feat(glass): dev-prototype feed backdrop (blurred rotating thumbnail)

Idea from UAT-2: give the feeds the same 'content behind glass' lift the Plex
detail page gets. New FeedBackdrop paints a faint, slowly-rotating feed thumbnail
as a fixed backdrop on <main> (the proven art-backdrop path — a fixed z:-1 layer
is occluded by the root's opaque bg-bg). Blur = tiny-canvas downscale + cover
upscale (no CSS filter; ytimg is CORS-readable so it uses a data-URL, else raw).
Flat --bg stays as the 'perf mode' look. Behind the GlassTuner toggle + a
Backdrop-fade slider (--feedbg-fade) so it's judged/tuned in UAT before anything
is committed for real.

frontend/src/components/FeedBackdrop.tsx

@@ -0,0 +1,93 @@
+import { useEffect, useState } from "react";
+
+/**
+ * DEV prototype (toggled by GlassTuner): a faint, blurred, slowly-rotating feed thumbnail painted
+ * as a fixed backdrop so the glass surfaces have real content to refract — the same trick that makes
+ * the Plex detail page pop, brought to the YT/Plex feeds. The flat `--bg` then reads as "perf mode".
+ *
+ * It writes `<main>`'s background (NOT a separate fixed layer): a fixed z-index:-1 layer is occluded
+ * by the app root's opaque `bg-bg`, whereas `<main>` is a transparent descendant whose own background
+ * paints above it — this is exactly how `useArtBackdrop` (Plex) works, reused here.
+ *
+ * Blur: downscale the thumbnail into a tiny canvas and let `background-size: cover` upscale it back —
+ * a cheap gaussian-ish blur with no CSS filter (which can't touch a background-image). Falls back to
+ * the raw url if the image isn't CORS-readable (still soft once upscaled + heavily faded).
+ */
+export default function FeedBackdrop() {
+  const [srcs, setSrcs] = useState<string[]>([]);
+  const [idx, setIdx] = useState(0);
+  const [art, setArt] = useState<string | null>(null);
+
+  // Sample the video thumbnails currently on screen.
+  useEffect(() => {
+    const found: string[] = [];
+    document.querySelectorAll<HTMLImageElement>("img").forEach((img) => {
+      const s = img.currentSrc || img.src;
+      if (/i\.ytimg\.com\/vi\//.test(s)) found.push(s);
+    });
+    setSrcs([...new Set(found)]);
+  }, []);
+
+  // Slowly cycle through them.
+  useEffect(() => {
+    if (srcs.length < 2) return;
+    const t = setInterval(() => setIdx((i) => (i + 1) % srcs.length), 14000);
+    return () => clearInterval(t);
+  }, [srcs]);
+
+  // Blur the current pick via a tiny-canvas downscale (fallback: raw url on CORS taint).
+  useEffect(() => {
+    const url = srcs[idx];
+    if (!url) return;
+    let cancelled = false;
+    const img = new Image();
+    img.crossOrigin = "anonymous";
+    img.onload = () => {
+      if (cancelled) return;
+      try {
+        const c = document.createElement("canvas");
+        c.width = 40;
+        c.height = 22;
+        c.getContext("2d")!.drawImage(img, 0, 0, 40, 22);
+        setArt(c.toDataURL("image/jpeg", 0.6));
+      } catch {
+        setArt(url);
+      }
+    };
+    img.onerror = () => {
+      if (!cancelled) setArt(url);
+    };
+    img.src = url;
+    return () => {
+      cancelled = true;
+    };
+  }, [srcs, idx]);
+
+  // Paint (and clean up) the faded backdrop on <main>.
+  useEffect(() => {
+    const main = document.querySelector("main");
+    if (!main) return;
+    const s = main.style;
+    const clear = () => {
+      s.backgroundImage = "";
+      s.backgroundSize = "";
+      s.backgroundPosition = "";
+      s.backgroundRepeat = "";
+      s.backgroundAttachment = "";
+    };
+    if (art) {
+      s.backgroundImage =
+        `linear-gradient(color-mix(in srgb, var(--bg) var(--feedbg-fade), transparent), ` +
+        `color-mix(in srgb, var(--bg) var(--feedbg-fade), transparent)), url("${art}")`;
+      s.backgroundSize = "cover";
+      s.backgroundPosition = "center";
+      s.backgroundRepeat = "no-repeat";
+      s.backgroundAttachment = "fixed";
+    } else {
+      clear();
+    }
+    return clear;
+  }, [art]);
+
+  return null;
+}

frontend/src/components/GlassTuner.tsx

@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { useEffect, useMemo, useState } from "react";
+import FeedBackdrop from "./FeedBackdrop";
 
