fix: dates in Ava's prose read as 'Jul 26, 2026', not 2026-07-26

Display-only rewrite (format.prose) on every surface that shows her text —
headline, work statement, full story, recommendations, re-check, queue cards,
slides, notes. Stored text keeps ISO dates so deadline and spike parsers still
read them.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5.1 <noreply@anthropic.com>

src/components/Findings.tsx

@@ -5,18 +5,7 @@ import type { Slice } from '../api/charts';
 import { affectedClaimsHref, recoverableClaimsHref } from '../lib/claimsLink';
 import { Badge, Card, Facts } from './core';
 import type { AvaDecision, AvaTraceStep, Row } from '../api/types';
-import {
+import { firstDeadline, headline, money, num, pct, prose, recommendations, shortDate, splitRecommendation, sqlSteps, str } from '../format';
-  firstDeadline,
-  headline,
-  money,
-  num,
-  pct,
-  recommendations,
-  shortDate,
-  splitRecommendation,
-  sqlSteps,
-  str,
-} from '../format';
 
 /**
  * Ava's findings, laid out for a person who has ninety seconds.
@@ -46,8 +35,8 @@ export function Verdict({
 }) {
   const summary = str(row.summary);
   if (!summary) return null;
-  const line = headline(summary);
+  const line = prose(headline(summary));
-  const scanned = str(row.scanned_summary);
+  const scanned = prose(row.scanned_summary);
   const affectedHref = affectedClaimsHref(kind, slice, anchor);
   const recoverableHref = recoverableClaimsHref(kind, slice, anchor);
   const atRisk = num(row.amount_at_risk);
@@ -109,7 +98,7 @@ export function Verdict({
 
 /** The decision list. Rendered directly above the Approve / Send back / Reject buttons. */
 export function Recommendations({ row }: { row: Row }) {
-  const recs = recommendations(row.recommendations);
+  const recs = recommendations(row.recommendations).map(prose);
   if (recs.length === 0) return null;
   return (
     <section className="lift rounded-xl border border-line bg-panel">
@@ -140,9 +129,9 @@ export function Recommendations({ row }: { row: Row }) {
 /** The paragraph version — for the reader who wants the whole account. Collapsed. */
 export function FullStory({ row }: { row: Row }) {
   const [open, setOpen] = useState(false);
-  const summary = str(row.summary);
+  const summary = prose(row.summary);
-  const cause = str(row.root_cause);
+  const cause = prose(row.root_cause);
-  const secondary = str(row.secondary_findings);
+  const secondary = prose(row.secondary_findings);
   if (!summary) return null;
   const hasSecondary = secondary && !/^none found/i.test(secondary.trim());
 
@@ -244,7 +233,7 @@ export function SqlEvidence({ row, steps, decisions }: { row: Row; steps: AvaTra
 
 /** The re-check. Same shape either way, so "fixed" and "not fixed" read alike. */
 export function Recheck({ row }: { row: Row }) {
-  const summary = str(row.recheck_summary);
+  const summary = prose(row.recheck_summary);
   if (!summary) return null;
   const current = num(row.current_rate);
   const baseline = num(row.baseline_rate);

src/format.ts

@@ -184,6 +184,21 @@ export function firstDeadline(recs: unknown): string | null {
 }
 
 /** 2026-10-02 → "Oct 2" */
+/** 2026-07-26 → "Jul 26, 2026". For prose; shortDate is for axes and chips. */
+export function longDate(iso: string | null): string {
+  if (!iso) return '';
+  const d = new Date(iso + 'T00:00:00');
+  return Number.isNaN(d.getTime()) ? iso : d.toLocaleDateString('en-US', { month: 'short', day: 'numeric', year: 'numeric' });
+}
+
+/** Ava writes dates as YYYY-MM-DD so the code can read them (deadlines, the
+ *  spike week, the claims links). People should not have to. This rewrites
+ *  every ISO date inside a piece of prose for display, and nothing else —
+ *  the stored text, and every parser that reads it, still sees the ISO form. */
+export function prose(v: unknown): string {
+  return str(v).replace(/\b(\d{4})-(\d{2})-(\d{2})\b/g, (m) => longDate(m) || m);
+}
+
 export function shortDate(iso: string | null): string {
   if (!iso) return '';
   const d = new Date(iso + 'T00:00:00');

src/lib/slides.ts

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ import pptxgen from 'pptxgenjs';
 import type { BriefingData, Slice } from '../api/charts';
 import { RECOVERY_ORDER } from '../api/charts';
 import type { Row } from '../api/types';
-import { headline, money, num, recommendations, shortDate, splitRecommendation, str } from '../format';
+import { headline, money, num, prose, recommendations, shortDate, splitRecommendation, str } from '../format';
 
