fix(server,workflows,web): surface bundled defaults on /api/workflows when no project context

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ Workflow marketplace, expanded setup wizard, and broad Pi/workflow engine fixes.
 - **Pi concurrency + error surfacing**: SDK error messages now surface to the user instead of being masked, and Pi concurrency is capped to prevent cascade failures (#1572).
 - Chat hydration shows newest messages instead of oldest (#1532).
 - `GET /api/workflows/:name` now resolves home-scoped (`~/.archon/workflows/`) workflows that were previously invisible to the Web UI builder (#1405).
+- `GET /api/workflows` no longer returns an empty array when no `cwd` query param is provided and no codebases are registered — bundled and home-scoped workflows now surface correctly on first run, making the workflow picker functional on first launch before any project is registered (#1173).
 - `archon workflow run` propagates `$ARTIFACTS_DIR`, `$LOG_DIR`, `$BASE_BRANCH` to script-node subprocesses (#1640).
 - `archon-assist` now runs in the live checkout (`worktree.enabled: false`) — closes #1546 (#1555).
 - Bundled `opus[1m]` implement nodes now set `provider: claude` explicitly (#1622).

packages/docs-web/src/content/docs/reference/api.md

@@ -204,6 +204,8 @@ curl http://localhost:3090/api/workflows
 Query parameters:
 - `cwd` (optional) -- Working directory to discover project-specific workflows
 
+When `cwd` is omitted, Archon returns bundled default workflows and any from `~/.archon/workflows/` (home-scoped). Project-specific workflows require either the `cwd` query param or a registered codebase, so the endpoint is useful on first launch before any project is registered.
+
 Returns `{ workflows: [...], errors?: [...] }`. The `errors` array contains any YAML parsing failures encountered during discovery.
 
 #### Get a Workflow

packages/server/src/routes/api.ts

@@ -1760,7 +1760,7 @@ export function registerApiRoutes(
   registerOpenApiRoute(getWorkflowsRoute, async c => {
     try {
       const cwd = c.req.query('cwd');
-      let workingDir = cwd;
+      let workingDir: string | undefined = cwd;
 
       // Validate caller-supplied cwd against registered codebase paths
       if (cwd) {
@@ -1775,11 +1775,11 @@ export function registerApiRoutes(
         }
       }
 
-      if (!workingDir) {
-        return c.json({ workflows: [] });
-      }
-
-      const result = await discoverWorkflowsWithConfig(workingDir, loadConfig);
+      // No project context (no cwd query param and no registered codebases) —
+      // pass null to discovery so it returns bundled + home-scoped workflows.
+      // This avoids a misleading empty state on first run, before any project
+      // is registered, when bundled defaults are present
+      const result = await discoverWorkflowsWithConfig(workingDir ?? null, loadConfig);
       return c.json({
         workflows: result.workflows.map(ws => ({ workflow: ws.workflow, source: ws.source })),
         errors: result.errors.length > 0 ? result.errors : undefined,

packages/server/src/routes/api.workflows.test.ts

@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ function createTestApp(): OpenAPIHono {
   return new OpenAPIHono({ defaultHook: validationErrorHook });
 }
 
-const mockDiscoverWorkflows = mock(async (_cwd: string) => ({
+const mockDiscoverWorkflows = mock(async (_cwd: string | null) => ({
   workflows: [makeTestWorkflowWithSource({ name: 'deploy', description: 'Deploy app' }, 'bundled')],
   errors: [
     { filename: '/tmp/.archon/workflows/bad.md', error: 'invalid', errorType: 'parse_error' },
@@ -120,6 +120,30 @@ describe('GET /api/workflows', () => {
     expect(body.errors).toBeDefined();
     expect(Array.isArray(body.errors)).toBe(true);
   });
+
+  test('falls back to null cwd when no cwd query and no codebases registered', async () => {
+    const app = createTestApp();
+    registerApiRoutes(app, {} as WebAdapter, {} as ConversationLockManager);
+
+    // No registered codebases → handler should call discovery with null cwd
+    // so bundled + home-scoped workflows still surface.
+    mockListCodebases.mockImplementationOnce(async () => []);
+
+    const response = await app.request('/api/workflows');
+    expect(response.status).toBe(200);
+
+    const body = (await response.json()) as {
+      workflows: Array<{ workflow: { name: string }; source: string }>;
+    };
+
+    // Discovery is invoked with null (not skipped), so bundled defaults can surface.
+    expect(mockDiscoverWorkflows).toHaveBeenLastCalledWith(null, expect.any(Function));
+    // The mocked discovery returns one bundled workflow regardless of cwd, so the
+    // response is non-empty — proving the handler no longer short-circuits on no-cwd.
+    expect(Array.isArray(body.workflows)).toBe(true);
+    expect(body.workflows.length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+    expect(body.workflows[0]?.source).toBe('bundled');
+  });
 });
 
