fix(dashboard): template picker defensive fixes (handleApply + vacuous-truth)

[yasinBursali]

✅ Rebased on current main 2026-04-28

#1003 has merged. The PR diff is now exactly the 2-line "Our delta" view below: lib/templates.js (+1 line) and TemplatePicker.jsx (1 line modified).

What

Two small defensive fixes in template-related dashboard code:

• lib/templates.js getTemplateStatus: add early-return if (services.length === 0) return 'available' guarding against [].every(s => s === 'enabled') returning true (vacuous truth). Without this, templates with services: [] get misclassified as 'applied' — silently hidden from the Extensions page (filter drops 'applied') and rendered as a disabled green "Applied" card in the setup wizard added by fix(dashboard,dashboard-api): sentinel-based setup wizard success detection #1003.
• TemplatePicker.jsx handleApply: replace const data = await res.json().catch(() => ({})) with const data = await res.json(). The silent .catch(() => ({})) swallowed malformed server responses and fabricated an empty data object → UI showed a fake "already active" state. The outer try/catch at line 159 already sets setError('Failed to apply template') — letting parse errors bubble there gives users a visible error state.

Our delta

Two files, two lines:

• dashboard/src/lib/templates.js: + if (services.length === 0) return 'available'
• dashboard/src/components/TemplatePicker.jsx: - const data = await res.json().catch(() => ({})) → + const data = await res.json()

Testing

• Verified outer catch (err) { setError(...) } at TemplatePicker.jsx:159 shows a user-visible error path
• Vacuous-truth early-return placed BEFORE the .every() check — empty-services templates now correctly return 'available'
• Pre-commit hooks clean
• ESLint clean on touched files
• Unit tests for these two code paths — filing as a fork follow-up issue (not blocking)

Platform Impact

• All three platforms: browser-side React/JS; dashboard is served via nginx, same behavior on macOS/Linux/Windows (WSL2).

[Lightheartdevs]

Audit follow-up: keep draft and rebase after #1003.

The defensive TemplatePicker/error handling ideas are useful, but #1003 is now on main, and this draft needs to be restacked against that sentinel-based setup flow. Please rebase, keep only the still-needed UI defensive fixes, and rerun the dashboard tests before marking ready.

[yasinBursali]

Rebased on current main (#1003 has merged). Diff collapsed to exactly the 2-line delta the description always promised — lib/templates.js early-return + TemplatePicker.jsx .catch(() => ({})) removal. ESLint clean on touched files. Description updated.