 /**
  * The deck. Six slides a manager can walk into a CFO's office with.
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ export async function buildDeck(row: Row, data: BriefingData, slice: Slice | nul
   // ---- 1. What happened -------------------------------------------------------
   {
     const s = pres.addSlide();
-    chrome(s, headline(row.summary, 240), 'Summary');
+    chrome(s, prose(headline(row.summary, 240)), 'Summary');
     const tiles: Array<[string, string, string]> = [
       ['Claims denied', num(row.affected_claims)?.toLocaleString('en-US') ?? '—', INK],
       ['Money at stake', money(row.amount_at_risk), 'B31E23'],
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ export async function buildDeck(row: Row, data: BriefingData, slice: Slice | nul
       s.addText(label.toUpperCase(), { x: x + 0.25, y: 2.05, w: 3.3, h: 0.3, fontSize: 10, bold: true, color: MUTED, charSpacing: 1 });
       s.addText(value, { x: x + 0.25, y: 2.4, w: 3.3, h: 0.9, fontSize: 36, bold: true, color });
     });
-    const cause = str(row.root_cause);
+    const cause = prose(row.root_cause);
     if (cause) {
       s.addText('ROOT CAUSE', { x: 0.6, y: 3.95, w: 12, h: 0.3, fontSize: 10, bold: true, color: MUTED, charSpacing: 1 });
       s.addText(cause, { x: 0.6, y: 4.25, w: 12.1, h: 2.5, fontSize: 13, color: INK, valign: 'top' });
@@ -194,7 +194,7 @@ export async function buildDeck(row: Row, data: BriefingData, slice: Slice | nul
   }
 
   // ---- 5. What she recommends -------------------------------------------------
-  const recs = recommendations(row.recommendations);
+  const recs = recommendations(row.recommendations).map(prose);
   if (recs.length) {
     const s = pres.addSlide();
     chrome(s, 'Recommended actions', 'For approval');
@@ -221,7 +221,7 @@ export async function buildDeck(row: Row, data: BriefingData, slice: Slice | nul
     const reconciled = row.data_reconciled === true || str(row.data_reconciled) === 'true';
     const conf = num(row.confidence);
     const bullets = [
-      str(row.scanned_summary) || 'Reviewed every payer, department and front desk against an 8-week baseline.',
+      prose(row.scanned_summary) || 'Reviewed every payer, department and front desk against an 8-week baseline.',
       reconciled ? 'Claims data reconciled against the finance report before any analysis.' : 'Claims data could not be fully reconciled against finance — treat numbers as provisional.',
       kind === 'payer_policy'
         ? `Cause matched to the payer's own policy bulletin${slice?.spikeStart ? ` effective ${shortDate(slice.spikeStart)}` : ''}.`

src/screens/CaseScreen.tsx

@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ import { Disclosure, FullStory, Recheck, Recommendations, SqlEvidence, Verdict }
 import { Briefing, BriefingSkeleton } from '../components/Briefing';
 import { loadBriefing, sliceOf } from '../api/charts';
 import type { Action } from '../api/config';
-import { dateTime, num, str } from '../format';
+import { dateTime, num, prose, str } from '../format';
 
 /**
  * One investigation, for a person with ninety seconds.
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@ export function CaseScreen() {
         <section className="lift rounded-xl border border-bad-edge bg-bad-soft px-5 py-4">
           <p className="text-[11px] font-semibold tracking-wide text-bad uppercase">Escalated — requires a decision</p>
           <p className="mt-1.5 text-[17px] leading-snug font-semibold text-ink">
-            {str(row.escalation_reason) || 'No reason recorded.'}
+            {prose(row.escalation_reason) || 'No reason recorded.'}
           </p>
         </section>
       )}
@@ -257,8 +257,8 @@ export function CaseScreen() {
                   ? `${str(row.period_weeks)} weeks`
                   : '6 weeks',
             },
-            ...(str(row.review_note) ? [{ label: 'Reviewer note', value: str(row.review_note), wide: true }] : []),
+            ...(str(row.review_note) ? [{ label: 'Reviewer note', value: prose(row.review_note), wide: true }] : []),
-            ...(str(row.approval_note) ? [{ label: 'Approval note', value: str(row.approval_note), wide: true }] : []),
+            ...(str(row.approval_note) ? [{ label: 'Approval note', value: prose(row.approval_note), wide: true }] : []),
           ]}
         />
       </section>

src/screens/QueueScreen.tsx

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import { useQuery, useZino } from '../api/provider';
 import { FINDING_KIND, QUEUES, RECORD_VIEW, STAGE_TONE } from '../api/config';
 import { Badge, Button, Empty, ErrorNote, Spinner } from '../components/core';
 import type { Row } from '../api/types';
-import { dateTime, headline, money, num, str } from '../format';
+import { dateTime, headline, money, num, prose, str } from '../format';
 
 /**
  * A queue, as a morning briefing.
@@ -115,8 +115,8 @@ function Briefing({ rows, onRun }: { rows: Row[]; onRun: () => void }) {
 /** A case, led by its verdict and its money. */
 function CaseCard({ row, onOpen }: { row: Row; onOpen: () => void }) {
   const state = str(row.current_state_name);
-  const summary = str(row.summary);
+  const summary = prose(row.summary);
-  const scanned = str(row.scanned_summary);
+  const scanned = prose(row.scanned_summary);
   const flagged = num(row.flagged_count);
   const kind = str(row.finding_kind);
   const recoverable = num(row.recoverable_amount);