[danyaberezun]

Problem

#934 (by rsolmano) gives every chat two always-on tools, start_workspace and workspace_status.
With them, "do this in a side workspace" and "run these in parallel" become requests the agent can act
on. #934 was written against main, before this stack's chats without a project (#887) and Continue in
workspace (#888). On top of them it goes wrong in three places:

• The Chats container counts as an open project.
  • From a chat without a project, start_workspace defaults to Chats and fails on listBranches with
    a git error.
  • Every error lists Chats (chats) as an open project.
  • workspace_status reports chats without a project with base · no PR · diff unknown lines, and the
    name Chat matches all of them.
• A new chat starts in three places. feat: let the agent start workspaces and check their status #934 moves the repository chat start into
  host/chatSession.ts, which reports chat_started itself, while host/chats.ts keeps a private copy
  around its per-chat claim, Continue's applyContinuation an inline one, and session.create records
  the user's model pick beside it. They agree today, but a change to one would silently skip the others.
• feat: let the agent start workspaces and check their status #934's card opens the child workspace immediately. The store drops a workspace.created push for
  a project whose workspace list it never loaded. A spawn into a collapsed project therefore opens a
  workspace the store doesn't have. Continue's Open already reloads the list, in its own copy of the same
  action.

Review then found four more in the tools themselves: Stop does not cancel a start_workspace in
progress, workspace_status output is unbounded, parallel spawns off an unfetched base collide on the
workspace-N branch name, and an agent's spawn counts as the user's worktree_create setup action.

Eighth PR of the global-search stack; stacked on #939.

Approach

• feat: let the agent start workspaces and check their status #934 as written, rebased onto the stack.
  • Its seven commits keep rsolmano's authorship.
  • Only two needed conflict resolution, and every conflict kept both sides:
    • the inline extension list (continue_in_workspace next to the workspace tools);
    • the tool-host seams in server.ts;
    • ChatActions / ChatTranscript;
    • session.create, which keeps the check for a chat without a project before startChatSession.
  • The tools, their guidance, the card and its specs are feat: let the agent start workspaces and check their status #934's; see feat: let the agent start workspaces and check their status #934 for that design.
• The workspace tools see open repositories only.
  • The Chats container is never resolved, listed or matched by a status lookup.
  • A chat without a project has no default project. Both tools refuse a call without project:
    "This chat has no project: pass project. Open projects: …".
  • Rejected: filtering listProjects() itself. Welcome, project.list and the Chats UI need the
    container.
  • Rejected: an overview of every repository for workspace_status without arguments in such a chat.
    One rule for both tools is simpler, and that overview can get large.
• One chat start. chatSession.ts#startChatSession(workspace, requested, { pick, assertClaimed })
  is the host's only createSession call and its only new-chat bookkeeping (noteNewChat: the recent
  model pick plus chat_started). chats.ts passes its claim check (a chat being deleted is refused
  before, around and after the agent's barrier); only a user's pick (session.create, chat.create
  naming a model) becomes a recent model — not the review chat, Continue's destination or an agent's
  spawn.
• Stop cancels a start. The tool hands pi's abort signal to the host, which passes it to the
  default-branch prefetch and createWorkspace's fallback fetch. A start stopped before the worktree
  exists creates nothing; one stopped later stops before the child chat starts or before its prompt is
  sent, and keeps and names the workspace, as a failed chat start already did. A child that accepted its
  prompt runs on.
• Bounded status. workspace_status is cut like pi's own tools (truncateHead at pi's line and
  byte limits) with a footer telling the agent to name specific workspaces.
• A spawn is not a setup action. It records no worktree_create setup action (the analytics spec
  reserves those for the user's explicit operations); its chat still reports chat_started.
• Distinct branches for parallel spawns. createWorkspace chooses the branch name after its
  fallback fetch, so nothing awaits between choosing a name and git worktree add -b.
• One openWorkspace. chat/openWorkspace.ts serves the start_workspace card, Continue's Open and
  follow, and the handoff's link back to its source.
  • A workspace the store knows opens under its own project.
  • An unknown one first reloads its project's workspace.list, and opens only if that read, on the
    same connection, shows it in a project still open, and only if neither a newer open nor any
    navigation overtook the read. The navigation marker is the search palette's, moved into the store as
    selectNavigationMarker.
  • A failed, vanished or deletion-pending workspace, or one whose project was closed, is never
    activated; the user is told why, unless they have moved on.
  • openContinuation is gone.
• Deliberately not here:
  • Continue's base branch. It still cuts from the project checkout's HEAD, while start_workspace and
    the New Workspace dialog use the default branch plus a prefetch.
  • Splitting the start_workspace / continue_in_workspace guidance by intent.
  • Making the two Open buttons look alike.
  • A back-link from a spawned workspace to the chat that started it.

