feat(ui): cohesive frontend polish — design system + per-screen refinement

Distill the UI into a single, recognizable voice: a precision
instrument for one operator on one machine. Bloomberg-coded chrome,
warm-paper detail surfaces, mono-heavy numerics, with one editorial
serif accent for moments of weight.

Design system
- Three-font stack: Geist Sans (UI), Geist Mono (data), Instrument
  Serif (editorial display). No Inter, no system fonts.
- Two surfaces: dark chrome (--background, --accent, --signal) and
  warm paper detail surfaces (--surface, --surface-ink*).
- Inbox has its own Ticker Tape terminal palette (--tt-*).
- Shared component classes: .eyebrow, .mono, .display, .surface,
  .surface-2, .row-hover, .nav-active, .kbd, .editorial, .hairline.
- --m-* token aliases for the legacy drawer components so test-
  asserted class strings keep resolving to the same hue family.

Drawers (Claim + Remit)
- Editorial display face for totals (paid/adjustment amounts).
- Color-coded money tiles: green-tinted paid card, amber-tinted
  adjustment card when non-zero, muted otherwise.
- Tabs get accent-blue underline + CSS-driven active state.
- Validation banners with proper background opacity + ring-around-
  dot success badge.
- StateHistoryTimeline: dashed border, ring around dots, ↳ prefix
  for remit ids.
- DiagnosesList, PartiesGrid, MatchedRemitCard, CasAdjustmentsPanel:
  refined typography, dashed dividers, italic descriptions, mono
  amounts, font-semibold totals, hover row tints.

Inbox Ticker Tape
- Custom RowCheckbox with sr-only input + amber accent.
- Alternating row striping, hover tints, accent rail with inset
  shadow on selection.
- Refined sparkline with glow at high values.
- BulkBar: bottom-floating bar with amber count chip, larger shadow.
- CandidateBreakdown: animated progress bars with amber gradient.
- InboxHeader: Instrument Serif headline, mono day/date stamp,
  pulsing amber status dot.

Dialogs & search
- NewClaimDialog: editorial title, mono NPI/CPT/amount fields.
- SearchBar: refined input row with mono, footer with pulsing
  loading indicator.
- KeyboardCheatsheet: monogram icon chip, hover row states, refined
  eyebrow header.

Primitives
- StatusBadge / ClaimStateBadge: per-state dot indicators.
- SelectItem: data-[highlighted]:outline tokens for keyboard a11y.
- Table primitives: refined header treatment, hover/focus states.

Tests + build
- 354/354 tests passing across 59 files.
- Vite build clean (53.84 kB CSS / 560.86 kB JS).
- Eyebrow assertions updated to match the consolidated .eyebrow
  class (intact visual contract, abstracted class string).
- Badge variant tokens updated to the polished bg-muted/80 /
  /0.14 opacity scale.

src/components/Sidebar.tsx

@@ -24,20 +24,45 @@ const nav = [
   { to: "/activity", label: "Activity Log", icon: Activity },
 ];
 
+/**
+ * Sidebar. Three sections under the brand mark:
+ *   - WORKSPACE — the day-to-day surface
+ *   - WORKFLOWS — triage & reconciliation lanes
+ *   - REFERENCE — long-tail batches & acks
+ *
+ * The active state uses a 2px left accent + an inset tint + a
+ * subtle inner ring so the selected item reads instantly. Counts
+ * (e.g. unmatched on Reconciliation) live as mono digits aligned to
+ * the right edge so the eye can scan state at a glance.
+ */
 export function Sidebar() {
-  // Surface the unmatched-bucket size on the Reconciliation nav entry so the
-  // operator notices when manual reconciliation is needed.
   const { unmatched } = useReconciliation();
   const unmatchedCount =
     (unmatched.data?.claims.length ?? 0) +
     (unmatched.data?.remittances.length ?? 0);
 
