fix: prefer managed uv in MCP stdio command resolver

After #37660, Hermes owns its own uv/uvx at $HERMES_HOME/bin/. The MCP resolver's candidate list for bare uv/uvx commands must check this location before falling back to ~/.local/bin, /opt/homebrew/bin, etc., so MCP servers use the same managed uv as the CLI update path. Adds test_resolve_stdio_command_prefers_managed_uv to verify ordering against a stale ~/.local/bin/uv.
fix(tools): resolve uv/uvx MCP commands under GUI-style PATHs (fixes #37589 )
2026-06-02 18:47:06 -04:00 · 2026-06-03 00:43:37 +03:00 · 2026-06-02 16:51:44 -04:00 · 2026-06-02 16:33:22 -04:00 · 2026-06-02 20:23:09 +00:00 · 2026-06-02 12:49:19 -07:00
67 changed files with 2828 additions and 2346 deletions
@@ -1891,6 +1891,7 @@ def _seed_from_singletons(provider: str, entries: List[PooledCredential]) -> Tup
        # via `hermes auth openai-codex`.
        if isinstance(tokens, dict) and tokens.get("access_token"):
            active_sources.add("device_code")
+            custom_label = str(state.get("label") or "").strip()
            changed |= _upsert_entry(
                entries,
                provider,
@@ -1902,7 +1903,7 @@ def _seed_from_singletons(provider: str, entries: List[PooledCredential]) -> Tup
                    "refresh_token": tokens.get("refresh_token"),
                    "base_url": "https://chatgpt.com/backend-api/codex",
                    "last_refresh": state.get("last_refresh"),
-                    "label": label_from_token(tokens.get("access_token", ""), "device_code"),
+                    "label": custom_label or label_from_token(tokens.get("access_token", ""), "device_code"),
                },
            )

@@ -6,16 +6,42 @@ gateway/cron startup). The local-CLI backend deliberately leaves it unset and
 relies on the launch dir. Reading it in one place keeps the system prompt, the
 tool surfaces, and context-file discovery agreeing on where the agent lives.

-The #29531 per-session extension point is this function: a future PR adds a
-contextvar arm inside `resolve_agent_cwd` and `.set()`s it at the
-`set_session_vars` seam — by design, not a reopening hazard.
+Multi-session gateways can pin a logical cwd via the `_SESSION_CWD`
+contextvar; CLI/cron fall through to `TERMINAL_CWD`/launch cwd.
 """

 import os
+from contextvars import ContextVar, Token
 from pathlib import Path
+from typing import Any
+
+_UNSET: Any = object()
+
+_SESSION_CWD: ContextVar = ContextVar("HERMES_SESSION_CWD", default=_UNSET)
+
+
+def set_session_cwd(cwd: str | None) -> Token:
+    """Pin the logical cwd for the current context."""
+    return _SESSION_CWD.set((cwd or "").strip())
+
+
+def clear_session_cwd() -> None:
+    _SESSION_CWD.set("")
+
+
+def _session_cwd_override() -> str:
+    value = _SESSION_CWD.get()
+    if value is _UNSET:
+        return ""
+    return str(value).strip()


