Desktop users need the same branch-from-here workflow that the CLI already exposed, so the branch creation logic now lives in a shared transcript utility and the desktop app routes completed message actions through the server API. The UI hydrates transcript ids after live completions so newly generated turns can be branched immediately without a refresh.
Constraint: Source sessions must remain unmodified while branch sessions inherit the active transcript chain and persistence metadata.
Rejected: Keep a desktop-only branch implementation | it would drift from CLI /branch semantics and duplicate transcript filtering rules
Confidence: high
Scope-risk: moderate
Directive: Do not remove the post-completion transcript hydration without a real-model desktop E2E for just-finished messages
Tested: bun run verify; Chrome Web UI E2E with real gpt-5.5 provider on ports 45678/45679
Not-tested: Provider-specific behavior beyond the configured Sub2API-ChatGPT route
The sidebar now groups conversations by project, so the embedded project picker in the search box duplicated the main navigation model and hid state inside a compact icon. Remove that picker and its store state, leaving search as plain text filtering and keeping the project header menu focused on organization and sorting.
The archive-all entry was also hidden because a broad destructive action does not belong in the lightweight project menu.
Constraint: Project grouping is now the primary project navigation surface.
Rejected: Keep the embedded project picker hidden in place | it would leave dead filtering state and a stale recovery path.
Rejected: Keep archive-all in the header menu | broad destructive actions are too risky for this surface.
Confidence: high
Scope-risk: moderate
Directive: Do not reintroduce broad session deletion or hidden project filters into the sidebar header without a dedicated reviewed management flow.
Tested: cd desktop && bun run test src/components/layout/Sidebar.test.tsx src/stores/sessionStore.test.ts src/components/layout/TabBar.test.tsx
Tested: cd desktop && bun run lint
Tested: cd desktop && bun run build
Open session tabs can outlive the title value they were created with, while the sidebar and session detail view read from the refreshed session list. Refresh existing tab titles when a session tab is reopened and after session list refreshes so the top tab bar cannot keep a stale generated title.
Constraint: Sidebar filtering and session refresh should not leave already-open tabs with stale labels.
Rejected: Only rely on WebSocket title update events | restored tabs and already-open tabs can miss later session-list corrections.
Confidence: high
Scope-risk: narrow
Directive: Keep session tab titles derived from current session list data when available.
Tested: cd desktop && bun run test -- --run src/stores/tabStore.test.ts src/stores/sessionStore.test.ts
Tested: cd desktop && bun run lint
Tested: cd desktop && bun run test -- --run
Tested: agent-browser smoke on http://127.0.0.1:1420/ confirmed top tabs match sidebar and session detail titles.
Session titles need to appear immediately, but the async AI title pass can return fenced or escaped JSON fragments. Keep the first-message title path fast, preserve optimistic client titles during background refresh, and only accept structured title responses that parse cleanly.
Constraint: Desktop sessions should stop showing Untitled/New Session after the first user turn.
Rejected: Accept short raw model output as a fallback | malformed JSON fragments are short enough to leak into the UI.
Confidence: high
Scope-risk: moderate
Directive: Do not loosen generated title parsing without regression coverage for fenced, escaped, and truncated JSON responses.
Tested: bun test src/server/__tests__/title-service.test.ts
Tested: bun run check:server
Tested: cd desktop && bun run test -- --run src/stores/chatStore.test.ts src/stores/sessionStore.test.ts src/pages/EmptySession.test.tsx
Tested: agent-browser smoke on http://127.0.0.1:1420/ confirmed sidebar and tab titles update without JSON fragments.
Desktop sessions now resolve repository launch intent before creation, so users can pick a branch, choose whether to isolate it in a worktree, and get stable error messages instead of silent branch-switch failures. The server owns the Git safety checks and session metadata so the UI and real agent runtime agree on the actual working directory.
Constraint: Direct branch switching must not overwrite or hide uncommitted user changes
Constraint: Desktop worktree branches must stay out of normal branch selection and recent-project labels
Rejected: Let the UI call git directly | server-side checks keep session metadata and runtime launch paths consistent
Rejected: Auto-switch dirty checkouts | users need an explicit isolated-worktree choice to protect local edits
Confidence: high
Scope-risk: moderate
Directive: Do not relax dirty-worktree or checked-out-branch guards without adding equivalent business-flow tests
Tested: ALLOW_CLI_CORE_CHANGE=1 bun run quality:pr
Tested: /tmp business-flow script with dirty checkout, checked-out branch, isolated worktree, missing branch, non-git, missing directory, and real LLM session
Tested: agent-browser desktop UI flow across dirty, checked-out, non-git, branch search, recent-project, and Run scenarios
