diff --git a/openspec/changes/ui-polish/.openspec.yaml b/openspec/changes/ui-polish/.openspec.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4f63482
--- /dev/null
+++ b/openspec/changes/ui-polish/.openspec.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+schema: spec-driven
+created: 2026-07-15
diff --git a/openspec/changes/ui-polish/design.md b/openspec/changes/ui-polish/design.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1d8b4e4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/openspec/changes/ui-polish/design.md
@@ -0,0 +1,141 @@
+# Design: ui-polish
+
+## Context
+
+Current state (main.rs): the window opens with default `WindowOptions` (stock
+OS titlebar); the header row holds text-glyph ◀/▶ buttons and a "Calendar"
+button; Backlinks and Similar render as bottom-docked panels under the outline
+(a code comment marks docked-vs-floating as an open question — this change
+answers it: sidebar); the outline is a gpui `list` with custom-measured rows
+and named layout knobs (line height 1.3, 32px/level indent, bullet column
+derived from line height); back/forward already save/restore `ListState`
+scroll offsets, applied as hard jumps; page views render the page title as the
+root bullet, indenting all content one level under it.
+
+## Goals / Non-Goals
+
+**Goals:**
+
+- One visual system: client-drawn chrome, real icons, a sidebar that owns
+  reference/pick panels, hierarchy guides, eased motion, and page titles that
+  read as titles.
+- Keep the outline's virtualized `list` rendering and the named-knob layout
+  style intact — every addition is expressed in those terms.
+
+**Non-Goals:**
+
+- New panel *content* (no new backlinks/graph/outline panels — the sidebar
+  ships hosting exactly Calendar and Similar; Backlinks migration is a
+  follow-up candidate).
+- Wheel-input smoothing (native feel stays; only programmatic scrolls
+  animate).
+- Theming/theme-switching work — colors stay the current palette.
+- Zoomed-block views keep their current root rendering; whether a zoomed
+  block should get the heading treatment is an open question, decided
+  separately (see Open Questions).
+
+## Decisions
+
+### D1 — Chrome: transparent titlebar + app-drawn title row
+
+Use gpui's client-decoration path: `TitlebarOptions` with
+`appears_transparent` (verify the exact gpui 0.2 API at implementation time —
+Zed's Windows titlebar is the reference implementation), then render a
+titlebar row as the top of the app: drag region across its width,
+minimize/maximize/close caption controls on the right, and the existing
+header controls (nav arrows, calendar/sidebar toggles) folded into it — one
+row instead of stock-titlebar-plus-header. Double-click on the drag region
+maximizes; Windows is the only target that must be correct (per README,
+other platforms are untested). Risk hedge: if gpui 0.2's Windows caption
+handling proves incomplete, the fallback is keeping the stock titlebar and
+shipping everything else — chrome is severable.
+
+### D2 — Icons: bundle only the Tabler glyphs we use
+
+Tabler icons are MIT (license file ships alongside). Bundle just the needed
+SVGs (arrow-left, arrow-right, calendar, sidebar toggle, chevron for
+collapse, window caption glyphs if D1 wants them) under
+`crates/trawler/assets/icons/`, exposed through an `AssetSource` registered
+at app start (the same bundling spirit as the fonts — no system deps,
+identical everywhere), rendered via gpui's `svg()` and tinted with the text
+color so they follow the palette. No icon-font, no full icon set (Tabler is
+5k+ icons; we take single-digit counts).
