simulator-smart-forms

Simulator.Company Smart Form Author

You are a specialist in creating and editing Smart Forms (also called CDU, Script, or Application) on the Simulator.Company platform, using the simulator MCP server plus the pullSmartForm / pushSmartForm engine tools.

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Core Concepts

A Smart Form is three things in one:

Layer	What it is
Actor	An actor in the scripts system form — has id, ref, title, data.sharedWith
Versioned project	A folder/file tree per environment: pages, locale, viewModel, styles, definitions, widgets
Backend binding	Corezoid credentials per env — dynamic data and control flow come from Corezoid at runtime

A Smart Form is not a data-schema form. Compare:

Regular Form (template)        Smart Form (actor + app)
──────────────────────         ───────────────────────
defines field schema           is itself an actor in "scripts" form
actors are instances of it     carries pages/styles/i18n as versioned files
account definitions            Corezoid process supplies runtime data

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Environments

Every Smart Form always has exactly two environments:

Env	readonly	Purpose
develop	false	Active editing target
production	true	Live, served to end users

Rule: never write directly to production. Edit develop, then deploy develop → production via a release. The server rejects writes to readonly envs.

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Project File Structure

After pullSmartForm the local directory looks like:

<actorId>/
  develop/
    .manifest.json              ← file IDs + SHA-256 hashes (used by pushSmartForm)
    pages/
      index/
        config                  ← Page layout (JSON): { grid, forms[] }
        locale                  ← Page-scoped i18n (JSON): { key: { en: "…", uk: "…" } }
    locale                      ← App-wide i18n (JSON)
    viewModel                   ← Default view-model values (JSON)
    widgets                     ← Widget/control settings (JSON, ctrlSettings)
    definitions/
      button                    ← Reusable component fragment (JSON), used via "$ref": "#/button"
    styles/
      index                     ← Less stylesheet (text/css); compiled → scoped CSS at serve time
  production/
    .manifest.json
    … (same tree, read-only)

File roles

File	MIME	Purpose
pages/<id>/config	application/json	Page layout: grid + forms + sections + items
pages/<id>/locale	application/json	Page-level i18n strings
locale	application/json	App-wide i18n strings; merged with page locale at serve time
viewModel	application/json	Default values; merged with Corezoid-supplied viewModel at serve time
definitions/<name>	application/json	Reusable component fragments; inlined by $ref at serve time
styles/index	text/css	Less source; compiled to scoped CSS (.cdu-page scope); @import "pages/<id>/style" works
widgets	application/json	ctrlSettings for embedded third-party widgets

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Standard Workflow

Creating a new Smart Form

createSmartForm(title="My App", ref="my-app")
→ { actorId: "...", envs: [{id: 1, title: "develop"}, {id: 2, title: "production"}] }

corezoidCredentials is optional — omit it for static/design-only forms and configure the Corezoid binding later.

Then immediately pull the default skeleton:

pullSmartForm(actorId="<uuid>")
→ downloads all envs to <actorId>/develop/ and <actorId>/production/

Edit cycle (existing or newly created form)

1.  pullSmartForm(actorId="<uuid>")
    → downloads all envs to <actorId>/develop/ and <actorId>/production/
    → writes .manifest.json (file IDs + hashes) in each env dir

2.  Edit files under <actorId>/develop/
    (page config, locale, viewModel, styles, definitions)

3.  pushSmartForm(actorId="<uuid>")
    → walks <actorId>/develop/, diffs every file/folder against .manifest.json
    → validates new + changed files against the CDU page protocol schema
    → if errors: aborts with { validationErrors: [...] } — fix and retry
    → POSTs new folders (parents first) and new files, then PUTs modified files
    → updates .manifest.json with returned ids + content hashes
    → returns { created: { folders, files }, updated, unchanged, orphanFiles }

4.  Deploy (when ready to publish):
    deploySmartForm(actorId="<uuid>")
    → deploys develop → production; returns { releaseId, releaseNumber, status }

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Page Config Format (pages/<id>/config)

The page config is the layout template. Structure: Page → Grid → Form → Section → Item.

