feat: thinktank engine-activity heartbeat panel

User feedback: "think tank is nonexistent." The page rendered a forge-lab
+ roadmap, but if proposals were empty the engine looked dead — even
though the cron is generating ~one idea every 30 minutes.

Add a top-of-page heartbeat panel showing:
- Accepted (24h)        — ideas that survived dedup
- Dedup-filtered (24h)  — ideas the engine produced and dedup blocked
                          (proves activity even when count isn't growing)
- Last super idea       — timestamp of the most recent [SUPER] gen
- Last 5 generation_runs (collapsed <details>) with category, OK/error

This confirms upstream activity at a glance. The data-poverty trap that
keeps super-ideas at 5 is unrelated and addressed elsewhere (Phase 6
reasoning + external feeds).

CSS bumped to v=6.

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

Author: rayketcham

src/project_forge/web/routes.py

@@ -396,6 +396,8 @@ async def scaffold_idea(
 @router.get("/thinktank", response_class=HTMLResponse)
 async def thinktank_page(request: Request):
     """Think Tank — Forge Lab (AI proposals) + Roadmap (GitHub issues)."""
+    from datetime import UTC, datetime
+
     from project_forge.scaffold.github import list_self_issues
 
     # Roadmap: GitHub issues
@@ -415,6 +417,50 @@ async def thinktank_page(request: Request):
     promoted = [i for i in all_si if i.status == "approved"]
     rejected = [i for i in all_si if i.status == "rejected"]
 
+    # Engine heartbeat: prove the cron is alive. Show recent generation runs,
+    # recent filter activity, and the last super-idea event so the page
+    # doesn't read as "nothing's happening" when the engine is busy upstream.
+    cursor = await db.db.execute(
+        "SELECT category, started_at, success, error FROM generation_runs "
+        "ORDER BY started_at DESC LIMIT 5",
+    )
+    recent_runs = []
+    for row in await cursor.fetchall():
+        recent_runs.append({
+            "category": row[0],
+            "when": row[1],
+            "ok": bool(row[2]),
+            "error": row[3],
+        })
+
+    cursor = await db.db.execute(
+        "SELECT generated_at FROM ideas WHERE name LIKE '[SUPER]%%' "
+        "ORDER BY generated_at DESC LIMIT 1",
+    )
+    row = await cursor.fetchone()
+    last_super = row[0] if row else None
+
+    cursor = await db.db.execute(
+        "SELECT COUNT(*) FROM filtered_ideas "
+        "WHERE filtered_at >= datetime('now', '-1 day')",
+    )
+    row = await cursor.fetchone()
+    filtered_24h = row[0] if row else 0
+
+    cursor = await db.db.execute(
+        "SELECT COUNT(*) FROM ideas WHERE generated_at >= datetime('now', '-1 day')",
+    )
+    row = await cursor.fetchone()
+    accepted_24h = row[0] if row else 0
+
+    heartbeat = {
+        "now": datetime.now(UTC).isoformat(),
+        "recent_runs": recent_runs,
+        "last_super": last_super,
+        "filtered_24h": filtered_24h,
+        "accepted_24h": accepted_24h,
+    }
+
     return templates.TemplateResponse(
         request,
         "thinktank.html",
@@ -430,6 +476,7 @@ async def thinktank_page(request: Request):
             "rejected": rejected,
             "rejected_count": len(rejected),
             "error": error,
+            "heartbeat": heartbeat,
         },
     )
 

