docs: record phase 2, and what a parked measurement was hiding

The audit's one 'borderline ~4.1:1' pair was nine of twelve failing
combinations across three ramps, 110 nodes on screen, worst 2.31:1. The
other never-measured item closed on measurement and stays dropped, now
for a reason with a number behind it. Two findings larger than either
are recorded and deliberately not fixed: the semantic colours are fixed
across ramps, and the light ramp is not a supported theme.

.planning/NOTES.md

@@ -1872,3 +1872,85 @@ inside a comment in a `css` tagged template literal ends the literal.**
 Third session running. It is written in `CLAUDE.md`, in the skill, and
 in `NOTES.md`, and it was read twice in the session it then cost a
 cycle in. Knowledge is not working here; it wants a lint rule.
+
+## A parked measurement is a finding of unknown size, and this one was nine times bigger
+
+Plan 008 phase 2: the two items `a11y.md` never measured. One closed on
+measurement; the other turned out to be nine times the size of its own
+description and to contain two findings larger than itself.
+
+The generalisation: **"worth measuring before planning" is a debt with
+no stated size, and the estimate attached to it is not a bound.** The
+audit said `--yj-text-tertiary` on `--yj-bg-surface` is "≈ 4.1:1,
+borderline", from a hand calculation over two hex values in a file that
+does not contain them. Every part of that sentence was approximately
+true and the conclusion it invited — *borderline, low priority* — was
+wrong by an order of magnitude:
+
+| | audit | measured |
+|---|---|---|
+| pairs considered | 1 | 12 (three ramps × four surfaces) |
+| failing | "borderline" | 9 of 12 |
+| worst ratio | ≈ 4.1 | **2.31** (dark overlay), **2.55** (light) |
+| failing nodes on screen | — | **110** across twelve views |
+
+Nine things worth keeping:
+
+- **A number quoted from the wrong file is still a number, and it
+  travels.** The audit cites the palette as `tokens.css.ts`. That file
+  holds the type scale and icon sizes and no colours at all; the ramps
+  live in `theme-store`, applied to `:root` at runtime — which also
+  means the `var(--yj-…, #fallback)` at ~500 call sites is dead code,
+  and four different fallbacks behind one name never mattered. I spent
+  twenty minutes concluding the tokens "are never defined" before
+  asking the *running app* what `:root` carried. Ask the app.
+- **Measuring one state of three answers one third of the question.**
+  The whole first sweep was the `dark` ramp, because that is the
+  default. `light` was the worst of the three and had never been looked
+  at by the audit or by me. A palette is data — enumerate it.
+- **A generated colour is a family, not a colour.** The avatar
+  background is `hsl(nameToHue(name), 45%, 35%)`, and 35 of the 360
+  hues put white text below 4.5:1. The rendered sweep found *two*,
+  because two artists happened to hash into the yellow-green band. Had
+  I fixed the two, the bug would have returned with the next search.
+  The unit of the fix is the generator; the unit of the test is all 360.
+- **A fix that makes the ramp pass can also destroy the ramp.** Sizing
+  tertiary to clear 4.5:1 on `bgOverlay` needs a grey *lighter than
+  secondary*. Passing an automated check by inverting the visual
+  hierarchy is the kind of accessibility fix that makes the product
+  worse, so `bgOverlay` is documented as not a text surface and the one
+  component using it that way now uses primary. The test encodes the
+  exception rather than pretending it away, and a second case asserts
+  the ramp stays ordered.
+- **My probe was wrong before the code was, twice, and a screenshot
+  caught both.** Source-over compositing that forces `a: 1` makes two
+  stacked `rgba(255,255,255,0.05)` surfaces composite to opaque white —
+  which reported a perfectly readable button as white-on-white at
+  1.00:1. And later I read a screenshot taken *after* a sweep had left
+  the app on a different ramp, and concluded the light theme was not
+  applying at all. Both times the tell was the same: **the picture and
+  the number disagreed**, and both times the number was mine.
+- **The cheapest tier is blind to a whole class of change.** `make
+  ui-visual` passed unchanged across a palette rewrite, because the
+  component tier has no `:root` and renders the fallbacks. Six stored
+  screenshots said nothing at all about the change they most looked
+  like they were about.
+- **A finding that closes on measurement is worth the measurement.**
+  `a11y.28` (mouse-only resize handles) was dropped by reading. At
+  800×600 the track list clips exactly one thing — the *Duration header
+  label* — and zero data cells, and that sort has a keyboard-reachable
+  dropdown anyway. Same conclusion, now with a number, and the next
+  reader does not have to re-derive it.
+- **The measurement found two things larger than what it was measuring.**
+  The semantic colours are fixed across ramps, and one fixed colour
+  cannot serve both a near-black and a near-white surface — `--yj-error`
+  is 2.55:1 on dark's elevated. And with the greyscale fixed the light
+  ramp still fails 50 nodes: an invisible warning banner, a
+  white-on-yellow primary button, chrome that stays dark while the body
+  goes light. Recorded, not fixed. "Does the light theme ship?" is not
+  a question a contrast pass gets to answer on its own.
+- **Fixing the ubiquitous case makes the rare ones visible.** With
+  tertiary raised, the remaining dark-ramp failures were three nodes
+  and every one was a *different* mechanism. A finding at 110 nodes
+  hides them; at 3 they are individually obvious. Cheap tail, only
+  reachable from the other side of the main fix.

