You are a constitutional council ranking individual git commits for ownership allocation.

Compare these two commits. Decide which contributed more lasting value to the project.

Judge substance, not spectacle:
- Prefer correct, lasting design and real bugfixes over churn, formatting, renames, or generated noise.
- Prefer clarity and necessity over sheer line count. A small precise change can beat a large diffuse one.
- Do not favor a side merely because its patch is longer or noisier.
- Weight what the change does for the project, not the contributor's name.

Return ONLY a JSON object: {"winner": "A" or "B", "ratio": "N:M", "explanation": "..."}
The explanation must cite concrete differences in the patches (1-3 sentences).

Side A — contributor: tommy-mor
Side A — commit message:
[bda5f8aa] Remove legacy evidence projection; Evidence envelopes only.

Epoch and commit pages no longer invent history from bare GitDiscovery rows. Production ledger will be wiped to re-emit under the current schema.

Co-authored-by: Cursor <cursoragent@cursor.com>

Side A — unified diff (full patch):
diff --git a/constitution.py b/constitution.py
index 4dd5b9dfbba231d46289c490f91b1dd5b1018bcf..26ba130e885e0e69fb7874ca5c3f07f42100a150 100644
--- a/constitution.py
+++ b/constitution.py
@@ -210,10 +210,10 @@ class Emission:
     distributions: dict   # author -> amount str
     ranking: dict         # author -> score str
     models_used: list
-    discovery_snapshot_id: str = ""  # empty only for pre-discovery ledger history
-    evidence_schema_version: int = 1
-    ranking_run_id: str = ""
-    ranking_event_id: str = ""
+    discovery_snapshot_id: str
+    evidence_schema_version: int
+    ranking_run_id: str
+    ranking_event_id: str
 
 
 @event
@@ -502,26 +502,6 @@ def _epochs_in_ledger() -> list[int]:
     return sorted(epochs)
 
 
-def _legacy_commit_row(commit_id: str) -> tuple[GitDiscovery | None, dict | None]:
-    for discovery in store.read():
-        if not isinstance(discovery, GitDiscovery):
-            continue
-        for commit in discovery.commits:
-            if commit_id_for_oid(commit["oid"]) == commit_id:
-                return discovery, commit
-    return None, None
-
-
-def _legacy_observation(commit_id: str) -> tuple[GitDiscovery | None, dict | None]:
-    for discovery in store.read():
-        if not isinstance(discovery, GitDiscovery):
-            continue
-        for obs in discovery.observations:
-            if commit_id_for_oid(obs["oid"]) == commit_id:
-                return discovery, obs
-    return None, None
-
-
 def build_pairwise_prompt(side_a: dict, side_b: dict) -> str:
     return f"""You are ranking contributions to an open source project.
 Compare these two sides (each may be one or more commits). Decide which side contributed more.
@@ -2040,7 +2020,7 @@ def _strip_heavy_fields(obj: dict) -> dict:
 
 @app.get("/api/ledger")
 async def get_ledger(offset: int = 0, limit: int = 100, full: int = 0):
-    """List of ledger dicts (backward-compatible). Heavy blobs stripped unless full=1."""
+    """List of ledger dicts. Heavy blobs stripped unless full=1."""
     limit = max(1, min(limit, 500))
     rows = []
     for e in store.read()[offset:offset + limit]:
@@ -2274,23 +2254,25 @@ async def epochs_index():
     epochs = _epochs_in_ledger()
     rows = []
     for epoch in epochs:
-        discovery = _discovery_for_epoch(epoch)
         emission = _emission_for_epoch(epoch)
-        evidence_n = sum(
-            1 for e in evidence_by_kind() if e.epoch == epoch
+        evidence_n = sum(1 for e in evidence_by_kind() if e.epoch == epoch)
+        disc = next(
+            (
+                e for e in evidence_by_kind("git.discovery_completed")
+                if e.epoch == epoch
+            ),
+            None,
         )
         detail = []
-        if discovery:
+        if disc:
             detail.append(
-                f"{len(discovery.commits)} eligible / "
-                f"{len(discovery.observations)} observed"
+                f"{disc.payload.get('eligible_count', 0)} eligible / "
+                f"{disc.payload.get('observation_count', 0)} observed"
             )
         if emission:
             detail.append(f"emitted {emission.total_emitted}")
         if evidence_n:
             detail.append(f"{evidence_n} evidence events")
-        elif discovery or emission:
-            detail.append("legacy (no Evidence envelopes)")
         rows.append(["li",
             _a(_evidence_path("epoch", str(epoch)), f"epoch {epoch}"),
             " — ",
@@ -2307,37 +2289,37 @@ async def epochs_index():
 