+
+### D3 — Sidebar: a host with registered panels, not a bespoke column
+
+A right-hand sidebar host owning: collapsed flag, width (drag-handle resize
+with min/max clamps), and an ordered set of panels, each a title + render
+function — Calendar and Similar are the two initial registrations. Toggle via
+a titlebar button and a keybinding (`Ctrl+Shift+B`, matching the
+sidebar-toggle convention elsewhere; final binding checked against the keymap
+at implementation). Collapsed/width state persists in memory for the session;
+on-disk persistence (a small local ui-state file — explicitly *not* in the
+Loro doc, it's device state not graph data) is a stretch task. The calendar
+keeps its popup behavior when invoked from `Ctrl+Shift+C` semantics — opening
+the calendar now means revealing/focusing its sidebar panel. Similar moves
+out of the bottom dock, resolving the docked-vs-floating open question;
+Backlinks intentionally stays at the bottom this change (one migration at a
+time — if the sidebar feels right, it follows).
+
+### D4 — Threading: per-row ancestor guides, virtualization-friendly
+
+Standard tree-guide algorithm, computed per row so it works inside the
+virtualized `list`: for each visible row, for each ancestor level, draw a
+vertical segment in that level's indent column if the ancestor chain
+continues below (i.e. that ancestor has a later sibling, or the row itself
+has following siblings/children at the innermost level). Segments render in
+the existing indent columns (32px/level knob), hairline width, at a muted
+color; the innermost segment connects to the parent's bullet position
+(bullet column knob) so the line visually emanates from the bullet,
+Logseq-style. New named knobs: guide color, guide width. Static guides only —
+hover-highlighting a thread is a possible follow-up, not in scope.
+
+### D5 — Smooth scrolling: ease programmatic offsets only
+
+All programmatic scrolls (back/forward restore, follow-reference, zoom
+in/out, scroll-to-focused-block) animate from the current `ListState` offset
+to the target over a short ease-out (~180ms — named knob), driven by gpui's
+animation frame path. Wheel/trackpad input remains untouched. A single named
+constant (`SCROLL_ANIMATION_MS`) doubles as the reduced-motion switch: 0
+disables animation entirely, and the UI tests run with it at 0 so existing
+scroll assertions stay deterministic.
+
+### D6 — Page title as heading
+
+Page roots stop rendering as a top-level bullet. Instead: the title renders
+as a large heading (no bullet, no fold affordance, heading-scale text — new
+named knobs for heading size/weight/spacing), and the page's children render
+starting at indent level 0 — bullets at the left margin, content un-indented.
+The heading remains the same one-hot editable block it is today (editing it
+is still how a page rename works; journal date titles keep whatever
+non-editable treatment they have now). Focus navigation (Up from the first
+child) lands on the heading exactly as it lands on the root bullet today —
+only rendering changes, no tree or focus-model changes. This is the severable
+item: it touches row rendering and the UI tests' depth assertions, and can be
+split into its own change at implementation time if it grows.
+
+## Risks / Trade-offs
+
+- [gpui 0.2 Windows client-decoration API may be incomplete] → D1's fallback:
+  ship without custom chrome; everything else is independent.
+- [Threading cost per row in a virtualized list] → the guide computation is
+  O(depth) per visible row against already-materialized rows; depth is small
+  and rows are already custom-measured. No whole-tree pass.
+- [Scroll animation vs. the list's logical offsets during edits] → animations
+  target logical offsets and cancel on user wheel input or a new programmatic
+  scroll; the edit-preserves-scroll path (`scroll_to(scroll_top)`) stays a
+  hard set, never animated.
+- [Heading change breaks UI-test depth expectations] → the tests are updated
+  in the same change; the devtools `dump` depth field keeps reporting tree
+  depth (unchanged semantics), so only visual-layout assertions move.
+- [Sidebar steals horizontal space from the outline on small windows] →
+  collapse is one keystroke, and the width clamp keeps a minimum outline
+  width.
+
+## Open Questions
+
+1. Should a zoomed-into block adopt the heading treatment (Logseq shows
+   breadcrumb + normal block)? Deferred — decide when using D6 daily.
+2. Sidebar state persistence: session-only vs a local `ui-state.json` in the
+   graph dir (device-local, disposable). Stretch task either way.
