# Aether Journals — Module Overview

**Status:** Active module
**Last Updated:** 2026-06-12
**Library:** `src/lib/ae_journals/`
**Routes:** `src/routes/journals/`

This module manages private personal journals and journal entries with offline-first behavior and Svelte 5 runes patterns.

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## Core Responsibilities

- Journal and journal-entry CRUD via V3 API wrappers.
- Dexie-backed local cache with liveQuery-driven UI updates.
- Private/passcode-aware access behavior and client-side content encryption.
- Quick Add, Append/Prepend, import/export, and entry auto-save workflows.
- Tabbed module, journal, and entry configuration modals.

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## Key Data Objects

- `journal`
- `journal_entry`

Common fields and behavior follow Aether object conventions (`code`, `name`, `enable`, `hide`, `priority`, `sort`, `cfg_json`, `data_json`).

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## Storage and Reactivity

- Local cache: Dexie tables in journals DB layer.
- UI reactivity: Svelte 5 runes (`$state`, `$derived`, `$effect`) plus liveQuery wrappers (`lq__*`, `lqw__*`).
- Persisted module settings: see config map.

Related config map:
- `documentation/MODULE__AE_Journals_Config_Map.md`

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## Implemented Entry Workflows

- Quick Add creates a plaintext note in a selected journal without opening the full editor.
- Append/Prepend injects timestamped content into an existing entry.
- Bulk import creates entries from parsed files; export supports centralized templates.
- Entry edits support debounced auto-save when `journals_loc.entry.auto_save` is enabled.
- Full entry saves encrypt `content` into `content_encrypted` when the entry's `private`
	flag is enabled; disabling `private` clears encrypted content/history fields.
- The non-reactive `decrypt_journal_entry()` helper isolates decryption from Svelte effects.
- Entry configuration exposes Actions, Metadata, Security, and JSON views. Trusted users
	can Remove (disable); managers and administrators can hard Delete.

## Current Security Limitations

- `passcode_hash` is editable but is not compared as secondary authentication before
	decryption. This remains an active task.
- Quick Add explicitly creates entries with `private: false`; import creates plaintext
	content without setting encryption fields. These paths do not currently offer E2EE.
- Successful decryption currently logs a short plaintext preview to the browser console.
	Removal is tracked as an active privacy fix.
- Outbound email sharing is not implemented and requires a product/security decision
	because journal content is private.

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## Access and Privacy

Journals contain private personal data. The Journals layout renders module content only when
the user has `user_id`, `person_id`, and `trusted_access`. Treat all journal and journal-entry
routes, API responses, decrypted state, logs, exports, and future sharing features as private.

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## Related Docs

- `documentation/archive/PROJECT__AE_UI_Journals_Module_Update_2026.md`
- `documentation/TODO__Agents.md`
- `documentation/GUIDE__SvelteKit2_Svelte5_DexieJS.md`
- `documentation/GUIDE__AE_API_V3_for_Frontend.md`
- `documentation/BOOTSTRAP__AI_Agent_Quickstart.md`