 /**
  * DEV-ONLY live appearance tuner. Mounted at the App root so it stays reachable on every page.
@@ -77,13 +78,19 @@ const PRESETS: { id: string; name: string; hint: string; over: Record<string, nu
   },
 ];
 
-const ALL = SLIDERS;
+// Dev-prototype feed-backdrop control (only meaningful while the backdrop toggle is on).
+const FEEDBG_SLIDERS: Slider[] = [
+  { k: "--feedbg-fade", label: "Backdrop fade", min: 60, max: 97, step: 1, unit: "%", def: 86 },
+];
+
+const ALL = [...SLIDERS, ...FEEDBG_SLIDERS];
 const root = () => document.documentElement;
 const readVar = (k: string) => getComputedStyle(root()).getPropertyValue(k).trim();
 
 type Saved = {
   vars?: Record<string, number>;
   palette?: Record<string, string>;
+  feedbg?: boolean;
   open?: boolean;
 };
 
@@ -103,6 +110,7 @@ export default function GlassTuner() {
     return { ...base, ...(initial.vars || {}) };
   });
   const [palette, setPalette] = useState<Record<string, string>>(() => initial.palette || {});
+  const [feedbg, setFeedbg] = useState<boolean>(() => Boolean(initial.feedbg));
   const [open, setOpen] = useState<boolean>(() => initial.open ?? true);
   const [tab, setTab] = useState<"glass" | "palette">("glass");
   const [copied, setCopied] = useState(false);
@@ -199,10 +207,17 @@ export default function GlassTuner() {
     persist({ open: v });
   }
 
+  function toggleFeedbg(v: boolean) {
+    setFeedbg(v);
+    persist({ feedbg: v });
+  }
+
   if (!DEV_TUNER) return null;
 
   return (
-    <div className="fixed right-0 top-24 z-[9999] flex items-start" style={{ pointerEvents: "none" }}>
+    <>
+      {feedbg && <FeedBackdrop />}
+      <div className="fixed right-0 top-24 z-[9999] flex items-start" style={{ pointerEvents: "none" }}>
         {!open && (
           <button
             onClick={() => persistOpen(true)}
@@ -249,6 +264,17 @@ export default function GlassTuner() {
                 </div>
               </div>
 
+              {/* Feed backdrop (dev prototype) */}
+              <label className="flex items-center gap-2 text-xs text-fg cursor-pointer">
+                <input
+                  type="checkbox"
+                  checked={feedbg}
+                  onChange={(e) => toggleFeedbg(e.target.checked)}
+                  className="accent-accent"
+                />
+                Feed backdrop <span className="text-muted">(blurred thumbnail)</span>
+              </label>
+
               {/* Tab switch */}
               <div className="flex gap-1.5">
                 {(["glass", "palette"] as const).map((t) => (
@@ -269,6 +295,13 @@ export default function GlassTuner() {
                   {SLIDERS.map((s) => (
                     <Ctl key={s.k} s={s} value={vars[s.k]} onChange={(v) => setVar(s.k, v)} />
                   ))}
+                  {feedbg && (
+                    <div className="flex flex-col gap-2.5 pt-1 border-t border-border/50">
+                      {FEEDBG_SLIDERS.map((s) => (
+                        <Ctl key={s.k} s={s} value={vars[s.k]} onChange={(v) => setVar(s.k, v)} />
+                      ))}
+                    </div>
+                  )}
                 </div>
               )}
 
@@ -313,7 +346,8 @@ export default function GlassTuner() {
             </div>
           </div>
         )}
-    </div>
+      </div>
+    </>
   );
 }
 

frontend/src/index.css

@@ -21,6 +21,10 @@
   --glass-edge: 10%; /* extra edge-light mixed into the TOP border (#fff N%) — 0 = off */
   --glass-scrim: 14%; /* under-content scrim: darkens surfaces toward --bg for text contrast — 0 = off */
   --ambient: 1.1; /* multiplier on the ambient accent backdrop pools */
+
+  /* Dev-prototype feed backdrop (see <FeedBackdrop/>): how strongly the faded --bg overlay hides the
+     blurred thumbnail — higher = fainter image. Only in effect while the backdrop is toggled on. */
+  --feedbg-fade: 86%;
 }
 
 /* ===== Rich-backdrop scope: surfaces that float over real imagery (Plex art hero/detail, and