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Drive Tokens, File Previews, and a Cleaner List/Grid Toggle

Ship notes on token-based Drive calls, practical metadata (size, modified, MIME), and the new toggle that stops fighting your brain.

“Build small, ship quiet, iterate fast.”
— Rev. Brian Scott O’keefe

What shipped

Token-based Google Drive calls (REST, no GTLR) with cleaner refresh logic.
Metadata rows in list view: file size (human-readable), last modified (relative + absolute), MIME type (trimmed).
List/Grid toggle that preserves mode across sessions and stops jarring reflow.
Preview pipeline tuned for snappier thumbnails and graceful fallbacks.

If you missed the first installment, start with Dev Log #1 for context on tokens and layout goals: /blog/lifeos-scribraria-dev-log-1.

Token-based Drive calls (quick, durable, boring)

Access/refresh split: Access tokens power requests; refresh tokens are keyed in the system keychain. Expiration is tracked; refresh happens just-in-time, not constantly.
URLSession + typed requests: Each Drive endpoint sits behind a tiny request type with robust error mapping (auth, quota, network).
Backoff & retry: Transient 5xx errors back off with jitter; auth failures short-circuit to a guided re-auth path.
Privacy guardrails: Scopes are minimal; logs strip tokens; request IDs help me trace without leaking details.

Why it matters: stable tokens mean previews and lists feel instantaneous instead of “sometimes-fast-sometimes-broken.”

File metadata that’s actually useful

Size: Shown as KB/MB/GB with one decimal (e.g., 12.4 MB).
Modified: Relative (“2h ago”), with tooltips/secondary text for the full timestamp.
MIME: Trimmed to a friendly label (e.g., “PDF” instead of application/pdf).
Secondary line pattern: Owner • Size • Modified. Responsive rules collapse gracefully on smaller widths.

Planned options: Toggle MIME on/off per user, and a compact “developer mode” to surface raw MIME + Drive IDs for debugging.

A calmer List/Grid toggle

State that sticks: Your choice persists between launches (UserDefaults for now).
Zero-jitter switch: The container reserves space, so toggling doesn’t cause big jumps.
Grid polish: Square thumbs with consistent gutters; long names wrap to two lines and then truncate.

Previews that don’t lie

Progressive load: Low-res thumb first, then swap in high-res when ready.
Fallback chain: If a preview fails, we show a deterministic icon (by MIME family) and keep the metadata intact.
No spinner storm: One spinner per cell if needed; batch prefetch avoids flicker in fast scrolls.

Known issues (and what I did about them)

Occasional 401 after sleep: Added a wake-resume check that validates tokens before resuming queued requests.
Over-eager reloads on tab switch: Debounced; navigation now respects cache freshness windows.
Grid thumbnails on slow networks: Introduced a tiny placeholder palette so the grid doesn’t look empty while loading.

Next sprint (what I’m building immediately)

Per-view sort & filter memory: Size/Modified/Name, ascending/descending, remembered per folder.
Inline quick actions: Tap-hold for copy link, rename, and “open in Drive” without losing place.
Preview extensions: Text, Markdown, and PDF inline readers with smooth paging.
Diagnostics panel (developer mode): Surface request timing, cache hits, and Drive file IDs.

How you can help (CTA)

Which metadata matters most—size, modified, or MIME?
Tell me in a comment or DM. I’ll tune the default layout and the order of the secondary line based on your answer.

Changelog

2025-09-20

Implemented token refresh guard & exponential backoff
Added size/modified/MIME to list cells
Persisted list/grid toggle; stabilized transitions
Preview fallback logic + progressive thumbnails

Version / Tooling

Languages/SDKs: Swift 6, SwiftUI, URLSession (REST), Keychain access
Tooling: Xcode 16
APIs: Google Sign-In (token exchange), Google Drive REST v3
Platforms: iOS + macOS targets
Data: Local caching for previews and metadata snapshots

— Rev. Brian Scott O’keefe
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“I build in public so I remember in private.”