 @app.get("/epochs/{epoch}")
 async def epoch_detail(epoch: int):
-    discovery = _discovery_for_epoch(epoch)
     emission = _emission_for_epoch(epoch)
     evidence_rows = [e for e in evidence_by_kind() if e.epoch == epoch]
+    if not evidence_rows and emission is None:
+        return _evidence_page(f"epoch {epoch}", [
+            _evidence_nav(),
+            ["h1", f"epoch {epoch}"],
+            ["p.note", "No evidence for this epoch."],
+        ])
+
     commit_evs = [e for e in evidence_rows if e.kind == "git.commit"]
     comparison_evs = [e for e in evidence_rows if e.kind == "comparison.input"]
     judgment_evs = [e for e in evidence_rows if e.kind == "llm.judgment"]
+    discovery_ev = next(
+        (e for e in evidence_rows if e.kind == "git.discovery_completed"), None
+    )
     ranking_started = next(
         (e for e in evidence_rows if e.kind == "ranking.started"), None
     )
     ranking_completed = next(
         (e for e in evidence_rows if e.kind == "ranking.completed"), None
     )
-    legacy = not evidence_rows and (discovery is not None or emission is not None)
-
-    commit_links: list[tuple[str, str]] = []
-    if commit_evs:
-        for e in commit_evs:
-            cid = e.payload.get("commit_id") or ""
-            label = (
-                f"{e.payload.get('oid', cid)[:24]} "
-                f"({e.payload.get('contributor', '?')})"
-            )
-            commit_links.append((label, _evidence_path("commit", cid)))
-    elif discovery:
-        for c in discovery.commits:
-            cid = commit_id_for_oid(c["oid"])
-            commit_links.append((
-                f"{c['oid'][:24]} ({c.get('contributor', '?')})",
-                _evidence_path("commit", cid),
-            ))
 
+    commit_links = [
+        (
+            f"{e.payload.get('oid', e.payload.get('commit_id', ''))[:24]} "
+            f"({e.payload.get('contributor', '?')})",
+            _evidence_path("commit", e.payload["commit_id"]),
+        )
+        for e in commit_evs
+        if e.payload.get("commit_id")
+    ]
     comparison_links = [
         (
             e.payload.get("summary") or e.payload.get("comparison_id", e.event_id),
@@ -2360,16 +2342,13 @@ async def epoch_detail(epoch: int):
     ]
 
     excluded = []
-    if discovery:
-        for obs in discovery.observations:
+    if discovery_ev:
+        for obs in discovery_ev.payload.get("observations") or []:
             if obs.get("eligible"):
                 continue
             oid = obs.get("oid", "?")
             reason = obs.get("exclusion_reason") or "excluded"
-            excluded.append(["li",
-                f"{oid[:28]} — {reason} — ",
-                ["span.note", "legacy evidence unavailable"],
-            ])
+            excluded.append(["li", f"{oid[:28]} — {reason}"])
 
     ranking_nodes: list = []
     if ranking_completed:
@@ -2388,21 +2367,10 @@ async def epoch_detail(epoch: int):
                 indent=2, sort_keys=True,
             )],
         ]
-    elif emission:
-        if legacy and len(emission.ranking or {}) <= 1:
-            ranking_nodes.append(["p.note",
-                "Single-contributor epoch — no LLM judgments."
-            ])
-        ranking_nodes.extend([
-            ["p", "Projected from Emission (no ranking Evidence event)."],
-            ["pre.blob", json.dumps(emission.ranking, indent=2, sort_keys=True)],
-        ])
+    elif ranking_started:
+        ranking_nodes = [["p.note", f"Ranking started: {ranking_started.event_id}"]]
     else:
-        ranking_nodes = [["p.note", "No ranking recorded."]]
-    if ranking_started and not ranking_completed:
-        ranking_nodes.insert(0, ["p.note",
-            f"Ranking started: {ranking_started.event_id}"
-        ])
+        ranking_nodes = [["p.note", "No ranking evidence."]]
 
     if emission:
         emission_node = _dl_rows([
@@ -2411,44 +2379,41 @@ async def epoch_detail(epoch: int):
             ("pool_after", emission.pool_after),
             ("discovery_snapshot_id", emission.discovery_snapshot_id),
             ("ranking_run_id", emission.ranking_run_id or None),
+            ("ranking_event_id", emission.ranking_event_id or None),
             ("models_used", ", ".join(emission.models_used or [])),
             ("distributions", json.dumps(emission.distributions, sort_keys=True)),
         ])
     else:
         emission_node = ["p.note", "No emission for this epoch."]
 
