@specific.dev/spectest 0.48.0 → 0.49.0

package/dist/annotate.d.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
+import { type EmailEventMessage, type EmailEventSummary } from "./recorder.js";
+/** Phantom brand — `Annotated<T>` is nominally distinct from `T`, so the
+ *  box can't be read as the value by accident inside the fake, and the
+ *  helper types can recognise it and hand the *test* back a plain `T`. */
+declare const ANNOTATED: unique symbol;
+/**
+ * A value plus a rendering hint, as returned by {@link annotate}. Return it
+ * straight from a fake helper: the daemon unwraps it, so the test receives
+ * the value itself and `ctx.fakes.<name>.<fn>()` is typed as if the
+ * annotation weren't there.
+ */
+export interface Annotated<T> {
+    readonly [ANNOTATED]: T;
+}
+/**
+ * Every annotation kind, and the options each one takes. This interface is
+ * the whole type contract of {@link annotate}: naming a kind picks the type
+ * of the options argument, so a stray field or a value that belongs to
+ * another kind is a compile error at the call site.
+ *
+ * A new kind is an entry here, a case in `lower`, and an arm in
+ * `daemon.ts::recordAnnotationChild`.
+ */
+export interface AnnotationOptions {
+    /** Draw the value as an email — one message, or a list of them for a
+     *  mailbox listing. See {@link EmailAnnotation}. */
+    email: EmailAnnotation | readonly EmailAnnotation[];
+}
+/** The kinds {@link annotate} accepts. */
+export type AnnotationKind = keyof AnnotationOptions;
+/**
+ * What an annotation lowers to: the fields of the child event the daemon
+ * records under the call's own `fake` one. Tagged by that event's `kind` —
+ * which needn't be the annotation kind's name, since an annotation names
+ * what the value *is* and the event names how it's drawn.
+ */
+export type RenderAnnotation = {
+    kind: "email";
+    /** Single-message ops. */
+    message?: EmailEventMessage;
+    /** Listing ops. */
+    messages?: EmailEventSummary[];
+    /** Total matches (a listing is capped on the event, never in the value). */
+    count?: number;
+};
+/**
+ * The email fields to render. Every one is optional — pass what the fake
+ * has. Addresses take a single string or a list.
+ *
+ * The event can also carry a date, per-row previews and attachment
+ * metadata, which the built-in `email()` component fills from a really
+ * captured message; a fake's mail was never sent, so those are deliberately
+ * not offered here. A listing row's preview is derived from the body.
+ */
+export interface EmailAnnotation {
+    from?: string;
+    to?: string | readonly string[];
+    cc?: string | readonly string[];
+    bcc?: string | readonly string[];
+    subject?: string;
+    /** HTML body. Rendered in a fully sandboxed iframe (scripts off). */
+    html?: string;
+    /** Plain-text body. Shown on its own when there's no HTML, folded into a
+     *  "Plain-text version" disclosure when there is. */
+    text?: string;
+}
+/**
+ * Say what a fake helper's return value *is*, so the timeline can draw it
+ * as that on top of the JSON it always shows. The call stays an ordinary
+ * fake step; the rendered view nests inside it. The value is returned to
+ * the test unchanged (and unchanged in type).
+ *
+ * ```ts
+ * helpers: ({ state }) => ({
+ *   lastReceipt() {
+ *     const r = state.receipts.at(-1);
+ *     return r && annotate(r, "email", {
+ *       from: "receipts@stripe.test",
+ *       to: r.customer,
+ *       subject: `Receipt for ${r.description}`,
+ *       html: r.body,
+ *     });
+ *   },
+ * })
+ * ```
+ *
+ * `kind` picks what the options are: `"email"` takes an
+ * {@link EmailAnnotation} (or a list of them, which renders a mailbox
+ * listing instead of one message). Every field is optional, and with no
+ * options at all they're read off the value itself — enough when it already
+ * carries `from`/`to`/`subject`/`html`/`text`. Throws if there is nothing to
+ * render, rather than recording an empty step.
+ */
+export declare function annotate<T, K extends AnnotationKind>(value: T, kind: K, options?: AnnotationOptions[K]): Annotated<T>;
+/** Open an annotation box. Returns `undefined` for any ordinary value, so
+ *  call sites can treat annotation as the exception it is. */
+export declare function readAnnotation(value: unknown): {
+    annotation: RenderAnnotation;
+    value: unknown;
+} | undefined;
+export {};