 def resolve_agent_cwd() -> Path:
+    override = _session_cwd_override()
+    if override:
+        p = Path(override).expanduser()
+        if p.is_dir():
+            return p
    raw = os.environ.get("TERMINAL_CWD", "").strip()
    if raw:
        p = Path(raw).expanduser()
@@ -27,7 +53,10 @@ def resolve_agent_cwd() -> Path:
 def resolve_context_cwd() -> Path | None:
    # None means "no configured cwd": build_context_files_prompt then falls back
    # to the launch dir (os.getcwd()) — correct for the local CLI. The gateway
-    # avoids slurping its install dir by setting TERMINAL_CWD (see system_prompt.py).
-    # No getcwd arm here: that fallback is owned by the caller, not this resolver.
+    # avoids slurping its install dir by setting TERMINAL_CWD (see system_prompt.py)
+    # or, per session, the _SESSION_CWD contextvar above.
+    override = _session_cwd_override()
+    if override:
+        return Path(override).expanduser()
    raw = os.environ.get("TERMINAL_CWD", "").strip()
    return Path(raw).expanduser() if raw else None
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
  <head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8" />
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
-    <title>Hermes Setup</title>
+    <title>Hermes</title>
  </head>
  <body class="h-full antialiased">
    <div id="root" class="h-full"></div>
@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@ pub async fn launch_hermes_desktop(
 /// Walks the well-known electron-builder unpacked-app paths under
 /// `install_root`. Mirrors the resolver in `cmd_gui` (apps/desktop/release/
 /// <os>-unpacked/<exe>).
-fn resolve_hermes_desktop_exe(install_root: &std::path::Path) -> Option<PathBuf> {
+pub(crate) fn resolve_hermes_desktop_exe(install_root: &std::path::Path) -> Option<PathBuf> {
    let release_dir = install_root.join("apps").join("desktop").join("release");
    let candidates: &[(&str, &str)] = if cfg!(target_os = "windows") {
        &[
@@ -232,6 +232,35 @@ fn resolve_hermes_desktop_exe(install_root: &std::path::Path) -> Option<PathBuf>
    None
 }

+/// True when a prior install completed (bootstrap-complete marker present) AND a
+/// launchable desktop app exists on disk. Used by the installer's launcher fast
+/// path so a bare re-open just opens Hermes instead of re-running setup.
+pub(crate) fn hermes_is_installed(install_root: &std::path::Path) -> bool {
+    install_root.join(".hermes-bootstrap-complete").exists()
+        && resolve_hermes_desktop_exe(install_root).is_some()
+}
+
+/// Spawn the already-built desktop app, detached. Returns Err if no built app
+/// exists or the spawn fails, so the caller can fall back to showing the
+/// installer UI.
+pub(crate) fn spawn_installed_desktop(install_root: &std::path::Path) -> std::io::Result<()> {
+    let exe = resolve_hermes_desktop_exe(install_root).ok_or_else(|| {
+        std::io::Error::new(std::io::ErrorKind::NotFound, "no built Hermes desktop app")
+    })?;
+    let mut cmd = std::process::Command::new(&exe);
+    cmd.current_dir(exe.parent().unwrap_or(install_root));
+    #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
+    {
+        use std::os::windows::process::CommandExt;
+        // DETACHED_PROCESS = 0x00000008 — keep the desktop alive after the
+        // installer exits, mirroring launch_hermes_desktop. Kept correct here
+        // even though the only caller is macOS-gated today, so future reuse on
+        // Windows doesn't reintroduce the relaunch race.
+        cmd.creation_flags(0x0000_0008);
+    }
+    cmd.spawn().map(|_child| ())
+}
+
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // Bootstrap implementation
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -50,6 +50,20 @@ impl AppMode {
    }
 }

+/// Returns true when the args request a forced installer UI (repair/reinstall)
+/// via `--reinstall` or `--repair`, which overrides the macOS launcher
+/// fast-path so a broken install can be repaired. Arg-iterator generic so it's
+/// unit-testable, mirroring `AppMode::from_args`. Independent of mode selection:
+/// these flags never flip Install<->Update.
+pub fn force_setup_from_args<I, S>(args: I) -> bool
+where
+    I: IntoIterator<Item = S>,
+    S: AsRef<str>,
+{
+    args.into_iter()
+        .any(|a| a.as_ref() == "--reinstall" || a.as_ref() == "--repair")
+}
+
 /// Process-wide install state, shared across Tauri commands.
 ///
 /// The bootstrap is a one-shot, single-tenant process — we only need one
@@ -85,7 +99,11 @@ pub fn run() {
    let _guard = paths::init_logging();

