token spans change ONLY color/background (never font or weight), so the
- * glyphs the browser lays out in the textarea and the glyphs the overlay
+ * The composer's textarea. With NEITHER token source active this is exactly
+ * the pre-feature `<textarea>`; with either one on, its tokens are painted by
+ * a mirrored, aria-hidden overlay rendered BEHIND a transparent-text textarea
+ * (a textarea cannot style substrings). ONE overlay serves both sources: two
+ * mirrored layers could never stay pixel-aligned with each other, and only
+ * one of them could own the scroll sync. The overlay shares the exact
+ * font/padding/wrapping metrics and mirrors scroll position, and token spans
+ * obey the metric rule on `renderTokenSpan` (paint only, never layout), so
+ * the glyphs the browser lays out in the textarea and the glyphs the overlay
  * paints coincide. During IME composition the overlay hides and the textarea
  * text becomes visible again (`.pn-ref-composing`), keeping native
  * composition rendering (underlines, candidate highlights) intact.
@@ -1035,6 +1113,7 @@ const ComposerTextarea: React.FC<ComposerTextareaProps> = ({
   textareaRef,
   tokens,
   skillReferences,
+  mentionChips,
   listboxId,
   listboxOpen,
   activeOptionId,
@@ -1063,6 +1142,23 @@ const ComposerTextarea: React.FC<ComposerTextareaProps> = ({
     [textareaRef],
   );
 
+  // The overlay exists while EITHER source is active. `mentionChips` turns it
+  // on for the whole life of a mention composer, not only once somebody is
+  // tagged, so a pick never swaps the textarea element under the caret.
+  const mentionPeople = mentionChips?.people;
+  const highlight = skillReferences || mentionChips !== null;
+
+  // The one list of spans the overlay paints, from every active source.
+  // Skill references are the earlier group, so they win a byte both claim.
+  const ranges = useMemo(
+    () =>
+      mergeTokenRanges(value, [
+        skillReferences ? skillTokenRanges(tokens) : [],
+        mentionPeople ? mentionTokenRanges(value, mentionPeople) : [],
+      ]),
+    [value, tokens, skillReferences, mentionPeople],
+  );
+
   // Keep the mirror aligned when the value changes without a scroll event
   // (e.g. programmatic insertion moving the caret into a scrolled region).
   useEffect(() => {
@@ -1080,9 +1176,9 @@ const ComposerTextarea: React.FC<ComposerTextareaProps> = ({
     });
     observer.observe(el);
     return () => observer.disconnect();
-  }, [skillReferences, syncScroll]);
+  }, [highlight, syncScroll]);
 
-  if (!skillReferences) {
+  if (!highlight) {
     return (
       <textarea
         data-pn-mobile-editable="true"
@@ -1105,29 +1201,13 @@ const ComposerTextarea: React.FC<ComposerTextareaProps> = ({
 
   const segments: React.ReactNode[] = [];
   let pos = 0;
-  tokens.forEach((token, i) => {
-    if (token.start < pos || token.end > value.length) return; // stale tokens for a different value
-    if (token.start > pos) segments.push(value.slice(pos, token.start));
-    // Human-only tokens carry a quiet dotted underline as their inline marker
-    // (text-decoration never affects glyph layout, so overlay alignment is
-    // safe). The accessible explanation lives in HumanOnlySkillNotice below
-    // the textarea — this overlay is aria-hidden.
+  for (const range of ranges) {
+    if (range.start > pos) segments.push(value.slice(pos, range.start));
     segments.push(
-      <span
-        key={`${token.start}-${i}`}
-        data-skill-ref-token={token.entry.name}
-        data-skill-ref-human-only={token.entry.humanOnly ? 'true' : undefined}
-        className={`text-primary bg-primary/10 rounded-[3px] ${
-          token.entry.humanOnly
-            ? 'underline decoration-dotted decoration-primary/60 underline-offset-2'
-            : ''
-        }`}
-      >
-        {value.slice(token.start, token.end)}
-      </span>,
+      renderTokenSpan(range, value.slice(range.start, range.end), mentionChips?.tokenClassName),
     );
-    pos = token.end;
-  });
+    pos = range.end;
+  }
   segments.push(value.slice(pos));
 
   return (
@@ -1135,7 +1215,10 @@ const ComposerTextarea: React.FC<ComposerTextareaProps> = ({
       <div
         ref={overlayRef}
         aria-hidden="true"
-        data-skill-ref-overlay="true"
+        // Names the SKILL-reference layer, so a skill composer's overlay is
+        // byte-identical to the one it rendered before mentions existed; a
+        // mentions-only overlay is found by its mirror attribute below.
+        data-skill-ref-overlay={skillReferences ? 'true' : undefined}
         data-pn-mobile-editable-mirror="true"
         className={`${COMPOSER_TEXT_CLASSES} ${sizeClassName} pointer-events-none absolute inset-0 overflow-hidden whitespace-pre-wrap break-words`}
         style={composing ? { visibility: 'hidden' } : undefined}