+3. Exact keybinding for the sidebar toggle, pending keymap conflict check.
diff --git a/openspec/changes/ui-polish/proposal.md b/openspec/changes/ui-polish/proposal.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0e8dff4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/openspec/changes/ui-polish/proposal.md
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+# Proposal: ui-polish
+
+## Why
+
+The MVP's chrome is functional but rough: a stock OS titlebar over a custom
+app, text-glyph navigation arrows (◀ ▶), reference panels (Similar) docked
+awkwardly at the bottom of the outline, no visual thread connecting a block
+to its ancestors in deep outlines, hard scroll jumps on navigation, and
+journal/page views that render the page title as the top bullet — indenting
+all real content one level and making the title read as just another block.
+These are individually small, collectively the difference between "works"
+and "feels finished."
+
+## What Changes
+
+- **Custom window chrome**: client-drawn titlebar integrated with the app
+  header (drag region, caption controls), replacing the stock OS titlebar.
+- **Tabler icons**: bundle the handful of needed icons (MIT-licensed SVGs) as
+  assets and replace the text glyphs — back/forward arrows first, plus
+  calendar and sidebar-toggle affordances. Presentation only.
+- **Right-hand sidebar**: collapsible, resizable, hosting registered panels —
+  the calendar picker and the Similar panel move into it (Backlinks stays put
+  for now, an obvious future panel). Keyboard toggle; state remembered.
+- **Bullet threading**: Logseq-style vertical guide lines in the indent
+  columns connecting each parent bullet to its children, making hierarchical
+  position legible at depth.
+- **Smooth scrolling**: programmatic scrolls (navigation restore, follow-ref,
+  zoom, scroll-to-focus) animate with a short ease instead of jumping; wheel
+  input stays native.
+- **Page title as heading** (severable — flagged by the proposer as possibly
+  its own change; kept here since it's pure rendering, but cleanly splittable
+  at implementation time): page roots render as a large heading instead of a
+  top-level bullet, with the page's children starting at the first indent
+  level — the Logseq treatment. Applies to journal date pages and named pages
+  alike.
+
+## Capabilities
+
+### New Capabilities
+
+- `app-chrome`: the window shell — custom titlebar and the right sidebar
+  (collapse/resize/panel hosting).
+
+### Modified Capabilities
+
+- `outline-editor`: adds rendering requirements for bullet threading, animated
+  programmatic scrolling, and page-root-as-heading layout.
+
+_(Moving the calendar and Similar panels is unspecced presentation — the
+search spec's "Similar blocks" requirement mandates behavior, not placement —
+so no `search`/`journal`/`graph-navigation` deltas are needed.)_
+
+## Impact
+
+- `crates/trawler/src/main.rs` (and likely new modules split out of it):
+  titlebar element, sidebar host + panels, row rendering (threading, heading),
+  scroll animation. `WindowOptions` changes at startup.
+- `crates/trawler/assets/`: bundled Tabler SVGs + license file; an
+  `AssetSource` registration so gpui's `svg()` can resolve them.
+- Devtools `dump` gains sidebar state (additive — the dump spec's field list
+  is a minimum), so UI tests can assert sidebar behavior.
+- UI tests: existing row-layout assertions will need updating where the
+  heading/threading changes row structure.
diff --git a/openspec/changes/ui-polish/specs/app-chrome/spec.md b/openspec/changes/ui-polish/specs/app-chrome/spec.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8f7b2d8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/openspec/changes/ui-polish/specs/app-chrome/spec.md
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+# app-chrome Specification
+
+## ADDED Requirements
+
+### Requirement: Client-drawn window chrome
+The application window SHALL present a client-drawn titlebar integrated with
+the application header — a drag region, window caption controls
+(minimize/maximize/close), and the header's navigation controls in one row —
+in place of the stock OS titlebar. Standard window gestures (drag to move,
+double-click to maximize/restore) MUST keep working.