package/dist/annotate.js

@@ -0,0 +1,196 @@
+// Render annotations — how a fake tells the dashboard to draw a helper's
+// return value as something richer than JSON.
+//
+// A fake helper call is recorded as a `fake` step and its return value is
+// rendered as pretty JSON, which is the right default for arbitrary data.
+// When the value *is* a domain object the timeline already draws well — an
+// email, today — the fake says so: `return annotate(msg, "email", {…})`.
+// The call is still recorded as the `fake` step it is; the annotation rides
+// *under* it as a child event (`parentSeq`, marked `annotation`) of the kind
+// that already knows how to draw this — for `"email"`, the very event the
+// built-in `email()` component's mailbox helpers record — so the dashboard
+// renders it mail-client style (header block + sandboxed HTML body) with no
+// new rendering code. It leads the step's detail panel; the raw JSON value
+// is a tab away.
+//
+// One function, keyed by kind: the kind is a key of `AnnotationOptions`, so
+// the options argument is typed against the kind that was named, and a new
+// kind is an entry in that interface (+ a case in `lower`, + an arm in
+// `daemon.ts::recordAnnotatedCall`) rather than a new export.
+//
+// The test is unaffected. `annotate` returns a box that the daemon opens at
+// the helper boundary (`daemon.ts::invokeFakeHelper`), so the caller gets
+// the raw value back, inspect-wrapped as always, and the *type* it sees is
+// still the raw value's (`WrappedHelpers` in index.ts unwraps `Annotated`).
+// Assertions keep linking to the fake step, exactly as for an unannotated
+// helper. The annotation is a rendering hint and nothing else.
+//
+// This is a fake-helper mechanism: those calls go through a tracking proxy
+// that can open the box. A *service* helper (`ctx.svc.<name>.…`) is the raw
+// record its factory returned, so an annotation there would reach the test
+// as an opaque value — don't.
+import { deepUnwrap } from "./inspect.js";
+import { truncateUtf8, } from "./recorder.js";
+/**
+ * Runtime marker on the box `annotate(...)` returns. `Symbol.for` rather
+ * than a module-local symbol so a second copy of the SDK still recognises
+ * a box minted by the first — the duplicate-module-instance hazard that
+ * silently drops assertion events when the SDK lands in an app dir twice
+ * (see `sdk.rs`).
+ */
+const ANNOTATION = Symbol.for("spectest.render-annotation");
+/** Listing rows carried on the event. The returned value is never capped. */
+const LIST_CAP = 50;
+/** How much of a body becomes a listing row's preview. */
+const SNIPPET_CHARS = 200;
+const NO_FIELDS = 'annotate(value, "email"): nothing to render — no email fields found on ' +
+    "the value. Pass them explicitly, e.g. " +
+    'annotate(value, "email", { to: value.recipient, subject: value.title, ' +
+    "html: value.body }).";
+/**
+ * Say what a fake helper's return value *is*, so the timeline can draw it
+ * as that on top of the JSON it always shows. The call stays an ordinary
+ * fake step; the rendered view nests inside it. The value is returned to
+ * the test unchanged (and unchanged in type).
+ *
+ * ```ts
+ * helpers: ({ state }) => ({
+ *   lastReceipt() {
+ *     const r = state.receipts.at(-1);
+ *     return r && annotate(r, "email", {
+ *       from: "receipts@stripe.test",
+ *       to: r.customer,
+ *       subject: `Receipt for ${r.description}`,
+ *       html: r.body,
+ *     });
+ *   },
+ * })
+ * ```
+ *
+ * `kind` picks what the options are: `"email"` takes an
+ * {@link EmailAnnotation} (or a list of them, which renders a mailbox
+ * listing instead of one message). Every field is optional, and with no
+ * options at all they're read off the value itself — enough when it already
+ * carries `from`/`to`/`subject`/`html`/`text`. Throws if there is nothing to
+ * render, rather than recording an empty step.
+ */
+export function annotate(value, kind, options) {
+    return box(value, lower(kind, options, value));
+}
+/** Turn a kind + its options into the event fields to record. */
+function lower(kind, options, value) {
+    switch (kind) {
+        case "email":
+            return lowerEmail(options, value);
+        default:
+            // Unreachable while `kind` is a key of AnnotationOptions; a kind added
+            // to that interface without a case here lands on this line.
+            throw new Error(`annotate(): unknown annotation kind ${String(kind)}`);
+    }
+}
+function lowerEmail(options, value) {
+    // `deepUnwrap` only where fields are *read* — a value off another
+    // instrumented call is a provenance carrier, and `String(carrier)` would
+    // otherwise be its coerced shape rather than the address it holds. The
+    // value handed back to the test is never touched.
+    const source = deepUnwrap(options ?? value);
+    if (Array.isArray(source)) {
+        const messages = source.slice(0, LIST_CAP).map((m) => summaryOf(fields(m)));
+        if (source.length > 0 && messages.every((m) => isEmpty(m))) {
+            throw new Error(NO_FIELDS);
+        }
+        return { kind: "email", messages, count: source.length };
+    }
+    const message = messageOf(fields(source));
+    if (isEmpty(message))
+        throw new Error(NO_FIELDS);
+    return { kind: "email", message };
+}
+/** Open an annotation box. Returns `undefined` for any ordinary value, so
+ *  call sites can treat annotation as the exception it is. */
+export function readAnnotation(value) {
+    if (typeof value !== "object" || value === null)
+        return undefined;
+    const annotation = value[ANNOTATION];
+    if (!annotation)
+        return undefined;
+    return { annotation, value: value.value };
+}
+function box(value, annotation) {
+    return { [ANNOTATION]: annotation, value };
+}
+function isEmpty(o) {
+    return Object.keys(o).length === 0;
+}
+/** The value as a field bag — anything that isn't an object contributes
+ *  nothing, and falls through to the `NO_FIELDS` error. */
+function fields(v) {
+    return typeof v === "object" && v !== null
+        ? v
+        : {};
+}
+function messageOf(src) {
+    const msg = {};
+    const from = text(src.from);
+    if (from)
+        msg.from = from;
+    for (const key of ["to", "cc", "bcc"]) {
+        const addrs = addresses(src[key]);
+        if (addrs.length > 0)
+            msg[key] = addrs;
+    }
+    const subject = text(src.subject);
+    if (subject)
+        msg.subject = subject;
+    const html = text(src.html);
+    if (html) {
+        const t = truncateUtf8(html);
+        msg.html = t.value;
+        if (t.truncated)
+            msg.htmlTruncated = true;
+    }
+    const body = text(src.text);
+    if (body) {
+        const t = truncateUtf8(body);
+        msg.text = t.value;
+        if (t.truncated)
+            msg.textTruncated = true;
+    }
+    return msg;
+}
+/** A listing row is a whole message plus its preview line — the dashboard
+ *  expands the row you click into the full view, so the body has to ride
+ *  along rather than being summarised away. */
+function summaryOf(src) {
+    const row = messageOf(src);
+    const snippet = preview(text(src.text), text(src.html));
+    if (snippet)
+        row.snippet = snippet;
+    return row;
+}
+/** A listing row's preview: the plain-text body if there is one, else the
+ *  HTML with its tags stripped — enough to tell two messages apart. */
+function preview(body, html) {
+    const raw = body || html.replace(/<[^>]*>/g, " ");
+    const collapsed = raw.replace(/\s+/g, " ").trim();
+    return collapsed.length > SNIPPET_CHARS
+        ? `${collapsed.slice(0, SNIPPET_CHARS)}…`
+        : collapsed;
+}
+/** Scalars render as themselves; anything else (an object, a nested array)
+ *  is not an address or a subject line and is dropped rather than shown as
+ *  `[object Object]`. */
+function text(v) {
+    if (typeof v === "string")
+        return v;
+    if (typeof v === "number" || typeof v === "boolean")
+        return String(v);
+    return "";
+}
+function addresses(v) {
+    if (typeof v === "string")
+        return v ? [v] : [];
+    if (!Array.isArray(v))
+        return [];
+    return v.map((a) => text(a)).filter((a) => a.length > 0);
+}

