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Agent tab strip & transcript usability improvements - #11

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DevMando merged 1 commit into
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feature/tab-strip-and-transcript-usability
Jul 21, 2026
Merged

Agent tab strip & transcript usability improvements#11
DevMando merged 1 commit into
mainfrom
feature/tab-strip-and-transcript-usability

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Summary

A round of usability polish for two everyday surfaces in the desktop app: the agent tab strip at the top and the chat transcript. No changes to model behavior, data handling, or the core chat flow — this is about making the app easier to navigate and read, especially when a user has many agents open or the assistant produces large outputs.

Agent tab strip

  • Right-sized tabs. Tabs are a comfortable width when there's room and only shrink as more agents are opened; past that point the strip scrolls (mouse wheel, touch, or scrollbar). Previously tabs were always small.
  • No more overlapping scrollbar. The scrollbar now sits in its own reserved lane instead of drawing on top of the tabs.
  • Clearer structure. Added subtle dividers separating the brand, the tabs, and the add button, with the header aligned to the tabs.
  • Always-reachable "New agent" button. The add-agent action is now a permanent, labeled button pinned to the far right, so it never scrolls out of reach when many agents are open.
  • Follows the active agent. Creating or selecting an agent scrolls that tab fully into view, so the selected agent is never hidden off-screen.
  • Wording. The per-tab menu item now reads "Close agent" (was "Close tab"), matching the app's "agent" language.

Transcript

  • Collapsible large panels. Long diffs and command output collapse to a short preview with an Expand/Collapse control, so a big file write no longer fills the screen and forces endless scrolling.
  • Quieter web results. Web search/fetch result previews are hidden behind an Expand toggle to cut down on noise.
  • Theme-consistent diffs. The approval/plan diff preview now uses the active theme's colors instead of a hardcoded blue (it previously looked out of place on non-default themes).

Risk / scope

  • Low risk, presentation-layer only. Changes are limited to layout and rendering in the desktop UI; no new dependencies.
  • Builds clean (0 warnings, 0 errors).
  • Existing behaviors (selecting/closing agents, chat background, window opacity, approvals) are unchanged aside from the layout/wording noted above.

Verification

  • Manually exercised: opening many agents (sizing, scrolling, chevron-free scrollbar, permanent add button), creating/selecting agents (auto-scroll into view), collapsing/expanding large diffs, and toggling web-result previews.

Usability polish for the agent tab strip and the chat transcript.

Tab strip:
- Tabs size comfortably when there's room and only shrink as more
  agents open, then scroll (mouse wheel / scrollbar) past that.
- Scrollbar sits in its own lane so it no longer overlaps the tabs.
- Added brand/tabs/add-button dividers and aligned the header.
- The "add agent" action is now a permanent, labeled button pinned
  far right, so it never scrolls out of reach.
- Creating or selecting an agent scrolls that tab fully into view.
- Renamed the tab menu item "Close tab" to "Close agent".

Transcript:
- Long diff/output panels collapse to a short preview with an
  Expand/Collapse control, so large writes don't force endless
  scrolling.
- Web search/fetch result previews are hidden behind an Expand
  toggle to reduce noise.
- Approval/plan diff colors now follow the active theme instead of
  a hardcoded blue.
@DevMando
DevMando merged commit b6c532c into main Jul 21, 2026
1 check passed
@DevMando
DevMando deleted the feature/tab-strip-and-transcript-usability branch July 21, 2026 02:49
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