# Anti-Drift Rules – ZLH Frontend

ZeroLagHub has historically suffered from "cool idea creep."
This document exists to stop that from happening again.

## Known Drift Patterns
- Adding visual effects to compensate for unfinished features
- Layering multiple aesthetic ideas (HUD + glow + 3D)
- Treating the UI as a showcase instead of a tool
- Reintroducing browser-only logic into shared utilities

## Drift Prevention Rules

### 1. Subtraction First
If something feels off:
- Remove an effect
- Simplify a color
- Flatten a component

Never add effects to "balance" other effects.

### 2. One Idea Per Layer
At most:
- One accent color family
- One subtle animation
- One background texture

If more than one exists, drift has begun.

### 3. Control Plane Mental Model
Ask before merging:
> "Would this feel appropriate in a production admin console at 2AM?"

If no, remove it.

### 4. Marketing ≠ Dashboard
- Marketing pages may be expressive.
- Dashboard and terminals must be calm and utilitarian.
- Product UI must never feel like a demo reel.

## Drift Response
If drift is detected:
1. Revert the change
2. Document why it was tempting
3. Re-apply only what serves usability

## Auth & Portal Drift Guardrails

The following are explicitly disallowed:

- Reintroducing APIv1 endpoints
- Reintroducing Pterodactyl-based auth
- CSRF token logic
- Cookie-based authentication
- Server-side portal sessions

All auth must flow:
Portal → JWT → APIv2