docs: close item 84, spec item 36

Item 84's section moves to the closed file, recording that the fix was
a split rather than a suppression, and that its mutation check
reproduces the original hang at exit 124 rather than merely failing.

Item 36 is specced and no longer "on demand": item 66 needs it. Two
findings while writing it. The deliverable is a RED reproduction of 66,
with the fix deliberately excluded, since that defect has never been
isolated and designing a fix beside a hypothesis is how a wrong one gets
locked in. And the item is smaller than it has read since 2026-08-04:
wireWorker() already builds the worker from a config key, so a test
writes a config pointing at the fixture and nothing in src/ changes.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

1 files changed, 19 insertions, 64 deletions

diff --git a/docs/superpowers/plans/2026-08-03-post-0.1.0-usability.md b/docs/superpowers/plans/2026-08-03-post-0.1.0-usability.md
index f578a3a..9240ad6 100644
--- a/docs/superpowers/plans/2026-08-03-post-0.1.0-usability.md
+++ b/docs/superpowers/plans/2026-08-03-post-0.1.0-usability.md
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ taking that too literally.
 | 33 | Status bar messages never expire | feedback | S | **done** |
 | 34 | No overview of the Maildir itself | information | M | **done** |
 | 35 | No refresh of the thread list after a sync | workflow | M | **done** 2026-08-10; the list now follows a sync on its own |
-| 36 | `test_mainwindow` cannot reach the worker | testing | S | open, on demand |
+| 36 | `test_mainwindow` cannot reach the worker | testing | S-M | open, specced 2026-08-14; see `specs/2026-08-14-mainwindow-worker-fixture-design.md`. No longer on demand: item 66 needs it. Smaller than it reads, `wireWorker()` already builds the worker from a config key |
 | 37 | The worker stalls on a tag edit made during a background sync | correctness | S | **done** |
 | 38 | `test_mainwindow` fails when a real sync holds the lock | testing | XS | **done** |
 | 39 | Thread list cannot be sorted by clicking a column header | workflow | S | **dropped** 2026-08-10; the card list has no column headers to click, and 0.13.0 shipped a sort dropdown instead |
@@ -148,7 +148,7 @@ taking that too literally.
 | 81 | No way to turn a saved query into a tagging rule | workflow | S | **done** 2026-08-14, unreleased; see `specs/2026-08-14-query-to-rule-design.md` |
 | 82 | A saved query cannot be edited, unpinned or deleted from the UI | defect | S | **done** 2026-08-13, shipped in 0.18.0. Right-click offers Edit, Pin/Unpin and Delete |
 | 83 | A rule named with spaces is written to the file and dropped by every reader | defect | S | **done** 2026-08-14, unreleased. The name is sanitised into an id, save validates, a bad id loads for repair |
-| 84 | A config problem blocks `test_mainwindow` on a modal nobody can dismiss | testing | S | open; measured 2026-08-14, `showWarnings()` calls `QMessageBox::warning` from the constructor |
+| 84 | A config problem blocks `test_mainwindow` on a modal nobody can dismiss | testing | S | **done** 2026-08-14, unreleased. `showWarnings()` split: the status label stays in the constructor, `main.cpp` raises the modal after `show()` |
 | 85 | Nothing on screen can be searched for by right-clicking it | workflow | M | **done** 2026-08-14, unreleased; see `specs/2026-08-14-search-from-message-design.md`. Split from 78; rebuilt the details dialog as rows |
 | 86 | A right-click search can replace or narrow, but never exclude | workflow | S | **done** 2026-08-14, unreleased; see `specs/2026-08-14-exclude-from-search-design.md`. Follows 85. The `extend` bool became a `SearchMode` enum across four signatures |
 
@@ -246,17 +246,26 @@ one did. Where a real message exposes a parser bug, hand-write a minimal `.eml`
 reproducing its **shape**, as `truncated.eml` and `hostile_filename.eml` already
 do.
 