    let mode = AppMode::from_args(std::env::args().skip(1));
-    tracing::info!(?mode, "Hermes Setup starting");
+    // Escape hatch: `--reinstall`/`--repair` forces the installer UI even when
+    // Hermes is already installed, so users can re-run setup to repair a broken
+    // install instead of the launcher fast path silently relaunching the app.
+    let force_setup = force_setup_from_args(std::env::args().skip(1));
+    tracing::info!(?mode, force_setup, "Hermes installer starting");

    tauri::Builder::default()
        .plugin(tauri_plugin_dialog::init())
@@ -93,6 +111,60 @@ pub fn run() {
        .plugin(tauri_plugin_process::init())
        .plugin(tauri_plugin_shell::init())
        .manage(Arc::new(AppState::new(mode)))
+        .setup(move |app| {
+            use tauri::Manager;
+            // Launcher fast path (macOS only): a bare ("Install") launch when
+            // Hermes is already installed should NOT show the installer or
+            // rebuild — it should just open the app, so the /Applications
+            // "Hermes" doubles as a normal launcher (first run installs, every
+            // later run launches instantly). The window is kept hidden until
+            // here via `"visible": false` so this path never flashes a window.
+            //
+            // Gated to macOS deliberately: on Windows/Linux the installer keeps
+            // its existing behavior (Windows users relaunch via the Start
+            // Menu/Desktop "Hermes" shortcuts that install.ps1 creates, and a
+            // reliable detached relaunch there needs the DETACHED_PROCESS +
+            // startup-grace handling used by launch_hermes_desktop — out of
+            // scope here). So this is a pure no-op on non-macOS.
+            //
+            // `--reinstall`/`--repair` opts out so a broken install can be
+            // repaired by re-running setup instead of launching the bad app.
+            if cfg!(target_os = "macos") && mode == AppMode::Install && !force_setup {
+                let install_root = paths::hermes_home().join("hermes-agent");
+                if bootstrap::hermes_is_installed(&install_root) {
+                    match bootstrap::spawn_installed_desktop(&install_root) {
+                        Ok(()) => {
+                            // Brief grace so the spawned app is registered
+                            // before we exit (mirrors launch_hermes_desktop).
+                            std::thread::sleep(std::time::Duration::from_millis(200));
+                            tracing::info!(
+                                "hermes already installed — relaunched desktop; exiting installer"
+                            );
+                            app.handle().exit(0);
+                            return Ok(());
+                        }
+                        Err(err) => {
+                            tracing::warn!(
+                                ?err,
+                                "relaunch of installed desktop failed; showing installer UI"
+                            );
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+            // First run / repair install, or Update mode: reveal the UI.
+            match app.get_webview_window("main") {
+                Some(win) => {
+                    if let Err(err) = win.show() {
+                        tracing::error!(?err, "failed to show main installer window");
+                    }
+                }
+                None => {
+                    tracing::error!("main installer window not found; installer UI will not appear");
+                }
+            }
+            Ok(())
+        })
        .invoke_handler(tauri::generate_handler![
            // Mode (install vs update)
            get_mode,
@@ -115,7 +187,7 @@ pub fn run() {

 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
-    use super::AppMode;
+    use super::{force_setup_from_args, AppMode};

