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QDB Numeric Permalinks — Step 1: Solution Assessment

Feature plan: Step 1 · Step 2 · Step 3 · Step 4

Original Query

For the next piece, I'd like for the link on /latest whose caption is #3 to go to /3 and appear formatted the same way, please.

Problem

On /latest, a quote's card shows caption #3 but links to /threads/thread-<timestamp>-qdb-3 — the full internal post ID. There is no short /3 URL that resolves to that same quote today.

Context found

  • templates/partials/quote_card.php already computes $displayNumber (3) separately from the link href, which is hardcoded to /threads/<full post ID>. Only the href needs to change — the caption is already correct.

  • A near-identical mechanism already shipped: qdb_classic_urls_checklist.md's "Numeric-style permalinks" item added a last-resort bare-path handler in Application::handle() (gated on SiteConfig::siteName() === 'qdb', checked only after every real route fails to match) that 302-redirects /<id> to /threads/<id> when ThreadRepository::byId() finds an exact match. Its own code comment even cites /311057 as the example — written before real sequential numbers existed, so it only ever matched if someone typed the full internal ID as the path.

  • ThreadRepository::byId() matches threads.root_post_id exactly, so a bare numeric path like /3 does not match anything today — it has to be resolved to the full ID first (same numeric-suffix lookup pattern used by docs/plans/qdb_quote_numbering/qdb_quote_numbering_step1_solution_assessment.md's already-verified query, just as an equality check instead of MAX).

  • Scope boundary: the destination page at /threads/<id> today renders the generic thread_root_card.php (not quote_card.php), which is a separately tracked, still-open gap (qdb_todo.txt item 1 — wrong vote buttons, no quote-number header on the permalink). This feature does not touch that. "Appear formatted the same way" is read here as: the destination page's appearance does not change — /3 reaches the exact same, currently-unchanged page that #3's link already reaches today, just via a shorter URL.

Options

In the same last-resort block that already does /<full-id> → redirect, add: if the path is all digits and the direct ID lookup misses, resolve it as a qdb quote number (reusing the verified CAST(substr(...)) lookup pattern) and redirect the same way. Update quote_card.php's anchor href to /<N> instead of /threads/<full-id> for any quote that has a display number.

  • Pros: reuses the exact already-shipped mechanism and its 302-redirect convention; minimal diff; no new route, no schema change; doesn't touch the destination page's rendering at all (so no overlap with the separately tracked item 1 gap).

  • Cons: adds one more conditional to an already-dense catch-all block.

Option B — Separate dedicated route for /\d+/?

Add a new, independent regex route (checked earlier in handle(), outside the last-resort catch-all) specifically for all-digit paths.

  • Pros: isolates the new logic from the existing catch-all, lower risk of perturbing its other behavior.

  • Cons: splits one "classic bare permalink" concept into two near- identical blocks with duplicated qdb-profile gating and redirect logic — against reusing/extending the existing mechanism.

Option C — Render the quote directly at /N instead of redirecting

Skip the 302; call the same thread-rendering controller method directly at /N and return its HTML, matching qdb.us's own URLs (which were the page itself, not a redirect).

  • Pros: no extra round trip; arguably closer to the original qdb.us feel.

  • Cons: departs from the redirect convention the "Numeric-style permalinks" item already established and verified, without a stated reason to change it; worth doing only if the extra redirect hop is actually a problem worth solving.

Recommendation

Option A. It is a small, direct extension of a mechanism that already shipped and was verified for exactly this shape of URL, changes one line in quote_card.php, and keeps a clean boundary against the separately tracked permalink-formatting gap in qdb_todo.txt item 1.

Estimated lift: very small — a couple of hours, one or two Step 3 stages.