-    single_contributor = False
-    if discovery:
-        single_contributor = len({c.get("contributor") for c in discovery.commits}) <= 1
-    elif emission:
-        single_contributor = len(emission.ranking or {}) <= 1
+    contributors = {
+        e.payload.get("contributor")
+        for e in commit_evs
+        if e.payload.get("contributor")
+    }
+    no_comparisons_note = "No comparisons."
+    if len(contributors) <= 1:
+        no_comparisons_note += " Single-contributor — no LLM judgments."
 
     body = [
         _evidence_nav(),
         ["div.eyebrow", f"epoch {epoch}"],
         ["h1", f"epoch {epoch}"],
     ]
-    if legacy:
-        body.append(["p.note",
-            "Legacy epoch: projected from GitDiscovery/Emission without Evidence "
-            "envelopes. Eligible commits use discovery patches; discarded observation "
-            "metadata is marked legacy evidence unavailable. Single-contributor "
-            "epochs have no LLM judgments."
-        ])
-    if discovery:
+    if discovery_ev:
         body.extend([
             ["h2", "discovery"],
             _dl_rows([
-                ("snapshot_id", discovery.snapshot_id),
-                ("config_digest", discovery.config_digest),
-                ("initial_snapshot", discovery.initial_snapshot),
-                ("observations", len(discovery.observations)),
-                ("eligible", len(discovery.commits)),
+                ("snapshot_id", discovery_ev.payload.get("snapshot_id")),
+                ("config_digest", discovery_ev.payload.get("config_digest")),
+                ("observations", discovery_ev.payload.get("observation_count")),
+                ("eligible", discovery_ev.payload.get("eligible_count")),
+                ("event", _a(
+                    _evidence_path("event", discovery_ev.event_id),
+                    discovery_ev.event_id,
+                )),
             ]),
         ])
-    no_comparisons_note = "No comparisons."
-    if single_contributor:
-        no_comparisons_note += " Single-contributor — no LLM judgments."
     body.extend([
         ["h2", "commits"],
         _link_list(commit_links),
@@ -2471,92 +2436,42 @@ async def epoch_detail(epoch: int):
 @app.get("/commits/{commit_id}")
 async def commit_detail(commit_id: str):
     ev = find_evidence_payload("git.commit", "commit_id", commit_id)
-    discovery, legacy_row = (None, None)
     if not ev:
-        discovery, legacy_row = _legacy_commit_row(commit_id)
-    if not ev and not legacy_row:
-        discovery, obs = _legacy_observation(commit_id)
-        if obs is not None:
-            epoch = discovery.epoch if discovery else "?"
-            return _evidence_page(f"commit {commit_id[:24]}", [
-                _evidence_nav(
-                    _a(_evidence_path("epoch", str(epoch)), f"epoch {epoch}")
-                ),
-                ["div.eyebrow", "commit"],
-                ["h1", commit_id],
-                ["p.note", "legacy evidence unavailable"],
-                _dl_rows([
-                    ("oid", obs.get("oid")),
-                    ("eligible", obs.get("eligible")),
-                    ("exclusion_reason", obs.get("exclusion_reason")),
-                    ("epoch", str(epoch)),
-                ]),
-            ])
         return _evidence_page("commit not found", [
             _evidence_nav(),
             ["h1", "commit not found"],
             ["p", commit_id],
         ])
-    if ev:
-        p = ev.payload
-        epoch = ev.epoch
-        oid = p.get("oid", "")
-        contributor = p.get("contributor", "")
-        message = _blob_text(p.get("message"))
-        patch = _blob_text(p.get("patch"))
-        meta = _dl_rows([
+    p = ev.payload
+    epoch = ev.epoch
+    return _evidence_page(f"commit {commit_id[:24]}", [
+        _evidence_nav(_a(_evidence_path("epoch", str(epoch)), f"epoch {epoch}")),
+        ["div.eyebrow", "commit"],
+        ["h1", commit_id],
+        _dl_rows([
             ("commit_id", commit_id),
-            ("oid", oid),
-            ("contributor", contributor),
+            ("oid", p.get("oid", "")),
+            ("contributor", p.get("contributor", "")),
             ("patch_sha256", p.get("patch_sha256")),
             ("patch_identity", p.get("patch_identity")),
             ("committer_timestamp_ms", p.get("committer_timestamp_ms")),
             ("evidence_event", _a(_evidence_path("event", ev.event_id), ev.event_id)),
             ("epoch", _a(_evidence_path("epoch", str(epoch)), str(epoch))),
-        ])
-        legacy_note = None
-    else:
-        assert legacy_row is not None and discovery is not None
-        epoch = discovery.epoch
-        oid = legacy_row.get("oid", "")
-        contributor = legacy_row.get("contributor", "")
-        message = legacy_row.get("message") or ""
-        patch = legacy_row.get("patch") or ""
-        meta = _dl_rows([
-            ("commit_id", commit_id),
-            ("oid", oid),
-            ("contributor", contributor),
-            ("patch_sha256", legacy_row.get("patch_sha256")),
-            ("patch_identity", legacy_row.get("patch_identity")),
-            ("committer_timestamp_ms", legacy_row.get("committer_timestamp_ms")),
-            ("epoch", _a(_evidence_path("epoch", str(epoch)), str(epoch))),
-            ("source", "legacy GitDiscovery projection"),
-        ])
-        legacy_note = ["p.note", "Projected from GitDiscovery — Evidence envelope absent."]
-    return _evidence_page(f"commit {commit_id[:24]}", [
-        _evidence_nav(_a(_evidence_path("epoch", str(epoch)), f"epoch {epoch}")),
-        ["div.eyebrow", "commit"],
-        ["h1", commit_id],
-        *([legacy_note] if legacy_note else []),
-        meta,
+        ]),
         ["p", _a(f"/commits/{commit_id}/patch", "download patch")],
         ["h2", "message"],
-        _pre_blob(message),
+        _pre_blob(_blob_text(p.get("message"))),
         ["h2", "patch"],
-        _pre_blob(patch),
+        _pre_blob(_blob_text(p.get("patch"))),
     ])
 