package/components/MentionAutocomplete.tsx

@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+import React from 'react';
+import { MentionPicker } from './MentionPicker';
+import type { MentionMenuState } from '../hooks/useMentionAutocomplete';
+
+/**
+ * Internal glue between `useMentionAutocomplete` and `MentionPicker`: the
+ * id→index lookup, the no-op hover and the `aria-activedescendant` string
+ * that every composer mounting an `@` menu would otherwise repeat verbatim.
+ *
+ * Not a host seam — hosts pass `mentionSource` and never see this. It exists
+ * so the third mount (the annotation card's edit box) did not become a third
+ * copy of the same fifteen lines.
+ */
+
+/**
+ * The picker for a `useMentionAutocomplete` result. Renders nothing while no
+ * menu is open — which, with no `MentionSource`, is always.
+ */
+export const MentionAutocompleteMenu: React.FC<{
+  /** Listbox id the driving textarea points `aria-controls` at. */
+  readonly id: string;
+  readonly menu: MentionMenuState | null;
+  /** `useMentionAutocomplete`'s `select`. */
+  readonly onSelect: (index: number) => void;
+}> = ({ id, menu, onSelect }) => {
+  if (menu === null) return null;
+  return (
+    <MentionPicker
+      id={id}
+      people={menu.items}
+      emptyNotice={menu.emptyNotice}
+      heading={menu.heading}
+      active={menu.activeIndex}
+      anchor={menu.anchor}
+      onPick={(person) => {
+        const index = menu.items.findIndex((p) => p.id === person.id);
+        if (index >= 0) onSelect(index);
+      }}
+      onHover={() => {}}
+    />
+  );
+};
+
+/**
+ * `aria-activedescendant` for the textarea driving that menu: the id of the
+ * arrow-focused row, or `undefined` while nothing is active (the menu opens
+ * with nothing preselected) and while no menu is open at all.
+ */
+export function mentionActiveOptionId(
+  listboxId: string,
+  menu: MentionMenuState | null,
+): string | undefined {
+  if (menu === null || menu.activeIndex === null) return undefined;
+  return `${listboxId}-option-${menu.activeIndex}`;
+}

package/hooks/useMentionAutocomplete.ts

@@ -34,6 +34,12 @@ export interface UseMentionAutocompleteResult {
   select: (index: number) => void;
   /** The ids whose readable token still survives in the text. */
   mentionIds: readonly string[];
+  /**
+   * The same survivors as people, for a caller that needs their labels — the
+   * composer paints each surviving token as a chip. Frozen-empty with no
+   * source, the same treatment `mentionIds` gets.
+   */
+  mentions: readonly MentionPerson[];
 }
 
 /**
@@ -93,6 +99,7 @@ export function useMentionAutocomplete(options: {
     () => (enabled ? survivors.map((p) => p.id) : NO_IDS),
     [enabled, survivors],
   );
+  const mentions = enabled ? survivors : NO_PEOPLE;
 
   const onMentionsChange = source?.onMentionsChange;
   const mentionsKey = mentionIds.join('\u0000');
@@ -244,5 +251,6 @@ export function useMentionAutocomplete(options: {
     onSelect: readCaret,
     select,
     mentionIds,
+    mentions,
   };
 }

package/package.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@plannotator/ui",
-  "version": "0.43.2",
+  "version": "0.45.0",
   "type": "module",
   "exports": {
     "./components/*": "./components/*.tsx",