    #[test]
    fn bare_args_are_install() {
@@ -131,4 +203,30 @@ mod tests {
            AppMode::Update
        );
    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn reinstall_and_repair_flags_force_setup() {
+        assert!(force_setup_from_args(["--reinstall"]));
+        assert!(force_setup_from_args(["--repair"]));
+        assert!(force_setup_from_args(["--foo", "--repair", "--bar"]));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn bare_or_unrelated_args_do_not_force_setup() {
+        assert!(!force_setup_from_args(Vec::<String>::new()));
+        assert!(!force_setup_from_args(["--foo", "bar"]));
+        // --update must not be mistaken for a force-setup flag.
+        assert!(!force_setup_from_args(["--update"]));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn force_setup_flags_do_not_affect_mode_selection() {
+        // The repair flags must never flip Install<->Update.
+        assert_eq!(AppMode::from_args(["--reinstall"]), AppMode::Install);
+        assert_eq!(AppMode::from_args(["--repair"]), AppMode::Install);
+        assert_eq!(
+            AppMode::from_args(["--update", "--reinstall"]),
+            AppMode::Update
+        );
+    }
 }
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
  "$schema": "https://schema.tauri.app/config/2",
-  "productName": "Hermes Setup",
+  "productName": "Hermes",
  "version": "0.0.1",
  "identifier": "com.nousresearch.hermes.setup",
  "build": {
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
    "windows": [
      {
        "label": "main",
-        "title": "Hermes Setup",
+        "title": "Hermes",
        "width": 880,
        "height": 620,
        "minWidth": 720,
@@ -22,7 +22,8 @@
        "fullscreen": false,
        "decorations": true,
        "transparent": false,
-        "center": true
+        "center": true,
+        "visible": false
      }
    ],
    "security": {
@@ -33,7 +34,7 @@
  "bundle": {
    "active": true,
    "category": "DeveloperTool",
-    "shortDescription": "Hermes Setup",
+    "shortDescription": "Hermes",
    "longDescription": "Installs Hermes Agent on your machine. Drives scripts/install.ps1 (Windows) and scripts/install.sh (macOS/Linux).",
    "publisher": "Nous Research",
    "copyright": "Copyright © 2026 Nous Research",
@@ -111,15 +111,28 @@ npm run test:desktop:all

 Boot logs land in `HERMES_HOME/logs/desktop.log` (includes backend output and recent Python tracebacks) — check it first if the app reports a boot failure.

+**macOS / Linux:**
+
 ```bash
 # Force a clean first-launch setup
-rm "$HOME/.hermes/hermes-agent/.hermes-bootstrap-complete"   # macOS/Linux
+rm "$HOME/.hermes/hermes-agent/.hermes-bootstrap-complete"
 # Rebuild a broken Python venv
-rm -rf "$HOME/.hermes/hermes-agent/venv"                     # macOS/Linux
-# Reset a stuck macOS microphone prompt
+rm -rf "$HOME/.hermes/hermes-agent/venv"
+# Reset a stuck macOS microphone prompt (macOS only)
 tccutil reset Microphone com.nousresearch.hermes
 ```

+**Windows (PowerShell):**
+
+```powershell
+# Force a clean first-launch setup
+Remove-Item "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\hermes\hermes-agent\.hermes-bootstrap-complete"
+# Rebuild a broken Python venv
+Remove-Item -Recurse -Force "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\hermes\hermes-agent\venv"
+```
+
+> The default Hermes home on Windows is `%LOCALAPPDATA%\hermes`. Set the `HERMES_HOME` env var if you've relocated it.
+
 ---

 ## Community
@@ -429,6 +429,13 @@ function registerMediaProtocol() {
 let mainWindow = null
 let hermesProcess = null
 let connectionPromise = null
+// Auto-reload budget for renderer crashes. A deterministic startup crash would
+// otherwise loop forever (reload → crash → reload), pinning CPU and spamming
+// logs. Allow a few reloads per rolling window, then stop and leave the dead
+// window so the user can read the error / quit.
+const RENDERER_RELOAD_WINDOW_MS = 60_000
+const RENDERER_RELOAD_MAX = 3
+let rendererReloadTimes = []
 // Latched bootstrap failure: when the first-launch install fails, we hold
 // onto the error so subsequent startHermes() calls (e.g. the renderer's
 // ensureGatewayOpen retrying after the WS won't open) return the same error
@@ -528,6 +535,39 @@ function openExternalUrl(rawUrl) {
    return false
  }