 describe('POST /api/workflows/validate', () => {

packages/web/src/components/workflows/WorkflowList.tsx

@@ -174,8 +174,24 @@ export function WorkflowList(): React.ReactElement {
         {/* Workflow grid */}
         {!hasWorkflows ? (
           <div className="text-sm text-text-secondary">
-            No workflows found. Add workflow definitions to{' '}
-            <code className="text-xs bg-surface-inset px-1 py-0.5 rounded">.archon/workflows/</code>
+            {localProjectId ? (
+              <>
+                No workflows found in this project. Add workflow definitions to{' '}
+                <code className="text-xs bg-surface-inset px-1 py-0.5 rounded">
+                  .archon/workflows/
+                </code>{' '}
+                in the project root.
+              </>
+            ) : (
+              <>
+                No workflows are available. Bundled defaults should appear here automatically; if
+                they do not, check that{' '}
+                <code className="text-xs bg-surface-inset px-1 py-0.5 rounded">
+                  defaults.loadDefaultWorkflows
+                </code>{' '}
+                is enabled in your config.
+              </>
+            )}
           </div>
         ) : filteredWorkflows.length === 0 ? (
           <div className="text-sm text-text-secondary py-8 text-center">

packages/workflows/src/loader.test.ts

@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ import { registerBuiltinProviders, clearRegistry } from '@archon/providers';
 clearRegistry();
 registerBuiltinProviders();
 
-import { discoverWorkflows } from './workflow-discovery';
+import { discoverWorkflows, discoverWorkflowsWithConfig } from './workflow-discovery';
 import { isBashNode, isCancelNode, isLoopNode } from './schemas';
 import * as bundledDefaults from './defaults/bundled-defaults';
 
@@ -2512,4 +2512,47 @@ nodes:
       expect(mockLogger.warn).toHaveBeenCalled();
     });
   });
+
+  describe('discoverWorkflows with null cwd (no project context)', () => {
+    it('skips project scope and returns no project-source workflows', async () => {
+      // When no codebase is registered the LIST endpoint passes null so bundled
+      // + home scopes can still surface. Discovery must not attempt to read a
+      // cwd-derived path and must not produce project-source entries.
+      const result = await discoverWorkflows(null, { loadDefaults: false });
+
+      // loadDefaults:false skips bundled and a clean test env has no home-
+      // scoped workflows, so the full result must be empty — without this the
+      // test would pass even if a stray project-path read were silently injected.
+      expect(result.workflows).toHaveLength(0);
+
+      const projectSourced = result.workflows.filter(w => w.source === 'project');
+      expect(projectSourced).toHaveLength(0);
+
+      // No project-step file/dir read errors — we never tried to access a project path.
+      const readErrors = result.errors.filter(e => e.errorType === 'read_error');
+      expect(readErrors).toHaveLength(0);
+    });
+
+    it('still loads bundled defaults when loadDefaults:true and cwd is null', async () => {
+      const result = await discoverWorkflows(null, { loadDefaults: true });
+
+      // No project-source entries (project step skipped).
+      const projectSourced = result.workflows.filter(w => w.source === 'project');
+      expect(projectSourced).toHaveLength(0);
+
+      // Bundled-source entries must surface — without this assertion the test
+      // would silently pass even if the bundled-defaults loader regressed.
+      const bundledSourced = result.workflows.filter(w => w.source === 'bundled');
+      expect(bundledSourced.length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+    });
+
+    it('discoverWorkflowsWithConfig does not call loadConfig when cwd is null', async () => {
+      // The per-project config opt-out must not be evaluated when there is no
+      // project context — running loadConfig with no cwd would silently apply
+      // home-dir or working-dir defaults to a request that has neither.
+      const mockLoadConfig = mock(async () => ({ defaults: { loadDefaultWorkflows: true } }));
+      await discoverWorkflowsWithConfig(null, mockLoadConfig);
+      expect(mockLoadConfig).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    });
+  });
 });

