From eea8d242e0a91f0ec26915392b9a9b73d5be3045 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Prad Nukala <prad@sonr.io>
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 2026 15:12:52 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] refactor(cli): adjust phase meta handling and update
 documentation comments

---
 apps/cli/sync.ts | 38 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++-----------
 1 file changed, 27 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-)

diff --git a/apps/cli/sync.ts b/apps/cli/sync.ts
index 8d6a534..b5472a5 100755
--- a/apps/cli/sync.ts
+++ b/apps/cli/sync.ts
@@ -30,13 +30,15 @@
  * its file sits under in `work/1/<Difficulty>/<Category>/` instead.
  *
  * Topics nest under their README PHASE: `(01-linear-structures)/tree-dfs/`.
- * The phase folder is a Blume `(group)` — a sidebar section with its own
- * script-owned `meta.ts`, adding no route segment — while the topic folder is
- * a real segment (`/tree-dfs/invert-binary-tree`), so a hand-written
- * `index.mdx` in it is the topic's landing page at `/tree-dfs` and Blume links
- * the sidebar group row to it. Sync never writes or moves an `index.mdx`, and
- * never removes a folder that still holds one. An unplanned category group has
- * no phase and sits at the content root.
+ * The phase folder is a Blume `(group)` — a sidebar section adding no route
+ * segment — while the topic folder is a real segment
+ * (`/tree-dfs/invert-binary-tree`), so a hand-written `index.mdx` in it is the
+ * topic's landing page at `/tree-dfs` and Blume links the sidebar group row to
+ * it. Sync never writes or moves an `index.mdx`, and never removes a folder
+ * that still holds one. A phase folder's `meta.ts` is written once, when
+ * missing, then hand-owned (its title is yours to rename); a topic's is
+ * script-owned. An unplanned category group has no phase and sits at the
+ * content root.
  *
  * Only the first-solve bucket is read: work/3 and work/7 hold blind re-solves
  * of problems whose page already exists (see work.ts), and a fresh scaffold
@@ -309,7 +311,13 @@ function phaseDir(phase: Phase): string {
   return `(${String(phase.order).padStart(2, "0")}-${slugify(phase.name)})`;
 }
 
-/** Blume `(group)` meta for a phase: the overview page's heading, in phase order. */
+/**
+ * Blume `(group)` meta for a phase: the overview page's heading, in phase
+ * order. Written only when the folder has none — the title is hand-owned after
+ * that. Nothing is lost by never rewriting it: the order and name it is built
+ * from are also the folder name (`phaseDir`), so a README change to either
+ * lands in a new folder that gets a fresh meta.
+ */
 function phaseMeta(phase: Phase): string {
   return `import { defineMeta } from "blume";\n\nexport default defineMeta({ title: ${JSON.stringify(`Phase ${phase.order}: ${phase.name}`)}, order: ${phase.order} });\n`;
 }
@@ -727,10 +735,18 @@ for (const tag of guideTags) {
   report.push([`tag ${tag.slug}`, `guides/${tag.slug}.mdx`, "created"]);
 }
 
-// Script-owned folder metas — one per live phase and topic folder, plus
-// guides/ — rewritten only when they differ.
+// Phase metas: created when missing (an empty file counts as missing), never
+// rewritten, so a renamed phase title survives every sync.
+for (const [dir, phase] of phases) {
+  const file = Bun.file(join(DOCS, dir, "meta.ts"));
+  if ((await file.exists()) && file.size > 0) continue;
+  await Bun.write(file, phaseMeta(phase));
+  report.push([`phase ${phase.order}`, `${dir}/meta.ts`, "created"]);
+}
+
+// Script-owned folder metas — one per live topic folder, plus guides/ —
+// rewritten only when they differ.
 const metas: [label: string, dir: string, meta: string][] = [
-  ...[...phases].map(([dir, phase]): [string, string, string] => [`phase ${phase.order}`, dir, phaseMeta(phase)]),
   ...[...groups].map(([dir, topic]): [string, string, string] => [`topic ${topic.order ?? "-"}`, dir, groupMeta(topic)]),
   ...(guideTags.length ? [["guides", "guides", GUIDES_META] as [string, string, string]] : []),
 ];