Two selects that never wrote anything, and a queue

The approval card in Auto mode and the missing /effort were one bug. Both
selects hung their hx-patch on an empty sibling form reached by form="…",
and htmx binds a trigger to the annotated element: change fires on the
select and bubbles to its ancestors, which a sibling is not. The live rows
read agent_mode=manual and params_json={} while the browser showed Auto and
Effort: high. policy.py was never involved.

The verb moves onto the control; the empty form stays as value scoping,
which is the half of the CLAUDE.md note that was right. conftest gains
control_named so a test asserts the element carrying the name carries the
verb, rather than asserting the markup that was there throughout.

The composer's highlight was a third instance of the same carelessness in
CSS: .tok-mention is written for the transcript and scoped to nothing, so
the mirror painted its token in accent-coloured monospace over the
textarea's own text. Scoped under .msg; the mirror restates transparency
and font rather than inheriting them, and bleeds by box-shadow.

/effort is now offered before the first prompt and _new_chat reads it.
/index re-walks the project directory on demand, file_write drops the
listing it just invalidated, and the index ladder falls through to SFTP on
a host that refuses exec instead of returning nothing.

A second message during a reply is queued rather than starting a second
concurrent generation: a real Message row with queued set, so it survives a
restart and can be withdrawn. _drain hands one on at the end of a reply,
_inject takes one in at a tool-round boundary so an agent can be steered
mid-task. Stop leaves the queue undelivered. The terminal's Auto toggle
becomes off/copy/send, and send posts straight to the chat without touching
the composer.

@ now offers notes, skills, this chat's attachments and a URL to fetch; a
knowledge base attaches as a reference rather than a copy. copy_document
carries provenance, which was the one attach path that dropped it.

Also fixes an unrelated live bug: the round loop compared against the
global MAX_ROUNDS of 3 while sizing itself from the agent budget of 40, so
agent replies stopped after three rounds and reported forty.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

src/lembas/web/static/css/chat.css

@@ -576,6 +576,24 @@
 .msg:focus-within .msg__actions { opacity: 1; }
 .msg__actions .is-copied { color: var(--success); }
 
+/* --- A turn that is waiting to be sent ------------------------------------
+   Its actions do not fade in on hover like the others: they are the only way
+   to withdraw something that has not happened yet, and a control you have to
+   find by hovering is one somebody will not find. */
+.msg--queued { opacity: 0.75; }
+.msg--queued .msg__body {
+  border-inline-start: 2px dashed var(--border-strong);
+  padding-inline-start: var(--sp-2);
+}
+.msg__actions--queued { opacity: 1; align-items: center; }
+.msg__note {
+  display: inline-flex;
+  align-items: center;
+  gap: var(--sp-1);
+  color: var(--ink-muted);
+  font-size: var(--text-xs);
+}
+
 /* --- Rendered Markdown ---------------------------------------------------- */
 .msg__body > :first-child { margin-top: 0; }
 .msg__body > :last-child { margin-bottom: 0; }
@@ -761,16 +779,32 @@
 .composer__mirror .tok-mention,
 .composer__mirror .tok-command {
   border-radius: var(--radius-sm);
-  /* Bled sideways so the rectangle does not sit hard against the next word,
-     and the negative margin keeps the text metrics identical. */
-  padding: 0 2px;
-  margin: 0 -2px;
+  /* Restated rather than inherited. `color: transparent` on the mirror is an
+     inherited value, and a colour the span declares itself beats it -- which is
+     exactly what the transcript's rule below used to do from across the file,
+     painting the token in accent-coloured mono at 0.95em on top of the
+     textarea's own text. Doubled, and shifted from there on, because the
+     metrics differ. The font must be restated for the same reason. */
+  color: transparent;
+  font: inherit;
+  /* Bled sideways by a shadow, not by padding: a rectangle that spreads cannot
+     move a glyph, and the negative margin that used to do this was the only
+     thing in the mirror that could. */
+  padding: 0;
+  margin: 0;
+}
+.composer__mirror .tok-mention {
+  background: var(--accent-soft);
+  box-shadow: 0 0 0 2px var(--accent-soft);
+}
+.composer__mirror .tok-command {
+  background: var(--leaf-soft);
+  box-shadow: 0 0 0 2px var(--leaf-soft);
 }
-.composer__mirror .tok-mention { background: var(--accent-soft); }
-.composer__mirror .tok-command { background: var(--leaf-soft); }
 
