feat(ui): set maintenance-mode expectations

README.md

@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ A harness wraps a model. A rig wraps your harnesses. Define your agent team in Y
 
 OpenRig turns AI coding agents from a pile of terminal sessions into a persistent, organized team. A rig is the team that doesn't go away. If you've got tabs full of agents you're afraid to close, this is the layer you're missing: it's open source, it's local, and you're four commands away.
 
+The OpenRig UI is experimental and in maintenance mode. It is not under active development; support is best-effort. The CLI is the primary supported interface. Contributions welcome.
+
 ```bash
 npm install -g @openrig/cli
 rig setup

docs/as-built/cli-reference.md

@@ -133,6 +133,8 @@ Notes:
 
 Usage: `rig ui open`
 
+The OpenRig UI is experimental and in maintenance mode. It is not under active development; support is best-effort. The CLI is the primary supported interface. Contributions welcome.
+
 Subcommands:
 - `open`
 

packages/cli/src/commands/ui.ts

@@ -8,6 +8,9 @@ export interface UiDeps {
   exec: (cmd: string, args: string[]) => Promise<void>;
 }
 
+export const UI_MAINTENANCE_NOTICE =
+  "The OpenRig UI is experimental and in maintenance mode. It is not under active development; support is best-effort. The CLI is the primary supported interface. Contributions welcome.";
+
 export function uiCommand(depsOverride?: UiDeps): Command {
   const cmd = new Command("ui").description("UI commands");
   const getDeps = (): UiDeps => depsOverride ?? {
@@ -23,6 +26,7 @@ export function uiCommand(depsOverride?: UiDeps): Command {
     .command("open")
     .description("Open the OpenRig UI in the default browser")
     .action(async () => {
+      console.error(UI_MAINTENANCE_NOTICE);
       const deps = getDeps();
 
       // Explicit override skips daemon status entirely (dev workflow with Vite)

packages/cli/test/ui.test.ts

@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 import { describe, it, expect, vi } from "vitest";
 import { Command } from "commander";
-import { uiCommand, type UiDeps } from "../src/commands/ui.js";
+import {
+  UI_MAINTENANCE_NOTICE,
+  uiCommand,
+  type UiDeps,
+} from "../src/commands/ui.js";
 import { STATE_FILE, type LifecycleDeps, type DaemonState } from "../src/daemon-lifecycle.js";
 
 function mockLifecycleDeps(overrides?: Partial<LifecycleDeps>): LifecycleDeps {
@@ -53,6 +57,24 @@ function runningDeps(port: number, execFn?: UiDeps["exec"]): UiDeps {
 }
 
 describe("rig ui open", () => {
+  it("prints the maintenance notice to stderr on every invocation", async () => {
+    expect(UI_MAINTENANCE_NOTICE).toBe(
+      "The OpenRig UI is experimental and in maintenance mode. It is not under active development; support is best-effort. The CLI is the primary supported interface. Contributions welcome.",
+    );
+    const error = vi.spyOn(console, "error").mockImplementation(() => {});
+    const execFn = vi.fn(async () => {});
+    const deps = runningDeps(8888, execFn);
+
+    for (let invocation = 0; invocation < 2; invocation += 1) {
+      const program = new Command();
+      program.addCommand(uiCommand(deps));
+      await program.parseAsync(["node", "rig", "ui", "open"]);
+    }
+
+    expect(error.mock.calls.filter(([line]) => line === UI_MAINTENANCE_NOTICE)).toHaveLength(2);
+    error.mockRestore();
+  });
+
   // Test 1: Daemon up -> exec open with UI URL AND prints URL
   it("daemon up -> exec open with UI URL and prints URL", async () => {
     const execFn = vi.fn(async () => {});

packages/ui/src/App.tsx

@@ -1,6 +1,58 @@
 import { RouterProvider } from "@tanstack/react-router";
+import { useState } from "react";
 import { router } from "./routes.js";
 
+export const UI_MAINTENANCE_NOTICE_STORAGE_KEY = "openrig.uiMaintenanceNoticeDismissed";
+
+const UI_MAINTENANCE_NOTICE =
+  "The OpenRig UI is experimental and in maintenance mode. It is not under active development; support is best-effort. The CLI is the primary supported interface. Contributions welcome.";
+
+function wasMaintenanceNoticeDismissed(): boolean {
+  try {
+    return localStorage.getItem(UI_MAINTENANCE_NOTICE_STORAGE_KEY) === "1";
+  } catch {
+    return false;
+  }
+}
+
+export function UiMaintenanceNotice() {
+  const [dismissed, setDismissed] = useState(wasMaintenanceNoticeDismissed);
+
+  if (dismissed) return null;
+
+  const dismiss = () => {
+    try {
+      localStorage.setItem(UI_MAINTENANCE_NOTICE_STORAGE_KEY, "1");
+    } catch {
+      // localStorage can be unavailable; dismissal still works for this load.
+    }
+    setDismissed(true);
+  };
+
+  return (
+    <div
+      className="fixed inset-x-0 top-0 z-[100] flex items-start justify-between gap-3 border-b border-amber-500/40 bg-amber-50 px-4 py-2 text-sm text-amber-950 shadow-sm dark:bg-amber-950 dark:text-amber-50"
+      data-testid="ui-maintenance-notice"
+      role="status"
+    >
+      <span>{UI_MAINTENANCE_NOTICE}</span>
+      <button
+        aria-label="Dismiss maintenance notice"
+        className="shrink-0 rounded px-1.5 font-semibold hover:bg-amber-200/60 dark:hover:bg-amber-900"
+        onClick={dismiss}
+        type="button"
+      >
+        ×
+      </button>
+    </div>
+  );
+}
+
 export function App() {
-  return <RouterProvider router={router} />;
+  return (
+    <>
+      <UiMaintenanceNotice />
+      <RouterProvider router={router} />
+    </>
+  );
 }

packages/ui/test/ui-maintenance-notice.test.tsx

@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+import { cleanup, fireEvent, render, screen } from "@testing-library/react";
+import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
+
+vi.mock("../src/routes.js", () => ({ router: {} }));
+
+import {
+  UI_MAINTENANCE_NOTICE_STORAGE_KEY,
+  UiMaintenanceNotice,
+} from "../src/App.js";
+
+describe("UI maintenance notice", () => {
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    localStorage.clear();
+  });
+
+  afterEach(cleanup);
+
+  it("shows the supported-interface posture on first load", () => {
+    render(<UiMaintenanceNotice />);
+
+    expect(screen.getByTestId("ui-maintenance-notice").textContent).toContain(
+      "The OpenRig UI is experimental and in maintenance mode.",
+    );
+    expect(screen.getByTestId("ui-maintenance-notice").textContent).toContain(
+      "The CLI is the primary supported interface.",
+    );
+  });
+
+  it("dismisses without reserving layout space and stays dismissed after remount", () => {
+    const first = render(<UiMaintenanceNotice />);
+    const notice = screen.getByTestId("ui-maintenance-notice");
+
+    expect(notice.className).toContain("fixed");
+    fireEvent.click(screen.getByRole("button", { name: "Dismiss maintenance notice" }));
+
+    expect(screen.queryByTestId("ui-maintenance-notice")).toBeNull();
+    expect(localStorage.getItem(UI_MAINTENANCE_NOTICE_STORAGE_KEY)).toBe("1");
+
+    first.unmount();
+    render(<UiMaintenanceNotice />);
+    expect(screen.queryByTestId("ui-maintenance-notice")).toBeNull();
+  });
+});