fix: preserve composer state for browser screenshots (#678)

Browser screenshot capture reused composer prefill, which replaced local draft text and remained queued after the composer consumed it. The fix keeps rewind-style prefill as replacement while letting Browser screenshots append as one-shot composer attachments.

Constraint: Screenshot events can arrive while the chat composer is unmounted during Settings navigation.

Rejected: Store browser screenshots only in composerDraft | mounted composers would not update immediately.

Confidence: high

Scope-risk: narrow

Directive: Keep Browser screenshot capture on append mode; replacement prefill is for rewind-style composer restoration.

Tested: bun run test -- ChatInput.test.tsx previewEvents.test.ts --run

Tested: bun run check:desktop

Not-tested: Live Windows desktop/Tauri screenshot click

desktop/src/components/chat/ChatInput.test.tsx

@@ -316,6 +316,72 @@ describe('ChatInput file mentions', () => {
     })
   })
 
+  it('appends a delayed browser screenshot without clearing an unsent draft after remount', async () => {
+    const { unmount } = render(<ChatInput compact />)
+
+    const input = screen.getByRole('textbox') as HTMLTextAreaElement
+    fireEvent.change(input, {
+      target: { value: 'draft written while the agent is still running', selectionStart: 44 },
+    })
+    expect(input.value).toBe('draft written while the agent is still running')
+
+    unmount()
+
+    act(() => {
+      useChatStore.getState().queueComposerPrefill(sessionId, {
+        text: '',
+        mode: 'append',
+        attachments: [{
+          type: 'image',
+          name: 'screenshot-full.png',
+          mimeType: 'image/png',
+          data: 'data:image/png;base64,DELAYED',
+        }],
+      })
+    })
+
+    render(<ChatInput compact />)
+
+    await waitFor(() => {
+      expect(screen.getByRole('textbox')).toHaveValue('draft written while the agent is still running')
+      expect(screen.getByAltText('screenshot-full.png')).toBeInTheDocument()
+    })
+  })
+
+  it('does not replay a handled browser screenshot after the composer remounts', async () => {
+    const { unmount } = render(<ChatInput compact />)
+
+    act(() => {
+      useChatStore.getState().queueComposerPrefill(sessionId, {
+        text: '',
+        mode: 'append',
+        attachments: [{
+          type: 'image',
+          name: 'screenshot-full.png',
+          mimeType: 'image/png',
+          data: 'data:image/png;base64,OLD',
+        }],
+      })
+    })
+
+    await waitFor(() => {
+      expect(screen.getByAltText('screenshot-full.png')).toBeInTheDocument()
+    })
+
+    fireEvent.click(screen.getByLabelText('Remove screenshot-full.png'))
+
+    await waitFor(() => {
+      expect(screen.queryByAltText('screenshot-full.png')).not.toBeInTheDocument()
+    })
+
+    unmount()
+    render(<ChatInput compact />)
+
+    await waitFor(() => {
+      expect(screen.queryByAltText('screenshot-full.png')).not.toBeInTheDocument()
+    })
+  })
+
   it('shows branch and worktree launch controls for an empty active Git session', async () => {
     useSessionStore.setState({
       sessions: [{

desktop/src/components/chat/ChatInput.tsx

@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ export function ChatInput({ variant = 'default', compact = false }: ChatInputPro
       return next
     })
   }, [])
-  const { sendMessage, stopGeneration, clearComposerInsertion } = useChatStore()
+  const { sendMessage, stopGeneration, clearComposerPrefill, clearComposerInsertion } = useChatStore()
   const activeTabId = useTabStore((s) => s.activeTabId)
   const sessionState = useChatStore((s) => activeTabId ? s.sessions[activeTabId] : undefined)
   const chatState = sessionState?.chatState ?? 'idle'
@@ -230,21 +230,25 @@ export function ChatInput({ variant = 'default', compact = false }: ChatInputPro
   }, [isActive])
 
   useEffect(() => {
-    if (!composerPrefill) return
+    if (!composerPrefill || !activeTabId) return
 