Minimal page

{
  "grid": {
    "type": "one_column",
    "components": {
      "center": ["main"]
    }
  },
  "forms": [
    {
      "id": "main",
      "title": "My Form",
      "sections": [
        {
          "id": "body",
          "type": "body",
          "content": [
            {
              "id": "greeting",
              "class": "label",
              "value": "[[hello]]"
            },
            {
              "id": "name",
              "class": "edit",
              "value": "{{defaultName}}",
              "type": "text",
              "placeholder": "Enter your name",
              "required": true
            },
            {
              "id": "submit",
              "class": "button",
              "title": "Submit",
              "type": "default"
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Grid

{
  "type": "one_column" | "two_column",
  "header": {
    "class": "default" | "steps",
    "extra": { "steps": ["Step 1", "Step 2"], "active": 1 }
  },
  "components": {
    "header":  ["<formId>"],
    "left":    ["<formId>"],
    "center":  ["<formId>"],
    "right":   ["<formId>"],
    "footer":  ["<formId>"],
    "sidebar": ["<formId>"]
  },
  "styleClass": "custom-grid"
}

Form

{
  "id": "info",
  "title": "Details",
  "styleClass": "card",
  "visibility": "visible",    // "visible" | "disabled" | "hidden"
  "sections": [ /* Section[] */ ]
}

Section

{
  "id": "s1",
  "type": "body",             // "body" | "block" | "modal" | "float"
  "visibility": "visible",
  "header":  [ /* Item[] — Label | Button only */ ],
  "content": [ /* Item[] — the main items */ ]
  // modal-only: "modalHeader": [ /* Item[] */ ],
  //             "modalSize": "small"|"medium"|"large"|"xlarge",
  //             "modalCloseConfirmText": "…"
}

block renders as a grouped card; modal/float are overlays.

⚠️ A section has no footer — only header and content (plus modalHeader for modals). Put bottom-of-form actions as the last items in content, or in a separate form bound to the grid's footer region. (The grid's components.footer above holds form ids, not items.)

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Component Catalogue

Every item has class + base fields (id, value, visibility, required, error, errorMsg, styleClass, row, w). Below are the most common components:

Layout/rendering gotchas (verified live — full list in docs/user-flows/cdu-page-protocol.md §12): row renders as a CSS table so its items do not wrap (use display:inline-block items directly in content for a wrapping grid); styleClass on a row is dropped from the DOM (style leaf items, not the row); a radio/select option dot is a JSS-hashed <i class="i-icon-…"> (not the <input>) — restylable via [class*="icon"]/[class*="content"] (match by substring; the i- prefix isn't stable across builds) but that couples to renderer internals, so buttons are the version-proof alternative for card pickers; and a field with visibility:"visible" but hidden via CSS still submits (the idiomatic hidden value carrier).

Input components

class	value type	Key extra / options
edit	string	type: text email int float phone multiline date password colorPicker; placeholder, regexp, mask, submitOnEnter
select	string	options: [{title, value, visibility, icon, tooltip, avatar, badge, styleClass}]; type: default autocomplete; submitOnChange
multiselect	string[]	options: [{title, value, visibility, tooltip}]; extra.length (max)
radio	string	options: [{title, value, visibility}]; extra.direction: row|column
check	boolean	checkbox
toggle	boolean	title label on the switch
slider	number	extra: { min, max, step }
phone	{countryCode, number}	options (country codes), regexp
otp	object otp-0…otp-N	extra.length (2–20); type: text|int

Display components

class	Notes
label	Static text; supports [[locale]] and {{viewModel}} tokens; BBCode rendered; align: left|center|right
divider	Visual separator; no value
image	value = src URL; extra: {alt, height, width}
carousel	items[] (slides); extra: {autoplay, interval}
timer	value = remaining ms; extra.duration
comments	Comment thread widget; title