-**Approach.** Give `test_mainwindow` the fixture and point the window's worker at
-it, so a test can select a thread and let a real `threadLoaded` arrive.
+**Specced 2026-08-14: read
+`specs/2026-08-14-mainwindow-worker-fixture-design.md` rather than planning from
+here.**
 
-**Do this when a defect needs it, not before** (user, 2026-08-04). Wiring it
-with nothing to test proves nothing. The two defects above are already fixed;
-this item is the note that the next one of its kind should be tested properly
-rather than modelled.
+**No longer on demand.** The entry said to do this when a defect needs it, not
+before (user, 2026-08-04). Item 66 needs it now, so the deliverable is a RED
+reproduction of that defect, not fixture wiring on its own. Fixing 66 is
+deliberately excluded: it has never been isolated, and designing a fix beside a
+hypothesis is how a wrong one gets locked in.
+
+**Smaller than this entry has read since 2026-08-04.** No hook has to be added
+to `MainWindow`. `wireWorker()` (`src/mainwindow.cpp:1440`) already builds the
+worker from `m_config.notmuchConfig()`, an ordinary config key, so a test that
+writes a `qtmaildir.conf` pointing at the fixture gets a real worker through the
+shipping path with nothing in `src/` changed. Mind the `[general]` prefix trap
+when writing that file.
 
 **Constraint:** every existing `test_mainwindow` case constructs a bare
-`MainWindow` and must keep working. The fixture is per-test, not a suite-wide
-`initTestCase`, or every case pays for a `notmuch new`.
+`MainWindow` and must keep working. The fixture is opt-in per test, not a
+suite-wide `initTestCase`, or every case pays for a `notmuch new`.
 
 ## 40. No live filter over the current view
 
@@ -524,60 +533,6 @@ in CLAUDE.md.
 **Size: S**, down from M now that item 85 has built the menus and item 81 the
 seeded dialog.
 
-## 84. A config problem blocks `test_mainwindow` on a modal nobody can dismiss
-
-**Observed (2026-08-14):** a new test in `test_mainwindow` hung with no output
-and was killed at the two-minute timeout. It had configured an account section
-carrying only `sent=`, with no `maildir=`.
-
-**Cause (verified by attaching gdb to the hung process, not inferred).**
-
-```
-#7  QDialog::exec()
-#9  MainWindow::showWarnings ... src/mainwindow.cpp:1670
-#10 MainWindow::MainWindow ... src/mainwindow.cpp:381
-```
-
-`Config::load` handles the malformed account exactly as it should: it records
-"Account 'one' has no maildir; ignoring it" and carries on
-(`src/config.cpp:413-418`). `showWarnings()` then puts every collected problem
-in a `QMessageBox::warning`, which is modal, and it is called from the
-`MainWindow` CONSTRUCTOR. Under the offscreen platform nothing can dismiss it,
-so the constructor never returns.
-
-**This is not a defect in the application.** The modal is deliberate and is
-right for a person: a config problem should interrupt startup rather than
-scroll past, and the code comment at `src/mainwindow.cpp:1661` explains which
-problems qualify. A user sees the dialog and clicks OK. The defect is that a
-TEST cannot, and the failure it produces is a silent hang rather than an error
-naming the cause, which cost a debugging detour to identify.
-
-**Constraint on any fix: the modal must survive for real use.** Suppressing it
-whenever `QTEST_MAIN` is linked would be the obvious move and is wrong, since
-that is exactly the path `test_mainwindow` exercises and a suppressed dialog
-means the startup warning ships untested. Two candidates, neither yet chosen:
-
-- A `MainWindow` flag, defaulting to showing the modal, that the tests set. It
-  makes the behaviour explicit and testable in both states.
-- Collecting the problems and emitting them, with the modal raised by a caller
-  outside the constructor. Larger, and it separates "what is wrong" from "how
-  the user is told", which is the better shape if anything else ever needs the
-  list.
-
-**Related: every test that configures an account is one typo away from this.**
-The suite has several, all of them currently well-formed. A malformed one does
-not fail, it hangs, and a hang in CI reads as an infrastructure problem rather
-than a test problem.
-
-**A second trap sits on top of the first and wasted as much time.** A hang
-leaves the test binary running, and a later `ctest` then runs a STALE binary
-while the source on disk has moved on, so the failure appears to persist after
-it has been fixed and to vanish for reasons unconnected to the change. Kill any
-surviving `test_mainwindow` and rebuild before concluding anything about a hang
-here.
-
-**Size: S.** The diagnosis is the expensive part and it is already done.
-
 ## Deferred, unsized, or split out
 
 Items noted while triaging but not part of the original list. Same numbering