.planning/plans/active/008-the-last-audit.md

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # 008 — The last audit, and the one binding that outlived six phases
 
-**Status:** active — Phase 1 shipped (three landings).
+**Status:** active — Phases 1 and 2 shipped.
 **Branch:** main
 **Created:** 2026-08-12
 **Follows:** 007-ui-reconciliation
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ fixed until it has been reproduced in the running app.
 | `24` | Minor | No `title` on the truncating element in `track-info`, `playlist-view`, `queue-panel` or `track-list`. |
 | `25` | Minor | `<wa-progress-bar value=…>` with no label, verbatim as filed. |
 | — | new | **Two unnamed native `<select>`s**, one of them `page-header`'s sort control on nine views. Not in the audit: `a11y.6` scanned `<button>`. Found in the AX tree while reproducing `14`. Belongs with `26`. |
-| `28` | dropped | Four `@mousedown` `<div>`s with no `role="separator"`. Never measured. |
+| `28` | ~~dropped~~ | **Measured, stays dropped.** One header *label* clips at 800×600; zero data cells do. |
 | `29` | Polish | `<h3 class="subtitle">` for type size. |
 | `30` | Polish | No skip link anywhere. |
 | `32` | Polish | `title="Remove from queue"`, not identifying the track. |
@@ -282,6 +282,67 @@ column may be the only way to read a value, which is function.
 is worth as much as one that opens it, and this plan's predecessor got
 about a third of its value from findings that evaporated.
 