package/dist/daemon.js

@@ -44,7 +44,8 @@ import { runContainerArgs } from "./harness/container-run.js";
 import { assertAbsolute, certificateHostnames, defaultKeyMode, expandServiceToken, isNoopChown, mountFlag, needsIdTables, numericId, resolveChownIds, } from "./harness/file-mounts.js";
 import { conflict, notFound, requireString, } from "./harness/methods.js";
 import { openTerminal } from "./terminal.js";
-import { recordEnv, recordExec, recordFake, recordHttp, recordTerminal, recordWait, reserveEvent, recorderEventCount, recorderMarkChildren, recorderTruncate, startRecording, stopRecording, truncateUtf8, } from "./recorder.js";
+import { readAnnotation } from "./annotate.js";
+import { recordEmail, recordEnv, recordExec, recordFake, recordHttp, recordTerminal, recordWait, reserveEvent, recorderEventCount, recorderMarkChildren, recorderTruncate, startRecording, stopRecording, truncateUtf8, } from "./recorder.js";
 import { deepUnwrap, wrap, wrapResponse } from "./inspect.js";
 import { clearRecordSecrets, setRecordSecrets } from "./record-secrets.js";
 import { encodeReplayBundle, replayChunk } from "./replay-bundle.js";
@@ -2262,14 +2263,27 @@ function invokeFakeHelper(fakeName, member, fn, thisArg, callArgs) {
     const args = callArgs.map((a) => deepUnwrap(a));
     const safeArgs = args.map((a) => safeSerialize(a));
     const recordResult = (value) => {
+        // A helper may box its return in a render annotation
+        // (`annotate(v, "email", …)`). The box never reaches the test, and it
+        // never replaces the step either: the call is recorded as the ordinary
+        // `fake` event it is, and the annotation rides *under* it as a child
+        // event (`parentSeq`), which the dashboard folds into the fake step's
+        // detail panel. So the timeline reads the same as any other helper
+        // call, with the richer view one click in.
+        const annotated = readAnnotation(value);
+        const raw = annotated ? annotated.value : value;
+        const durationMs = Date.now() - t;
         const seq = recordFake({
             fake: fakeName,
             member,
             args: safeArgs,
-            result: safeSerialize(value),
-            durationMs: Date.now() - t,
+            result: safeSerialize(raw),
+            durationMs,
         }, resv);
-        return wrap(value, seq);
+        if (annotated && seq !== undefined) {
+            recordAnnotationChild(fakeName, member, annotated.annotation, durationMs, seq);
+        }
+        return wrap(raw, seq);
     };
     const recordError = (err) => {
         recordFake({
@@ -2296,6 +2310,35 @@ function invokeFakeHelper(fakeName, member, fn, thisArg, callArgs) {
     }
     return recordResult(result);
 }
+/** Record a fake-helper call's render annotation as a child of the call's
+ * own `fake` event — the same `parentSeq` grouping `ctx.poll` uses for the
+ * iteration it kept, so the annotated view folds into the fake step's
+ * detail panel instead of taking a timeline row of its own.
+ *
+ * The child is the event kind that already knows how to draw this: an
+ * `email` annotation records the very event the built-in `email()`
+ * component's mailbox helpers record, so it renders with no new code. It
+ * carries the fake's name and member as its service/op, and the parent's
+ * duration, since it describes that same call.
+ *
+ * Only the success path is annotated: a helper that threw returned no value
+ * to annotate, so it's a plain `fake` error event. */
+function recordAnnotationChild(fakeName, member, annotation, durationMs, parentSeq) {
+    switch (annotation.kind) {
+        case "email":
+            recordEmail({
+                parentSeq,
+                annotation: true,
+                service: fakeName,
+                op: member,
+                message: annotation.message,
+                messages: annotation.messages,
+                count: annotation.count,
+                durationMs,
+            });
+            break;
+    }
+}
 function errMessage(err) {
     return err?.message ?? String(err);
 }