   return (
-    <aside className="hidden md:flex md:w-60 md:flex-col md:fixed md:inset-y-0 z-30 border-r border-border/60 bg-sidebar/60 backdrop-blur-xl">
-      <div className="flex h-16 items-center px-6 border-b border-border/60">
-        <div className="flex items-center gap-2.5">
-          <div className="h-7 w-7 rounded-md bg-accent flex items-center justify-center shadow-sm">
-            <svg viewBox="0 0 24 24" className="h-3.5 w-3.5 text-white" fill="none">
+    <aside
+      className="hidden md:flex md:w-60 md:flex-col md:fixed md:inset-y-0 z-30 border-r border-border/60 bg-sidebar/80 backdrop-blur-xl"
+      data-print="hide"
+    >
+      {/* Brand mark — the editorial display face carries the wordmark
+          while a small monospaced slug below keeps the brand
+          unmistakably "machine". */}
+      <div className="flex h-16 items-center px-5 border-b border-sidebar-border/80">
+        <NavLink
+          to="/"
+          end
+          className="flex items-center gap-2.5 group"
+          aria-label="Cyclone — go to dashboard"
+        >
+          <div className="relative h-7 w-7 rounded-md bg-accent flex items-center justify-center shadow-[0_0_0_1px_hsl(var(--accent)/0.4),0_0_18px_-2px_hsl(var(--accent)/0.5)]">
+            <svg
+              viewBox="0 0 24 24"
+              className="h-3.5 w-3.5 text-white"
+              fill="none"
+              aria-hidden
+            >
               <path
                 d="M6 8h8a3 3 0 0 1 0 6h-5a3 3 0 0 0 0 6h9"
                 stroke="currentColor"
@@ -48,59 +73,47 @@ export function Sidebar() {
             </svg>
           </div>
           <div className="leading-none">
-            <div className="text-[16px] font-semibold tracking-tight text-foreground">
+            <div className="display text-[19px] tracking-tight text-foreground -mt-px">
               Cyclone
             </div>
-            <div className="text-[10px] uppercase tracking-[0.14em] text-muted-foreground mt-0.5">
+            <div className="mono text-[9.5px] uppercase tracking-[0.18em] text-muted-foreground mt-1">
               CuNtx · Claims
             </div>
           </div>
-        </div>
+        </NavLink>
       </div>
 
-      <nav className="flex-1 px-3 py-6">
-        <div className="text-[10px] font-semibold uppercase tracking-[0.18em] text-muted-foreground px-3 mb-2">
-          Workspace
-        </div>
-        <ul className="space-y-0.5">
+      <nav className="flex-1 overflow-y-auto px-3 py-5">
+        <SectionLabel>Workspace</SectionLabel>
+        <ul className="space-y-0.5 mb-5">
           {nav.map((item) => (
             <li key={item.to}>
-              <NavLink
-                to={item.to}
-                end={item.end}
-                className={({ isActive }) =>
-                  cn(
-                    "group relative flex items-center gap-3 rounded-md px-3 py-2 text-sm font-medium transition-colors",
-                    isActive
-                      ? "nav-active"
-                      : "text-muted-foreground hover:text-foreground hover:bg-muted/40"
-                  )
-                }
-              >
-                <item.icon className="h-4 w-4" strokeWidth={1.75} />
-                <span>{item.label}</span>
-              </NavLink>
+              <NavItem item={item} />
             </li>
           ))}
+        </ul>
+
+        <SectionLabel>Workflows</SectionLabel>
+        <ul className="space-y-0.5 mb-5">
           <li>
             <NavLink
               to="/reconciliation"
               className={({ isActive }) =>
                 cn(
-                  "group relative flex items-center gap-3 rounded-md px-3 py-2 text-sm font-medium transition-colors",
+                  "group relative flex items-center gap-3 rounded-md px-3 py-1.5 text-[13px] font-medium transition-colors",
                   isActive
                     ? "nav-active"
                     : "text-muted-foreground hover:text-foreground hover:bg-muted/40"
                 )
               }
             >
-              <GitMerge className="h-4 w-4" strokeWidth={1.5} />
+              <GitMerge className="h-3.5 w-3.5" strokeWidth={1.5} />
               <span>Reconciliation</span>
-              {unmatchedCount > 0 && (
-                <span className="ml-auto text-[10px] font-mono tabular-nums text-warning">
+              {unmatchedCount > 0 ? (
+                <span className="ml-auto mono text-[10px] text-signal">
                   {unmatchedCount > 99 ? "99+" : unmatchedCount}
                 </span>
-              )}
+              ) : null}
             </NavLink>
           </li>
           <li>
@@ -108,30 +121,34 @@ export function Sidebar() {
               to="/inbox"
               className={({ isActive }) =>
                 cn(
-                  "group relative flex items-center gap-3 rounded-md px-3 py-2 text-sm font-medium transition-colors",
+                  "group relative flex items-center gap-3 rounded-md px-3 py-1.5 text-[13px] font-medium transition-colors",
                   isActive
                     ? "nav-active"
                     : "text-muted-foreground hover:text-foreground hover:bg-muted/40"
                 )
               }
             >
-              <InboxIcon className="h-4 w-4" strokeWidth={1.5} />
+              <InboxIcon className="h-3.5 w-3.5" strokeWidth={1.5} />
               <span>Inbox</span>
             </NavLink>
           </li>
+        </ul>
+
+        <SectionLabel>Reference</SectionLabel>
+        <ul className="space-y-0.5">
           <li>
             <NavLink
               to="/acks"
               className={({ isActive }) =>
                 cn(
-                  "group relative flex items-center gap-3 rounded-md px-3 py-2 text-sm font-medium transition-colors",
+                  "group relative flex items-center gap-3 rounded-md px-3 py-1.5 text-[13px] font-medium transition-colors",
                   isActive
                     ? "nav-active"
                     : "text-muted-foreground hover:text-foreground hover:bg-muted/40"
                 )
               }
             >
-              <CheckCircle2 className="h-4 w-4" strokeWidth={1.5} />
+              <CheckCircle2 className="h-3.5 w-3.5" strokeWidth={1.5} />
               <span>999 ACKs</span>
             </NavLink>
           </li>
@@ -140,14 +157,14 @@ export function Sidebar() {
               to="/batches"
               className={({ isActive }) =>
                 cn(
-                  "group relative flex items-center gap-3 rounded-md px-3 py-2 text-sm font-medium transition-colors",
+                  "group relative flex items-center gap-3 rounded-md px-3 py-1.5 text-[13px] font-medium transition-colors",
                   isActive
                     ? "nav-active"
                     : "text-muted-foreground hover:text-foreground hover:bg-muted/40"
                 )
               }
             >
-              <Layers className="h-4 w-4" strokeWidth={1.5} />
+              <Layers className="h-3.5 w-3.5" strokeWidth={1.5} />
               <span>Batches</span>
             </NavLink>
           </li>
@@ -156,31 +173,76 @@ export function Sidebar() {
               to="/batch-diff"
               className={({ isActive }) =>
                 cn(
-                  "group relative flex items-center gap-3 rounded-md px-3 py-2 text-sm font-medium transition-colors",
+                  "group relative flex items-center gap-3 rounded-md px-3 py-1.5 text-[13px] font-medium transition-colors",
                   isActive
                     ? "nav-active"
                     : "text-muted-foreground hover:text-foreground hover:bg-muted/40"
                 )
               }
             >
-              <GitCompareArrows className="h-4 w-4" strokeWidth={1.5} />
+              <GitCompareArrows className="h-3.5 w-3.5" strokeWidth={1.5} />
               <span>Batch diff</span>
             </NavLink>
           </li>
         </ul>
       </nav>
 
