Add Alpha-specific app branding

[danieliser]

What Changed

• Added a warm dawn-themed Alpha sidebar/header backdrop alongside the existing Nightly and Dev variants.
• Reused the artwork in the compact composer action surface.
• Added an Alpha-specific layered macOS Icon Composer source and exported 1024px asset.
• Routed Alpha desktop packaging through its channel-specific icon while leaving Nightly and Dev unchanged.
• Made repeated full/compact SVG renders collision-safe with per-render definition IDs.

Why

Alpha builds had no channel-specific visual identity and used the production macOS icon, which made parallel installs difficult to distinguish. This gives Alpha a recognizable but restrained identity without changing production or Nightly behavior.

UI Changes

Before, Alpha had no stage backdrop and used the production macOS icon. After, Alpha renders the dawn artwork in full and compact sidebar surfaces and packages with the matching sunrise icon.

Verification

• 42 focused web and packaging tests passed.
• Scoped lint and formatting checks passed.
• Direct web and scripts TypeScript checks passed.
• A packaged patched-Alpha DMG was generated and manually exercised.
• The exact PR head passed CodeRabbit, Cursor Bugbot, Macroscope correctness/conventions, and an approving review.

vp run icons:check could not be rerun because the installed Icon Composer exporter predates the repository’s required design-generation format. Asset-resolution and packaging tests cover the committed PNG and layered source.

Checklist

• This PR is small and focused
• I explained what changed and why
• I included before/after UI details and the exported icon
• I manually verified the interaction and packaged result

[coderabbitai]

📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

Alpha channel support now covers sidebar backdrop artwork and desktop icon assets, including stage resolution, SVG rendering, macOS export configuration, asset paths, and patched-build icon selection.

Changes

Sidebar alpha backdrop

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Alpha backdrop resolution and rendering apps/web/src/components/SidebarStageBackdrop.tsx, apps/web/src/components/SidebarStageBackdrop.test.ts, apps/web/src/components/SidebarStageBackdrop.test.tsx	The sidebar resolves alpha stages to an alpha variant, renders dedicated artwork for full and compact layouts, generates unique SVG IDs, and tests the mapping and variants.

Alpha desktop icon assets

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Alpha asset definitions and export mapping scripts/lib/brand-assets.ts, assets/alpha/..., scripts/export-brand-icons.ts, assets/README.md, scripts/lib/brand-assets.test.ts	Alpha Icon Composer and macOS PNG paths, icon configuration, export prompts, documentation, and asset-family tests are added.
Alpha patched-build icon selection scripts/build-desktop-artifact.ts, scripts/build-desktop-artifact.test.ts	Alpha patched versions select the alpha macOS icon while retaining production Linux and Windows icons, with corresponding test coverage.

Estimated code review effort: 3 (Moderate) | ~25 minutes

Suggested reviewers: juliusmarminge

Poem

I’m a rabbit with alpha dawn,
Sprinkling sparkles before the yawn.
Mac icons bloom, stage backdrops glow,
Patched builds know which paths to show.
Hop, hop—four exports in a row!

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 4 | ❌ 1

❌ Failed checks (1 warning)

Check name	Status	Explanation	Resolution
Docstring Coverage	⚠️ Warning	Docstring coverage is 0.00% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%.	Write docstrings for the functions missing them to satisfy the coverage threshold.

✅ Passed checks (4 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly summarizes the primary change: adding Alpha-specific branding.
Description check	✅ Passed	The description covers What Changed, Why, UI Changes, and Checklist, with adequate detail for the template.

✨ Finishing Touches

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests

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[danieliser]

@codex review

[danieliser]

@claude review

[danieliser]

@coderabbitai full review

[coderabbitai]

✅ Action performed

Full review finished.

[chatgpt-codex-connector]

Codex Review: Didn't find any major issues. Delightful!

Reviewed commit: 5481b7d25e

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[danieliser]

@coderabbitai review

[danieliser]

@codex review

[danieliser]

@claude review once

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[macroscopeapp]

Approvability

Verdict: Approved

This PR adds alpha-channel branding (visual theming and icon assets) following the same established patterns as existing nightly and dev variants. The changes are purely additive, self-contained, and include tests.

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[chatgpt-codex-connector]

Codex Review: Didn't find any major issues. Can't wait for the next one!

Reviewed commit: 4bc18383fa

ℹ️ About Codex in GitHub

Your team has set up Codex to review pull requests in this repo. Reviews are triggered when you

• Open a pull request for review
• Mark a draft as ready
• Comment "@codex review".

If Codex has suggestions, it will comment; otherwise it will react with 👍.

Codex can also answer questions or update the PR. Try commenting "@codex address that feedback".

[juliusmarminge]

Closing as part of the open-PR backlog sweep (wave 1).

Reason: Jul conflicted Alpha branding assets; channel branding landed via later PRs.
Related: #4025 #4861 #4862

Reopen if this is still wanted and you’re willing to rebase onto current main.