package/dist/index.d.ts

@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@ import { strict as nodeAssert } from "node:assert";
 export type { Carrier, Wrapped, WrappedObject, WrappedArray, WrappedResponse, Provenanced, SpectestFetch, Unwrap, } from "./inspect.js";
 import type { Provenanced, SpectestFetch, Wrapped } from "./inspect.js";
 export { field } from "./inspect.js";
+export { annotate } from "./annotate.js";
+export type { Annotated, AnnotationKind, AnnotationOptions, EmailAnnotation, } from "./annotate.js";
+import type { Annotated } from "./annotate.js";
 export { SQL, type SqlClient, type SqlOptions } from "./sql.js";
 export { RedisClient, type RedisClientLike, type RedisOptions } from "./redis.js";
 export { S3Client, type S3ClientLike, type S3File, type S3ClientOptions } from "./s3.js";
@@ -1147,6 +1150,10 @@ export interface FakeDefinition<S = any, H extends Record<string, unknown> = Rec
      * Every call is tracked in the test timeline: it records a `fake` step
      * and the return value is tagged so a later `expect(...)` on it nests
      * under that step in the UI (same provenance as `fetch`/db results).
+     * The step renders the return value as JSON; wrap it in {@link annotate}
+     * to add a richer view (an email, today) that the step's panel leads with,
+     * the JSON one tab away — the test still receives the raw value, unchanged
+     * and unchanged in type.
      *
      * Receives the fake's `state` plus a {@link FakeContext} `ctx`, so a
      * helper can provision/teardown runtime services just like the handler.
@@ -1188,8 +1195,15 @@ export type FakesMap = Record<string, FakeDefinition<any, any>>;
  * `void` side-effect helpers) pass through untouched. Mirrors `Tagged<T>` in
  * `components/k3s.ts`, extended to cover synchronous returns. */
 type WrappedHelpers<H> = {
-    [K in keyof H]: H[K] extends (...args: infer A) => Promise<infer R> ? (...args: A) => Promise<Wrapped<R>> : H[K] extends (...args: infer A) => infer R ? (...args: A) => [R] extends [void] ? void : Wrapped<R> : H[K];
+    [K in keyof H]: H[K] extends (...args: infer A) => Promise<infer R> ? (...args: A) => Promise<Wrapped<Unannotated<R>>> : H[K] extends (...args: infer A) => infer R ? (...args: A) => [R] extends [void] ? void : Wrapped<Unannotated<R>> : H[K];
 };
+/** A helper's return type as the *test* sees it. {@link annotate} boxes the
+ * value in an {@link Annotated} to pick how the step renders; the daemon
+ * opens that box at the helper boundary, so the annotation never reaches
+ * the caller — in the types either. Distributes over a union, so a helper
+ * that annotates only when it has something (`return m && annotate(m, "email")`)
+ * still reads as `T | undefined`. */
+type Unannotated<R> = R extends Annotated<infer U> ? U : R;
 /** Awaited return type of a fake's `helpers` factory (with each result
  * inspect-wrapped, see {@link WrappedHelpers}), or `{ state: S }` (the
  * default) when the user didn't ship one. */

package/dist/index.js

@@ -16,6 +16,13 @@ import { adoptNullishTag, readRaw, readTag } from "./inspect.js";
 // always wrapped (in every context), so the method is always there; there is no
 // `unwrap(x)` free function. See the `.unwrap()` discipline section of `spectest docs`.
 export { field } from "./inspect.js";
+// Render annotations for fake helpers: a helper returns
+// `annotate(value, "email", { … })` when its value is an email, and the
+// fake step it records gains a nested `email` event — the same one the
+// built-in `email()` component records — so the step's panel can draw the
+// mail, tabbing to the raw JSON value. The kind picks the options' type, and the test still gets
+// the raw value, with the raw value's type — see `annotate.ts`.
+export { annotate } from "./annotate.js";
 // Instrumented client primitives — drop-in replacements for Bun's native
 // clients that record each operation on the test event log and return their
 // results inspect-wrapped, so `expect(...)` on a result links back to the op

package/dist/recorder.d.ts

@@ -18,6 +18,15 @@ interface BaseEvent {
      * timelines. The parent event is identified by its `seq`.
      */
     parentSeq?: number;
+    /**
+     * Set when this event is not an op of its own but *another view of its
+     * parent's value* — what a fake helper's `annotate(...)` records
+     * (`annotate.ts`). The two kinds of `parentSeq` child read differently
+     * and render differently: a `ctx.poll` iteration is work the step did,
+     * and belongs below it; an annotation is the same value drawn better,
+     * and belongs in place of it (the dashboard tabs between the two).
+     */
+    annotation?: boolean;
 }
 export interface ExecEvent extends BaseEvent {
     kind: "exec";
@@ -311,14 +320,17 @@ export interface EmailEventMessage {
         size: number;
     }[];
 }
-/** One row of a mailbox listing embedded on an {@link EmailEvent}. */
-export interface EmailEventSummary {
-    from?: string;
-    to?: string[];
-    subject?: string;
-    /** Plain-text preview of the body. */
+/**
+ * One row of a mailbox listing embedded on an {@link EmailEvent}. A row is a
+ * message: the dashboard lists rows as `to` + subject and expands the one you
+ * click into the same view a single-message op renders, so whatever body the
+ * producer has belongs here. Mailpit's list API returns no bodies, so
+ * `email()`'s own listings fill only the header fields plus `snippet` — a row
+ * with no body expands to its preview instead.
+ */
+export interface EmailEventSummary extends EmailEventMessage {
+    /** Plain-text preview of the body, shown when the row carries no body. */
     snippet?: string;
-    date?: string;
 }
 /**
  * One call to an email service's helpers (`ctx.svc.<name>.lastEmail(...)`
@@ -332,9 +344,13 @@ export interface EmailEventSummary {
  */
 export interface EmailEvent extends BaseEvent {
     kind: "email";
-    /** Service key of the mail server (`ctx.svc.<service>`). */
+    /** Service key of the mail server (`ctx.svc.<service>`) — or the fake's
+     *  name, when a fake helper annotated its return with `annotate(v, "email")`
+     *  (`annotate.ts`) and this event hangs off that call's `fake` one as a
+     *  `parentSeq` child. */
     service: string;
-    /** Helper called, e.g. `"lastEmail"`. */
+    /** Helper called, e.g. `"lastEmail"` — the fake's member name for an
+     *  annotated fake-helper call. */
     op: string;
     /** Human-readable match criteria, e.g. `to alice@example.com`. */
     query?: string;