+  // `file://` URLs come from the artifacts panel (the renderer can't open
+  // them itself because Chromium blocks file:// navigation from the app
+  // origin). Hand them to `shell.openPath`, which dispatches to the OS
+  // file association. If the OS can't open it (`error` is a non-empty
+  // string), fall back to revealing the file in the system file manager.
+  if (parsed.protocol === 'file:') {
+    let localPath
+    try {
+      localPath = fileURLToPath(parsed.toString())
+    } catch {
+      return false
+    }
+
+    void shell
+      .openPath(localPath)
+      .then(error => {
+        if (!error) {
+          return
+        }
+
+        rememberLog(`[file] openPath failed: ${error}; revealing in folder instead`)
+
+        try {
+          shell.showItemInFolder(localPath)
+        } catch (revealError) {
+          rememberLog(`[file] showItemInFolder failed: ${revealError.message}`)
+        }
+      })
+      .catch(error => rememberLog(`[file] openPath rejected: ${error.message}`))
+
+    return true
+  }
+
  if (!['http:', 'https:', 'mailto:'].includes(parsed.protocol)) {
    return false
  }
@@ -1519,10 +1559,18 @@ function resolveRendererIndex() {
 }

 function resolveHermesCwd() {
+  // In a packaged build, `process.cwd()` resolves to the install root (e.g.
+  // `…/win-unpacked` on Windows or `/Applications/Hermes.app/Contents/...`
+  // on macOS). Sessions spawned there leave files inside the app bundle
+  // and bewilder users when "where did my files go?" is the install dir.
+  // The user-configurable default project directory wins over everything,
+  // followed by env hints (only honored when packaged if they point at a
+  // real directory), then the home dir.
  const candidates = [
+    readDefaultProjectDir(),
    process.env.HERMES_DESKTOP_CWD,
    process.env.INIT_CWD,
-    process.cwd(),
+    IS_PACKAGED ? null : process.cwd(),
    !IS_PACKAGED ? SOURCE_REPO_ROOT : null,
    app.getPath('home')
  ]
@@ -1536,6 +1584,48 @@ function resolveHermesCwd() {
  return app.getPath('home')
 }

+// Persisted "Default project directory" — surfaced as a setting in the
+// renderer (see app/settings/sessions-settings.tsx). Stored as JSON in
+// userData so it survives self-updates without bleeding into the new
+// install. `null` means "no preference, fall back to the usual chain".
+const DEFAULT_PROJECT_DIR_CONFIG_FILENAME = 'project-dir.json'
+
+function defaultProjectDirConfigPath() {
+  return path.join(app.getPath('userData'), DEFAULT_PROJECT_DIR_CONFIG_FILENAME)
+}
+
+function readDefaultProjectDir() {
+  try {
+    const raw = fs.readFileSync(defaultProjectDirConfigPath(), 'utf8')
+    const parsed = JSON.parse(raw)
+
+    if (parsed && typeof parsed.dir === 'string' && parsed.dir.trim()) {
+      const resolved = path.resolve(parsed.dir)
+
+      if (directoryExists(resolved)) {
+        return resolved
+      }
+    }
+  } catch {
+    // Missing / unreadable / malformed → fall through to the rest of the
+    // candidate chain.
+  }
+
+  return null
+}
+
+function writeDefaultProjectDir(dir) {
+  const target = defaultProjectDirConfigPath()
+  const payload = dir ? JSON.stringify({ dir: path.resolve(dir) }, null, 2) : JSON.stringify({}, null, 2)
+
+  try {
+    fs.mkdirSync(path.dirname(target), { recursive: true })
+    fs.writeFileSync(target, payload, 'utf8')
+  } catch (error) {
+    rememberLog(`[settings] write default project dir failed: ${error.message}`)
+  }
+}
+
 function createPythonBackend(root, label, dashboardArgs, options = {}) {
  const python = findPythonForRoot(root)
  if (!python) return null
@@ -2695,6 +2785,28 @@ function installContextMenu(window) {
      )
    }