-/* The same two in a sent message, where they are text rather than a backdrop. */
-.tok-mention {
+/* The same two in a sent message, where they are text rather than a backdrop --
+   and scoped to it, because unscoped they also matched the mirror's spans. */
+.msg .tok-mention {
   border-radius: var(--radius-sm);
   padding: 0 2px;
   background: var(--accent-soft);

src/lembas/web/static/js/commands.js

@@ -75,7 +75,11 @@
       name: "effort",
       summary: "How hard a reasoning model should think",
       argument: "low | medium | high",
-      when: function () { return !!chat() && !!el("[data-effort]"); },
+      /* Offered wherever there is a model, not only where the control is.
+         `available()` filters `find()` and `run()` as well as the menu, so a
+         command hidden here is not merely unlisted -- typing it in full stops
+         being a command and gets sent as a message. Better to answer. */
+      when: function () { return !!el('[name="model_id"]'); },
       run: function (rest) { setEffort(rest); }
     },
     {
@@ -115,6 +119,12 @@
           });
       }
     },
+    {
+      name: "index",
+      summary: "Read the project directory again",
+      when: function () { return !!chat() && isAgent(); },
+      run: function () { reindex(); }
+    },
     {
       name: "terminal",
       summary: "Show or hide the terminal",
@@ -163,6 +173,32 @@
     return function () { window.location = url; };
   }
 
+  /* --- Reading the project directory again --------------------------------
+     The listing is cached for five minutes and only ever built when a reply
+     starts, so anything done in the terminal panel -- a checkout, a build --
+     is invisible to it until then. This is the "look again now". */
+  var indexing = false;
+
+  function reindex() {
+    if (indexing) return note("Already reading the project directory.");
+    indexing = true;
+    note("Reading the project directory…");
+    post("/api/chats/" + chat() + "/index")
+      .then(function (response) {
+        return response.json().then(function (body) {
+          return { ok: response.ok, body: body };
+        });
+      })
+      .then(function (result) {
+        if (!result.ok) {
+          return note(result.body.detail || "Could not read the project directory.", "error");
+        }
+        note(result.body.message);
+      })
+      .catch(function () { note("Could not read the project directory.", "error"); })
+      .finally(function () { indexing = false; });
+  }
+
   /* --- Reasoning effort ---------------------------------------------------
      The command drives the same select the composer shows, so there is one
      piece of state and the control updates itself when the command is used. */
@@ -171,7 +207,11 @@
   function setEffort(rest) {
     var select = el("[data-effort]");
     if (!select) {
-      return note("This model is not marked as a reasoning model.", "error");
+      return note(
+        "This model is not marked as a reasoning model, so effort would do " +
+          "nothing. An administrator can mark it on the model's page.",
+        "error"
+      );
     }
     var wanted = (rest || "").trim().toLowerCase();
     if (!wanted) {

src/lembas/web/static/js/composer.js

@@ -273,6 +273,24 @@
     } else if (option.dataset.mentionKnowledge) {
       body.append("document_id", option.dataset.mentionKnowledge);
       attach("/api/files/from-knowledge", body);
+    } else if (option.dataset.mentionNote) {
+      body.append("note_id", option.dataset.mentionNote);
+      attach("/api/files/from-note", body);
+    } else if (option.dataset.mentionSkill) {
+      body.append("skill_id", option.dataset.mentionSkill);
+      attach("/api/files/from-skill", body);
+    } else if (option.dataset.mentionAttachment) {
+      body.append("attachment_id", option.dataset.mentionAttachment);
+      attach("/api/files/from-attachment", body);
+    } else if (option.dataset.mentionUrl) {
+      body.append("url", option.dataset.mentionUrl);
+      attach("/api/files/link", body);
+    } else if (option.dataset.mentionBase) {
+      /* Not an attachment: nothing is copied, and what changes is what this
+         chat is allowed to search. It goes on the chat, so the route is the
+         chat's own. */
+      body.append("base_id", option.dataset.mentionBase);
+      attach("/api/chats/" + where.chatId + "/bases", body);
     }
   }
 