 
 @app.get("/commits/{commit_id}/patch")
 async def commit_patch_download(commit_id: str):
     ev = find_evidence_payload("git.commit", "commit_id", commit_id)
-    if ev:
-        raw = _decode_blob(ev.payload.get("patch")) or _blob_text(ev.payload.get("patch")).encode()
-    else:
-        _, row = _legacy_commit_row(commit_id)
-        if not row:
-            return PlainTextResponse("not found", status_code=404)
-        raw = (row.get("patch") or "").encode("utf-8")
+    if not ev:
+        return PlainTextResponse("not found", status_code=404)
+    raw = _decode_blob(ev.payload.get("patch")) or _blob_text(ev.payload.get("patch")).encode()
     return Response(
         content=raw,
         media_type="text/plain; charset=utf-8",
@@ -3226,7 +3141,9 @@ async def watch():
                 ["div.controls",
                     ["button#play", {"type": "button", "disabled": "true"}, "▶ Play live feed"],
                     ["button#pause", {"type": "button"}, "Ⅱ Pause feed"],
-                    ["span.note", "Pause stops local updates; the constitutional process continues."],
+                    ["span.note",
+                     "Play/pause only affect this browser feed — they do not run or stop emission. "
+                     "The server emits at each epoch boundary; status above is that process."],
                 ],
             ],
             ["section.panel",
diff --git a/tests/integration.clj b/tests/integration.clj
index 204b0fedfbad57846205cb140c4ed9406b5f8e0e..11140e95a8cd86768a661a30e6b29a3ddfc95fcc 100644
--- a/tests/integration.clj
+++ b/tests/integration.clj
@@ -247,7 +247,10 @@
                :decay_rate   "0.003253356063468"
                :distributions {"alice" "381.4282558872" "bob" "190.7141279436"}
                :ranking       {"alice" "0.6666" "bob" "0.3334"}
-               :models_used   ["mock/chat-v1" "mock/chat-v2"]}]
+               :models_used   ["mock/chat-v1" "mock/chat-v2"]
+               :evidence_schema_version 2
+               :ranking_run_id "seed-rank"
+               :ranking_event_id "seed-rank-ev"}]
     (spit path (str (json/generate-string entry) "\n"))))
 