+    // Spell-check suggestions for the misspelled word under the caret.
+    // Chromium surfaces them on `params.dictionarySuggestions`; we offer the
+    // top 5 plus a "Add to dictionary" affordance.
+    const suggestions = Array.isArray(params.dictionarySuggestions) ? params.dictionarySuggestions : []
+
+    if (isEditable && params.misspelledWord && suggestions.length > 0) {
+      if (template.length) template.push({ type: 'separator' })
+
+      for (const suggestion of suggestions.slice(0, 5)) {
+        template.push({
+          label: suggestion,
+          click: () => window.webContents.replaceMisspelling(suggestion)
+        })
+      }
+
+      template.push({ type: 'separator' })
+      template.push({
+        label: 'Add to dictionary',
+        click: () => window.webContents.session.addWordToSpellCheckerDictionary(params.misspelledWord)
+      })
+    }
+
    if (hasSelection || isEditable) {
      if (template.length) template.push({ type: 'separator' })
      if (isEditable) {
@@ -3222,6 +3334,51 @@ function createWindow() {
    openExternalUrl(url)
  })

+  mainWindow.webContents.on('render-process-gone', (_event, details) => {
+    rememberLog(`[renderer] render-process-gone reason=${details?.reason} exitCode=${details?.exitCode}`)
+
+    if (details?.reason === 'crashed' || details?.reason === 'oom') {
+      const now = Date.now()
+      rendererReloadTimes = rendererReloadTimes.filter(t => now - t < RENDERER_RELOAD_WINDOW_MS)
+
+      if (rendererReloadTimes.length >= RENDERER_RELOAD_MAX) {
+        rememberLog(
+          `[renderer] suppressing reload: ${rendererReloadTimes.length} crashes within ${RENDERER_RELOAD_WINDOW_MS}ms (likely a crash loop)`
+        )
+
+        return
+      }
+
+      rendererReloadTimes.push(now)
+      setImmediate(() => {
+        if (!mainWindow || mainWindow.isDestroyed()) return
+        try {
+          mainWindow.webContents.reload()
+        } catch (err) {
+          rememberLog(`[renderer] reload after crash failed: ${err?.message || err}`)
+        }
+      })
+    }
+  })
+
+  mainWindow.webContents.on('unresponsive', () => rememberLog('[renderer] webContents became unresponsive'))
+
+  // Electron always passes the event first. The canonical (Electron 36+) shape
+  // is (event, messageDetails); the deprecated positional shape is
+  // (event, level, message, line, sourceId). Handle both. `level` is numeric
+  // (0..3), where 3 === error.
+  mainWindow.webContents.on('console-message', (_event, detailsOrLevel, message, line, sourceId) => {
+    const details = detailsOrLevel && typeof detailsOrLevel === 'object' ? detailsOrLevel : null
+    const level = details ? details.level : detailsOrLevel
+
+    if (level !== 3) return
+
+    const text = details ? details.message : message
+    const src = details ? details.sourceUrl : sourceId
+    const lineNo = details ? details.lineNumber : line
+    rememberLog(`[renderer console] ${text} (${src}:${lineNo})`)
+  })
+
  if (DEV_SERVER) {
    mainWindow.loadURL(DEV_SERVER)
  } else {
@@ -3372,13 +3529,21 @@ ipcMain.handle('hermes:readFileText', async (_event, filePath) => {
 })

 ipcMain.handle('hermes:selectPaths', async (_event, options = {}) => {
-  const properties = ['openFile']
-  if (options?.directories) properties.push('openDirectory')
+  const properties = options?.directories ? ['openDirectory'] : ['openFile']
  if (options?.multiple !== false) properties.push('multiSelections')

+  let resolvedDefaultPath
+  if (options?.defaultPath) {
+    try {
+      resolvedDefaultPath = path.resolve(String(options.defaultPath))
+    } catch {
+      resolvedDefaultPath = undefined
+    }
+  }
+
  const result = await dialog.showOpenDialog(mainWindow, {
    title: options?.title || 'Add context',
-    defaultPath: options?.defaultPath ? path.resolve(String(options.defaultPath)) : undefined,
+    defaultPath: resolvedDefaultPath,
    properties,
    filters: Array.isArray(options?.filters) ? options.filters : undefined
  })
@@ -3437,6 +3602,45 @@ ipcMain.handle('hermes:openExternal', (_event, url) => {
  }
 })

