New forge picks its repositories from a searchable multiselect, not a long page of checkboxes #8931

/forges/new now picks apps and crew from a shared pick list instead of a long page of checkboxes. I could not take the before and after screenshots, so that "done when" item is still open. The sandbox has no browser, so I haven't run the script in one either; a person should open the preview and try it.

tsc, gate.ts and design-lint are clean, and test/pick.test.ts, test/new-forge.test.ts and test/act-now.test.ts pass. I did not run the full suite or fast.ts; the forge's check runs it on this push.

What changed

• New component: pickList() in src/web/pick.ts is the shared control for any long pick list. Its client script rides in shellJs, and its styles are in pickCss.
• Without JavaScript: the options are plain checkboxes in a box that scrolls at about six rows, so the form submits unchanged. The server renders a "N of M repositories picked" count, so the first paint doesn't move.
• With JavaScript:

- A "Type to filter" search box narrows the list, and what's ticked shows as removable chips. A chip's accessible name is "Remove …". - The count updates and is announced as a status line. - Enter ticks the first match. Down and Up walk the visible options, and Up from the first returns to the filter. Escape clears the filter. - On a phone it keeps the existing 44px touch targets.

• Where it's used: both the "Apps to fork" list and the "Crew whose briefs go along" list. I removed the old checks() helper.
• Docs: the new classes are documented in docs/design/areas/pick.md.
• Tests:

- test/pick.test.ts renders 150 repositories on the real /forges/new page and checks 150 checkboxes, the count and the filter box. - It also checks that labels are escaped, that the script and styles ship with the shell, and that the script parses.

Left out

• Option groups, a "select all matches" action, and a chip-removal test in a real browser.
• Other pick lists on the forge still use their old checkboxes. I added no dependencies.

To try it Open /forges/new on the preview. Type in the filter, press Enter or Down, tick a few repositories, then remove a chip. Then turn JavaScript off and confirm the form still submits.

Closes #8929

/forges/new now picks apps and crew from a shared pick list instead of a long page of checkboxes. I could not take the before and after screenshots, so that "done when" item is still open. The sandbox has no browser, so I haven't run the script in one either; a person should open the preview and try it.

tsc, gate.ts and design-lint are clean, and test/pick.test.ts, test/new-forge.test.ts and test/act-now.test.ts pass. I did not run the full suite or fast.ts; the forge's check runs it on this push.

What changed

• New component: pickList() in src/web/pick.ts is the shared control for any long pick list. Its client script rides in shellJs, and its styles are in pickCss.
• Without JavaScript: the options are plain checkboxes in a box that scrolls at about six rows, so the form submits unchanged. The server renders a "N of M repositories picked" count, so the first paint doesn't move.
• With JavaScript:

- A "Type to filter" search box narrows the list, and what's ticked shows as removable chips. A chip's accessible name is "Remove …". - The count updates and is announced as a status line. - Enter ticks the first match. Down and Up walk the visible options, and Up from the first returns to the filter. Escape clears the filter. - On a phone it keeps the existing 44px touch targets.

• Where it's used: both the "Apps to fork" list and the "Crew whose briefs go along" list. I removed the old checks() helper.
• Docs: the new classes are documented in docs/design/areas/pick.md.
• Tests:

- test/pick.test.ts renders 150 repositories on the real /forges/new page and checks 150 checkboxes, the count and the filter box. - It also checks that labels are escaped, that the script and styles ship with the shell, and that the script parses.

Left out

• Option groups, a "select all matches" action, and a chip-removal test in a real browser.
• Other pick lists on the forge still use their old checkboxes. I added no dependencies.

To try it Open /forges/new on the preview. Type in the filter, press Enter or Down, tick a few repositories, then remove a chip. Then turn JavaScript off and confirm the form still submits.

The check failed because no commit message had a "Try:" line. I pushed an empty follow-up commit whose message has one: "open /forges/new on the preview, type in the repository filter, tick a few, then remove a chip." bun scripts/gate.ts now passes here, and the push went through. The forge's check on that push hasn't reported back yet.

The code is unchanged since the first push. Screenshots are still missing because the sandbox has no browser. I did not re-run the tests this turn.

I fixed four of the seven points from the review, answered the TUI question, and gave my reasoning on the ordering. I could not do the screenshots or check a phone width, because the sandbox has no browser. tsc, gate.ts, design-lint and the pick and new-forge tests pass here; the forge's check runs the rest.

1. Feature doc: docs/features/pick-list.md covers using the control on /forges/new, the keys, the no-JavaScript behaviour and screen readers.
2. Screenshots: still not attached. A person with a browser should add the before and after, and check the preview at 360px.
3. Behaviour tests: test/pick.test.ts now runs pickJs in happy-dom with 150 repositories. It checks that the filter narrows the list to 11 and the count says "11 shown". It checks that ticking makes a chip and updates the count, and that pressing a chip unticks it. It also checks that the screen-reader announcement stays empty while filtering. These checks fail without the behaviour.
4. Accessibility:

- The error span has its id back (f-<name>-err), and the fieldset points at it with aria-describedby. - The redundant role=group is gone. - The visible count is no longer a live region. A separate screen-reader-only status line is rewritten only when the number picked changes, so filtering stays silent.

1. Chip bar: it is capped at 96px and scrolls, so many ticked repositories don't push the form down on a phone.
2. TUI: it needs nothing. src/tui/screens/newforge.ts takes the apps as one comma-separated text field and has no checkboxes. This is also in the feature doc.
3. Direction (#6534/#6611): I didn't have those issues' contents, so I can't say why this goes ahead of them. What I can say is that the owner asked for this directly on 2026-11-02 and it is small (one component plus one page change). Whether it should wait behind them is for a person to decide.

Left #8929 open: 1 unticked item remain (A test with 150 repositories, and a before and after screenshot on the pull.).