Comments join attachments on the card face — a quiet bubble-and-count chip, present-only

A card whose thread holds one comment or more now draws a second trailing chip beside the
paperclip: a secondary-tinted bubble glyph plus its count, shown only when the count is above
zero (design ruling 2026-08-09, card e729e30a). Same styling family as the attachments chip —
caption size, secondary tint, decorative and hidden outright from the accessibility tree — but
this one carries a visible count rather than staying icon-only, per the ruling's own "bubble-style
SF Symbol + count." It sits after the attachments chip at the row's trailing edge, in both the
live title row and the drag replica.

The count is a new `Card.commentCount` field the loader fills with a readdir over `comments/`'s
identity-shaped children that carry their own `index.md` — `BoardLoader.commentCount(in:)`, built
on the same `identityShapedChildren` predicate a trash entry's held-card count already uses. Never
a parse: `.draft` and `.trash/` are excluded for free, the same dot-prefixed hidden-entry skip
`CommentThread.load` documents for both, so the walk stays exactly the O(cards) shape
01-storage-format.md § Enhanced schema already commits to. Because the count rides inside the
`card: Card` parameter `CardFaceView` already takes — not a new parameter of its own — drawing the
chip costs nothing beyond a field read on an already-compared value: no new Observable read joins
the body, and the equatable gate already covers it via `Card`'s synthesized `Equatable`.

The one divergence from the comments pane's parsed count is documented rather than hidden: a
comment folder whose `index.md` exists but fails to parse is a `Stray` the thread read excludes by
opening and rejecting it, a cost this readdir does not pay. The face may then read one comment
high until that folder is fixed or removed — the trade the ruling's "cheap directory-entry count…
not a parse" asks for, over paying full parse cost on every card of every load. Every well-formed
comment, and every card with no malformed one, agrees with the pane exactly.

VoiceOver: `AccessibilityPhrases.cardValue` gains a `comments: Int` parameter, appended after
attachments and before the cut-pending phrase — the same left-to-right order the two chips draw
in, so a sighted read and a VoiceOver read never disagree about which comes first. The trashed
lane row's own call site (an opaque unit with no comments to speak of) passes `comments: 0`.

Docs: DESIGN/03-board-ui.md's card-face section describes both chips and retires the stale "closed
with no growth" sentence, honestly recording the 2026-08-09 growth (the hero banner landed hours
earlier, this chip after it) as exposure of facts the card already carries rather than a body
excerpt. DESIGN/10-accessibility.md's flattened-element sentence gains the comment count.
DESIGN/01-storage-format.md's Enhanced schema paragraph records the chip as shipped. WISHLIST #9
is marked shipped in place — not renumbered, since #10 and #11 are cross-referenced elsewhere.

Tests: CardCommentCountListingTests (BoardLoaderTests.swift) pins the readdir against a synthetic
tree — no comments/ folder, an empty one, non-identity-shaped and index-less strays excluded,
.draft/.trash/ excluded for free, agreement with CommentThread.load's parsed count in the
well-formed case, and the one documented divergence on a malformed index.md.
AccessibilityPhrasesTests covers cardValue's new parameter alone, alongside attachments, and
all three fragments together. ViewEquatableTests pins that a comment landing on a card is a gate
difference. BoardRenderPerformanceTests adds a render-cost guard: one comment added to one card
on a hosted 180-card board re-renders a handful of bodies, not the board.

Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_014PtZdPwqZuqEDLc6wZMtEy

Kanban/Storage/BoardLoader.swift

@@ -25,12 +25,18 @@ import os
 /// shape rule — `attachments` and `comments` are non-UUID-shaped and would read as strays, not
 /// levels, so they never need special-casing against the stray warning.
 ///
-/// **Two reads inside a card folder**, both of them flat name listings and nothing more — neither
-/// opens a file, descends, warns, or fails a load; each degrades to `[]`:
+/// **Three reads inside a card folder**, all of them flat directory listings and nothing more —
+/// none opens a file's *contents*, descends past one level, warns, or fails a load; each degrades to
+/// its empty answer (`[]` or `0`):
 ///
 /// - `attachmentNames(in:)` — `attachments/`, feeding `Card.attachments`. The board window's face
 ///   needs it before a card window exists (the quiet paperclip indicator — 03-board-ui.md § Card
 ///   face), and the snapshot is where it reads from.
+/// - `commentCount(in:)` — `comments/`, feeding `Card.commentCount` (design ruling 2026-08-09, card
+///   e729e30a). A count of identity-shaped children carrying `index.md`, never a parse of one — the
+///   distinction that keeps this a directory listing rather than the per-comment read
+///   `CommentThread.load` does, and keeps the walk O(cards) exactly as 01-storage-format.md §
+///   Enhanced schema's "the board snapshot never loads comment content" already required.
 /// - `looseFileNames(in:ignoring:)` — the card folder *itself*, feeding `LoadResult.looseCardFiles`.
 ///   This is the loose-file carve-out's **detection** half (01-storage-format.md § Fractal layout ▸
 ///   Rules, settled 2026-07-28): a regular file sitting beside a card's `index.md` belongs in
@@ -694,6 +700,7 @@ public enum BoardLoader: Sendable {
             storedOrder: Double?,
             heldCards: Int,
             attachments: [String],
+            commentCount: Int,
             document: FrontmatterDocument
         )] = []
         var trashKinds: [ItemID: IntegrityRules.ObjectKind] = [:]
@@ -764,8 +771,9 @@ public enum BoardLoader: Sendable {
             // **The subtree is counted, never walked** (03-board-ui.md § Trash: an opaque unit
             // showing its title and held-card count). The count is the same listing the shape
             // fallback asks for, so a `kind: lane` entry pays for exactly one directory read and a
-            // kindless one pays for none extra — and a card pays for its attachment listing only,
-            // which is why each side is read under its own arm rather than unconditionally.
+            // kindless one pays for none extra — and a card pays for its attachment listing and its
+            // comment count only, which is why each side is read under its own arm rather than
+            // unconditionally.
             //
             // Neither `kind: board` nor `kind: comment` reaches here as itself — `trashKind` treats
             // both as unrecognized and answers by shape — so the non-lane arm is the card answer and
@@ -778,6 +786,7 @@ public enum BoardLoader: Sendable {
                 storedOrder: order.order,
                 heldCards: isLane ? children().count : 0,
                 attachments: isLane ? [] : attachmentNames(in: entryURL),
+                commentCount: isLane ? 0 : commentCount(in: entryURL),
                 document: document
             ))
         }
@@ -831,6 +840,7 @@ public enum BoardLoader: Sendable {
                     hero: document.hero,
                     order: order,
                     attachments: entry.attachments,
+                    commentCount: entry.commentCount,
                     document: document
                 ))
             }
@@ -1115,6 +1125,7 @@ public enum BoardLoader: Sendable {
         /// input to `Ranks.resolvedOrders(of:stored:name:)`.
         let storedOrder: Double?
         let attachments: [String]
+        let commentCount: Int
         let document: FrontmatterDocument
         /// This card's coerce-tier records for the strict fields, which only the rulebook can make
         /// (a missing key leaves no trace in `document.coercedFields`).
@@ -1141,6 +1152,7 @@ public enum BoardLoader: Sendable {
                 hero: document.hero,
                 order: order,
                 attachments: attachments,
+                commentCount: commentCount,
                 document: document
             )
         }
@@ -1156,10 +1168,10 @@ public enum BoardLoader: Sendable {
     /// `path` is root-relative and names the *folder*; the errors this throws name its `index.md`.
     /// Callers guard `isUUIDShaped` and `hasIndex` first, exactly as the lane walk always has.
     ///
-    /// The **attachment listing stays fresh** here, memo or no memo (`ParseMemo` ▸ Scope): a hit
-    /// spares this card's `index.md` read and nothing else, because an attachment arriving in
-    /// `attachments/` never touches `index.md` and a card whose paperclip went stale would be the
-    /// memo lying about the tree.
+    /// The **attachment listing and the comment count stay fresh** here, memo or no memo (`ParseMemo`
+    /// ▸ Scope): a hit spares this card's `index.md` read and nothing else, because a file arriving
+    /// in `attachments/` or a comment arriving in `comments/` never touches `index.md`, and a card
+    /// whose paperclip or comment chip went stale would be the memo lying about the tree.
     private static func parseCard(
         at cardURL: URL,
         path: String,
@@ -1182,6 +1194,7 @@ public enum BoardLoader: Sendable {
             schema: schema.schema,
             storedOrder: order.order,
             attachments: attachmentNames(in: cardURL),
+            commentCount: commentCount(in: cardURL),
             document: document,
             coercions: [schema.coerced, order.coerced].compactMap { $0 },
             stamp: read.stamp
@@ -1281,6 +1294,32 @@ public enum BoardLoader: Sendable {
             .sorted { $0.localizedStandardCompare($1) == .orderedAscending }
     }
 