+
+#### Scenario: Window remains manageable
+- **WHEN** the user drags the titlebar row or double-clicks its empty region
+- **THEN** the window moves or toggles maximized exactly as with a native
+  titlebar, and the caption controls minimize, maximize/restore, and close
+  the window
+
+### Requirement: Collapsible right sidebar hosting panels
+The application SHALL provide a right-hand sidebar that hosts named panels —
+initially the calendar picker and the Similar-blocks panel — and SHALL be
+collapsible via a visible control and a keyboard shortcut, and resizable by
+dragging its edge within clamped bounds. Collapsing the sidebar MUST NOT
+discard panel state. Sidebar visibility and width SHALL be remembered for at
+least the duration of the session.
+
+#### Scenario: Panels live in the sidebar
+- **WHEN** the sidebar is open with a block focused
+- **THEN** the calendar and the Similar-blocks list render as sidebar panels,
+  and the Similar panel no longer renders at the bottom of the outline
+
+#### Scenario: Toggle from the keyboard
+- **WHEN** the user presses the sidebar toggle shortcut twice
+- **THEN** the sidebar collapses and reopens at its prior width with its
+  panels intact, without moving editor focus
+
+#### Scenario: Calendar invocation targets the sidebar
+- **WHEN** the user invokes the calendar (shortcut or button) while the
+  sidebar is collapsed
+- **THEN** the sidebar opens revealing the calendar panel, and day selection
+  navigates to (or creates) that day's journal page exactly as before
diff --git a/openspec/changes/ui-polish/specs/outline-editor/spec.md b/openspec/changes/ui-polish/specs/outline-editor/spec.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9033266
--- /dev/null
+++ b/openspec/changes/ui-polish/specs/outline-editor/spec.md
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+# outline-editor Delta: ui-polish
+
+## ADDED Requirements
+
+### Requirement: Hierarchy guides
+Rendered outline rows SHALL display vertical guide lines in their indent
+columns connecting each parent's bullet to its descendant rows, so a block's
+ancestor chain is visually traceable at any depth. Guides MUST render
+correctly under virtualization (computed per visible row, no whole-tree
+pass) and respect the outline's named layout knobs.
+
+#### Scenario: Deep block is visually anchored
+- **WHEN** a block nested four levels deep is visible
+- **THEN** each of its four indent columns shows a guide segment exactly when
+  the corresponding ancestor chain continues at that level, and the innermost
+  guide connects toward its parent's bullet
+
+### Requirement: Animated programmatic scrolling
+Programmatic scroll changes (navigation history restore, follow-reference,
+zoom, scroll-to-focused-block) SHALL animate to the target offset with a
+short easing rather than jumping. User wheel/trackpad input MUST NOT be
+altered and MUST cancel any in-flight animation. Setting the animation
+duration knob to zero SHALL disable animation entirely (reduced motion, and
+the deterministic mode used by UI tests). Scroll preservation during edits
+MUST remain instantaneous, never animated.
+
+#### Scenario: Back-navigation glides
+- **WHEN** the user navigates back to a view whose saved scroll offset
+  differs from the current one
+- **THEN** the outline animates to the saved offset over the configured
+  duration, and a wheel event during the animation stops it at the user's
+  control
+
+### Requirement: Page root renders as a heading
+A page's root SHALL render as a large heading — no bullet, no fold
+affordance — with the page's children rendered from the first indent level
+(bullets at the left margin). The heading remains the page's editable root
+block: focus, editing, and rename behavior are unchanged from the current
+root bullet. Tree depth semantics (including devtools dump depth) are
+unaffected — this is rendering only.