-    setComposerInput(composerPrefill.text)
+    const nextAttachments = (composerPrefill.attachments ?? [])
-    setComposerAttachments(
+      .filter((attachment) => attachment.type === 'image' || attachment.data)
-      (composerPrefill.attachments ?? [])
+      .map((attachment, index) => ({
-        .filter((attachment) => attachment.type === 'image' || attachment.data)
+        id: `composer-prefill-${composerPrefill.nonce}-${index}`,
-        .map((attachment, index) => ({
+        name: attachment.name,
-          id: `rewind-prefill-${composerPrefill.nonce}-${index}`,
+        type: attachment.type,
-          name: attachment.name,
+        mimeType: attachment.mimeType,
-          type: attachment.type,
+        previewUrl: attachment.type === 'image' ? attachment.data : undefined,
-          mimeType: attachment.mimeType,
+        data: attachment.data,
-          previewUrl: attachment.type === 'image' ? attachment.data : undefined,
+      }))
-          data: attachment.data,
+
-        })),
+    if (composerPrefill.mode === 'append') {
-    )
+      setComposerAttachments((previous) => [...previous, ...nextAttachments])
+    } else {
+      setComposerInput(composerPrefill.text)
+      setComposerAttachments(nextAttachments)
+    }
     setPlusMenuOpen(false)
     setSlashMenuOpen(false)
     setFileSearchOpen(false)
@@ -255,10 +259,19 @@ export function ChatInput({ variant = 'default', compact = false }: ChatInputPro
     requestAnimationFrame(() => {
       const el = textareaRef.current
       el?.focus()
-      const cursor = composerPrefill.text.length
+      if (composerPrefill.mode !== 'append') {
-      el?.setSelectionRange(cursor, cursor)
+        const cursor = composerPrefill.text.length
+        el?.setSelectionRange(cursor, cursor)
+      }
     })
-  }, [composerPrefill, setComposerAttachments, setComposerInput])
+    clearComposerPrefill(activeTabId, composerPrefill.nonce)
+  }, [
+    activeTabId,
+    clearComposerPrefill,
+    composerPrefill,
+    setComposerAttachments,
+    setComposerInput,
+  ])
 
   useEffect(() => {
     if (!composerInsertion || !activeTabId || isMemberSession) return

desktop/src/lib/previewEvents.test.ts

@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ describe('subscribePreviewEvents', () => {
     await subscribePreviewEvents('s1')
     listeners['preview://event']!({ payload: JSON.stringify({ v: 1, type: 'screenshot', dataUrl: 'data:image/png;base64,AAAA', kind: 'full' }) })
     expect(prefill).toHaveBeenCalledWith('s1', expect.objectContaining({
+      mode: 'append',
       attachments: [expect.objectContaining({ type: 'image', data: 'data:image/png;base64,AAAA' })],
     }))
   })

desktop/src/lib/previewEvents.ts

@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ export async function subscribePreviewEvents(sessionId: string): Promise<() => v
     else if (msg.type === 'screenshot' && msg.dataUrl) {
       useChatStore.getState().queueComposerPrefill(sessionId, {
         text: '',
+        mode: 'append',
         attachments: [{ type: 'image', name: `screenshot-${kindLabel(msg.kind)}.png`, mimeType: 'image/png', data: msg.dataUrl }],
       })
     }

desktop/src/stores/chatStore.ts

@@ -53,6 +53,8 @@ export type ComposerReferenceInsertion = {
   nonce: number
 }
 
+export type ComposerPrefillMode = 'replace' | 'append'
+
 export type PerSessionState = {
   messages: UIMessage[]
   chatState: ChatState
@@ -87,6 +89,7 @@ export type PerSessionState = {
   composerPrefill?: {
     text: string
     attachments?: UIAttachment[]
+    mode?: ComposerPrefillMode
     nonce: number
   } | null
   composerInsertion?: ComposerReferenceInsertion | null
@@ -157,8 +160,9 @@ type ChatStore = {
   reloadHistory: (sessionId: string) => Promise<void>
   queueComposerPrefill: (
     sessionId: string,
-    prefill: { text: string; attachments?: UIAttachment[] },
+    prefill: { text: string; attachments?: UIAttachment[]; mode?: ComposerPrefillMode },
   ) => void
+  clearComposerPrefill: (sessionId: string, nonce?: number) => void
   queueComposerInsertion: (
     sessionId: string,
     insertion: Omit<ComposerReferenceInsertion, 'nonce'>,
@@ -1203,12 +1207,22 @@ export const useChatStore = create<ChatStore>((set, get) => ({
         composerPrefill: {
           text: prefill.text,
           attachments: prefill.attachments,
+          mode: prefill.mode,
           nonce: Date.now(),
         },
       })),
     }))
   },
 
+  clearComposerPrefill: (sessionId, nonce) => {
+    set((state) => ({
+      sessions: updateSessionIn(state.sessions, sessionId, (session) => {
+        if (nonce !== undefined && session.composerPrefill?.nonce !== nonce) return {}
+        return { composerPrefill: null }
+      }),
+    }))
+  },
+
   queueComposerInsertion: (sessionId, insertion) => {
     set((state) => ({
       sessions: updateSessionIn(state.sessions, sessionId, () => ({