 ;; ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/tests/test_evidence.py b/tests/test_evidence.py
index 76adcd343eec3a65dec58fda93b068356fb1adcd..7cb74fd7fb1bcd0ab17d2cbe2e6ca7e61e164221 100644
--- a/tests/test_evidence.py
+++ b/tests/test_evidence.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-"""HTML evidence graph: byte fidelity, resume, legacy projection, private ack."""
+"""HTML evidence graph: byte fidelity, resume, and Evidence-only pages."""
 
 from __future__ import annotations
 
@@ -86,55 +86,10 @@ def test_html_evidence_pages_escape_and_link(evidence_store):
     assert patch_resp.headers["content-disposition"].startswith("attachment")
 
 
-def test_legacy_epoch_projects_from_gitdiscovery_without_evidence(evidence_store):
-    oid = "sha1:" + "b" * 40
-    discovery = c.GitDiscovery(
-        schema_version=1,
-        epoch=3,
-        snapshot_id="legacy-snap",
-        timestamp_ms=1,
-        config_digest="d",
-        initial_snapshot=True,
-        configuration={"repositories": [], "contributors": {}},
-        repositories=[],
-        observations=[{
-            "oid": oid,
-            "eligible": False,
-            "exclusion_reason": "before_genesis",
-            "first_sources": [],
-        }, {
-            "oid": "sha1:" + "c" * 40,
-            "eligible": True,
-            "exclusion_reason": None,
-            "first_sources": [],
-        }],
-        commits=[{
-            "oid": "sha1:" + "c" * 40,
-            "contributor": "tommy-mor",
-            "message": "eligible",
-            "patch": "diff --git a/x b/x\n",
-        }],
-    )
-    emission = c.Emission(
-        epoch=3,
-        timestamp_ms=2,
-        pool_before="1",
-        total_emitted="0.1",
-        pool_after="0.9",
-        decay_rate="0.1",
-        distributions={"tommy-mor": "0.1"},
-        ranking={"tommy-mor": "1"},
-        models_used=[],
-        discovery_snapshot_id="legacy-snap",
-    )
-    asyncio.run(c.store.append(discovery))
-    asyncio.run(c.store.append(emission))
-    html = asyncio.run(c.epoch_detail(3)).body.decode()
-    assert "legacy" in html.lower()
-    assert "Single-contributor" in html or "no LLM" in html
-    excluded_id = c.commit_id_for_oid(oid)
-    excluded_html = asyncio.run(c.commit_detail(excluded_id)).body.decode()
-    assert "legacy evidence unavailable" in excluded_html.lower()
+def test_commit_without_evidence_is_not_found(evidence_store):
+    html = asyncio.run(c.commit_detail("c_missing")).body.decode()
+    assert "commit not found" in html
+    assert "legacy" not in html.lower()
 
 
 def test_ranking_resume_skips_duplicate_provider_calls(evidence_store, monkeypatch):
@@ -202,6 +157,10 @@ def test_epochs_index_lists_epochs(evidence_store):
         distributions={},
         ranking={},
         models_used=[],
+        discovery_snapshot_id="snap",
+        evidence_schema_version=c.EVIDENCE_SCHEMA_VERSION,
+        ranking_run_id="r",
+        ranking_event_id="e",
     )))
     html = asyncio.run(c.epochs_index()).body.decode()
     assert "/epochs/3" in html


Side B — contributor: tommy-mor
Side B — commit message:
[6b6eb0c3] Auth form: poem JS morphs form innerHTML on response; no redirect

- post_choose_username returns HTML fragments instead of redirects:
  success → auth_signed_in_fragment ("you're signed in — return to your agent")
  error   → choose_username_error_fragment (form re-rendered with error inline)
- Poem JS now reads response body; if non-empty, morphs form innerHTML with it
  (existing ingest forms return empty body, so they're unaffected)
- auth.rs: keep full layout() with poem JS — revert to single layout
- auth-success CSS class added to both themes

