Progressive boot pipeline: evaluate debug staging and add halt-on-failure startup

[ford442]

Summary

Evaluates the existing debug staging (?debug=1 + StageLoader) vs limited/full world modes (CORE / FULL / FAST_FULL start buttons), then begins migrating initialization into a progressive boot pipeline that loads subsystems in order, skips dependents with clear logs, and halts on critical failures.

Evaluation (what worked / what didn't)

Worked well

• Per-stage colored console logs made isolation practical
• Sandbox DEBUG_STAGES default correctly disabled heavy paths (shader warmup, world gen, WASM)
• CORE / FULL buttons gave a user-facing fast path without debug URLs
• Error boundary + loading-screen race guard prevented silent 0% hangs

Gaps addressed in this PR

Gap	Fix
Failed stages logged but boot continued	?debug=1 or ?halt=1 halts on critical stage failure
No dependency awareness	STAGE_REGISTRY skips dependents with ⏭️ SKIPPED (dependency "x" failed)
Debug staging vs world modes unrelated	Boot presets: sandbox → limited → standard → full
Init logic embedded in 900-line main.ts	Pre-loop pipeline extracted to progressive-startup.ts

Still TODO (follow-up)

• Panel checkbox toggles still require reload
• deferredVisuals still duplicated (DeferredLoader + background processor)
• World mode buttons (CORE/FULL) not yet mapped to boot presets automatically

New usage

?debug=1&boot=sandbox     # Minimal playable scene, halt on critical failure
?debug=1&boot=standard    # Through game loop; Enter triggers world
?halt=1                   # Halt without debug panel

Console helpers: window.__bootPipeline.summary(), .state(), .preset('full')

Recommended progression: sandbox → enable shaderWarmup → worldGeneration → postProcessing / wasm / deferred stages one at a time.

Architecture

• src/debug/boot-registry.ts — stage order, dependencies, presets
• src/debug/progressive-bootstrap.ts — runBootStage(), halt, dependency skip
• src/core/progressive-startup.ts — pre-loop boot (core → wasm)
• src/core/main.ts — shader warmup, Enter world, deferred queues (now via runBootStage)

Testing

• npm run test:startup — 19 passed
• npm run test:progressive-boot — 5 passed (new)
• npm run build:wasm && npx vite build — succeeds

Docs

• docs/PROGRESSIVE_BOOT.md — full evaluation + usage guide

  

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ℹ️ Review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: defaults

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro Plus

Run ID: 823b268d-5e2d-4f32-a7e0-5e3a330374bd

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 5272057 and 9b33cdd.

📒 Files selected for processing (9)

• docs/PROGRESSIVE_BOOT.md
• package.json
• src/core/main.ts
• src/core/progressive-startup.ts
• src/debug/boot-registry.ts
• src/debug/index.ts
• src/debug/panel.ts
• src/debug/progressive-bootstrap.ts
• tests/progressive-boot.test.mjs

✨ Finishing Touches

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests
• Commit unit tests in branch cursor/progressive-boot-startup-c037

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