+### Phase 2 — what the measurements said
+
+One opened much wider than filed; one closed.
+
+#### Contrast: worse than "borderline", and it was never one token
+
+The audit's ≈ 4.1:1 was a hand calculation from two hex values, and
+plan 007 filed it under "deliberately not planned — worth measuring
+before planning". Measured against the rendered app across twelve views
+and then across all three ramps: **110 failing nodes**, and
+`textTertiary` failing AA in **nine of twelve** text/surface
+combinations — 4.35:1 on dark's surface, 3.25:1 on its elevated,
+2.31:1 on its overlay, and 2.55–3.32:1 on *every* surface of the light
+ramp, which the audit never considered.
+
+Fixed, and now **0 of 659 nodes** on dark and darker. Three mechanisms,
+only the first of which is the finding:
+
+- **The ramps.** `textTertiary` per ramp — `#a6a6a6` / `#949494` /
+  `#5c636a` — sized to the lightest surface it actually sits on and
+  keeping its hue.
+- **The avatar generator**, which is not a colour but a *family* of
+  them: `hsl(hue, 45%, 35%)` behind white initials failed for **35 of
+  360 hues**, so which artists were unreadable depended on how their
+  names hashed. 32% clears every hue.
+- **Jobs' local `#ff6b6b`**, 4.15:1 on elevated.
+
+Pinned by `theme-contrast.test.ts` and `avatar-color.test.ts` — unit
+tests over the data, not sweeps of the DOM. `make ui-test` 572 →
+**608**.
+
+#### `a11y.28`: the drop was right, and now for a measured reason
+
+"Cosmetic preference, no function lost" holds. At the window minimum
+(800×600, which is where the shell was measured in 007) the track list
+clips exactly one thing: the **Duration header label**. Zero data cells
+clip, and the sort that label names has a redundant keyboard-reachable
+dropdown. The queue panel at its default 321px clips nothing either.
+A keyboard-only user cannot change a panel width; they do not lose
+access to any value by not being able to. **Stays dropped.**
+
+#### Two things the measurements found that are not in the audit
+
+Both are bigger than what they were found under, and neither is fixed:
+
+- **The semantic colours are fixed across ramps, and a fixed colour
+  cannot serve a near-black and a near-white background.** `--yj-error`
+  is 3.42:1 on dark's surface and 2.55:1 on its elevated; `--yj-info`
+  is 3.10:1 and 2.31:1; success and warning fail on dark and light
+  both. As *backgrounds* under white text, success (3.45) and warning
+  (3.58) fail too. The fix is a per-ramp semantic palette, which is a
+  decision about the app's colour identity rather than a value.
+- **The light ramp is not a supported theme.** With the greyscale fixed
+  it still has **50 failing nodes**: the accent yellow under white text
+  (1.43:1), the autotag diff's pale greens and reds on white
+  (1.36–2.59:1), and the header and player chrome staying dark while
+  the body goes light. Read in a screenshot — the "Low confidence pick"
+  banner is invisible and the primary button is white-on-yellow. This
+  is a design job, and the honest question it raises is whether the
+  light theme should ship at all in its current state.
+
 ---
 
 ## Phase 3 — The tail
@@ -296,6 +357,11 @@ Two of them are not one-liners and should be treated as such:
   to the app frame, and 007 phase 5 already measured the frame's real
   minimum at 800×600. Reflow at high zoom is the same question one
   variable over. It may want its own landing.
+- **The unnamed `<select>`s** from Phase 1, with `26`.
+- **The semantic palette** and **the light ramp**, from Phase 2. Both
+  are larger than the rest of this tail put together and may not belong
+  in it at all — the light ramp in particular is a question about
+  whether that theme ships, not a contrast fix.
 - **`22`** asks for a non-colour marker on the playing row, which is a
   visual change to the densest list in the app and moves a baseline.
 

CLAUDE.md

@@ -505,6 +505,23 @@ first track arrives) and `job-indicator`, whose label swings between
 "Scanning Music", "3 background jobs" and "Finished". The notification
 surface already had one from Phase 3.
 
+**Contrast is a property of the ramp, and the ramps are data.**
+`theme-store`'s `SHADE_PALETTES` — not `tokens.css.ts`, which holds only
+the type scale and icon sizes — is where the colours live, applied to
+`:root` at runtime, which is why the `var(--yj-…, #fallback)` at every
+call site is dead in practice. Every text colour clears 4.5:1 against
+every surface it can sit on, and `theme-contrast.test.ts` computes that
+from the table rather than trusting it. Three rules hold it up.
+**`bgOverlay` is not a text surface on the dark ramp** — sizing tertiary
+to clear it needs a grey lighter than *secondary*, and an inverted ramp
+is a worse answer than the problem, so the one component that put text
+there uses primary. **A generated colour is a family, not a colour**:
+`utils/avatar-color.ts` exists because `hsl(hue, 45%, 35%)` behind white
+initials failed for 35 of the 360 hues, so the failure came and went
+with how an artist's name hashed — the test walks all 360. And
+**`make ui-visual` cannot see any of this**: the component tier renders
+the fallbacks, because the theme only reaches `:root` in the real app.
+
 **A stated motion preference outranks an app setting, and the state a
 fix lands in is a state nobody has looked at.** `now-playing`'s marquee
 ran for as long as a track played with no way to pause it (WCAG 2.2.2),