package/package.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@specific.dev/spectest",
-  "version": "0.48.0",
+  "version": "0.49.0",
   "description": "Spectest SDK for defining test environments in TypeScript.",
   "type": "module",
   "main": "./dist/index.js",

package/src/annotate.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,292 @@
+// Render annotations — how a fake tells the dashboard to draw a helper's
+// return value as something richer than JSON.
+//
+// A fake helper call is recorded as a `fake` step and its return value is
+// rendered as pretty JSON, which is the right default for arbitrary data.
+// When the value *is* a domain object the timeline already draws well — an
+// email, today — the fake says so: `return annotate(msg, "email", {…})`.
+// The call is still recorded as the `fake` step it is; the annotation rides
+// *under* it as a child event (`parentSeq`, marked `annotation`) of the kind
+// that already knows how to draw this — for `"email"`, the very event the
+// built-in `email()` component's mailbox helpers record — so the dashboard
+// renders it mail-client style (header block + sandboxed HTML body) with no
+// new rendering code. It leads the step's detail panel; the raw JSON value
+// is a tab away.
+//
+// One function, keyed by kind: the kind is a key of `AnnotationOptions`, so
+// the options argument is typed against the kind that was named, and a new
+// kind is an entry in that interface (+ a case in `lower`, + an arm in
+// `daemon.ts::recordAnnotatedCall`) rather than a new export.
+//
+// The test is unaffected. `annotate` returns a box that the daemon opens at
+// the helper boundary (`daemon.ts::invokeFakeHelper`), so the caller gets
+// the raw value back, inspect-wrapped as always, and the *type* it sees is
+// still the raw value's (`WrappedHelpers` in index.ts unwraps `Annotated`).
+// Assertions keep linking to the fake step, exactly as for an unannotated
+// helper. The annotation is a rendering hint and nothing else.
+//
+// This is a fake-helper mechanism: those calls go through a tracking proxy
+// that can open the box. A *service* helper (`ctx.svc.<name>.…`) is the raw
+// record its factory returned, so an annotation there would reach the test
+// as an opaque value — don't.
+
+import { deepUnwrap } from "./inspect.js";
+import {
+  truncateUtf8,
+  type EmailEventMessage,
+  type EmailEventSummary,
+} from "./recorder.js";
+
+/**
+ * Runtime marker on the box `annotate(...)` returns. `Symbol.for` rather
+ * than a module-local symbol so a second copy of the SDK still recognises
+ * a box minted by the first — the duplicate-module-instance hazard that
+ * silently drops assertion events when the SDK lands in an app dir twice
+ * (see `sdk.rs`).
+ */
+const ANNOTATION = Symbol.for("spectest.render-annotation");
+
+/** Phantom brand — `Annotated<T>` is nominally distinct from `T`, so the
+ *  box can't be read as the value by accident inside the fake, and the
+ *  helper types can recognise it and hand the *test* back a plain `T`. */
+declare const ANNOTATED: unique symbol;
+
+/**
+ * A value plus a rendering hint, as returned by {@link annotate}. Return it
+ * straight from a fake helper: the daemon unwraps it, so the test receives
+ * the value itself and `ctx.fakes.<name>.<fn>()` is typed as if the
+ * annotation weren't there.
+ */
+export interface Annotated<T> {
+  readonly [ANNOTATED]: T;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Every annotation kind, and the options each one takes. This interface is
+ * the whole type contract of {@link annotate}: naming a kind picks the type
+ * of the options argument, so a stray field or a value that belongs to
+ * another kind is a compile error at the call site.
+ *
+ * A new kind is an entry here, a case in `lower`, and an arm in
+ * `daemon.ts::recordAnnotationChild`.
+ */
+export interface AnnotationOptions {
+  /** Draw the value as an email — one message, or a list of them for a
+   *  mailbox listing. See {@link EmailAnnotation}. */
+  email: EmailAnnotation | readonly EmailAnnotation[];
+}
+
+/** The kinds {@link annotate} accepts. */
+export type AnnotationKind = keyof AnnotationOptions;
+
+/**
+ * What an annotation lowers to: the fields of the child event the daemon
+ * records under the call's own `fake` one. Tagged by that event's `kind` —
+ * which needn't be the annotation kind's name, since an annotation names
+ * what the value *is* and the event names how it's drawn.
+ */
+export type RenderAnnotation = {
+  kind: "email";
+  /** Single-message ops. */
+  message?: EmailEventMessage;
+  /** Listing ops. */
+  messages?: EmailEventSummary[];
+  /** Total matches (a listing is capped on the event, never in the value). */
+  count?: number;
+};
+
+/**
+ * The email fields to render. Every one is optional — pass what the fake
+ * has. Addresses take a single string or a list.
+ *
+ * The event can also carry a date, per-row previews and attachment
+ * metadata, which the built-in `email()` component fills from a really
+ * captured message; a fake's mail was never sent, so those are deliberately
+ * not offered here. A listing row's preview is derived from the body.
+ */
+export interface EmailAnnotation {
+  from?: string;
+  to?: string | readonly string[];
+  cc?: string | readonly string[];
+  bcc?: string | readonly string[];
+  subject?: string;
+  /** HTML body. Rendered in a fully sandboxed iframe (scripts off). */
+  html?: string;
+  /** Plain-text body. Shown on its own when there's no HTML, folded into a
+   *  "Plain-text version" disclosure when there is. */
+  text?: string;
+}
+
+/** Listing rows carried on the event. The returned value is never capped. */
+const LIST_CAP = 50;
+
+/** How much of a body becomes a listing row's preview. */
+const SNIPPET_CHARS = 200;
+
+const NO_FIELDS =
+  'annotate(value, "email"): nothing to render — no email fields found on ' +
+  "the value. Pass them explicitly, e.g. " +