Action components

class	Notes
button	title (bbcode), type: default secondary tertiary text error; submits its form. extra.url opens the URL instead of submitting (extra.target _self|_blank — newer renderers only; older open same-tab); extra.action:'logout'; extra.request (bare fetch first, submits only if it resolves); extra.autoSubmit {interval,maxCount} (interval clamped 5–60s); extra.options[] (menu — bypasses url/request/action/submit); extra.icon, rounded, mobileVisible
copy	value = text to copy; title = button label

Data & navigation components

class	Notes
table	head: [{id,title}], body: [{<id>: value}]; type: default radio check; submitOnChange, submitOnScroll
tab	options: [{id,title}]; value = selected id; submitOnChange
stepper	options: [{id,title}]; value = step; extra.direction
mainMenu	Nested navigation; options tree

File components

class	Notes
file	Preview/download; value: FileProps; extra: {downloadUrl, auth}
upload	File upload; type: default|webcam; extra: {accept, minSize, maxSize}
attachment	Multi-file viewer; value: FileProps[]; extra.downloadUrl
signature	Canvas signature → base64; extra: {strokeStyle, saveButtonTitle}

Layout

Do not hand-author a row component. Lay items out with the base row / w fields that every component carries: give sibling items the same row string to place them on one line, and set w (relative weight — rendered width is w / Σw of the row) on each. The renderer synthesizes a row component from them. For drag-reorder use a section with sortable: true + contentLoop (there is also a standalone draggable component, but the section route is the usual one). row and draggable are absent from the Scripts swagger, so prefer these field-based paths.

// two items on one line, 50% each (equal weights → each gets half the row):
{ "id": "first", "class": "edit", "type": "text", "row": "1", "w": "50" }
{ "id": "last",  "class": "edit", "type": "text", "row": "1", "w": "50" }

Embedded widgets

class: "widget" — type: iframe onfido twilio amazonConnect webComments. Each type has its own extra schema.

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Templating

All substitution is server-side — the renderer receives concrete values.

Syntax	Source	Example
[[key]]	locale (app + page merged)	"[[hello]]" → "Hello" in en
{{key}}	viewModel (default + Corezoid-supplied merged)	"{{userName}}" → "Alice"
"$ref": "#/button"	definitions/button file	inlined at serve time
contentLoop	section array expansion	one template → N rows
BBCode	label/button/edit/check titles	[b] [i] [u] [color=#f00] [size=N] [br], and [url=https://…]text[/url] → clickable <a target="_blank"> (inline link; [iurl=…] opens same-tab; renderer supports more, e.g. [bg]). Raw <a> HTML is escaped — use [url].

locale file format

{
  "hello": { "en": "Hello", "uk": "Привіт" },
  "submit": { "en": "Submit", "uk": "Надіслати" }
}

viewModel file format

{
  "defaultName": "Anonymous",
  "maxItems": 10
}

definitions fragment format

{
  "class": "button",
  "title": "[[submit]]",
  "type": "default"
}

Used in config as { "$ref": "#/button" } — the whole object is replaced.

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Change Protocol (POST 200 response)

When Corezoid returns code: 200, the server sends changes[] — surgical patches to the live page without a full re-render:

[
  {
    "id": "name",             // item / section / form id
    "class": "edit",          // component class (for item changes)
    "value": "Alice",
    "visibility": "visible",
    "error": false,
    "required": true
  },
  {
    "id": "status",
    "options": [{"id":"a","title":"Active"},{"id":"i","title":"Inactive"}],
    "changeRules": {
      "options": { "action": "replace" }   // concat | unshift | delete | replace | merge
    }
  }
]

code: 205 → re-render a whole page (can switch to a different pageId). code: 302 → redirect to nextPage.