src/lembas/web/static/js/terminal.js

@@ -35,7 +35,11 @@
   /* Whether this shell tells us where commands begin and end -- "live",
      "loading" or "none". Everything the three buttons do keys off it. */
   var integration = "loading";
-  var autoSend = false;
+  /* "off" | "copy" | "send". Three states rather than a boolean, because the
+     old one did the wrong one of them: it appended into the composer, on top of
+     whatever was being typed there. A select rather than a cycling button --
+     a button cannot say which of three states it is in. */
+  var autoMode = "off";
   var lastCommand = null;
 
   function say(text, isError) {
@@ -169,8 +173,12 @@
          and the buttons fetch what they need when they are pressed. */
       if (integration !== "live") { integration = "live"; applyIntegration(); }
       showLast(payload.command);
-      if (autoSend) {
-        capture(true).then(function (text) { intoComposer(text, true); });
+      if (autoMode !== "off") {
+        capture(true).then(function (text) {
+          if (!text) return;
+          if (autoMode === "copy") return intoComposer(text, true);
+          sendStraightToChat(text);
+        });
       }
       return;
     }
@@ -287,10 +295,10 @@
     var usable = integration === "live";
     auto.disabled = !usable;
     auto.title = usable
-      ? "Attach every command you run to your next message"
+      ? "What to do with each command you run"
       : "This shell did not load LLeMbas's command markers, so there is no way " +
         "to tell where one command's output ends.";
-    if (!usable && autoSend) setAuto(false);
+    if (!usable && autoMode !== "off") setAuto("off");
   }
 
   function showLast(command) {
@@ -301,16 +309,32 @@
     slot.textContent = lastCommand ? lastCommand.summary : "";
   }
 
-  function setAuto(on) {
-    autoSend = !!on;
-    var button = panel.querySelector("[data-terminal-auto]");
-    if (button) {
-      button.setAttribute("aria-pressed", autoSend ? "true" : "false");
-      button.classList.toggle("is-active", autoSend);
-    }
-    say(autoSend
-      ? "Every command you run will be attached to your next message."
-      : "Commands are no longer attached automatically.");
+  var AUTO_SAID = {
+    off: "Commands are no longer attached automatically.",
+    copy: "Every command you run will be put into the message box.",
+    send: "Every command you run will be sent as a message on its own."
+  };
+
+  function setAuto(mode) {
+    autoMode = AUTO_SAID[mode] ? mode : "off";
+    var select = panel && panel.querySelector("[data-terminal-auto]");
+    if (select && select.value !== autoMode) select.value = autoMode;
+    say(AUTO_SAID[autoMode]);
+  }
+
+  /* Sent, not typed. The composer is left entirely alone -- somebody may be
+     half-way through a sentence in it, and overwriting that is the complaint
+     this replaces. The thread receives whatever the server decides the message
+     is: a streaming pair, or a single queued bubble if a reply is already being
+     written. Nothing here needs to know which. */
+  function sendStraightToChat(text) {
+    var url = panel.dataset.url.replace(/\/terminal\/ws$/, "/messages");
+    if (!window.htmx) return;
+    window.htmx.ajax("POST", url, {
+      target: "#thread",
+      swap: "beforeend",
+      values: { content: text }
+    });
   }
 
   /* A selection always wins, in every state. People rely on it, and it is the
@@ -427,10 +451,11 @@
         event.preventDefault();
         return copyToClipboard();
       }
-      if (event.target.closest("[data-terminal-auto]")) {
-        event.preventDefault();
-        return setAuto(!autoSend);
-      }
+    });
+
+    panel.addEventListener("change", function (event) {
+      var select = event.target.closest("[data-terminal-auto]");
+      if (select) setAuto(select.value);
     });
 
