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+# Headless console — an interactive CLI for the bot host
+
+Date: 2026-09-07
+Status: ACTIVE (owner direction 2026-09-07: "the headless client should have
+a CLI as well. Like we have the chat loaded in headless so we can see what it
+does and we can talk via it if we want and control plugins like /moss bla or
+/say hello")
+Belongs with the "one plugin, two hosts" model recorded in
+`docs/plans/2026-09-06-campaign-vt-vtank-oracle.md`. Independent of Campaign
+VT's slices (host side only) — runs in parallel.
+
+## What it is
+When the headless host runs with a terminal attached (or `--console` /
+`ACDREAM_HEADLESS_CONSOLE=1`, documented in `docs/launch-options.md`), it
+becomes a chat-shaped REPL for the session:
+
+- **Output.** The ordered event stream rendered one line per event, chat
+  first-class: `[Tell] Bob: hi`, `[Fellowship] …`, `[Local] …`, system text,
+  plugin output (everything a plugin writes through the host log/chat sink),
+  and lifecycle/command outcomes (`connected`, `entered world`, `portal →
+  Holtburg`, `command rejected: …`). Same channel names and ordering the
+  graphical SpewBox shows; no colors required (ANSI channel colors only when
+  the terminal supports them, off when piped).
+- **Input.** Each typed line goes through the SAME command pipeline the
+  graphical chat box uses: a `/`-prefixed line is dispatched to the plugin
+  command registry first (`/vt …`, any plugin verb) and otherwise to the
+  client/server slash commands (`/say`, `/tell`, `/t`, `/f`, `/a`, emotes,
+  `/help`), a plain line is `/say`. No second parser, no bot-only shortcuts:
+  it must reuse the exact seam the retained chat box calls (find it — the
+  CH-campaign command registry and the chat-send route), through the
+  Runtime command surface Slice K already exposes ("chat and slash/server
+  commands").
+- **Control.** `/quit` (graceful logout, exit 0), `/status` (session
+  generation, position, macro state if the plugin reports one). Ctrl+C keeps
+  today's graceful behavior.
+- **Multi-session.** Out of scope for the first cut: the console attaches to
+  the single-session host (K1's production mode). A multi-session prefix
+  (`@name …`) is a later addition; leave the seam shaped for it (input routed
+  through a session-scoped adapter, not a static).
+
+## Rules
+- Headless stays Runtime-only: no App references, no rendering types. If the
+  chat-send or command-dispatch seam currently lives in App, lift the
+  presentation-free part into Runtime/Core with a dependency guard, and leave
+  the graphical client calling the same lifted code (behavior-preserving).
+- Reads of stdin never block the scheduler: a reader thread feeding a
+  thread-safe queue drained on the session tick (Slice K's monotonic
+  scheduler contract).
+- Every line of output goes through one renderer over the typed event stream
+  — the same events the K2 bot API emits — so tests assert on the rendered
+  text without a terminal.
+- Portable: Windows and Linux; no ANSI when `Console.IsOutputRedirected`.
+
+## Tests (Headless test project, no live server)
+- Scripted stdin → rendered stdout: chat lines, a plugin command reaching
+  the plugin's registered verb, `/say` producing the same outbound message
+  the graphical route produces (assert on the command the fake Runtime
+  received), plain text → say, `/quit` → graceful teardown, unknown verb →
+  the same error text the chat box prints.
+- Reader-thread/scheduler test: input queued while the tick is busy is
+  drained in order on the next tick, never on the reader thread.
+- Launch-options doc row + the documentation test.
+One connected proof at closeout (real ACE, `testaccount`, type `/say hello`
+and see it echo; type `/vt start` with MossTank loaded) — the owner may run
+it or the lead may, it is not a visual gate.
+
+## Ledger
+- 2026-09-07 planned; implementer dispatched.