frontend/src/components/downloads-view/downloads-view.ts

@@ -203,7 +203,11 @@ export class DownloadsView extends ViewLifecycleMixin(LitElement) {
                 border-radius: 6px;
                 font-size: 12px;
                 background: var(--yj-bg-overlay, rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.06));
-                color: var(--yj-text-secondary, #b3b3b3);
+                /* The only place in the app that puts text on bgOverlay,
+                   which is too light on the dark ramp to carry anything
+                   but primary: secondary measured 3.90:1 here. A notice
+                   is the last thing that should be hard to read. */
+                color: var(--yj-text-primary, #fff);
             }
 
             .section-hint {

frontend/src/components/explore-artist-details/explore-artist-details.ts

@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import { avatarBackground } from '@utils/avatar-color';
 import { LitElement, html, css, nothing } from 'lit';
 import { customElement, property, state } from 'lit/decorators.js';
 import { designTokens } from '../../styles/tokens.css';
@@ -60,14 +61,6 @@ const NON_STUDIO_SECONDARY_TYPES = new Set([
 
 /* ── Utility functions (duplicated from explore-view per design decision) ── */
 
-function nameToHue(name: string): number {
-    let hash = 0;
-    for (let i = 0; i < name.length; i++) {
-        hash = name.charCodeAt(i) + ((hash << 5) - hash);
-    }
-    return Math.abs(hash) % 360;
-}
-
 function extractYear(dateStr: string): string {
     if (!dateStr) return '';
     return dateStr.substring(0, 4);
@@ -1884,7 +1877,6 @@ export class ExploreArtistDetails extends LitElement {
     /* ── Render ── */
 
     override render() {
-        const hue = nameToHue(this.artistName);
 
         return html`
             <div class="artist-header">
@@ -1898,7 +1890,7 @@ export class ExploreArtistDetails extends LitElement {
                 </button>
                 <div
                     class="artist-avatar"
-                    style="background: hsl(${hue}, 45%, 35%)"
+                    style="background: ${avatarBackground(this.artistName)}"
                 >
                     ${this.artistImageURL
                         ? html`<img
@@ -2392,7 +2384,6 @@ export class ExploreArtistDetails extends LitElement {
                 <h3 class="section-header">Similar Artists</h3>
                 <div class="similar-row ${collapsed ? 'collapsed' : ''}">
                     ${visible.map((a) => {
-                        const hue = nameToHue(a.name);
                         const imgURL = this.similarImageURLs.get(a.artistMbid);
                         return html`
                             <div
@@ -2412,7 +2403,7 @@ export class ExploreArtistDetails extends LitElement {
                             >
                                 <div
                                     class="similar-avatar"
-                                    style="background: hsl(${hue}, 45%, 35%)"
+                                    style="background: ${avatarBackground(a.name)}"
                                 >
                                     ${imgURL
                                         ? html`<img

frontend/src/components/explore-view/explore-view.ts

@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import { avatarBackground } from '@utils/avatar-color';
 import { LitElement, html, css, nothing } from 'lit';
 import { customElement, state, query as litQuery } from 'lit/decorators.js';
 import '@components/page-header/page-header';
@@ -61,15 +62,6 @@ const MAX_SECTION_RESULTS = 10;
 const THUMBNAIL_CACHE_LIMIT = 96;
 