+  'annotate(value, "email", { to: value.recipient, subject: value.title, ' +
+  "html: value.body }).";
+
+/**
+ * Say what a fake helper's return value *is*, so the timeline can draw it
+ * as that on top of the JSON it always shows. The call stays an ordinary
+ * fake step; the rendered view nests inside it. The value is returned to
+ * the test unchanged (and unchanged in type).
+ *
+ * ```ts
+ * helpers: ({ state }) => ({
+ *   lastReceipt() {
+ *     const r = state.receipts.at(-1);
+ *     return r && annotate(r, "email", {
+ *       from: "receipts@stripe.test",
+ *       to: r.customer,
+ *       subject: `Receipt for ${r.description}`,
+ *       html: r.body,
+ *     });
+ *   },
+ * })
+ * ```
+ *
+ * `kind` picks what the options are: `"email"` takes an
+ * {@link EmailAnnotation} (or a list of them, which renders a mailbox
+ * listing instead of one message). Every field is optional, and with no
+ * options at all they're read off the value itself — enough when it already
+ * carries `from`/`to`/`subject`/`html`/`text`. Throws if there is nothing to
+ * render, rather than recording an empty step.
+ */
+export function annotate<T, K extends AnnotationKind>(
+  value: T,
+  kind: K,
+  options?: AnnotationOptions[K],
+): Annotated<T> {
+  return box(value, lower(kind, options, value));
+}
+
+/** Turn a kind + its options into the event fields to record. */
+function lower<K extends AnnotationKind>(
+  kind: K,
+  options: AnnotationOptions[K] | undefined,
+  value: unknown,
+): RenderAnnotation {
+  switch (kind) {
+    case "email":
+      return lowerEmail(options as AnnotationOptions["email"] | undefined, value);
+    default:
+      // Unreachable while `kind` is a key of AnnotationOptions; a kind added
+      // to that interface without a case here lands on this line.
+      throw new Error(`annotate(): unknown annotation kind ${String(kind)}`);
+  }
+}
+
+function lowerEmail(
+  options: AnnotationOptions["email"] | undefined,
+  value: unknown,
+): RenderAnnotation {
+  // `deepUnwrap` only where fields are *read* — a value off another
+  // instrumented call is a provenance carrier, and `String(carrier)` would
+  // otherwise be its coerced shape rather than the address it holds. The
+  // value handed back to the test is never touched.
+  const source: unknown = deepUnwrap(options ?? value);
+  if (Array.isArray(source)) {
+    const messages = source.slice(0, LIST_CAP).map((m) => summaryOf(fields(m)));
+    if (source.length > 0 && messages.every((m) => isEmpty(m))) {
+      throw new Error(NO_FIELDS);
+    }
+    return { kind: "email", messages, count: source.length };
+  }
+  const message = messageOf(fields(source));
+  if (isEmpty(message)) throw new Error(NO_FIELDS);
+  return { kind: "email", message };
+}
+
+/** Open an annotation box. Returns `undefined` for any ordinary value, so
+ *  call sites can treat annotation as the exception it is. */
+export function readAnnotation(
+  value: unknown,
+): { annotation: RenderAnnotation; value: unknown } | undefined {
+  if (typeof value !== "object" || value === null) return undefined;
+  const annotation = (value as Record<symbol, unknown>)[ANNOTATION] as
+    | RenderAnnotation
+    | undefined;
+  if (!annotation) return undefined;
+  return { annotation, value: (value as { value: unknown }).value };
+}
+
+function box<T>(value: T, annotation: RenderAnnotation): Annotated<T> {
+  return { [ANNOTATION]: annotation, value } as unknown as Annotated<T>;
+}
+
+function isEmpty(o: object): boolean {
+  return Object.keys(o).length === 0;
+}
+
+/** The value as a field bag — anything that isn't an object contributes
+ *  nothing, and falls through to the `NO_FIELDS` error. */
+function fields(v: unknown): Record<string, unknown> {
+  return typeof v === "object" && v !== null
+    ? (v as Record<string, unknown>)
+    : {};
+}
+
+function messageOf(src: Record<string, unknown>): EmailEventMessage {
+  const msg: EmailEventMessage = {};
+  const from = text(src.from);
+  if (from) msg.from = from;
+  for (const key of ["to", "cc", "bcc"] as const) {
+    const addrs = addresses(src[key]);
+    if (addrs.length > 0) msg[key] = addrs;
+  }
+  const subject = text(src.subject);
+  if (subject) msg.subject = subject;
+  const html = text(src.html);
+  if (html) {
+    const t = truncateUtf8(html);
+    msg.html = t.value;
+    if (t.truncated) msg.htmlTruncated = true;
+  }
+  const body = text(src.text);
+  if (body) {
+    const t = truncateUtf8(body);
+    msg.text = t.value;
+    if (t.truncated) msg.textTruncated = true;
+  }
+  return msg;
+}
+
+/** A listing row is a whole message plus its preview line — the dashboard
+ *  expands the row you click into the full view, so the body has to ride
+ *  along rather than being summarised away. */
+function summaryOf(src: Record<string, unknown>): EmailEventSummary {
+  const row: EmailEventSummary = messageOf(src);
+  const snippet = preview(text(src.text), text(src.html));
+  if (snippet) row.snippet = snippet;
+  return row;
+}
+
+/** A listing row's preview: the plain-text body if there is one, else the
+ *  HTML with its tags stripped — enough to tell two messages apart. */
+function preview(body: string, html: string): string {
+  const raw = body || html.replace(/<[^>]*>/g, " ");
+  const collapsed = raw.replace(/\s+/g, " ").trim();
+  return collapsed.length > SNIPPET_CHARS
+    ? `${collapsed.slice(0, SNIPPET_CHARS)}…`
+    : collapsed;
+}
+
+/** Scalars render as themselves; anything else (an object, a nested array)
+ *  is not an address or a subject line and is dropped rather than shown as
+ *  `[object Object]`. */
+function text(v: unknown): string {
+  if (typeof v === "string") return v;
+  if (typeof v === "number" || typeof v === "boolean") return String(v);
+  return "";
+}
+
+function addresses(v: unknown): string[] {
+  if (typeof v === "string") return v ? [v] : [];
+  if (!Array.isArray(v)) return [];
+  return v.map((a) => text(a)).filter((a) => a.length > 0);
+}
+