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

Side B — unified diff (full patch):
diff --git a/server/src/api/auth.rs b/server/src/api/auth.rs
index c1194f79fd89fb47fe6b425b494a0ffa667abb2d..cb0faa29b834931e2c2b2f5c174c875e2e2e9346 100644
--- a/server/src/api/auth.rs
+++ b/server/src/api/auth.rs
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ use crate::{
         canonicalize_username, validate_agent_format, validate_username,
         Event, TokenIssued, UserRegistered,
     },
-    html::{auth_complete_page, choose_username_page},
+    html::{auth_complete_page, auth_signed_in_fragment, choose_username_error_fragment, choose_username_page},
     state::{AppState, PendingSession},
 };
 
@@ -274,8 +274,6 @@ pub async fn post_choose_username(
         return api_error(StatusCode::BAD_REQUEST, "invalid agent format", Some(msg)).into_response();
     }
 
-    let public_url = std::env::var("SLUG_PUBLIC_URL").unwrap_or_else(|_| "http://127.0.0.1:8080".to_string());
-
     let reduced_arc = state.reduced.clone();
     let reduced = reduced_arc.read().await;
     let provider_key = (provider.to_lowercase(), provider_id.clone());
@@ -284,11 +282,7 @@ pub async fn post_choose_username(
     }
     if reduced.users_by_provider.values().any(|u| u == &canonicalize_username(&form.username)) {
         drop(reduced);
-        return Redirect::to(&format!(
-            "{public_url}/auth/choose-username?session={}&error={}",
-            urlencoding::encode(&form.session),
-            urlencoding::encode("that username is taken — try another"),
-        )).into_response();
+        return choose_username_error_fragment(&form.session, "that username is taken — try another").into_response();
     }
     drop(reduced);
 
@@ -324,7 +318,7 @@ pub async fn post_choose_username(
         s.complete = Some((canon_user.clone(), bearer.clone()));
     }
 
-    Redirect::to(&format!("{public_url}/auth/complete")).into_response()
+    auth_signed_in_fragment().into_response()
 }
 
 pub async fn post_pending_session(
diff --git a/server/src/html/auth.rs b/server/src/html/auth.rs
index 40b1ef30a6c1d4063aa2d8e9c93df8972df4b27c..0a14bdbfb66c65d1bd09993ffd4a7bb6f2fe041e 100644
--- a/server/src/html/auth.rs
+++ b/server/src/html/auth.rs
@@ -1,20 +1,25 @@
-use maud::{html, Markup, DOCTYPE};
+use maud::{html, Markup};
 
-/// Minimal layout for auth pages — no JS interceptor, real form navigation works.
-fn auth_layout(title: &str, body: Markup) -> Markup {
+fn form_inner(session: &str, error: Option<&str>) -> Markup {
     html! {
-        (DOCTYPE)
-        html {
-            head {
-                meta charset="utf-8";
-                meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1";
-                title { (title) }
-                link rel="stylesheet" href="/static/theme_default.css";
-            }
-            body class="view-auth" {
-                (body)
-            }
+        input type="hidden" name="session" value=(session);
+        label for="username" { "username" }
+        input
+            type="text"
+            id="username"
+            name="username"
+            placeholder="e.g. alice"
+            pattern="[a-z0-9_\\-]{1,32}"
+            maxlength="32"
+            autocomplete="off"
+            autofocus;
+        p.auth-hint {
+            "lowercase · alphanumeric · hyphens · underscores · max 32"
         }
+        @if let Some(msg) = error {
+            p.auth-error { (msg) }
+        }
+        button type="submit" { "continue" }
     }
 }
 
@@ -28,27 +33,23 @@ pub fn choose_username_page(session: &str, error: Option<&str>) -> Markup {
         h1 { "choose a username" }
         p { "pick a handle for slug.social." }
         form.auth-form method="POST" action="/auth/choose-username" {
-            input type="hidden" name="session" value=(session);
-            label for="username" { "username" }
-            input
-                type="text"
-                id="username"
-                name="username"
-                placeholder="e.g. alice"
-                pattern="[a-z0-9_\\-]{1,32}"
-                maxlength="32"
-                autocomplete="off"
-                autofocus;
-            p.auth-hint {
-                "lowercase · alphanumeric · hyphens · underscores · max 32"
-            }
-            @if let Some(msg) = error {
-                p.auth-error { (msg) }
-            }
-            button type="submit" { "continue" }
+            (form_inner(session, error))
         }
     };
-    auth_layout("join — slug.social", body)
+    super::layout("join — slug.social", "view-auth", body, None)
+}
+
+/// Fragment returned to the poem JS on error — replaces the form's innerHTML.
+pub fn choose_username_error_fragment(session: &str, error: &str) -> Markup {
+    form_inner(session, Some(error))
+}
+
+/// Fragment returned to the poem JS on success — replaces the form's innerHTML.
+pub fn auth_signed_in_fragment() -> Markup {
+    html! {
+        p.auth-success { "you're signed in — return to your agent." }
+        p.auth-hint { "you can close this tab." }
+    }
 }
 