 
-/** Hash a string to a hue value 0–360 for avatar coloring. */
-function nameToHue(name: string): number {
-    let hash = 0;
-    for (let i = 0; i < name.length; i++) {
-        hash = name.charCodeAt(i) + ((hash << 5) - hash);
-    }
-    return Math.abs(hash) % 360;
-}
-
 /** Format milliseconds as mm:ss. */
 function formatDuration(ms: number): string {
     if (!ms || ms <= 0) return '';
@@ -1734,7 +1726,6 @@ export class ExploreView extends ViewLifecycleMixin(LitElement) {
                     : nothing}
                 <div class="horizontal-row">
                     ${artists.map((a) => {
-                        const hue = nameToHue(a.name);
                         return html`
                             <div
                                 class="artist-card"
@@ -1750,7 +1741,7 @@ export class ExploreView extends ViewLifecycleMixin(LitElement) {
                             >
                                 <div
                                     class="artist-avatar"
-                                    style="background: hsl(${hue}, 45%, 35%)"
+                                    style="background: ${avatarBackground(a.name)}"
                                 >
                                     ${this.artistImageCache.get(a.mbid)
                                         ? html`<img

frontend/src/components/jobs/job-details-drawer.ts

@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ export class JobDetailsDrawer extends LitElement {
             }
 
             .stage.error {
-                color: #ff6b6b;
+                color: #ff8787;
             }
 
             .stage-count {
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ export class JobDetailsDrawer extends LitElement {
             .stage-error {
                 grid-column: 2 / -1;
                 font-size: var(--yj-text-sm);
-                color: #ff6b6b;
+                color: #ff8787;
                 overflow-wrap: anywhere;
             }
 

frontend/src/components/jobs/job-format.ts

@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@ export const jobStateStyles = css`
     }
 
     .tone-danger {
-        --job-tone: #ff6b6b;
+        --job-tone: #ff8787;
     }
 
     .tone-success {

frontend/src/components/jobs/job-indicator.ts

@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ export class JobIndicator extends LitElement {
                 width: 6px;
                 height: 6px;
                 border-radius: 50%;
-                background: #ff6b6b;
+                background: #ff8787;
                 flex-shrink: 0;
             }
 

frontend/src/components/jobs/job-log-view.ts

@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ export class JobLogView extends LitElement {
             }
 
             .entry.error .message {
-                color: #ff6b6b;
+                color: #ff8787;
             }
 
             .detail {

frontend/src/components/jobs/job-row.ts

@@ -180,7 +180,7 @@ export class JobRow extends LitElement {
             .error {
                 margin-top: 0.45em;
                 font-size: var(--yj-text-sm);
-                color: #ff6b6b;
+                color: #ff8787;
                 overflow-wrap: anywhere;
             }
 
@@ -214,7 +214,7 @@ export class JobRow extends LitElement {
             }
 
             button.danger:hover:not(:disabled) {
-                color: #ff6b6b;
+                color: #ff8787;
             }
 
             button:disabled {

frontend/src/components/jobs/jobs-view.ts

@@ -201,7 +201,7 @@ export class JobsView extends ViewLifecycleMixin(LitElement) {
             }
 
             button.action.danger {
-                color: #ff6b6b;
+                color: #ff8787;
                 border-color: rgba(255, 107, 107, 0.35);
             }
 

frontend/src/components/smart-playlist-editor/smart-playlist-editor.ts

@@ -287,7 +287,7 @@ export class SmartPlaylistEditor extends LitElement {
             }
 
             .remove-btn:hover {
-                color: #ff6b6b;
+                color: #ff8787;
                 background: rgba(255, 107, 107, 0.1);
             }
 
@@ -411,7 +411,7 @@ export class SmartPlaylistEditor extends LitElement {
 
             .preview-error {
                 font-size: var(--yj-text-sm);
-                color: #ff6b6b;
+                color: #ff8787;
                 padding: 6px 0;
             }
 

frontend/src/store/theme-store.ts

@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ type Subscriber = () => void;
  * Shade palettes keyed by BackgroundShade.
  * Each defines the base grayscale ramp used throughout the UI.
  */
-interface ShadePalette {
+export interface ShadePalette {
     bgBase: string;
     bgSurface: string;
     bgElevated: string;
@@ -34,7 +34,36 @@ interface ShadePalette {
     selectionBg: string;
 }
 
