feat(studio): pending-approvals sidebar badge + per-category settings help

Two operator-attention improvements:

  - The sidebar's Approvals item gains a small accent-coloured
    badge (e.g. '2', '9+') when there are pending approvals,
    polled on the same 5 s tick the health check uses. Operators
    no longer need to open the Approvals page to discover new
    pending decisions; the badge surfaces them at the rail
    level.

  - The Settings dialog's per-category panel titles grow an
    optional help icon (?) that opens the matching bundled
    docs explainer via showFaiDoc. Wired for General →
    architecture, Security → security, Maintenance → audit.
    Other categories deliberately stay un-iced for now —
    Appearance / System AI / Integrations don't yet have a
    standalone bundled doc, and showing a broken help icon
    would be worse than showing none.

Studio bumped to 0.69.0.

Signed-off-by: flemming-it <stefan.a.flemming@googlemail.com>

lib/main.dart

@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ import 'widgets/widgets.dart';
 /// Studio's own build version. Bump on every UI commit so the
 /// running app self-identifies — visible in the sidebar header
 /// and quick-glance proof that you're seeing the current build.
-const String kStudioVersion = '0.68.0';
+const String kStudioVersion = '0.69.0';
 
 Future<void> main() async {
   WidgetsFlutterBinding.ensureInitialized();
@@ -313,6 +313,11 @@ class StudioShellState extends State<StudioShell> {
     ),
   ];
 
+  /// Pending-approval count surfaced as a sidebar badge so the
+  /// operator notices new approvals without polling the page.
+  /// Refreshed alongside the health probe — same 5 s tick.
+  int _pendingApprovals = 0;
+
   @override
   void initState() {
     super.initState();
@@ -327,9 +332,6 @@ class StudioShellState extends State<StudioShell> {
     final ok = await HubService.instance.healthy();
     if (!mounted) return;
     if (_connected != ok) setState(() => _connected = ok);
-    // Refresh the active channel pointer alongside the health
-    // probe — cheap, and keeps the sidebar pill honest if the
-    // operator switched channels from the CLI.
     if (ok) {
       try {
         final snap = await HubService.instance.channelStatus();
@@ -337,9 +339,14 @@ class StudioShellState extends State<StudioShell> {
         if (_activeChannel != snap.active) {
           setState(() => _activeChannel = snap.active);
         }
-      } catch (_) {
+      } catch (_) {/* best-effort */}
-        // Best-effort; pill simply doesn't update this tick.
+      try {
-      }
+        final pending = await HubService.instance.pendingApprovals();
+        if (!mounted) return;
+        if (_pendingApprovals != pending.length) {
+          setState(() => _pendingApprovals = pending.length);
+        }
+      } catch (_) {/* best-effort */}
     }
   }
 
@@ -443,6 +450,7 @@ class StudioShellState extends State<StudioShell> {
                   connected: _connected,
                   endpointLabel: HubService.instance.endpointLabel,
                   activeChannel: _activeChannel,
+                  pendingApprovals: _pendingApprovals,
                 ),
                 Container(width: 1, color: theme.colorScheme.outlineVariant),
                 Expanded(
@@ -501,6 +509,11 @@ class _Sidebar extends StatefulWidget {
   /// initial fetch is in flight or the hub is unreachable.
   final String? activeChannel;
 
+  /// Number of pending approvals — surfaced as a badge on the
+  /// matching nav item so the operator notices a new approval
+  /// without polling the page.
+  final int pendingApprovals;
+
   const _Sidebar({
     required this.selectedIndex,
     required this.onSelect,
@@ -508,6 +521,7 @@ class _Sidebar extends StatefulWidget {
     required this.connected,
     required this.endpointLabel,
     required this.activeChannel,
+    this.pendingApprovals = 0,
   });
 
   @override
@@ -672,6 +686,10 @@ class _SidebarState extends State<_Sidebar>
                             t: t,
                             labelsInteractive: labelsInteractive,
                             iconColumnWidth: _collapsedWidth,
+                            badge: widget.pages[i].id == 'approvals' &&
+                                    widget.pendingApprovals > 0
+                                ? widget.pendingApprovals
+                                : null,
                             onTap: () => widget.onSelect(i),
                           ),
                       ],
@@ -1016,6 +1034,11 @@ class _SidebarItem extends StatefulWidget {
   final double iconColumnWidth;
   final VoidCallback onTap;
 
+  /// Optional count badge — null hides it, non-null renders a
+  /// small accent pill on top-right of the icon. Used by the
+  /// Approvals item for pending count.
+  final int? badge;
+
   const _SidebarItem({
     required this.page,
     required this.selected,
@@ -1023,6 +1046,7 @@ class _SidebarItem extends StatefulWidget {
     required this.labelsInteractive,
     required this.iconColumnWidth,
     required this.onTap,
+    this.badge,
   });
 
