Context
Reported by Travis in #0-leadership-team (June 2026): the new site shows initials/blank where laddr profile photos (and project art) used to be.
allowing the new site to also pull from the old site's images for users and projects
Decision (2026-06): import, don't proxy-fallback
Investigation found:
avatarUrl is derived solely from avatarKey (serializers/common.ts:54, person.ts:94); when null the SPA shows initials. There is no gravatar fallback.import-laddr imports blog-post media but not person avatars or project images, and RawPersonSchema (json-fetcher) doesn't even fetch an avatar field — so every imported user lands with avatarKey: null.
So the right fix is to import the legacy images during import-laddr (download → processAvatar-style square + thumbnail → store as gitsheets attachment → set avatarKey), not a runtime proxy/fallback to the old site (which would couple uptime to laddr).
Open question (blocks implementation)
The laddr /people?format=json payload doesn't expose avatars. Need the Emergence-side source for a person's photo (likely an Avatar/Photo media ref or a /people/<id>/avatar URL) and the equivalent for project logos/art, then extend the fetcher + importer to pull + store them.
Context
Reported by Travis in #0-leadership-team (June 2026): the new site shows initials/blank where laddr profile photos (and project art) used to be.
Decision (2026-06): import, don't proxy-fallback
Investigation found:
avatarUrlis derived solely fromavatarKey(serializers/common.ts:54,person.ts:94); when null the SPA shows initials. There is no gravatar fallback.import-laddrimports blog-post media but not person avatars or project images, andRawPersonSchema(json-fetcher) doesn't even fetch an avatar field — so every imported user lands withavatarKey: null.So the right fix is to import the legacy images during
import-laddr(download →processAvatar-style square + thumbnail → store as gitsheets attachment → setavatarKey), not a runtime proxy/fallback to the old site (which would couple uptime to laddr).Open question (blocks implementation)
The laddr
/people?format=jsonpayload doesn't expose avatars. Need the Emergence-side source for a person's photo (likely anAvatar/Photomedia ref or a/people/<id>/avatarURL) and the equivalent for project logos/art, then extend the fetcher + importer to pull + store them.