-const SHADE_PALETTES: Record<BackgroundShade, ShadePalette> = {
+/**
+ * The grayscale ramps, and the one rule that constrains them.
+ *
+ * `textTertiary` used to be `#888888` on both dark ramps and `#868e96`
+ * on the light one, which `a11y.md` flagged as "borderline" from a hand
+ * calculation and parked as "worth measuring before planning".
+ * Measured, against the rendered app and then across all three ramps:
+ * it failed WCAG AA in **nine of twelve** text/surface combinations,
+ * as low as 2.31:1 on dark's overlay and 2.55:1 on light's. Not
+ * borderline — the app's most-used secondary text colour, failing on
+ * every view, and the light ramp (which the audit never considered) was
+ * the worst of the three.
+ *
+ * So: **every text colour clears 4.5:1 against every surface it can sit
+ * on**, and `theme-contrast.test.ts` computes that from this table
+ * rather than trusting it. Two things decided the values.
+ *
+ * `bgOverlay` is not a text surface on the dark ramp. Sizing tertiary
+ * to clear 4.5 against `#495057` needs `#c0c0c0`, which is *lighter
+ * than secondary* — an inverted hierarchy is a worse answer than the
+ * problem. Tertiary is sized to `bgElevated` there, and the one place
+ * that did put text on the overlay (the downloads notice) uses
+ * `textPrimary`, which clears 8.18:1.
+ *
+ * And the hue is kept. The light ramp's tertiary is a blue-grey, so it
+ * darkens along its own hue to `#5c636a` rather than flattening to a
+ * neutral that would have passed just as well and looked like a
+ * different palette.
+ */
+export const SHADE_PALETTES: Record<BackgroundShade, ShadePalette> = {
     darker: {
         bgBase: '#000000',
         bgSurface: '#121212',
@@ -42,7 +71,8 @@ const SHADE_PALETTES: Record<BackgroundShade, ShadePalette> = {
         bgOverlay: '#2a2a2a',
         textPrimary: '#ffffff',
         textSecondary: '#b3b3b3',
-        textTertiary: '#888888',
+        // 4.05:1 on bgOverlay at #888888.
+        textTertiary: '#949494',
         border: '#333333',
         borderSubtle: '#222222',
         hoverOverlay: 'rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.05)',
@@ -55,7 +85,9 @@ const SHADE_PALETTES: Record<BackgroundShade, ShadePalette> = {
         bgOverlay: '#495057',
         textPrimary: '#ffffff',
         textSecondary: '#b3b3b3',
-        textTertiary: '#888888',
+        // 4.35:1 on bgSurface and 3.25:1 on bgElevated at #888888 — the
+        // measured version of the audit's estimate, on every view.
+        textTertiary: '#a6a6a6',
         border: '#444444',
         borderSubtle: '#333333',
         hoverOverlay: 'rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.05)',
@@ -68,7 +100,9 @@ const SHADE_PALETTES: Record<BackgroundShade, ShadePalette> = {
         bgOverlay: '#dee2e6',
         textPrimary: '#212529',
         textSecondary: '#495057',
-        textTertiary: '#868e96',
+        // 3.32:1 at best and 2.55:1 at worst at #868e96 — the light ramp
+        // failed on all four of its own surfaces.
+        textTertiary: '#5c636a',
         border: '#ced4da',
         borderSubtle: '#dee2e6',
         hoverOverlay: 'rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05)',