     /* xterm holds colours as values, not as variables, so a theme change has

src/lembas/web/templates/chat/_base_chip.html

@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+{% from "_macros.html" import icon %}
+{#
+  A knowledge base attached from the `@` menu.
+
+  Deliberately not an attachment chip: nothing was copied and there is no
+  `file_ids` input to submit. The base is already on the chat, and what it does
+  is narrow what `knowledge_search` may see -- so this says so, and says it in
+  the present tense, because it is already in force before the message is sent.
+
+  No remove button. Removing one is a checkbox in the chat's settings, where
+  the whole set is visible at once rather than only whichever was added last.
+#}
+<div class="attach-chip attach-chip--base" id="base-chip-{{ base.id }}">
+  <span class="attach-chip__icon">{{ icon("archive", "icon--sm") }}</span>
+  <span class="attach-chip__body">
+    <span class="attach-chip__name" title="{{ base.name }}">{{ base.name }}</span>
+    <span class="attach-chip__meta">This chat now searches only the bases it is attached to</span>
+  </span>
+</div>

src/lembas/web/templates/chat/_composer.html

@@ -215,10 +215,16 @@
            they were taking a slot in a row that has work to do.
 
            Its own form: nesting one inside the composer's form is invalid HTML
-           and the browser drops the inner one. #}
+           and the browser drops the inner one.
+
+           The verb is on the select, not on that form. htmx binds a trigger to
+           the annotated element itself, and `change` fires here and bubbles
+           through this element's *ancestors* -- which a sibling form is not.
+           `form=` scopes the values, and only the values. #}
         <div class="composer__context">
           <select class="select select--sm" name="agent_mode" aria-label="Approval mode"
-                  form="agent-mode-form">
+                  form="agent-mode-form"
+                  hx-patch="/api/chats/{{ chat.id }}" hx-swap="none">
             {% for value, label, hint in agent_modes %}
             <option value="{{ value }}" title="{{ hint }}"
                     {{ 'selected' if value == chat.agent_mode }}>{{ label }}</option>
@@ -234,17 +240,27 @@
           Only on a model an administrator has marked as **reasoning**: that
           flag has existed since the beginning with no reader at all, and
           offering the control everywhere would be offering a setting that does
-          nothing almost everywhere. Its own form, for the reason the mode has
-          one -- a form cannot nest inside another.
+          nothing almost everywhere.
+
+          On an existing chat it writes on change, and needs the same treatment
+          the mode select gets: the verb on the control, `form=` for the values.
+          Before there is a chat there is nothing to PATCH, so it is an ordinary
+          field of the composer's own form and `_new_chat` reads it -- which is
+          what makes the setting choosable before the first prompt rather than
+          after it.
         #}
-        {% if chat and current_model and current_model.capabilities_json.get("reasoning") %}
+        {% if current_model and current_model.capabilities_json.get("reasoning") %}
         <select class="select select--sm" name="reasoning_effort" data-effort
                 aria-label="Reasoning effort" title="How hard this model should think"
-                form="chat-params-form">
+                {% if chat %}
+                form="chat-params-form"
+                hx-patch="/api/chats/{{ chat.id }}" hx-swap="none"
+                {% endif %}>
+          {% set chosen = chat.params_json.get('reasoning_effort') if chat
+                          else (current_model.params_json or {}).get('reasoning_effort') %}
           <option value="">Effort: default</option>
           {% for value in efforts %}
-          <option value="{{ value }}"
-                  {{ 'selected' if chat.params_json.get('reasoning_effort') == value }}>
+          <option value="{{ value }}" {{ 'selected' if chosen == value }}>
             Effort: {{ value }}
           </option>
           {% endfor %}
@@ -286,17 +302,22 @@
       </div>
     </form>
 
