Help for web.nav.render

def render(*, homes=None):
    """
    Renders the sidebar navigation including search, home links, visited links, and a QR compass.
    """
    cookies_ok = gw.web.app.is_enabled('web.cookies') and gw.web.cookies.check_consent()
    gw.debug(f"Render nav with {homes=} {cookies_ok=}")

    visited = []
    if cookies_ok:
        visited_cookie = gw.web.cookies.get("visited", "")
        if visited_cookie:
            visited = visited_cookie.split("|")

    current_route = request.fullpath.strip("/")
    current_title = (current_route.split("/")[-1] or "readme").replace('-', ' ').replace('_', ' ').title()

    visited_set = set()
    entries = []
    for entry in visited:
        if "=" not in entry:
            continue
        title, route = entry.split("=", 1)
        canon_route = route.strip("/")
        if canon_route not in visited_set:
            entries.append((title, canon_route))
            visited_set.add(canon_route)

    home_routes = set()
    if homes:
        for home_title, home_route in homes:
            home_routes.add(home_route.strip("/"))
    if cookies_ok and current_route not in home_routes and current_route not in visited_set:
        entries.append((current_title, current_route))
        visited_set.add(current_route)

    # --- Build HTML links ---
    links = ""
    if homes:
        for home_title, home_route in homes:
            route = home_route.strip("/")
            is_current = ' class="current"' if route == current_route else ""
            links += f'<li><a href="/{home_route}"{is_current}>{home_title.upper()}</a></li>'
    if cookies_ok and entries:
        visited_rendered = set()
        for title, route in reversed(entries):
            if route in home_routes or route in visited_rendered:
                continue
            visited_rendered.add(route)
            is_current = ' class="current"' if route == current_route else ""
            links += f'<li><a href="/{route}"{is_current}>{title}</a></li>'
    elif not homes:
        links += f'<li class="current">{current_title.upper()}</li>'

    # --- Search box ---
    search_box = '''
        <form action="/site/help" method="get" class="nav">
            <textarea name="topic" id="help-search"
                placeholder="Search this GWAY"
                class="help" rows="1"
                autocomplete="off"
                spellcheck="false"
                style="overflow:hidden; resize:none; min-height:2.4em; max-height:10em;"
                oninput="autoExpand(this)"
            >{}</textarea>
        </form>
    '''.format(request.query.get("topic", ""))

    # --- QR code for this page ---
    compass = ""
    try:
        url = get_current_url()
        qr_url = gw.qr.generate_url(url)
        compass = f'''
            <div class="compass">
                <img src="{qr_url}" alt="QR Code" class="compass" />
            </div>
        '''
    except Exception as e:
        gw.debug(f"Could not generate QR compass: {e}")

    gw.debug(f"Visited cookie raw: {gw.web.cookies.get('visited')}")
    return f"<aside>{search_box}<ul>{links}</ul><br>{compass}</aside>"