frontend/src/utils/avatar-color.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+/**
+ * The background for a letter avatar, derived from a name.
+ *
+ * Three call sites drew `hsl(nameToHue(name), 45%, 35%)` behind white
+ * initials, from two copies of the same hash function. Measured across
+ * all 360 hues: **35 of them** — the yellow-green band from about 53°
+ * to 88° — put white text below 4.5:1, bottoming out at 4.08:1. Which
+ * artists those were depended entirely on how their names hashed, so
+ * the app had a contrast failure that came and went with the search
+ * results, and the two instances that turned up in a sweep were not the
+ * finding.
+ *
+ * 32% lightness clears every hue with a floor of 4.75:1, so the fix is
+ * a property of the generator rather than of any colour it generates.
+ * `avatar-color.test.ts` walks all 360.
+ */
+
+/** Hash a string to a hue value 0–360. */
+export function nameToHue(name: string): number {
+    let hash = 0;
+
+    for (let i = 0; i < name.length; i++) {
+        hash = name.charCodeAt(i) + ((hash << 5) - hash);
+    }
+
+    return Math.abs(hash) % 360;
+}
+
+/** Saturation and lightness are shared so the floor above holds. */
+export const AVATAR_SATURATION = 45;
+export const AVATAR_LIGHTNESS = 32;
+
+/** The `background` value for a name's avatar. */
+export function avatarBackground(name: string): string {
+    return `hsl(${nameToHue(name)}, ${AVATAR_SATURATION}%, ${AVATAR_LIGHTNESS}%)`;
+}

frontend/test/components/avatar-color.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+/**
+ * A letter avatar's background clears 4.5:1 against white for *every*
+ * hue it can generate.
+ *
+ * The two failures a rendered sweep found were not the finding. The
+ * generator was `hsl(hue, 45%, 35%)`, and 35 of the 360 hues — the
+ * yellow-green band — put white initials below 4.5:1, bottoming out at
+ * 4.08:1. Which artists those were depended on how their names hashed,
+ * so the failure came and went with the search results.
+ *
+ * So this walks all 360 rather than sampling: a generator's contrast is
+ * a property of the generator, and checking the instances that happened
+ * to be on screen is how it stayed broken.
+ */
+import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
+
+import { avatarBackground, nameToHue } from '@utils/avatar-color';
+
+/** Resolve an `hsl(...)` string to sRGB via the browser's own parser. */
+function toRgb(color: string): [number, number, number] {
+  const probe = document.createElement('div');
+
+  probe.style.color = color;
+  document.body.append(probe);
+
+  const computed = getComputedStyle(probe).color;
+
+  probe.remove();
+
+  const [r, g, b] = computed
+    .slice(computed.indexOf('(') + 1, computed.indexOf(')'))
+    .split(/[,\s/]+/)
+    .filter(Boolean)
+    .map(Number) as [number, number, number];
+
+  return [r, g, b];
+}
+
+function contrastWithWhite(color: string): number {
+  const channels = toRgb(color).map((v) => v / 255);
+
+  const [r, g, b] = channels.map((v) =>
+    v <= 0.03928 ? v / 12.92 : ((v + 0.055) / 1.055) ** 2.4,
+  ) as [number, number, number];
+
+  const l = 0.2126 * r + 0.7152 * g + 0.0722 * b;
+
+  return 1.05 / (l + 0.05);
+}
+
+describe('avatar colours', () => {
+  it('clears 4.5:1 against white at every hue', () => {
+    const ratios = Array.from({ length: 360 }, (_, hue) =>
+      contrastWithWhite(`hsl(${hue}, 45%, 32%)`),
+    );
+
+    expect(Math.min(...ratios)).toBeGreaterThanOrEqual(4.5);
+  });
+
+  // The generator is only safe if every name lands on one of those hues,
+  // which is the half a hue-only sweep cannot see.
+  it('generates only hues in that range', () => {
+    const names = ['Eno', 'BTS', 'Aurora Fields', '', 'ザ・バンド', 'x'.repeat(200)];
+
+    const hues = names.map((n) => nameToHue(n));
+
+    expect(hues.every((h) => Number.isInteger(h) && h >= 0 && h < 360)).toBe(
+      true,
+    );
+  });
+
+  it('is the same colour for the same name', () => {
+    expect(avatarBackground('Aurora Fields')).toBe(
+      avatarBackground('Aurora Fields'),
+    );
+  });
+});

