Iterative Deepening DFS

Folklore, 1970

Popularized in AI planning and early chess programs, iterative deepening DFS replays the tree walk with larger depth caps so memory stays linear like DFS yet the first solution depth matches breadth-first order on uniform costs. The tableau animates a compact seven-node tree: each limit tick is announced in quiet gray captioning, active nodes glow gallery gold, retained path edges shift to teal, and the goal blossom flares amber when the deepening horizon finally engulfs leaf 6.