feat(agent-cockpit): replace bottom-panel dashboard with inline per-card agents list (#1251)

Co-authored-by: Orca <help@stably.ai>

Author: brennanb2025

src/main/codex-accounts/runtime-home-service.test.ts

@@ -64,7 +64,6 @@ function createSettings(overrides: Partial<GlobalSettings> = {}): GlobalSettings
     openLinksInApp: false,
     rightSidebarOpenByDefault: true,
     showTitlebarAgentActivity: true,
-    showAgentDashboard: true,
     showTaskProviderIcons: true,
     diffDefaultView: 'inline',
     notifications: {

src/main/codex-accounts/service.test.ts

@@ -58,7 +58,6 @@ function createSettings(overrides: Partial<GlobalSettings> = {}): GlobalSettings
     openLinksInApp: false,
     rightSidebarOpenByDefault: true,
     showTitlebarAgentActivity: true,
-    showAgentDashboard: true,
     showTaskProviderIcons: true,
     diffDefaultView: 'inline',
     notifications: {

src/main/index.ts

@@ -341,15 +341,15 @@ app.whenReady().then(async () => {
   nativeTheme.themeSource = store.getSettings().theme ?? 'system'
   // Why: managed hook installation mutates user-global agent config.
   // Startup must fail open so a malformed local config never bricks Orca.
-  // Claude/Codex/Gemini installs are gated behind the experimental
-  // Agent Dashboard setting because the surface they feed (the in-progress
-  // agent dashboard) isn't shippable yet. Cursor installs unconditionally
-  // because cursor-agent emits no title-based working/idle signal at all
-  // (its terminal title stays literally "Cursor Agent" across a turn), so
-  // the hook channel is the only way to drive the sidebar spinner + unread
-  // path for it — there is no "pre-dashboard" fallback to degrade to the
-  // way Claude/Codex have. Toggling the setting takes effect on next launch
-  // because the hook scripts are installed once per boot.
+  // Claude/Codex/Gemini installs are gated behind the experimentalAgentDashboard
+  // setting because the feature they feed (the inline agent-activity list) is
+  // still in preview. Cursor installs unconditionally because cursor-agent
+  // emits no title-based working/idle signal at all (its terminal title stays
+  // literally "Cursor Agent" across a turn), so the hook channel is the only
+  // way to drive the sidebar spinner + unread path for it — there is no
+  // title-based fallback the way Claude/Codex have. Toggling the setting
+  // takes effect on next launch because the hook scripts are installed once
+  // per boot.
   const agentDashboardEnabled = store.getSettings().experimentalAgentDashboard === true
   if (agentDashboardEnabled) {
     for (const installManagedHooks of [

src/main/ipc/app.ts

@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ export type AppRuntimeFlags = {
   /** Whether the experimental agent dashboard setting was enabled when this
    *  session booted. When true, Claude/Codex/Gemini managed hook installation
    *  was attempted at startup (individual install failures are logged but do
-   *  not flip this flag — the dashboard UI itself treats missing hooks as
+   *  not flip this flag — the inline agents list treats missing hooks as
    *  no-ops). Toggling the setting only affects hook installation on the next
    *  launch, so the renderer compares this against the current setting to
    *  decide whether a "restart required" banner needs to be shown. */

src/main/rate-limits/gemini-usage-fetcher.test.ts

@@ -202,9 +202,7 @@ describe('fetchGeminiRateLimits', () => {
         return Promise.resolve(makeResponse(quotaResponse))
       }
       if (url.includes('token')) {
-        return Promise.resolve(
-          makeResponse({ access_token: 'retried-token', expires_in: 3600 })
-        )
+        return Promise.resolve(makeResponse({ access_token: 'retried-token', expires_in: 3600 }))
       }
       if (url.includes('loadCodeAssist')) {
         return Promise.resolve(makeResponse({ cloudaicompanionProject: 'proj-123' }))

