Portable desktop installs can mutate CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR from an embedded or external CLI while the desktop server is already running. The server skill surface now rereads plugin-related state before listing skills, and /reload-plugins refreshes plugin skills alongside plugin commands so terminal sessions see the same enabled skills without a restart.
Constraint: Portable mode expects CLI, desktop API, and terminal sessions to share the selected CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR even when writes happen from separate processes
Rejected: Require a desktop restart after plugin install | leaves the portable install workflow stale and contradicts the existing /reload-plugins handoff
Confidence: high
Scope-risk: moderate
Directive: Keep skill discovery and reload summaries counting plugin skills separately from plugin slash commands
Tested: bun test src/server/__tests__/skills.test.ts
Tested: bun test src/server/__tests__/plugins.test.ts
Tested: bun test src/server/__tests__/sessions.test.ts
Tested: bun run check:server
Tested: CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR=/tmp portable smoke with anthropics/skills, two cwd /api/skills checks, and DeepSeek skill slash-command calls
Tested: bun run quality:gate --mode baseline --allow-live --provider-model deepseek:main:deepseek-main --only provider-smoke:*
Not-tested: Packaged desktop UI visual smoke
The previous hot-reload fix covered the running CLI process, but empty desktop sessions build their slash skill list through the server-side /api/skills path. If the server had already cached disabled plugin settings, /api/plugins/reload could still reload plugin state from stale settings and /api/skills stayed empty until a real chat spawned a fresh CLI.
Reset the server settings cache at the plugin reload boundary before clearing plugin caches. This keeps the desktop server, active CLI reload, and empty-session skills API aligned on enable-after-disable transitions.
Constraint: EmptySession uses /api/skills, not the active CLI slash-command cache
Rejected: Rely on starting a real CLI session to repopulate skills | delays visibility and makes empty-session slash commands stale
Confidence: high
Scope-risk: narrow
Directive: Plugin reload paths must invalidate settings before resolving enabledPlugins
Tested: bun test src/server/__tests__/skills.test.ts src/server/__tests__/plugins.test.ts
Tested: bun run check:server
Tested: cd desktop && bun run test --run src/pages/EmptySession.test.tsx src/stores/pluginStore.test.ts
Settings reported false negatives for resources the runtime could load, because the API paths used narrower discovery rules than the execution path. This keeps the Settings surfaces read-only where appropriate while matching runtime visibility for linked skills, version-constrained plugins, and merged MCP sources.
Constraint: Settings MCP list must not actively connect to servers while loading.
Rejected: Add UI-specific fallbacks | would preserve drift between Settings and runtime loaders
Confidence: high
Scope-risk: moderate
Directive: Keep Settings resource listing backed by the same shared loader semantics as runtime discovery.
Tested: bun test src/server/__tests__/skills.test.ts
Tested: bun test src/server/__tests__/plugins.test.ts
Tested: bun test src/server/__tests__/mcp.test.ts
Tested: bun run check:server
Tested: bun run check:coverage
Tested: bun run verify
Not-tested: Live external MCP connector account state
The desktop app previously lost project-level skills in two places: the
settings browser only queried user skills, and the slash-command picker for a
fresh session depended on CLI init state that does not exist before the first
turn. This change makes the skills APIs cwd-aware, falls back to project skill
loading before CLI init, syncs sidebar session deletion with open tabs, and
aligns the empty-session composer styling so the pre-message session UI stays
consistent.
Constraint: Fresh desktop sessions need slash-command discovery before the CLI websocket emits system/init
Constraint: Only repository code should be committed; build artifacts, installs, and /tmp smoke fixtures stay out of git
Rejected: Rebuild slash-command listings from full getCommands() in the sessions API | introduced auth-gated command dependencies unrelated to local skill discovery
Rejected: Unify EmptySession and ChatInput into one full component now | higher regression risk for normal chat interactions than a visual-only hero variant
Confidence: high
Scope-risk: moderate
Reversibility: clean
Directive: Keep pre-message skill discovery keyed to session workDir so project-level .claude/skills remain visible before the first turn
Tested: bun test src/server/__tests__/sessions.test.ts; cd desktop && bun run test -- --run src/__tests__/skillsSettings.test.tsx src/components/layout/Sidebar.test.tsx src/__tests__/pages.test.tsx src/pages/ActiveSession.test.tsx; cd desktop && bun run lint
Not-tested: Manual desktop smoke test against the rebuilt .app bundle in the local GUI