src/project_forge/web/static/style.css

@@ -426,6 +426,24 @@ a.stat-card:hover { transform: translateY(-3px); border-color: var(--accent); }
 .section-subtitle { font-size: 0.85rem; color: var(--text-dim); font-weight: 400; }
 .vertical-card .cat-name { text-transform: capitalize; }
 .vertical-card .cat-score { font-size: 0.75rem; color: var(--text-dim); white-space: nowrap; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; }
+
+.heartbeat-panel { background: var(--surface); border: 1px solid var(--border); border-radius: 12px; padding: 1.25rem 1.5rem; }
+.heartbeat-header { display: flex; align-items: baseline; justify-content: space-between; margin-bottom: 1rem; flex-wrap: wrap; gap: 0.5rem; }
+.heartbeat-header h3 { margin: 0; }
+.heartbeat-now { font-size: 0.75rem; color: var(--text-dim); font-family: var(--font-mono, monospace); }
+.heartbeat-grid { display: grid; grid-template-columns: repeat(auto-fit, minmax(140px, 1fr)); gap: 1rem; }
+.heartbeat-stat { background: var(--bg, #0d1117); border: 1px solid var(--border); border-radius: 8px; padding: 0.75rem 1rem; }
+.heartbeat-num { font-size: 1.75rem; font-weight: 700; color: var(--green, #10b981); }
+.heartbeat-num-dim { color: var(--text-dim); }
+.heartbeat-label { font-size: 0.7rem; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.06em; color: var(--text-dim); margin-top: 0.25rem; }
+.heartbeat-when { font-size: 0.85rem; font-family: var(--font-mono, monospace); margin-top: 0.25rem; }
+.heartbeat-runs { margin-top: 1rem; font-size: 0.85rem; }
+.heartbeat-runs summary { cursor: pointer; color: var(--text-dim); }
+.heartbeat-runs ul { list-style: none; padding-left: 0; margin-top: 0.5rem; }
+.heartbeat-runs li { padding: 0.25rem 0; display: flex; gap: 0.5rem; align-items: center; flex-wrap: wrap; }
+.heartbeat-runs code { font-size: 0.75rem; color: var(--text-dim); }
+.run-ok { color: var(--green, #10b981); font-size: 0.75rem; }
+.run-err { color: var(--red, #ef4444); font-size: 0.75rem; }
 .filter-status select {
     background: var(--surface);
     border: 1px solid var(--border);

src/project_forge/web/templates/base.html

@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
     <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
     <title>{% block title %}Project Forge{% endblock %}</title>
     <meta name="forge-token" content="{{ dashboard_token }}">
-    <link rel="stylesheet" href="/static/style.css?v=5">
+    <link rel="stylesheet" href="/static/style.css?v=6">
 </head>
 <body>
     <nav class="navbar">

src/project_forge/web/templates/thinktank.html

@@ -9,6 +9,47 @@ <h1 class="hero-title">Think Tank</h1>
     </div>
 </section>
 
+{% if heartbeat %}
+<section class="section">
+    <div class="container">
+        <div class="heartbeat-panel">
+            <div class="heartbeat-header">
+                <h3>Engine Activity</h3>
+                <span class="heartbeat-now">as of {{ heartbeat.now[:19] }}Z</span>
+            </div>
+            <div class="heartbeat-grid">
+                <div class="heartbeat-stat">
+                    <div class="heartbeat-num">{{ heartbeat.accepted_24h }}</div>
+                    <div class="heartbeat-label">Accepted (24h)</div>
+                </div>
+                <div class="heartbeat-stat">
+                    <div class="heartbeat-num heartbeat-num-dim">{{ heartbeat.filtered_24h }}</div>
+                    <div class="heartbeat-label">Dedup-filtered (24h)</div>
+                </div>
+                <div class="heartbeat-stat">
+                    <div class="heartbeat-label">Last super idea</div>
+                    <div class="heartbeat-when">{{ heartbeat.last_super[:19] if heartbeat.last_super else 'never' }}</div>
+                </div>
+            </div>
+            {% if heartbeat.recent_runs %}
+            <details class="heartbeat-runs">
+                <summary>Last {{ heartbeat.recent_runs|length }} generation runs</summary>
+                <ul>
+                    {% for run in heartbeat.recent_runs %}
+                    <li>
+                        <code>{{ run.when[:19] }}</code>
+                        <span class="badge badge-{{ run.category }}">{{ run.category }}</span>
+                        {% if run.ok %}<span class="run-ok">ok</span>{% else %}<span class="run-err">err: {{ (run.error or '')[:60] }}</span>{% endif %}
+                    </li>
+                    {% endfor %}
+                </ul>
+            </details>
+            {% endif %}
+        </div>
+    </div>
+</section>
+{% endif %}
+
 <section class="stats-section">
     <div class="container">
         <div class="stats-grid">