frontend/test/components/theme-contrast.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+/**
+ * Every text colour clears WCAG AA against every surface it can sit on,
+ * on all three background ramps.
+ *
+ * `a11y.md` flagged one pair as "borderline (≈4.1:1) but that needs a
+ * real measurement", and plan 007 parked it as "worth measuring before
+ * planning". Measured: it failed in **nine of twelve** combinations,
+ * as low as 2.31:1, and the light ramp — which the audit never looked
+ * at — was the worst of the three.
+ *
+ * This computes the ratios from the palette table rather than trusting
+ * it, because the failure mode is somebody picking a nice-looking hex.
+ * It is a unit test and not a sweep of the rendered app on purpose: the
+ * ramps are pure data, the arithmetic is exact, and a DOM sweep can
+ * only ever check the pairs that happen to be on screen — which is how
+ * the light ramp went unexamined in the first place.
+ */
+import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
+
+import { SHADE_PALETTES } from '@store/theme-store';
+import type { ShadePalette } from '@store/theme-store';
+
+/** WCAG 2.1 relative luminance. */
+function luminance(hex: string): number {
+  const h = hex.replace('#', '');
+  const channels = [0, 2, 4].map((i) => parseInt(h.slice(i, i + 2), 16) / 255);
+
+  const [r, g, b] = channels.map((v) =>
+    v <= 0.03928 ? v / 12.92 : ((v + 0.055) / 1.055) ** 2.4,
+  ) as [number, number, number];
+
+  return 0.2126 * r + 0.7152 * g + 0.0722 * b;
+}
+
+function contrast(a: string, b: string): number {
+  const [hi, lo] = [luminance(a), luminance(b)].sort((x, y) => y - x) as [
+    number,
+    number,
+  ];
+
+  return (hi + 0.05) / (lo + 0.05);
+}
+
+const TEXT = ['textPrimary', 'textSecondary', 'textTertiary'] as const;
+
+/**
+ * `bgOverlay` is deliberately absent for tertiary on the dark ramp.
+ * Clearing 4.5:1 against `#495057` needs a grey lighter than
+ * `textSecondary`, and an inverted hierarchy is a worse answer than the
+ * problem — so nothing puts tertiary text there, and the one component
+ * that put *secondary* text on an overlay uses primary now.
+ */
+const SURFACES: Record<(typeof TEXT)[number], (keyof ShadePalette)[]> = {
+  textPrimary: ['bgBase', 'bgSurface', 'bgElevated', 'bgOverlay'],
+  textSecondary: ['bgBase', 'bgSurface', 'bgElevated'],
+  textTertiary: ['bgBase', 'bgSurface', 'bgElevated'],
+};
+
+describe('theme contrast', () => {
+  const cases = Object.entries(SHADE_PALETTES).flatMap(([shade, palette]) =>
+    TEXT.flatMap((text) =>
+      SURFACES[text].map((surface) => ({
+        shade,
+        text,
+        surface,
+        ratio: contrast(palette[text], palette[surface]),
+      })),
+    ),
+  );
+
+  it.each(cases)('$shade: $text on $surface clears 4.5:1', ({ ratio }) => {
+    expect(ratio).toBeGreaterThanOrEqual(4.5);
+  });
+
+  // Sizing tertiary to clear 4.5:1 on every surface is easy and wrong:
+  // it produces a tertiary lighter than secondary on the dark ramp. The
+  // ramp has to stay a ramp, or "tertiary" stops meaning anything.
+  it.each(Object.entries(SHADE_PALETTES))(
+    '%s keeps the text ramp ordered',
+    (_shade, palette) => {
+      const steps = TEXT.map((t) => contrast(palette[t], palette.bgSurface));
+
+      expect(steps).toEqual([...steps].sort((a, b) => b - a));
+    },
+  );
+});