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Creating a Smart Form from Scratch

Use the createSmartForm MCP tool — it calls POST /papi/1.0/applications/<accId> internally and returns the actor ID plus both env IDs ready for use.

createSmartForm(
  title="My App",
  ref="my-app",
  description="Optional",          // optional
  sharedWith="userList",            // optional, default userList
  apiLogin="...",                   // optional — set Corezoid binding later if omitted
  apiSecret="...",
  procId="...",
  companyId="..."
)
→ { actorId: "...", ref: "my-app", title: "My App",
    envs: [{ id: 12, title: "develop", readonly: false },
           { id: 13, title: "production", readonly: true }],
    next: "run pullSmartForm(actorId=...) to download the initial file tree" }

sharedWith values: userList | allWorkspaceUsers | allRegisteredUsers | anyone.

Corezoid credentials are optional at creation time and can be configured later.

After creation always run pullSmartForm to download the default file skeleton before editing.

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Working with Releases

Deploy develop → production

deploySmartForm(actorId="<uuid>")
→ { actorId, sourceEnv: "develop", targetEnv: "production",
    releaseId, releaseNumber, status: "active" }

sourceEnv and targetEnv default to develop and production; pass them explicitly to deploy between non-standard envs.

List releases

listReleases(actorId="<uuid>")           // production releases (default)
listReleases(actorId="<uuid>", env="develop")
→ { actorId, env, releases: [{ id, release_number, status, created_at, … }] }

Diff two releases

diffReleases(actorId="<uuid>", releaseId="5", vsReleaseId="3")
→ { added[], removed[], modified[] }

Compared by source_hash — no file bytes transferred. Use before a rollback to preview what will change.

Rollback to a previous release

rollbackRelease(actorId="<uuid>", releaseId="3")
→ { actorId, rolledBackTo: "3", newReleaseId, releaseNumber, status: "active" }

Rollback is forward-only: a new active release is created whose content equals the target release. History is never rewritten.

Retention: 5 releases per env (objects). Older release manifests remain for audit; only objects are GC'd. A release outside the 5-release window cannot be rolled back.

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File History

// List versions of a file (fileId from .manifest.json)
getFileHistory(actorId="<uuid>", fileId=12345)
getFileHistory(actorId="<uuid>", fileId=12345, limit=20, offset=0)
→ list of { versionId, operation, createdAt, … }

// Fetch source of a specific version
getFileVersion(actorId="<uuid>", fileId=12345, versionId="<id>")
→ { source: "…full file content…" }

// Restore file to a prior version (creates a new version; run pullSmartForm to refresh local)
rollbackFile(actorId="<uuid>", fileId=12345, versionId="<id>")

// List soft-deleted objects in an env
listTrash(actorId="<uuid>")              // develop (default)
listTrash(actorId="<uuid>", env="production")
→ list of { objectId, title, objType, deletedAt, … }

// Restore a deleted object
restoreFromTrash(actorId="<uuid>", objectId="<id>")

All writes create a before-state history row (operation: create|update|move|rename|delete). Retention: 50 versions per file.

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Key Rules for Authoring

1. Edit only develop — the server rejects writes to production (readonly env).
2. Run pullSmartForm before editing — establishes .manifest.json needed by pushSmartForm.
3. Server stores source opaque — no structural validation of config, viewModel, or locale JSON at save time. Validate page JSON against the CDU protocol before pushing.
4. Missing $ref resolves to {} — a definitions/button reference to a non-existent fragment silently produces an empty object at serve time. Always verify definition names.
5. System files are protected — is_system files (styles/index, pages/index/config, etc.) cannot be renamed or deleted. Edit their content freely; rename/delete will fail.
6. CSS is Less — styles/index is compiled with Less at serve time, wrapped in .cdu-page {}. Use Less syntax; @import "pages/<id>/style" imports page-level stylesheets.
7. Dynamic data comes from Corezoid — the Smart Form files define layout and defaults; Corezoid processes supply runtime viewModel values and control flow (code 200/205/302).
8. Deploy is a two-phase snapshot — T1 locks the target env and takes a snapshot; T2 materialises it. A failed T2 is compensated automatically.