 pub fn auth_complete_page() -> Markup {
@@ -62,5 +63,5 @@ pub fn auth_complete_page() -> Markup {
         p { "Return to your terminal — your agent is polling and will collect your token automatically." }
         p.auth-hint { "You can close this tab." }
     };
-    auth_layout("signed in — slug.social", body)
+    super::layout("signed in — slug.social", "view-auth", body, None)
 }
diff --git a/server/src/html/mod.rs b/server/src/html/mod.rs
index 2f16d701962d703db0c859bb586dfc08ec385690..8b48a25cce79f0eefc7e29849e1a667cae4c7986 100644
--- a/server/src/html/mod.rs
+++ b/server/src/html/mod.rs
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ mod search;
 mod tree;
 use breadcrumb_path::OntologyPath;
 
-pub use auth::{auth_complete_page, choose_username_page};
+pub use auth::{auth_complete_page, auth_signed_in_fragment, choose_username_error_fragment, choose_username_page};
 pub use editor::{editor_check, editor_page};
 pub use forum::{index, thread_feed_html, thread_post_expand, thread_post_view, thread_view};
 pub use garden::{garden_index, ontology_path};
@@ -114,6 +114,8 @@ script { (maud::PreEscaped(r#"
                         });
 
                         // Poem: intercept POST forms, send via fetch, await SSE for DOM update.
+                        // If the response body is non-empty HTML, morph the form's innerHTML with it
+                        // (used for inline feedback without a page reload, e.g. auth forms).
                         document.addEventListener('submit', async (e) => {
                             const f = e.target;
                             if (!f || f.tagName !== 'FORM') return;
@@ -121,14 +123,19 @@ script { (maud::PreEscaped(r#"
                             e.preventDefault();
                             const btn = f.querySelector('button[type="submit"], input[type="submit"]');
                             if (btn) { btn.disabled = true; btn.textContent = '…'; }
-                            await fetch(f.action, {
+                            const resp = await fetch(f.action, {
                                 method: 'POST',
                                 body: new URLSearchParams(new FormData(f)),
                                 headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded' },
                                 credentials: 'same-origin',
                             });
-                            if (btn) { btn.disabled = false; btn.textContent = 'submit'; }
-                            f.reset();
+                            const html = await resp.text();
+                            if (html && html.trim()) {
+                                Idiomorph.morph(f, html, {morphStyle: 'innerHTML'});
+                            } else {
+                                if (btn) { btn.disabled = false; btn.textContent = 'submit'; }
+                                f.reset();
+                            }
                         });
 
                         // Search: debounced fetch + idiomorph.
diff --git a/server/static/theme_default.css b/server/static/theme_default.css
index 9e71574da4bed3a0116c347610636780678bd1af..a1d8d1765a7812191edc579125facf1694554c2c 100644
--- a/server/static/theme_default.css
+++ b/server/static/theme_default.css
@@ -250,6 +250,11 @@ p.auth-error {
   font-size: 12px;
   margin: 4px 0 0;
 }
+p.auth-success {
+  color: var(--signal);
+  font-size: 13px;
+  margin: 4px 0 0;
+}
 
 /* ----------------------------------------------------------------
    BUTTONS — raised, press on :active
diff --git a/server/static/theme_retro.css b/server/static/theme_retro.css
index dc9fa4654f529eb1843557fb580cf3982da46901..8ed8fd88efab32b36bd66cf200aa182219b0a8b5 100644
--- a/server/static/theme_retro.css
+++ b/server/static/theme_retro.css
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ input[type="text"] {
 input[type="text"]:focus { border-color: #00ff41; }
 p.auth-hint { color: #555; font-family: monospace; font-size: 0.75rem; margin: 0; }
 p.auth-error { color: #ff4444; font-family: monospace; font-size: 0.8rem; margin: 0; }
+p.auth-success { color: #00ff41; font-family: monospace; font-size: 0.8rem; margin: 0; }
 
 /* Ingest form (poem pattern) */
 .ingest-form-wrap { margin-top: 1.5rem; }