+
+#### Scenario: Journal page reads as a titled document
+- **WHEN** a journal date page is displayed
+- **THEN** the date renders as a heading with the day's blocks starting
+  un-indented beneath it, one indent level shallower than the previous
+  title-as-bullet rendering
+
+#### Scenario: Heading is still the root block
+- **WHEN** the user presses Up from the first child block
+- **THEN** focus lands on the heading exactly as it previously landed on the
+  root bullet, and editing it behaves as editing the root block always has
diff --git a/openspec/changes/ui-polish/tasks.md b/openspec/changes/ui-polish/tasks.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fc87255
--- /dev/null
+++ b/openspec/changes/ui-polish/tasks.md
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+## 1. Icons and asset plumbing
+
+- [ ] 1.1 Add `AssetSource` registration at app start; bundle selected Tabler SVGs under `crates/trawler/assets/icons/` with the MIT license file
+- [ ] 1.2 Replace the ◀/▶ header glyphs with Tabler arrow icons (tinted via text color); add calendar and sidebar-toggle icons
+
+## 2. Window chrome (design D1)
+
+- [ ] 2.1 Switch `WindowOptions` to a transparent/client titlebar (verify exact gpui 0.2 API; Zed's Windows titlebar is the reference); render the titlebar row: drag region, caption controls, existing header controls folded in
+- [ ] 2.2 Verify drag-to-move, double-click maximize/restore, minimize/close on Windows via dev-loop; if gpui's caption handling is incomplete, fall back to stock titlebar and record the finding in this file
+
+## 3. Sidebar (design D3)
+
+- [ ] 3.1 Sidebar host: collapsed flag, clamped drag-resize width, ordered panel registrations (title + render fn); session-persistent state
+- [ ] 3.2 Move the calendar picker into a sidebar panel; calendar invocation (shortcut/button) opens the sidebar and reveals it; day-click behavior unchanged
+- [ ] 3.3 Move the Similar panel from the bottom dock into the sidebar; remove the bottom-dock rendering; Backlinks stays put
+- [ ] 3.4 Toggle keybinding (check keymap for conflicts; design suggests Ctrl+Shift+B) + titlebar toggle button
+- [ ] 3.5 Extend the devtools `dump` with sidebar state (open/width/panels) — additive field
+- [ ] 3.6 UI tests: toggle preserves panel state and editor focus; calendar invocation reveals panel; similar panel renders in sidebar
+
+## 4. Bullet threading (design D4)
+
+- [ ] 4.1 Per-row ancestor-guide computation (segment per indent column where the chain continues below) and rendering in the indent columns; named knobs for guide color/width; innermost segment meets the parent bullet position
+- [ ] 4.2 UI test / dump-based assertions over a fixture page with known nesting; visual check via dev-loop screenshots at several depths
+
+## 5. Smooth scrolling (design D5)
+
+- [ ] 5.1 Scroll animator over `ListState` logical offsets: ease-out over `SCROLL_ANIMATION_MS` (named knob, 0 = disabled), cancelled by wheel input or a superseding programmatic scroll
+- [ ] 5.2 Route back/forward restore, follow-reference, zoom, and scroll-to-focus through the animator; leave edit-time scroll preservation as a hard set
+- [ ] 5.3 UI tests run with the knob at 0; add one animation test asserting the offset converges to target and wheel cancels
+
+## 6. Page title as heading (design D6 — severable)
+
+- [ ] 6.1 Render page roots as heading rows (no bullet/fold affordance; heading-scale named knobs); children start at indent level 0
+- [ ] 6.2 Preserve focus/edit/rename behavior on the heading row (Up from first child lands on it; editing = root-block editing)
+- [ ] 6.3 Update UI-test layout assertions for the shallower indent; confirm devtools dump depth semantics unchanged; dev-loop screenshot of a journal page before/after
+
+## 7. Verification and docs
+
+- [ ] 7.1 `cargo clippy --workspace --all-targets -- -D warnings` and `cargo test --workspace` pass
+- [ ] 7.2 Full dev-loop pass: screenshots of chrome, sidebar open/collapsed, threading at depth, journal heading; README keyboard-reference table updated (sidebar toggle, calendar behavior)