package/src/daemon.ts

@@ -112,7 +112,9 @@ import {
 } from "./harness/methods.js";
 import type { Mobile, MobileApp } from "./mobile.js";
 import { openTerminal } from "./terminal.js";
+import { readAnnotation, type RenderAnnotation } from "./annotate.js";
 import {
+  recordEmail,
   recordEnv,
   recordExec,
   recordFake,
@@ -2728,14 +2730,27 @@ function invokeFakeHelper(
   const args = callArgs.map((a) => deepUnwrap(a));
   const safeArgs = args.map((a) => safeSerialize(a));
   const recordResult = (value: unknown): unknown => {
+    // A helper may box its return in a render annotation
+    // (`annotate(v, "email", …)`). The box never reaches the test, and it
+    // never replaces the step either: the call is recorded as the ordinary
+    // `fake` event it is, and the annotation rides *under* it as a child
+    // event (`parentSeq`), which the dashboard folds into the fake step's
+    // detail panel. So the timeline reads the same as any other helper
+    // call, with the richer view one click in.
+    const annotated = readAnnotation(value);
+    const raw = annotated ? annotated.value : value;
+    const durationMs = Date.now() - t;
     const seq = recordFake({
       fake: fakeName,
       member,
       args: safeArgs,
-      result: safeSerialize(value),
-      durationMs: Date.now() - t,
+      result: safeSerialize(raw),
+      durationMs,
     }, resv);
-    return wrap(value, seq);
+    if (annotated && seq !== undefined) {
+      recordAnnotationChild(fakeName, member, annotated.annotation, durationMs, seq);
+    }
+    return wrap(raw, seq);
   };
   const recordError = (err: unknown): void => {
     recordFake({
@@ -2763,6 +2778,42 @@ function invokeFakeHelper(
   return recordResult(result);
 }
 
+/** Record a fake-helper call's render annotation as a child of the call's
+ * own `fake` event — the same `parentSeq` grouping `ctx.poll` uses for the
+ * iteration it kept, so the annotated view folds into the fake step's
+ * detail panel instead of taking a timeline row of its own.
+ *
+ * The child is the event kind that already knows how to draw this: an
+ * `email` annotation records the very event the built-in `email()`
+ * component's mailbox helpers record, so it renders with no new code. It
+ * carries the fake's name and member as its service/op, and the parent's
+ * duration, since it describes that same call.
+ *
+ * Only the success path is annotated: a helper that threw returned no value
+ * to annotate, so it's a plain `fake` error event. */
+function recordAnnotationChild(
+  fakeName: string,
+  member: string,
+  annotation: RenderAnnotation,
+  durationMs: number,
+  parentSeq: number,
+): void {
+  switch (annotation.kind) {
+    case "email":
+      recordEmail({
+        parentSeq,
+        annotation: true,
+        service: fakeName,
+        op: member,
+        message: annotation.message,
+        messages: annotation.messages,
+        count: annotation.count,
+        durationMs,
+      });
+      break;
+  }
+}
+
 function errMessage(err: unknown): string {
   return (err as Error)?.message ?? String(err);
 }

package/src/index.ts

@@ -34,6 +34,21 @@ import type { OpTag, Provenanced, SpectestFetch, Wrapped } from "./inspect.js";
 // `unwrap(x)` free function. See the `.unwrap()` discipline section of `spectest docs`.
 export { field } from "./inspect.js";
 