-      <div className="px-3 py-4 border-t border-border/60">
+      {/* Operator card — always at the bottom. Ringed, mono id, the
+          account role under the name. */}
+      <div className="px-3 py-4 border-t border-sidebar-border/80">
         <div className="flex items-center gap-3 rounded-md p-2 hover:bg-muted/40 cursor-default">
-          <div className="h-8 w-8 rounded-full bg-accent flex items-center justify-center text-[11px] font-semibold text-white ring-1 ring-inset ring-white/10">
+          <div className="relative h-8 w-8 rounded-full bg-accent/20 ring-1 ring-inset ring-accent/40 flex items-center justify-center text-[10.5px] font-semibold text-accent mono">
             JK
+            <span className="absolute -bottom-0.5 -right-0.5 h-2.5 w-2.5 rounded-full bg-[hsl(var(--success))] ring-2 ring-sidebar" />
           </div>
-          <div className="leading-tight">
-            <div className="text-sm font-medium">Jordan K.</div>
-            <div className="text-[11px] text-muted-foreground">Administrator</div>
+          <div className="leading-tight min-w-0">
+            <div className="text-[13px] font-medium truncate">Jordan K.</div>
+            <div className="mono text-[10px] text-muted-foreground tracking-wider uppercase">
+              Administrator
+            </div>
           </div>
         </div>
       </div>
     </aside>
   );
 }
+
+function SectionLabel({ children }: { children: React.ReactNode }) {
+  return (
+    <div className="px-3 mb-1.5 eyebrow text-muted-foreground/60">
+      {children}
+    </div>
+  );
+}
+
+function NavItem({
+  item,
+}: {
+  item: {
+    to: string;
+    label: string;
+    // Lucide icons accept `strokeWidth` as a wider union (string | number | null | undefined);
+    // we declare it as `number | string` so any Lucide icon can be assigned
+    // here without the prop-types assignability complaint from TS.
+    icon: React.ComponentType<{ className?: string; strokeWidth?: number | string }>;
+    end?: boolean;
+  };
+}) {
+  return (
+    <NavLink
+      to={item.to}
+      end={item.end}
+      className={({ isActive }) =>
+        cn(
+          "group relative flex items-center gap-3 rounded-md px-3 py-1.5 text-[13px] font-medium transition-colors",
+          isActive
+            ? "nav-active"
+            : "text-muted-foreground hover:text-foreground hover:bg-muted/40"
+        )
+      }
+    >
+      <item.icon className="h-3.5 w-3.5" strokeWidth={1.5} />
+      <span>{item.label}</span>
+    </NavLink>
+  );
+}