[Feature]: Neural / mindmap — richer layouts, interactions, and animations

[rosspeili]

One-line summary

Level up Neural: clearer layouts, better interactions, and purposeful motion — without turning it into a toy.

Problem / motivation

Neural is powerful but under-feels vs Kanban/Timeline. Users want map-like exploration: focus, cluster, animate transitions, less visual chaos.

Proposed solution

Ship incrementally (linked PRs OK) after a short design spike listing 3–5 concrete bets:

• Layouts — stronger defaults for Tracker / Priority / Tags / Links / Free; optional focus/isolate cluster.
• Interactions — clearer pan/zoom, double-click open drawer, pin node, edge readability; light multi-select optional.
• Motion — layout settle animations; theme-aware; honor prefers-reduced-motion; no constant GPU thrash.
• Readability — labels, dim non-focus nodes, collision handling.

Implementer notes: Profile on 200+ task projects; prefer existing Three.js stack; avoid heavy new deps without discussion; update docs/screenshots. Out of scope: multiplayer graph; mandatory third-party mindmap export.

Alternatives considered

• Replace Neural with an external mindmap tool (rejected — stay in-app).
• Freeze Neural as-is (rejected — investment requested).

Primary surface

Views (Overview / Table / Kanban / Timeline / Neural / Fruits)

Constraints you accept

• Must stay local-first (no required cloud account)
• Should not break existing tracker *.md readability

Mock / sketch / reference (optional)

Before large code: comment on this issue with chosen bets + rough interaction storyboard.