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Typical Session Example

// 1. Pull all files to develop/
pullSmartForm(actorId="69bbd03e-0d4c-4122-9234-e06ffe9ca1eb")
→ { envs: [{ env: "develop", dir: "…/develop", files: 11 }, { env: "production", … }] }

// 2. Edit pages/index/config — add a new label item to the body section

// 3. Push changes (also creates new pages/folders if you added them locally)
pushSmartForm(actorId="69bbd03e-0d4c-4122-9234-e06ffe9ca1eb")
→ { created: { folders: 0, files: 0 }, updated: 1, unchanged: 10, orphanFiles: [] }

// Adding a new page? Just create the files locally and push:
//   develop/pages/survey/config   (page layout JSON)
//   develop/pages/survey/locale   (page i18n JSON)
// → pushSmartForm POSTs the "survey" folder, then both files inside it,
//   then writes their ids back into .manifest.json. No PUT/PATCH needed.

// 4. Deploy to production
deploySmartForm(actorId="69bbd03e-0d4c-4122-9234-e06ffe9ca1eb")
→ { releaseId: 5, releaseNumber: 3, status: "active" }

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Embedding a Smart Form into an actor or a reaction

A Smart Form is an actor — but you can also embed and run it inside another actor's card or inside a reaction, so the smart form shows up where the user is working:

• In a regular actor: set appId = the Smart Form actor id on createActor / updateActor; the actor's card then renders/runs that smart form. appSettings tunes it: { autorun:boolean, expired:int (unix s), users:int[], groups:int[], fullWidth:boolean } (or null).

  updateActor(formId=<f>, actorId="<actorId>",
              appId="<smartFormActorId>", appSettings={ "autorun": true })
  

• In a reaction: same appId / appSettings on createReaction / updateReaction — the reaction renders the smart form (e.g. drop an interactive form into a discussion thread).

  createReaction(type="comment", actorId="<actor>", appId="<smartFormActorId>",
                 appSettings={ "fullWidth": true })
  

• The embedded form's pages/logic come from the Smart Form's production env by default; edit them with the pull/push cycle above.

Also see simulator-reactions (the appId + extra.linkedActorId + [application=…] chip) and docs/entities/reactions.md → "Embedding".

Access & Scopes (Public API)

All Smart Form operations use the public API (/papi/1.0/...) with an OAuth2 bearer token.

Operations	Required scope
Read (get app, envs, releases, file history, env struct, folder content)	actors.readonly
Write (create app, edit content, deploy, rollback, restore trash)	actors.management
Page serving (render/submit pages)	actors.readonly + sharedWith rules

pullSmartForm and pushSmartForm both require actors.management scope.

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Styling (hand-off)

This skill covers page structure — pages, locale, viewModel defaults, and the layout JSON (grid/forms/sections/items) plus the styleClass hooks you attach to them. It does not author the CSS/Less itself. When the user wants to style / restyle / theme a Smart Form — write the style / styles/ layer, re-skin a component, build a design system, fix spacing/colors/fonts — switch to the simulator-styles skill. It reuses the same pull/push/deploy cycle and consumes the styleClass hooks defined here.

Adding Backend Logic

For the backend that produces dynamic viewModel values, handles /send submits, and mutates the page via changes[], switch to the simulator-smart-forms-logic skill. It is a brief generator: it translates the user's intent into prompts for the Corezoid plugin's corezoid-create / corezoid-edit skills, and binds the resulting bound process to the Smart Form env via corezoidCredentials / procId.

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Reference Documents

Path	When to read
$CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT/docs/user-flows/smart-forms.md	Full lifecycle, data model, deploy/release internals, access model, API reference table
$CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT/docs/user-flows/cdu-page-protocol.md	Complete component catalogue, templating, change protocol, server-side save validation
$CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT/skills/simulator-styles/SKILL.md	Style/restyle the form: the style / styles/ (Less) layer, theming, component re-skinning
$CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT/skills/simulator-smart-forms-logic/SKILL.md	Author + bind the Corezoid backend processes for this Smart Form