packages/workflows/src/workflow-discovery.ts

@@ -192,6 +192,8 @@ function loadBundledWorkflows(): DirLoadResult {
  *   2. Home-scoped `~/.archon/workflows/` — classified as `source: 'global'`.
  *      No caller option: every caller gets home-scoped discovery for free.
  *   3. Repo-scoped `<cwd>/.archon/workflows/` — classified as `source: 'project'`.
+ *      Skipped when `cwd` is `null` (no project context — e.g. fresh deployment
+ *      where no codebase has been registered yet).
  *
  * When running as a compiled binary, bundled defaults are loaded from embedded
  * content. In source/dev mode they're loaded from the filesystem.
@@ -201,7 +203,7 @@ function loadBundledWorkflows(): DirLoadResult {
  * location is not read — users must migrate manually.
  */
 export async function discoverWorkflows(
-  cwd: string,
+  cwd: string | null,
   options?: { loadDefaults?: boolean }
 ): Promise<WorkflowLoadResult> {
   // Map of filename -> workflow+source for deduplication
@@ -274,7 +276,18 @@ export async function discoverWorkflows(
     }
   }
 
-  // 3. Load from repo's workflow folder (overrides app defaults AND home scope by exact filename)
+  // 3. Load from repo's workflow folder (overrides app defaults AND home scope by exact filename).
+  // Skipped when cwd is null — surfaces bundled + home scopes only, which is the right answer
+  // for callers without a project context (e.g. UI listing workflows before any codebase is registered).
+  if (cwd === null) {
+    const workflows = Array.from(workflowsByFile.values());
+    getLog().info(
+      { count: workflows.length, errorCount: allErrors.length, scope: 'no_project_context' },
+      'workflows_discovery_completed'
+    );
+    return { workflows, errors: allErrors };
+  }
+
   const [workflowFolder] = archonPaths.getWorkflowFolderSearchPaths();
   const workflowPath = join(cwd, workflowFolder);
 
@@ -353,20 +366,26 @@ export async function discoverWorkflows(
  * Wraps discoverWorkflows with the standard pattern: try loadConfig to read
  * defaults.loadDefaultWorkflows, fall back to true on config load failure.
  * Logs config failures at warn level for observability.
+ *
+ * When `cwd` is `null` (no project context), `loadConfig` is not invoked and
+ * `loadDefaults` keeps its initial value of `true`. The per-project opt-out
+ * is a project-scoped setting; without a project there is no config to read.
  */
 export async function discoverWorkflowsWithConfig(
-  cwd: string,
+  cwd: string | null,
   loadConfig: (cwd: string) => Promise<{ defaults?: { loadDefaultWorkflows?: boolean } }>
 ): Promise<WorkflowLoadResult> {
   let loadDefaults = true;
-  try {
-    const cfg = await loadConfig(cwd);
-    loadDefaults = cfg.defaults?.loadDefaultWorkflows ?? true;
-  } catch (error) {
-    getLog().warn(
-      { err: error as Error, cwd },
-      'config_load_failed_using_default_workflow_discovery'
-    );
+  if (cwd !== null) {
+    try {
+      const cfg = await loadConfig(cwd);
+      loadDefaults = cfg.defaults?.loadDefaultWorkflows ?? true;
+    } catch (error) {
+      getLog().warn(
+        { err: error as Error, cwd },
+        'config_load_failed_using_default_workflow_discovery'
+      );
+    }
   }
   return discoverWorkflows(cwd, { loadDefaults });
 }