src/renderer/src/App.tsx

@@ -139,6 +139,13 @@ function App(): React.JSX.Element {
   const rightSidebarOpen = useAppStore((s) => s.rightSidebarOpen)
   const isFullScreen = useAppStore((s) => s.isFullScreen)
   const settings = useAppStore((s) => s.settings)
+  // Why: render-level gate for the experimental agent dashboard retention
+  // sync. Reading the flag here (rather than only inside useDashboardData /
+  // useRetainedAgentsSync) lets us skip mounting RetainedAgentsSyncGate
+  // entirely for non-toggled users, which drops all feature-tied
+  // subscriptions (agentStatusByPaneKey, agentStatusEpoch, etc.) instead of
+  // keeping them alive behind an early-return inside the hook bodies.
+  const agentDashboardEnabled = useAppStore((s) => s.settings?.experimentalAgentDashboard === true)
   const canGoBackWorktree = useAppStore(canGoBackWorktreeHistory)
   const canGoForwardWorktree = useAppStore(canGoForwardWorktreeHistory)
   const titlebarLeftControlsRef = useRef<HTMLDivElement | null>(null)
@@ -147,10 +154,10 @@ function App(): React.JSX.Element {
 
   // Subscribe to IPC push events
   useIpcEvents()
-  // Why: retention must run at App level (not inside AgentDashboard) because
-  // the sidebar hovercard also reads retained entries. If retention only ran
-  // when the dashboard is mounted, "done" agents would vanish from the hover
-  // any time the user collapses the dashboard panel.
+  // Why: retention must run at App level so the inline per-card agents list
+  // always sees retained entries. If retention ran inside the sidebar-card
+  // subtree, "done" agents would vanish any time the user collapsed a card's
+  // inline agents section.
   //
   // The retention hooks are hosted inside <RetainedAgentsSyncGate /> (a leaf
   // component that renders null) rather than being called inline here.
@@ -159,10 +166,17 @@ function App(): React.JSX.Element {
   // event frequency), re-rendering the entire app tree on every agent status
   // update. Hosting the subscriptions in a leaf isolates that churn.
   //
-  // The experimentalAgentDashboard gate still lives inside the hooks
-  // themselves (useDashboardData early-returns [] from its memo;
-  // useRetainedAgentsSync early-returns from its effect), so the gate
-  // component is cheap when the setting is off.
+  // The render-level gate on <RetainedAgentsSyncGate /> (see
+  // agentDashboardEnabled above) keeps the experimental feature fully dark
+  // for non-toggled users: without the gate mounted, none of its feature-tied
+  // zustand selectors (agentStatusByPaneKey / agentStatusEpoch / etc.) are
+  // ever subscribed, so PTY agent-status events cause zero work for them.
+  //
+  // The inner hook guards (useDashboardData early-returns [] from its memo;
+  // useRetainedAgentsSync early-returns from its effect) remain as
+  // defense-in-depth: they keep both hooks safe to call from any future
+  // callsite, and they handle the in-session off→on toggle transition
+  // cleanly without relying on a remount race when the setting flips.
   // Why: git conflict-operation state also drives the worktree cards. Polling
   // cannot live under RightSidebar because App unmounts that subtree when the
   // sidebar is closed, which leaves stale "Rebasing"/"Merging" badges behind
@@ -926,10 +940,16 @@ function App(): React.JSX.Element {
       }
     >
       <TooltipProvider delayDuration={400}>
-        {/* Why: leaf-mounted retention sync. Hosts useDashboardData() +
-            useRetainedAgentsSync() so their high-churn store subscriptions
-            re-render a null component rather than the entire App tree. */}
-        <RetainedAgentsSyncGate />
+        {/* Why: leaf-mounted retention sync, gated at the render level by
+            agentDashboardEnabled. Hosting useDashboardData() +
+            useRetainedAgentsSync() inside a null-rendering leaf keeps their
+            high-churn store subscriptions from re-rendering the App tree;
+            the outer conditional drops those subscriptions entirely for
+            users who have not toggled the experimental agent dashboard on,
+            so PTY agent-status events do no feature-tied work for them.
+            The hooks' internal early-returns remain as defense-in-depth
+            (see the comment above useIpcEvents()). */}
+        {agentDashboardEnabled ? <RetainedAgentsSyncGate /> : null}
         {/* Why: in workspace view (split groups always enabled), the full-width
             titlebar is removed so tab groups + terminal extend to the top of
             the window. Left titlebar controls move to a header above the sidebar.