   @override
@@ -1047,11 +1071,45 @@ class _SidebarItemState extends State<_SidebarItem> {
         : Colors.transparent;
     final label = widget.page.labelOf(context);
 
-    final icon = Icon(
+    Widget icon = Icon(
       widget.selected ? widget.page.selectedIcon : widget.page.icon,
       size: 18,
       color: color,
     );
+    final badge = widget.badge;
+    if (badge != null) {
+      icon = Stack(
+        clipBehavior: Clip.none,
+        children: [
+          icon,
+          Positioned(
+            right: -6,
+            top: -4,
+            child: Container(
+              padding: const EdgeInsets.symmetric(
+                horizontal: 5,
+                vertical: 1,
+              ),
+              constraints: const BoxConstraints(minWidth: 16, minHeight: 14),
+              decoration: BoxDecoration(
+                color: theme.colorScheme.primary,
+                borderRadius: BorderRadius.circular(8),
+              ),
+              child: Text(
+                badge > 9 ? '9+' : '$badge',
+                textAlign: TextAlign.center,
+                style: TextStyle(
+                  color: theme.colorScheme.onPrimary,
+                  fontSize: 9,
+                  fontWeight: FontWeight.w700,
+                  height: 1.1,
+                ),
+              ),
+            ),
+          ),
+        ],
+      );
+    }
     // Label widget is ALWAYS in the tree — opacity = t makes
     // it fade in/out in lockstep with the rail's width
     // animation. Expanded's flex space goes from 0 (at t=0,

lib/widgets/fai_settings_dialog.dart

@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import '../data/hub_auth_token.dart';
 import '../data/registry_token.dart';
 import '../data/system_actions.dart';
 import '../l10n/app_localizations.dart';
+import '../pages/welcome.dart' show showFaiDoc;
 import '../theme/theme.dart';
 import '../theme/tokens.dart';
 import 'fai_error_box.dart';
@@ -394,17 +395,35 @@ class _FaiSettingsDialogState extends State<FaiSettingsDialog> {
     );
   }
 
-  Widget _panelTitle(String title, String subtitle, ThemeData theme) {
+  Widget _panelTitle(
+    String title,
+    String subtitle,
+    ThemeData theme, {
+    String? docSlug,
+  }) {
     return Padding(
       padding: const EdgeInsets.only(bottom: FaiSpace.lg),
       child: Column(
         crossAxisAlignment: CrossAxisAlignment.start,
         children: [
-          Text(
+          Row(
-            title,
+            children: [
-            style: theme.textTheme.titleLarge?.copyWith(
+              Expanded(
-              fontWeight: FontWeight.w700,
+                child: Text(
-            ),
+                  title,
+                  style: theme.textTheme.titleLarge?.copyWith(
+                    fontWeight: FontWeight.w700,
+                  ),
+                ),
+              ),
+              if (docSlug != null)
+                IconButton(
+                  icon: const Icon(Icons.help_outline, size: 18),
+                  tooltip: AppLocalizations.of(context)!.helpTooltip,
+                  onPressed: () => showFaiDoc(context, docSlug),
+                  visualDensity: VisualDensity.compact,
+                ),
+            ],
           ),
           const SizedBox(height: 4),
           Text(
@@ -424,6 +443,7 @@ class _FaiSettingsDialogState extends State<FaiSettingsDialog> {
         l.settingsTitle,
         l.settingsHubEndpointHint,
         theme,
+        docSlug: 'architecture',
       ),
       TextField(
         controller: _host,
@@ -618,6 +638,7 @@ class _FaiSettingsDialogState extends State<FaiSettingsDialog> {
         l.settingsSecurityPanelTitle,
         l.settingsSecurityPanelBody,
         theme,
+        docSlug: 'security',
       ),
       _RegistryCredentialsPanel(
         configuredChars: _registryTokenChars,
@@ -639,6 +660,7 @@ class _FaiSettingsDialogState extends State<FaiSettingsDialog> {
         l.settingsMaintenancePanelTitle,
         l.settingsMaintenancePanelBody,
         theme,
+        docSlug: 'audit',
       ),
       _MaintenancePanel(
         onResetDone: () async {

pubspec.yaml

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 name: fai_studio
 description: "F∆I Studio — desktop GUI for the F∆I hub"
 publish_to: 'none'
-version: 0.68.0
+version: 0.69.0
 
 environment:
   sdk: ^3.11.0-200.1.beta