Changes

• rsolmano's seven feat: let the agent start workspaces and check their status #934 commits, conflicts resolved as above.
• refactor(server): start every chat through one startChatSession.
  • host/chatSession.ts takes { pick, assertClaimed } and calls noteNewChat; host/chats.ts loses
    its private copy, applyContinuation its inline one, session.create its inline noteRecentModel.
  • authAttribution test: a chat without a project created without a usable model reports none
    through the shared start.
• fix(server): keep the Chats container out of start_workspace / workspace_status.
  • host/workspaceTools.ts: resolveProject(ref, fallback | undefined, projects) takes repositories
    only, and a chat-workspace caller has no fallback.
  • The project parameter descriptions say it is required in a chat without a project.
• fix(web): one openWorkspace for every chat card (chat/openWorkspace.ts with its test;
  ChatActions.openContinuation removed; WorkspaceChatTarget.sessionId optional).
• Review fixes:
  • fix(server): prefetchBranch and createWorkspace's fallback fetch take an AbortSignal;
    createWorkspace chooses the branch after the fetch.
  • fix(server): Stop cancels start_workspace; boundedStatus; no setup observation for spawns;
    workspaceStatus takes injected deps like startWorkspace.
  • fix(web): openWorkspace's latest-open token and navigation fence; selectNavigationMarker in
    store/selectors.ts, used by the palette too.
  • fix(web) (bot round): openWorkspace opens a held workspace only while its project is open —
    closing a project keeps its workspace rows cached.
• Specs:
  • host: one chat start and its bookkeeping; repositories only; Stop; no setup observation; injected
    deps;
  • agent: project is required in a chat without a project; the signal; bounded status;
  • git: prefetchBranch's signal; workspaces: branch chosen after the fetch, cancellable fetch;
  • web chat: openWorkspace; store: selectNavigationMarker; shell: the palette shares it.

Screenshots

Nothing looks different from #934. The start_workspace card is #934's, and Continue's cards render as
before (Open now goes through openWorkspace). #934's screenshots, seeded transcript, 1280×900:

Testing

On the final head (a8c7fa823, rebased onto main df7cb6d2):

• bunx turbo run typecheck --filter='!@thinkrail/desktop' → 24/24; bun run lint (one existing warning), check:deps, check:boundaries, check:seams, check:spec-surface, check:i18n, check:compiler → green; apps/web bun test → 2115 pass
• bun run test → 24/25 tasks: main's flaky agent/chatResources.test.ts "a waking command completion never publishes an unread idle state before the woken turn" (untouched by this stack) failed once; the file fails 2 of 20 runs both here and on plain main df7cb6d2
• bun run e2e e2e/chats.spec.ts e2e/search-palette.spec.ts e2e/default-workspace.spec.ts --repeat-each=3 → 87 passed
• bun run e2e (full no-agent suite, 8 shards) → all 701 passed. It ran in a private network namespace (loopback plus an empty bridge): this machine's Wi-Fi re-associates every ~5 minutes and Chromium then aborts in-flight loads with net::ERR_NETWORK_CHANGED, which fails plain main too.
• Each review fix's test fails with its fix removed (19 mutants): Stop at every checkpoint, the aborted fetches and the stopped send-ack, the parallel creates, bounded status, the status overview and named lookup (a chat without a project never matches), the navigation fence, the latest-open token and the closed-project refusal in openWorkspace
• bun run e2e:full e2e/workspace-tools.live.spec.ts e2e/chats-continue.live.spec.ts → not re-run on this head: Central is not configured for pi on this machine (2 passed with a real model on 6faaf211d, before the review fixes)

Earlier (6faaf211d, before the review fixes):

• bun run test → server 1857 pass, 4 skip; web 2009 pass; every other package green. The first run caught a new openWorkspace test leaking a stubbed store action into navigation/restore.test.ts; it now drives the real store and resets it with getInitialState().
• feat: let the agent start workspaces and check their status #934's seven commits are unchanged except for the conflict resolutions above; before the fixes, the rebased tree passed typecheck, biome, and the affected tests (123 server + 16 web, feat: let the agent start workspaces and check their status #934's own among them).

Related issues

Part of the global-search stack (#804 → #805 → #806 → #887 → #888 → #933 → #939 → this). It carries
#934 onto the stack; #934 itself is untouched.

Checklist

• Fast gates pass: bun run lint, bun run typecheck, bun run test
• E2E suite passes for app-affecting changes (bun run e2e, or bun run e2e:full when touching agent behavior)
• Before/after screenshots are included for frontend changes, or marked not applicable
• Relevant SPEC.md / top-level specs updated to reflect any boundary, contract, or behavior change
• I have read the Contributing guide and agree to the Code of Conduct

[jetbrains-air]

Approved — ready to merge.

[jetbrains-air]

Approved — ready to merge.

[jetbrains-air]

Approved — ready to merge.

[danyaberezun]

@jetbrains-air please review the current head de096a80c — rebased onto main 25ac7921 with the stack, and both threads are fixed: Stop now cancels start_workspace (the signal reaches the base fetches and the send-ack wait; nothing is created once stopped before the worktree), and openWorkspace activates an unknown workspace only while it is the latest open and navigation has not moved. Review also brought one chat start through startChatSession, a bounded workspace_status, distinct branches for parallel spawns, and no setup-action analytics for spawns.

[jetbrains-air]

Approved — ready to merge.

[danyaberezun]

@jetbrains-air please review the current head d66cc9bde — your closed-project thread is fixed: openWorkspace opens a held workspace only while its project is in store.projects, otherwise it tells the user and returns false (held and freshly listed paths alike).

[danyaberezun]

@jetbrains-air please review the current head a8c7fa823 — rebased onto main df7cb6d2 with the stack; nothing of its own changed since d66cc9bde, whose closed-project fix you checked and resolved.