# Phase 3: Visual Flattening - Context

**Gathered:** 2026-01-18
**Status:** Ready for planning

<domain>
## Phase Boundary

Transform semantic items (games, travel, custom) into display rows, sorted deterministically by sortOrder within each day. This phase provides the row-to-semantic translation needed for Phase 4 drag interaction.

</domain>

<decisions>
## Implementation Decisions

### Sort boundaries
- sortOrder = 0 is the first game position; negatives appear before games, positives appear after/between
- Purely sequential sorting within a day — no time-of-day grouping (morning/afternoon/evening)
- No visual indicator at the boundary between pre-game items and games
- Items just flow in sortOrder order; games are distinguished by their visual style

### Section structure
- Day headers display day number + date (e.g., "Day 1 - Jan 15" or "Day 1 (Wed, Jan 15)")
- Headers scroll with content — not sticky
- Empty days show the day header with no rows beneath (don't skip empty days)

### Item differentiation
- **Games:** Sport-colored accent (left border or icon matching sport: MLB=red, NBA=orange, NHL=blue)
- **Travel segments:** Subtle/muted style — gray text, smaller row, less prominent than games
- **Custom items:** Note icon + text indicating user-added item
- **Drag affordance:** Drag handle icon (three-line grip) on draggable items

### Edge case handling
- Ties shouldn't occur — system always assigns unique sortOrder when positioning items
- No special visual treatment for items at first/last position in a day
- Days with only games can still receive drops (between games, subject to Phase 2 constraints)
- Flattening is a pure function — stateless, same input always produces same output

### Claude's Discretion
- Whether to use UITableView sections or inline day headers (based on drag-drop requirements)
- Whether travel/custom items can use sortOrder in the 100-1540 range (based on Phase 2 constraint logic)
- Exact styling details (spacing, typography, border thickness)
- Tiebreaker for identical sortOrder (by item type priority: games > travel > custom) if it ever occurs despite unique assignment

</decisions>

<specifics>
## Specific Ideas

- "New items added to specific positions should get unique sortOrder values" — the system should proactively avoid ties rather than handling them after the fact
- Sport colors should match existing SportsTime app patterns for consistency

</specifics>

<deferred>
## Deferred Ideas

None — discussion stayed within phase scope

</deferred>

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*Phase: 03-visual-flattening*
*Context gathered: 2026-01-18*