From 6f35e6e6d8a5f50090ff07d9d4d72a99147b7ce6 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Bryan Van Deusen <bryan.vandeusen@fabledsword.com>
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 2026 15:40:33 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] Confirm irreversible deletes, which sync just made far more
 consequential
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

The trash model itself was already right and needed no change: notes soft-
delete (`trashed` locally, `deleted_at` server-side), Trash is a real view,
restore works, permanent deletion is a separate second step only offered on
an already-trashed note, `trash()` shows an Undo toast, and nothing auto-
purges — trash persists until someone acts. Sync carries all of it: a trashed
note syncs WITH its content, and only `purged_at` deletes a client's copy.

What was missing is the guard on the irreversible step. "Delete forever" and
label deletion were one click, silent, with no confirmation — and M10.7 has
changed what that costs. Before, a mis-click lost a note on one machine.
Now it pushes a tombstone that deletes it from every linked device, and the
local tombstone survives to make sure it gets there.

Both guards live in the STORE, not the call sites: NoteCard and NoteEditor
both offer delete-forever, and duplicating the copy is how two prompts drift
until one of them stops matching what actually happens.

The copy names the real consequence — "deleted from every device you sync
with" — because that's the part a user cannot infer from a button in a Trash
view. The label prompt also says the notes themselves are kept, since that's
what people actually worry about when deleting a label.

Labels deliberately get a confirmation but NOT a trash of their own. A label
is organization, not content; the reversible middle step notes get would be
ceremony around something that costs nothing to recreate.

Saved-filter deletion already confirmed (AppShell), so these two were the
outliers, not a new convention.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01SreJkbxB4gx8pPsu8QbLPi
---
 frontend/src/stores/labels.ts | 13 +++++++++++++
 frontend/src/stores/notes.ts  | 12 ++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 25 insertions(+)

diff --git a/frontend/src/stores/labels.ts b/frontend/src/stores/labels.ts
index 1890b0c..f64a182 100644
--- a/frontend/src/stores/labels.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/stores/labels.ts
@@ -47,6 +47,19 @@ export const useLabelsStore = defineStore("labels", () => {
   }
 
   async function remove(id: string): Promise<void> {
+    // Labels have no trash of their own — a label is organization, not content, so
+    // the reversible middle step notes get would be ceremony. But deleting one is
+    // still irreversible and now reaches every synced device, so it asks first. The
+    // notes themselves survive; only the membership goes, which is the part people
+    // most need reassuring about.
+    const label = items.value.find((lb) => lb.id === id);
+    const subject = label ? `the label "${label.name}"` : "this label";
+    const confirmed = window.confirm(
+      `Delete ${subject}?\n\n` +
+        "It will be removed from every note that uses it, on every device you sync " +
+        "with. The notes themselves are kept.",
+    );
+    if (!confirmed) return;
     await repo.labels.remove(id);
     items.value = items.value.filter((lb) => lb.id !== id);
   }
diff --git a/frontend/src/stores/notes.ts b/frontend/src/stores/notes.ts
index ed54ad7..4a73525 100644
--- a/frontend/src/stores/notes.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/stores/notes.ts
@@ -249,6 +249,18 @@ export const useNotesStore = defineStore("notes", () => {
   }
 
   async function deleteForever(id: string): Promise<void> {
+    // Guarded HERE rather than at the call sites (NoteCard and NoteEditor both offer
+    // it) so the two can't drift on the one action with no undo. Trash is the
+    // reversible step and already offers Undo; this is the point of no return — and
+    // since sync propagates a tombstone, it reaches every linked device too.
+    const note = items.value.find((n) => n.id === id);
+    const title = note?.display_title.trim();
+    const subject = title ? `"${title}"` : "this note";
+    const confirmed = window.confirm(
+      `Permanently delete ${subject}?\n\n` +
+        "This can't be undone, and it will be deleted from every device you sync with.",
+    );
+    if (!confirmed) return;
     await repo.notes.deleteForever(id);
     const idx = items.value.findIndex((n) => n.id === id);
     if (idx >= 0) items.value.splice(idx, 1);