-    {# Outside the composer's form, and referenced by the mode select's `form`
-       attribute above. hx-patch and not hx-post: there is no POST for a chat,
-       only PATCH, and htmx shows nothing when a request 405s -- which is how
-       this control spent its whole life doing nothing. #}
+    {# Outside the composer's form, and referenced by the two selects' `form`
+       attributes above. These carry no htmx of their own: they exist so that
+       `Nt(e)` -- htmx's "which form do the values come from", which reads
+       `e.form` before falling back to `closest("form")` -- resolves to a form
+       holding exactly one control. Without them the PATCH would carry the
+       composer's `content`, `model_id` and `project_dir`, and `update_chat`
+       answers `project_dir` with a 409.
+
+       hx-patch and not hx-post: there is no POST for a chat, only PATCH, and
+       htmx shows nothing when a request 405s -- which is how these controls
+       spent the first half of their lives doing nothing. #}
     {% if chat and chat.kind == "agent" %}
-    <form id="agent-mode-form" hx-patch="/api/chats/{{ chat.id }}" hx-swap="none"
-          hx-trigger="change"></form>
+    <form id="agent-mode-form"></form>
     {% endif %}
     {% if chat %}
-    <form id="chat-params-form" hx-patch="/api/chats/{{ chat.id }}" hx-swap="none"
-          hx-trigger="change"></form>
+    <form id="chat-params-form"></form>
     {% endif %}
 
     <p class="composer__hint">

src/lembas/web/templates/chat/_mention_picker.html

@@ -11,7 +11,8 @@
   all of it is escaped by autoescaping and none of it is marked safe.
 #}
 <div id="mention-results">
-  {% if not files and not documents %}
+  {% if not files and not documents and not notes and not skills
+        and not bases and not attachments and not website %}
   <p class="muted text-sm" style="padding: var(--sp-3)">
     {% if q %}
       Nothing matches “{{ q }}”.
@@ -21,6 +22,22 @@
   </p>
   {% else %}
 
+  {% if website %}
+  <p class="picker__group">A page to read</p>
+  <ul class="picker__list">
+    <li>
+      <button class="picker__option" type="button"
+              data-mention-url="{{ website }}" data-mention-token="{{ website }}">
+        {{ icon("link", "icon--sm") }}
+        <span class="picker__option-body">
+          <span class="picker__option-name">Fetch this page</span>
+          <span class="picker__option-note mono">{{ website }}</span>
+        </span>
+      </button>
+    </li>
+  </ul>
+  {% endif %}
+
   {% if files %}
   <p class="picker__group">In the project</p>
   <ul class="picker__list">
@@ -61,5 +78,82 @@
   </ul>
   {% endif %}
 
+  {% if notes %}
+  <p class="picker__group">Notes</p>
+  <ul class="picker__list">
+    {% for note in notes %}
+    <li>
+      <button class="picker__option" type="button"
+              data-mention-note="{{ note.id }}" data-mention-token="{{ note.title }}">
+        {{ icon("file-text", "icon--sm") }}
+        <span class="picker__option-body">
+          <span class="picker__option-name">{{ note.title }}</span>
+          <span class="picker__option-note">
+            {{ note.body | truncate(70) }}{% if note.owner_id != user.id %} · shared{% endif %}
+          </span>
+        </span>
+      </button>
+    </li>
+    {% endfor %}
+  </ul>
+  {% endif %}
+
+  {% if skills %}
+  <p class="picker__group">Skills</p>
+  <ul class="picker__list">
+    {% for skill in skills %}
+    <li>
+      <button class="picker__option" type="button"
+              data-mention-skill="{{ skill.id }}" data-mention-token="{{ skill.name }}">
+        {{ icon("sparkle", "icon--sm") }}
+        <span class="picker__option-body">
+          <span class="picker__option-name mono">{{ skill.name }}</span>
+          <span class="picker__option-note">{{ skill.description }}</span>
+        </span>
+      </button>
+    </li>
+    {% endfor %}
+  </ul>
+  {% endif %}
+
+  {% if bases %}
+  {# A base is a reference and not a copy: choosing one narrows what this chat
+     may search rather than putting anything into the message. #}
+  <p class="picker__group">Search only these</p>
+  <ul class="picker__list">
+    {% for base in bases %}
+    <li>
+      <button class="picker__option" type="button"
+              data-mention-base="{{ base.id }}" data-mention-token="{{ base.name }}">
+        {{ icon("archive", "icon--sm") }}
+        <span class="picker__option-body">
+          <span class="picker__option-name">{{ base.name }}</span>
+          <span class="picker__option-note">Scope this chat to this knowledge base</span>
+        </span>
+      </button>
+    </li>
+    {% endfor %}
+  </ul>
+  {% endif %}
+
+  {% if attachments %}
+  <p class="picker__group">Already in this chat</p>
+  <ul class="picker__list">
+    {% for attachment in attachments %}
+    <li>
+      <button class="picker__option" type="button"
+              data-mention-attachment="{{ attachment.id }}"
+              data-mention-token="{{ attachment.filename }}">
+        {{ icon("attach", "icon--sm") }}
+        <span class="picker__option-body">
+          <span class="picker__option-name">{{ attachment.filename }}</span>
+          <span class="picker__option-note">{{ attachment.human_size }}</span>
+        </span>
+      </button>
+    </li>
+    {% endfor %}
+  </ul>
+  {% endif %}
+
   {% endif %}
 </div>

