SelfieRingLight/AI_Implementation.md
Matt Bruce 74e65829de Initial commit: SelfieRingLight app
Features:
- Camera preview with ring light effect
- Adjustable ring size with slider
- Light color presets (white, warm cream, ice blue, soft pink, warm amber, cool lavender)
- Light intensity control (opacity)
- Front flash (hides preview during capture)
- True mirror mode
- Skin smoothing toggle
- Grid overlay (rule of thirds)
- Self-timer options
- Photo and video capture modes
- iCloud sync for settings across devices

Architecture:
- SwiftUI with @Observable view models
- Protocol-oriented design (RingLightConfigurable, CaptureControlling)
- Bedrock design system integration
- CloudSyncManager for iCloud settings sync
- RevenueCat for premium features
2026-01-02 13:01:24 -06:00

3.4 KiB

AI_Implementation.md

How This App Was Architected & Built

This project was developed following strict senior-level iOS engineering standards, with guidance from an AI assistant (Grok) acting as a Senior iOS Engineer specializing in SwiftUI and modern Apple frameworks.

Guiding Principles (from AGENTS.md)

  • Protocol-Oriented Programming (POP) first: All shared capabilities defined via protocols before concrete types
  • MVVM-lite: Views are "dumb" — all logic lives in @Observable view models
  • No third-party dependencies: Pure Apple frameworks only (SwiftUI, AVFoundation, StoreKit 2, CoreImage)
  • No magic numbers: All dimensions, opacities, durations from centralized Design constants
  • Full accessibility: Dynamic Type, VoiceOver labels/hints/traits/announcements
  • Modern Swift & SwiftUI: Swift 6 concurrency, @MainActor, foregroundStyle, clipShape(.rect), NavigationStack
  • Testable & reusable design: Protocols enable mocking and future SPM package extraction

Architecture Overview

Shared/ ├── DesignConstants.swift → Semantic design tokens (spacing, radii, sizes, etc.) ├── Color+Extensions.swift → Ring light color presets ├── Protocols/ │ ├── RingLightConfigurable.swift → Border, color, brightness, mirror, smoothing │ ├── CaptureControlling.swift → Timer, grid, zoom, capture mode │ └── PremiumManaging.swift → Subscription state & purchase handling └── Premium/ └── PremiumManager.swift → Native StoreKit 2 implementation Features/ ├── Camera/ → Main UI, preview, capture logic ├── Settings/ → Configuration screens └── Paywall/ → Pro subscription flow

Key Implementation Decisions

  1. Ring Light Effect

    • Achieved by coloring the safe area background and leaving a centered rectangular window for camera preview
    • Border width controlled via user setting
    • Gradient support added for directional "portrait lighting"
  2. Camera System

    • AVCaptureSession with front camera default
    • UIViewRepresentable wrapper for preview with pinch-to-zoom
    • Video data output delegate for future real-time filters (skin smoothing placeholder)
  3. Capture Enhancements

    • Timer with async countdown and accessibility announcements
    • Volume button observation via KVO on AVAudioSession.outputVolume
    • Flash burst: temporarily sets brightness to 1.0 on capture
  4. Freemium Model

    • Built with pure StoreKit 2 (no RevenueCat)
    • PremiumManaging protocol enables easy testing/mocking
    • Clean paywall with benefit list and native purchase flow
  5. Reusability Focus

    • All shared logic extracted to protocols
    • Ready for future extraction into SPM packages:
      • SelfieCameraKit
      • SelfieRingLightKit
      • SelfiePremiumKit

Development Process

  • Iterative feature additions guided by competitive analysis of top App Store selfie apps
  • Each new capability (timer, boomerang, gradient, subscriptions) added with protocol-first design
  • Strict adherence to no magic numbers, full accessibility, and clean separation
  • Final structure optimized for maintainability and future library extraction

This app demonstrates production-quality SwiftUI architecture while delivering a delightful, competitive user experience.