# Phase 1 Plan: Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

## Objective
Deliver a functional MVP of the Visual Assistant, featuring a web-based chat interface, persona selection, static PNG expressions for emotions, and a basic memory system.

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## Week 1: Project Setup & Foundations
- Initialise repository and set up version control
- Establish core directory structure (see Project Overview)
- Configure Python environment using Poetry
- Set up basic FastAPI/Flask backend
- Create placeholder frontend (HTML/CSS/JS)
- Add initial documentation (README, CONTRIBUTING)
- Write initial unit tests for setup scripts

**Deliverable:**
- Running backend and static frontend skeleton

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## Week 2: Chat Interface & Persona Selection
- Develop chat interface (basic message input/output)
- Implement backend chat endpoint
- Design persona selection UI component
- Create persona configuration files and sample personas
- Connect persona selection to backend logic
- Add tests for chat and persona modules

**Deliverable:**
- Functional chat interface with persona selection

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## Week 3: Expressions & Emotion Logic
- Integrate static PNG images for expressions
- Implement basic emotion detection (rule-based)
- Link chat content to expression changes
- Store and retrieve user state (memory system)
- Refine persona and expression assets
- Expand test coverage (emotion logic, memory)

**Deliverable:**
- Chatbot reflects emotions with PNG expressions

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## Week 4: Polish, Documentation & Testing
- Improve UI/UX (styling, accessibility)
- Review and update documentation
- Add integration and end-to-end tests
- Conduct code review and refactoring
- Prepare MVP demo and deployment scripts
- Finalise initial changelog and update TODO.md

**Deliverable:**
- MVP feature-complete, documented, and tested

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## Review & Checkpoints
- Weekly reviews to assess progress and adjust plan
- All code changes documented in CHANGELOG.md
- Tasks tracked and updated in TODO.md

*Document last updated: 17 April 2025*