commit c42c2e411ffb9f081af311138a19a5710b432b6d
Author: Mortdecai <seth@sethfreiberg.com>
Date:   Sun Jun 28 09:56:45 2026 -0400

    JELLAI — public showcase (README + screenshots)

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+# JELLAI
+
+An AI-native TV experience layered over an **existing Emby media server**. Not a library you browse —
+a channel that's already on, plus a concierge you talk to. A single tool-calling model runs the whole
+loop: it drives the gateway tools (search, schedule, playback handoff) and talks to you from a
+personality prompt. Always-on chat, TV-style time-block scheduling, mood awareness, and preference
+learning seeded from your real watch history.
+
+**Status:** v1 — working prototype. TV-first, single user. Built on the Emby you already have (one
+server, one source of truth — your watch history is the personalization seed).
+
+## What it feels like
+
+You don't open JELLAI. It's already there — your media server, just with the lights turned down and
+a concierge in the corner. A **TONIGHT strip** runs along the bottom, and a 💬 door waits bottom-right.
+Nothing covers what you're watching.
+
+![Home with the TONIGHT strip and concierge door](docs/screenshots/01-home-strip.png)
+
+Tap the door and the **concierge panel** slides in from the right — video keeps playing. Tell it how
+you feel, not what to search for: *"build me a chill TV night — something funny and easygoing."* It
+talks back in its own voice, then **builds a real lineup** into the strip: time blocks, in order, drawn
+from your actual library. Don't like it? `[yes] [swap] [keep]` — one word steers the whole night.
+Click any block to start playing from there, in Emby's own player.
+
+![Concierge panel building a lineup, strip filled with time blocks](docs/screenshots/02-concierge-lineup.png)
+
+> The strip is the spine. Ask once, and the rest of the night schedules itself — then re-schedules
+> live every time you change your mind. That's the whole product: a channel that's already on, tuned
+> to you, that you can talk to.
+
+These are real screenshots — a live themed Emby client driving the running gateway and a **local**
+language model. No cloud LLM in the loop.
+
+## How it works
+
+```
+Emby web UI  ──CSS/JS inject──▶  concierge panel ──WebSocket──▶  gateway ──▶  local LLM (Ollama)
+(your server)                     (overlay theme)                (tool loop)    tool-calling
+       ▲                                                            │
+       └──────────────── Emby REST API (/Items, schedule, playback)─┘
+```
+
+- **Frontend (v1):** a concierge panel + schedule strip injected into the Emby web client via CSS/JS.
+  It couples to almost nothing in Emby's DOM — it only appends its own fixed-position nodes — so it
+  survives Emby updates. Playback always delegates to Emby's own player. The eventual target is a
+  custom SPA over the Emby REST API.
+- **Gateway:** a small Python WebSocket server mediating between the UI and a local model. It runs a
+  tool-calling loop against one stock instruct model — no fine-tune unless a measured gap demands it.
+- **Tools:** search, TV-style scheduling, and watch-state queries against the Emby API. The model sees
+  JSON tool schemas and composes them (e.g. "movie night" → a movies-only lineup).
+
+## Why build on Emby instead of a new frontend
+
+The original plan was a dedicated themed media app. We reversed it and built on the existing Emby:
+
+- **Single source of truth** — no duplicate library scan, no second metadata DB.
+- **Watch history is the personalization seed** — per-user learning is the whole premise, and that
+  history already lives in Emby. A fresh install starts cold.
+- **Emby is enough** — a full documented REST API, plus community CSS/JS injection for the overlay.
+
+## Status & scope
+
+Working today: the concierge loop, live TV-style scheduling into the strip, mood-aware search with
+type/year/rating/sort filters, and one-word lineup steering. Deliberately out of v1: content
+acquisition, multi-user profiles, and model fine-tuning — added only against a measured need.
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