workspace: record _format_params simplification + verified-live audit

- iterations.md: log 4ccfa9a
- backlog.md: note vulture false-positives confirmed live; add two
  future-win candidates to triage
- coverage/_console_emitter.md: first coverage note for this module

Co-authored-by: Ralphify <noreply@ralphify.co>

Author: 2 people

workspace/ralphs/improve-codebase/backlog.md

@@ -12,6 +12,18 @@ only when they land in a commit.
 - Check `cli.py` validators for unreachable error branches after recent
   TypedDict refactors.
 - Confirm every `from typing import ...` import in `src/ralphify/` is used.
+  (Checked 4ccfa9a — all six modules import only what they use.)
+- vulture 60% flags that were verified as live: `clear_scroll`,
+  `_SinglePanelNavigator`, `_stop_live`, `serialize_frontmatter`,
+  `to_dict`, `_atexit_hook`, RunManager public methods — all used in tests,
+  docs, or scripts/.  TypedDict field "unused" warnings are spurious.
+- Consider inlining `_validate_name` into `_check_unique_name` in `cli.py`
+  (the former has exactly one caller).  Tradeoff: the split doc-strings
+  document the two concerns (format vs uniqueness) cleanly.
+- `_is_claude_command` (`_console_emitter.py`) and `_supports_stream_json`
+  (`_agent.py`) both check `Path(parts[0]).stem == CLAUDE_BINARY` but on
+  different inputs (string vs list).  Consolidating would cross module
+  boundaries for modest payoff — revisit only if a third caller appears.
 
 ## Phase 2 — duplication
 

workspace/ralphs/improve-codebase/coverage/_console_emitter.md

@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+# `_console_emitter.py` coverage
+
+Valid at: 4ccfa9a
+
+## Recent changes
+
+- 4ccfa9a — dropped `if parts else ""` branch in `_format_params`.
+  `" · ".join([])` returns `""`, so the guard was dead.
+
+## Verified live (grepped, confirmed used)
+
+Private helpers and constants that look unused but are legitimately used:
+
+- `_ICON_SUCCESS`, `_ICON_FAILURE`, `_ICON_TIMEOUT`, `_ICON_ARROW`,
+  `_ICON_DASH`, `_ICON_PLAY` — all referenced in handler print strings.
+- `clear_scroll` — used by test_console_emitter tests.
+- `_SinglePanelNavigator` — used by tests and `scripts/tui_dev/snapshot.py`.
+- `_stop_live` (the locked wrapper) — used only in tests for cleanup
+  between test cases.  Production code uses `_stop_live_unlocked` inside
+  an existing lock.
+- `_format_params`, `_extract_file_path`, `_extract_key`, `_extract_params`
+  — all referenced in the `_TOOL_REGISTRY` table (`"Read"`, `"Glob"`,
+  `"Grep"`, `"Edit"`, `"Write"`, `"Bash"`, `"WebFetch"`, `"WebSearch"`, etc.).
+
+## Potential future wins (not yet taken)
+
+- `_IterationPanel._build_footer` and `_IterationSpinner._build_footer` both
+  start with `Text(no_wrap=True, overflow="ellipsis")` and use
+  `_footer_grid(summary)` — the `Text(...)` construction repeats, but only
+  twice.  Not worth extracting unless a third subclass appears.
+- `panel_for` / `is_live` share the guard
+  `self._current_iteration == iteration_id and self._active_renderable is not None`.
+  Two call sites; extracting would be premature.

workspace/ralphs/improve-codebase/iterations.md

@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
 # Iterations
 
 One line per iteration: `<sha> <summary>`.
+
+4ccfa9a refactor: drop redundant `if parts else ""` in `_format_params` (empty join already returns "")