+// Render annotations for fake helpers: a helper returns
+// `annotate(value, "email", { … })` when its value is an email, and the
+// fake step it records gains a nested `email` event — the same one the
+// built-in `email()` component records — so the step's panel can draw the
+// mail, tabbing to the raw JSON value. The kind picks the options' type, and the test still gets
+// the raw value, with the raw value's type — see `annotate.ts`.
+export { annotate } from "./annotate.js";
+export type {
+  Annotated,
+  AnnotationKind,
+  AnnotationOptions,
+  EmailAnnotation,
+} from "./annotate.js";
+import type { Annotated } from "./annotate.js";
+
 // Instrumented client primitives — drop-in replacements for Bun's native
 // clients that record each operation on the test event log and return their
 // results inspect-wrapped, so `expect(...)` on a result links back to the op
@@ -1633,6 +1648,10 @@ export interface FakeDefinition<
    * Every call is tracked in the test timeline: it records a `fake` step
    * and the return value is tagged so a later `expect(...)` on it nests
    * under that step in the UI (same provenance as `fetch`/db results).
+   * The step renders the return value as JSON; wrap it in {@link annotate}
+   * to add a richer view (an email, today) that the step's panel leads with,
+   * the JSON one tab away — the test still receives the raw value, unchanged
+   * and unchanged in type.
    *
    * Receives the fake's `state` plus a {@link FakeContext} `ctx`, so a
    * helper can provision/teardown runtime services just like the handler.
@@ -1703,12 +1722,20 @@ export type FakesMap = Record<string, FakeDefinition<any, any>>;
  * `components/k3s.ts`, extended to cover synchronous returns. */
 type WrappedHelpers<H> = {
   [K in keyof H]: H[K] extends (...args: infer A) => Promise<infer R>
-    ? (...args: A) => Promise<Wrapped<R>>
+    ? (...args: A) => Promise<Wrapped<Unannotated<R>>>
     : H[K] extends (...args: infer A) => infer R
-      ? (...args: A) => [R] extends [void] ? void : Wrapped<R>
+      ? (...args: A) => [R] extends [void] ? void : Wrapped<Unannotated<R>>
       : H[K];
 };
 
+/** A helper's return type as the *test* sees it. {@link annotate} boxes the
+ * value in an {@link Annotated} to pick how the step renders; the daemon
+ * opens that box at the helper boundary, so the annotation never reaches
+ * the caller — in the types either. Distributes over a union, so a helper
+ * that annotates only when it has something (`return m && annotate(m, "email")`)
+ * still reads as `T | undefined`. */
+type Unannotated<R> = R extends Annotated<infer U> ? U : R;
+
 /** Awaited return type of a fake's `helpers` factory (with each result
  * inspect-wrapped, see {@link WrappedHelpers}), or `{ state: S }` (the
  * default) when the user didn't ship one. */

package/src/recorder.ts

@@ -47,6 +47,15 @@ interface BaseEvent {
    * timelines. The parent event is identified by its `seq`.
    */
   parentSeq?: number;
+  /**
+   * Set when this event is not an op of its own but *another view of its
+   * parent's value* — what a fake helper's `annotate(...)` records
+   * (`annotate.ts`). The two kinds of `parentSeq` child read differently
+   * and render differently: a `ctx.poll` iteration is work the step did,
+   * and belongs below it; an annotation is the same value drawn better,
+   * and belongs in place of it (the dashboard tabs between the two).
+   */
+  annotation?: boolean;
 }
 
 export interface ExecEvent extends BaseEvent {
@@ -348,14 +357,17 @@ export interface EmailEventMessage {
   attachments?: { filename: string; contentType: string; size: number }[];
 }
 
-/** One row of a mailbox listing embedded on an {@link EmailEvent}. */
-export interface EmailEventSummary {
-  from?: string;
-  to?: string[];
-  subject?: string;
-  /** Plain-text preview of the body. */
+/**
+ * One row of a mailbox listing embedded on an {@link EmailEvent}. A row is a
+ * message: the dashboard lists rows as `to` + subject and expands the one you
+ * click into the same view a single-message op renders, so whatever body the
+ * producer has belongs here. Mailpit's list API returns no bodies, so
+ * `email()`'s own listings fill only the header fields plus `snippet` — a row
+ * with no body expands to its preview instead.
+ */
+export interface EmailEventSummary extends EmailEventMessage {
+  /** Plain-text preview of the body, shown when the row carries no body. */
   snippet?: string;
-  date?: string;
 }
 
 /**
@@ -370,9 +382,13 @@ export interface EmailEventSummary {
  */
 export interface EmailEvent extends BaseEvent {
   kind: "email";
-  /** Service key of the mail server (`ctx.svc.<service>`). */
+  /** Service key of the mail server (`ctx.svc.<service>`) — or the fake's
+   *  name, when a fake helper annotated its return with `annotate(v, "email")`
+   *  (`annotate.ts`) and this event hangs off that call's `fake` one as a
+   *  `parentSeq` child. */
   service: string;
-  /** Helper called, e.g. `"lastEmail"`. */
+  /** Helper called, e.g. `"lastEmail"` — the fake's member name for an
+   *  annotated fake-helper call. */
   op: string;
   /** Human-readable match criteria, e.g. `to alice@example.com`. */
   query?: string;