chore(conductor): Add new track 'Live GUI Testing Infrastructure'

conductor/tracks.md

@@ -12,5 +12,10 @@ This file tracks all major tracks for the project. Each track has its own detail
 - [x] **Track: Review vendor api usage in regards to conservative context handling**
   *Link: [./tracks/api_metrics_20260223/](./tracks/api_metrics_20260223/)*
 
+---
+
+- [ ] **Track: Live GUI Testing Infrastructure**
+*Link: [./tracks/live_gui_testing_20260223/](./tracks/live_gui_testing_20260223/)*
+
 
 

conductor/tracks/live_gui_testing_20260223/index.md

@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+# Track live_gui_testing_20260223 Context
+
+- [Specification](./spec.md)
+- [Implementation Plan](./plan.md)
+- [Metadata](./metadata.json)

conductor/tracks/live_gui_testing_20260223/metadata.json

@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+{
+  "track_id": "live_gui_testing_20260223",
+  "type": "chore",
+  "status": "new",
+  "created_at": "2026-02-23T15:43:00Z",
+  "updated_at": "2026-02-23T15:43:00Z",
+  "description": "Update all tests to use a live running gui.py with --enable-test-hooks for real-time state and metrics verification."
+}

conductor/tracks/live_gui_testing_20260223/plan.md

@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+# Implementation Plan: Live GUI Testing Infrastructure
+
+## Phase 1: Infrastructure & Core Utilities
+Establish the mechanism for managing the live GUI process and providing it to tests.
+
+- [ ] Task: Create `tests/conftest.py` with a session-scoped fixture to manage the `gui.py --enable-test-hooks` process.
+- [ ] Task: Enhance `api_hook_client.py` with robust connection retries and health checks to handle GUI startup time.
+- [ ] Task: Update `conductor/workflow.md` to formally document the "Live GUI Testing" requirement and the use of the `--enable-test-hooks` flag.
+- [ ] Task: Conductor - User Manual Verification 'Phase 1: Infrastructure & Core Utilities' (Protocol in workflow.md)
+
+## Phase 2: Test Suite Migration
+Migrate existing tests to use the live GUI fixture and API hooks.
+
+- [ ] Task: Refactor `tests/test_api_hook_client.py` and `tests/test_conductor_api_hook_integration.py` to use the live GUI fixture.
+- [ ] Task: Refactor GUI performance tests (`tests/test_gui_performance_requirements.py`, `tests/test_gui_stress_performance.py`) to verify real metrics (FPS, memory) via hooks.
+- [ ] Task: Audit and update all remaining tests in `tests/` to ensure they either use the live server or are explicitly marked as pure unit tests.
+- [ ] Task: Conductor - User Manual Verification 'Phase 2: Test Suite Migration' (Protocol in workflow.md)
+
+## Phase 3: Conductor Integration & Validation
+Ensure the Conductor framework itself supports and enforces this new testing paradigm.
+
+- [ ] Task: Verify that new track creation generates plans that include specific API hook verification tasks.
+- [ ] Task: Perform a full test run using `run_tests.py` (or equivalent) to ensure 100% pass rate in the new environment.
+- [ ] Task: Conductor - User Manual Verification 'Phase 3: Conductor Integration & Validation' (Protocol in workflow.md)

conductor/tracks/live_gui_testing_20260223/spec.md

@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+# Specification: Live GUI Testing Infrastructure
+
+## Overview
+Update the testing suite to ensure all tests (especially GUI-related and integration tests) communicate with a live running instance of `gui.py` started with the `--enable-test-hooks` argument. This ensures that tests can verify the actual application state and metrics via the built-in API hooks.
+
+## Functional Requirements
+- **Server-Based Testing:** All tests must be updated to interact with the application through its REST API hooks rather than mocking internal components where live verification is possible.
+- **Automated GUI Management:** Implement a robust mechanism (preferably a pytest fixture) to start `gui.py --enable-test-hooks` before test execution and ensure it is cleanly terminated after tests complete.
+- **Hook Client Integration:** Ensure `api_hook_client.py` is the primary interface for tests to communicate with the running GUI.
+- **Documentation Alignment:** Update `conductor/workflow.md` to reflect the requirement for live testing and API hook verification.
+
+## Non-Functional Requirements
+- **Reliability:** The process of starting and stopping the GUI must be stable and not leave orphaned processes.
+- **Speed:** The setup/teardown of the live GUI should be optimized to minimize test suite overhead.
+- **Observability:** Tests should log communication with the API hooks for easier debugging.
+
+## Acceptance Criteria
+- [ ] All tests in the `tests/` directory pass when executed against a live `gui.py` instance.
+- [ ] New track creation (e.g., via `/conductor:newTrack`) generates plans that include specific API hook verification tasks.
+- [ ] `conductor/workflow.md` accurately describes the live testing protocol.
+- [ ] Real-time UI metrics (FPS, CPU, etc.) are successfully retrieved and verified in at least one performance test.
+
+## Out of Scope
+- Rewriting the entire GUI framework.
+- Implementing new API hooks not required for existing test verification.