src/lembas/web/templates/chat/_message.html

@@ -13,8 +13,16 @@
   escaped plain text for everyone else.
 #}
 {% set streaming = (message.role == "assistant" and not message.complete) %}
+{#
+  Typed while the previous reply was still being written, and not yet handed to
+  a model. It is in the transcript and it is not in the request. It must never
+  carry `sse-connect` -- a queued turn with a streaming shell on it would be the
+  second concurrent reply the queue exists to prevent.
+#}
+{% set queued = (message.role == "user" and message.queued) %}
 
-<article class="msg msg--{{ message.role }}" id="msg-{{ message.id }}"
+<article class="msg msg--{{ message.role }}{{ ' msg--queued' if queued }}"
+         id="msg-{{ message.id }}"
   {% if streaming %}
          hx-ext="sse"
          sse-connect="/api/chats/{{ chat.id }}/messages/{{ message.id }}/stream"
@@ -210,7 +218,24 @@
     </div>
     {% endif %}
 
-    {% if not streaming %}
+    {% if queued %}
+    {# Nothing has been sent to any model. Both buttons sit on the bubble they
+       act on rather than in a toast somewhere, and Edit is deliberately absent:
+       editing rewinds and then starts a reply, which on a row you can press
+       while another reply is streaming is a second concurrent generation behind
+       a pencil. Discard and retype is the honest affordance. #}
+    <footer class="msg__actions msg__actions--queued">
+      <span class="msg__note">{{ icon("clock", "icon--sm") }} Waiting to be sent</span>
+      <button class="btn btn--sm" type="button"
+              hx-post="/api/chats/{{ chat.id }}/messages/{{ message.id }}/send-now"
+              hx-target="#thread" hx-swap="innerHTML">Send now</button>
+      <button class="btn btn--sm" type="button"
+              hx-post="/api/chats/{{ chat.id }}/messages/{{ message.id }}/discard"
+              hx-target="#msg-{{ message.id }}" hx-swap="outerHTML"
+              data-confirm-button="Discard this message?">Discard</button>
+    </footer>
+    <div hidden id="msg-body-{{ message.id }}">{{ message.content }}</div>
+    {% elif not streaming %}
     <footer class="msg__actions">
       <button class="btn btn--icon btn--sm" type="button"
               data-copy="msg-body-{{ message.id }}" aria-label="Copy message">

src/lembas/web/templates/chat/_terminal.html

@@ -50,12 +50,21 @@
             aria-label="Send to chat">
       {{ icon("arrow-up", "icon--sm") }}
     </button>
-    <button class="btn btn--icon btn--sm" type="button" data-terminal-auto
-            aria-pressed="false"
-            title="Attach every command you run to your next message"
-            aria-label="Send every command automatically">
-      {{ icon("sparkle", "icon--sm") }}
-    </button>
+    {#
+      Three states, not two. A cycling icon button cannot say which of three it
+      is in, and this one decides whether things are sent to a model without
+      being asked again -- so it says so in words.
+
+      Not remembered between page loads on purpose: a switch that forwards every
+      command you run to a model is not something to inherit from last week.
+    #}
+    <select class="select select--sm" data-terminal-auto
+            aria-label="What to do when a command finishes"
+            title="What to do with each command you run">
+      <option value="off" selected>Auto: off</option>
+      <option value="copy">Auto: copy</option>
+      <option value="send">Auto: send</option>
+    </select>
     <button class="btn btn--icon btn--sm" type="button" data-toggle="#terminal"
             aria-label="Close terminal">
       {{ icon("x", "icon--sm") }}