+    /// The number of comments `<card>/comments/` holds — **a readdir, not a parse** (design ruling
+    /// 2026-08-09, card e729e30a; WISHLIST #9's own suggested shape). `0` when there is no
+    /// `comments/` at all, which is the overwhelmingly common card.
+    ///
+    /// **The same predicate `identityShapedChildren(of:)` already uses for a trash entry's held-card
+    /// count**: children of the folder that are both identity-shaped and carry their own `index.md`
+    /// — no YAML opened, no frontmatter parsed. `.draft` and `.trash/` need no special-casing here
+    /// either: both are dot-prefixed, and `directoryCandidates` (`identityShapedChildren`'s own
+    /// source) skips hidden entries, exactly the exclusion `CommentThread.load` documents for the
+    /// same two folders.
+    ///
+    /// **Diverges from `CommentThread.load`'s parsed `comments.count` in exactly one case**: a
+    /// folder whose `index.md` exists but fails to parse (not UTF-8, unparseable YAML) is a `Stray`
+    /// the thread read excludes by actually opening and rejecting it — a cost this count does not
+    /// pay, because paying it for every card on every load is precisely the O(cards × parsed
+    /// comments) walk 01-storage-format.md § Enhanced schema keeps out of the snapshot. The chip may
+    /// then read one comment high until that one folder is fixed or removed; every well-formed
+    /// comment, and every card with no malformed one, agrees with the pane exactly.
+    ///
+    /// Internal rather than `private`, `attachmentNames(in:)`'s own reason: nothing outside this file
+    /// calls it today, but the count belongs beside the enumeration it is built from
+    /// (`identityShapedChildren`), not duplicated at a second call site later.
+    static func commentCount(in cardFolder: URL) -> Int {
+        identityShapedChildren(of: CommentThread.folder(inCard: cardFolder)).count
+    }
+
     /// A card folder's **loose top-level files** — the one carve-out to uniform stray tolerance
     /// (01-storage-format.md § Fractal layout ▸ Rules, settled 2026-07-28, "Lanework-owns-the-board"):
     /// "a regular file sitting beside a card's `index.md` (not `attachments/`, not a reserved name)

Kanban/Storage/BoardModel.swift

@@ -236,11 +236,14 @@ public struct Lane: Identifiable, Sendable, Equatable {
     public var isDeleted: Bool { !deleted.isMissing }
 }
 
-/// A card: `<root>/<guid>/<guid>/index.md`, plus the *names* of its attachments. Structurally
-/// still a leaf — `comments/` (future, out-of-scope) and the attachment files' contents live
-/// alongside `index.md` on disk and are not modeled here; `attachments` is the one thing the
-/// snapshot reaches inside a card folder for, because two board-window surfaces need it before
-/// any card window exists (see its own doc comment).
+/// A card: `<root>/<guid>/<guid>/index.md`, plus the *names* of its attachments and a *count* of
+/// its comments. Structurally still a leaf — the attachment files' contents and every comment's
+/// own frontmatter and body live alongside `index.md` on disk and are not modeled here; `comments/`
+/// stays window-scoped exactly as 01-storage-format.md § Enhanced schema rules ("the board snapshot
+/// never loads comment content"), and `commentCount` does not change that — it is a readdir, not a
+/// parse. `attachments` and `commentCount` are what the snapshot reaches inside a card folder for,
+/// because board-window surfaces need them before any card window exists (see each field's own doc
+/// comment).
 public struct Card: Identifiable, Sendable, Equatable {
     public let id: ItemID
 
@@ -293,6 +296,24 @@ public struct Card: Identifiable, Sendable, Equatable {
     /// `index.md` does — no separate invalidation path to keep honest.
     public let attachments: [String]
 
+    /// The card's comment count — **a readdir, not a parse** (design ruling 2026-08-09, card
+    /// e729e30a; WISHLIST #9's own suggested shape). Counts `comments/`'s identity-shaped children
+    /// that carry a readable `index.md` (`BoardLoader.commentCount(in:)`, `identityShapedChildren`'s
+    /// pattern) — the same cost class as `attachments` above, so the walk stays O(cards) exactly as
+    /// 01-storage-format.md § Enhanced schema requires. It agrees with `CommentThread.load`'s parsed
+    /// count in the overwhelming case; the one divergence is a comment whose `index.md` exists but
+    /// fails to parse (bad YAML, non-UTF-8), which the thread read excludes as a `Stray` and this
+    /// count does not pay to detect — the face may then read one comment high until that folder is
+    /// fixed or removed. `.draft` and `.trash/` are excluded for free, the way they are everywhere
+    /// else this thread is read: both are dot-prefixed, and the loader's directory listing skips
+    /// hidden entries.
+    ///
+    /// The board-window comments pane feeds the face's chip nothing — this field is the one and only
+    /// source, so a chip and the pane it opens onto can never quietly show two different numbers for
+    /// the same reason (the divergence above aside, which is a stray on disk, not a bug in either
+    /// reader).
+    public let commentCount: Int
+
     /// The full parsed `index.md`; unknown/reserved keys ride along uninterpreted.
     public let document: FrontmatterDocument