package/utils/composerTokens.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,138 @@
+/**
+ * The comment composer's TOKEN HIGHLIGHT LAYER, as pure ranges.
+ *
+ * A textarea cannot style substrings, so `CommentPopover` paints its text
+ * through one mirrored, aria-hidden overlay rendered behind a
+ * transparent-text textarea. That overlay used to know about exactly one kind
+ * of token (skill references). It now paints a MERGED list of ranges produced
+ * by one or more sources, so a second source (host `@` mentions) needs no
+ * second overlay — two mirrored layers could never stay pixel-aligned with
+ * each other, and only one of them could own the scroll sync.
+ *
+ * Everything here is pure: no DOM, no styling, no React. The component maps a
+ * range to its span (that is where Tailwind classes and `data-*` attributes
+ * live, so the class scanner still sees them); this module only decides WHICH
+ * bytes are a token and which token wins when two sources claim the same
+ * ones.
+ */
+import { mentionToken, type MentionPerson } from './mentions';
+import type { SkillReferenceToken } from './skillReferences';
+
+/** One highlighted span of the composer's text, half-open `[start, end)`. */
+export type ComposerTokenRange =
+  | {
+      readonly kind: 'skill';
+      readonly start: number;
+      readonly end: number;
+      readonly skill: SkillReferenceToken;
+    }
+  | {
+      readonly kind: 'mention';
+      readonly start: number;
+      readonly end: number;
+      readonly person: MentionPerson;
+    };
+
+/**
+ * The skill-reference source: the positioned occurrences the autocomplete
+ * already found, unchanged. Order, spans and duplicates are preserved — a
+ * name referenced twice highlights twice.
+ */
+export function skillTokenRanges(
+  tokens: readonly SkillReferenceToken[],
+): ComposerTokenRange[] {
+  return tokens.map((skill) => ({
+    kind: 'skill',
+    start: skill.start,
+    end: skill.end,
+    skill,
+  }));
+}
+
+/**
+ * The mention source: every occurrence of each tagged person's readable
+ * `@Label` token in the text.
+ *
+ * Driven by the mention ID MODEL, never by a regex over arbitrary `@words`:
+ * the people passed in are the ones the author actually picked and whose
+ * token still survives (`survivingMentions`), so editing a byte of a token
+ * un-chips it in the same breath as it untags the person: a chip follows the
+ * body, never a stale pick. (The reported IDS can lag in one inherited case —
+ * a label that is a prefix of another label — see HANDOFF § "Mention token
+ * chips in the composer".)
+ *
+ * KNOWN, INHERITED LIMITATION: two people whose labels sanitize to the same
+ * token are indistinguishable in a plain-text body, so the FIRST of them
+ * listed owns every occurrence of it. That is the same first-match rule
+ * `survivingMentions` applies to the ids; it renders a chip either way and
+ * never throws.
+ */
+export function mentionTokenRanges(
+  text: string,
+  people: readonly MentionPerson[],
+): ComposerTokenRange[] {
+  const ranges: ComposerTokenRange[] = [];
+  const claimed = new Set<string>();
+  for (const person of people) {
+    const token = mentionToken(person);
+    // A person whose label sanitizes to nothing would make every bare `@` a
+    // chip; and a token already claimed belongs to the person listed first.
+    if (token.length <= 1 || claimed.has(token)) continue;
+    claimed.add(token);
+    let from = text.indexOf(token);
+    while (from !== -1) {
+      ranges.push({ kind: 'mention', start: from, end: from + token.length, person });
+      from = text.indexOf(token, from + token.length);
+    }
+  }
+  return ranges;
+}
+
+/**
+ * The one list the overlay paints: every source's ranges, in document order,
+ * with overlaps resolved DETERMINISTICALLY and stale ranges dropped.
+ *
+ * `groups` is in priority order (earlier wins a tie). The rules, applied in
+ * this order at each position:
+ *
+ * 1. a range outside `[0, text.length)`, or empty/inverted, is dropped —
+ *    these are ranges computed for a text the composer has since changed;
+ * 2. earlier `start` wins;
+ * 3. at the same start, the LONGER range wins (so `@Marcus Chen` beats a
+ *    `@Marcus` that is also tagged, rather than chipping half of it);
+ * 4. at the same start and length, the earlier group wins;
+ * 5. a range that begins inside one already kept is dropped outright — the
+ *    overlay is a sequence of non-overlapping spans and nothing may nest.
+ *
+ * With a single skill source this reproduces the pre-refactor loop exactly
+ * (which dropped a token whose `start` fell behind the cursor or whose `end`
+ * ran past the text); its ranges arrive sorted and non-overlapping, so rules
+ * 2-5 never fire.
+ */
+export function mergeTokenRanges(
+  text: string,
+  groups: readonly (readonly ComposerTokenRange[])[],
+): ComposerTokenRange[] {
+  const candidates: { range: ComposerTokenRange; priority: number }[] = [];
+  groups.forEach((group, priority) => {
+    for (const range of group) {
+      if (!Number.isInteger(range.start) || !Number.isInteger(range.end)) continue;
+      if (range.start < 0 || range.end > text.length || range.end <= range.start) continue;
+      candidates.push({ range, priority });
+    }
+  });
+  candidates.sort(
+    (a, b) =>
+      a.range.start - b.range.start ||
+      b.range.end - a.range.end ||
+      a.priority - b.priority,
+  );
+  const merged: ComposerTokenRange[] = [];
+  let pos = 0;
+  for (const { range } of candidates) {
+    if (range.start < pos) continue;
+    merged.push(range);
+    pos = range.end;
+  }
+  return merged;
+}

package/utils/mentions.ts

@@ -45,6 +45,20 @@ export interface MentionSource {
   readonly emptyNotice?: string | null;
   /** Optional heading drawn above the list ("People in this workspace"). Absent → no heading row. */
   readonly heading?: string | null;
+  /**
+   * Optional class appended to each `@Label` chip the composer paints in its
+   * text (0.44.0), for a host that wants its own chip look.
+   *
+   * THE METRIC RULE IS THE HOST'S TO KEEP: the chip is painted by an overlay
+   * mirrored behind a transparent-text textarea, so it may change COLOR,
+   * BACKGROUND, BORDER-RADIUS, BOX-SHADOW and TEXT-DECORATION only. Anything
+   * that moves a glyph — padding, margin, border width, font-weight,
+   * letter-spacing, font-size — drifts the painted text off the textarea's
+   * own layout and takes the caret with it. Fake a pill's breathing room
+   * with `box-shadow: 0 0 0 Npx <background>`, which paints without
+   * occupying space.
+   */
+  readonly tokenClassName?: string;
   /** Fires on every text change with the ids whose token still survives in the body. */
   readonly onMentionsChange?: (ids: readonly string[]) => void;
   /**