+// User-configurable default project directory. The renderer reads this on
+// settings mount and seeds the value into the picker; writing back persists
+// it via writeDefaultProjectDir so resolveHermesCwd picks it up on the next
+// session spawn (no app restart needed).
+ipcMain.handle('hermes:setting:defaultProjectDir:get', async () => ({
+  dir: readDefaultProjectDir(),
+  defaultLabel: path.join(app.getPath('home'), 'hermes-projects')
+}))
+
+ipcMain.handle('hermes:setting:defaultProjectDir:set', async (_event, dir) => {
+  const next = typeof dir === 'string' && dir.trim() ? dir.trim() : null
+
+  if (next) {
+    try {
+      fs.mkdirSync(next, { recursive: true })
+    } catch (error) {
+      throw new Error(`Could not create directory: ${error.message}`)
+    }
+  }
+
+  writeDefaultProjectDir(next)
+
+  return { dir: next }
+})
+
+ipcMain.handle('hermes:setting:defaultProjectDir:pick', async () => {
+  const result = await dialog.showOpenDialog({
+    title: 'Choose default project directory',
+    properties: ['openDirectory', 'createDirectory'],
+    defaultPath: readDefaultProjectDir() || app.getPath('home')
+  })
+
+  if (result.canceled || result.filePaths.length === 0) {
+    return { canceled: true, dir: null }
+  }
+
+  return { canceled: false, dir: result.filePaths[0] }
+})
+
 ipcMain.handle('hermes:fetchLinkTitle', (_event, url) => fetchLinkTitle(url))

 ipcMain.handle('hermes:logs:reveal', async () => {
@@ -3746,6 +3950,7 @@ app.whenReady().then(() => {
  installMediaPermissions()
  registerMediaProtocol()
  ensureWslWindowsFonts()
+  configureSpellChecker()
  createWindow()

  app.on('activate', () => {
@@ -3753,6 +3958,29 @@ app.whenReady().then(() => {
  })
 })

+// Seed Chromium's spellchecker with the system locale (falling back to en-US).
+// On macOS Electron uses the native spellchecker which ignores this list, but
+// on Windows/Linux Chromium downloads Hunspell dictionaries on demand and
+// won't enable any without an explicit language.
+function configureSpellChecker() {
+  try {
+    const defaultSession = session.defaultSession
+
+    if (!defaultSession || typeof defaultSession.setSpellCheckerLanguages !== 'function') {
+      return
+    }
+
+    const available = defaultSession.availableSpellCheckerLanguages || []
+    const locale = (app.getLocale && app.getLocale()) || 'en-US'
+    const candidates = [locale, locale.split('-')[0], 'en-US', 'en']
+    const chosen = candidates.find(lang => available.includes(lang)) || 'en-US'
+
+    defaultSession.setSpellCheckerLanguages([chosen])
+  } catch (error) {
+    rememberLog(`Spellchecker setup failed: ${error.message}`)
+  }
+}
+
 app.on('before-quit', () => {
  // Quitting mid-install should stop the installer, not orphan it.
  if (bootstrapAbortController) {
@@ -31,6 +31,11 @@ contextBridge.exposeInMainWorld('hermesDesktop', {
  setPreviewShortcutActive: active => ipcRenderer.send('hermes:previewShortcutActive', Boolean(active)),
  openExternal: url => ipcRenderer.invoke('hermes:openExternal', url),
  fetchLinkTitle: url => ipcRenderer.invoke('hermes:fetchLinkTitle', url),
+  settings: {
+    getDefaultProjectDir: () => ipcRenderer.invoke('hermes:setting:defaultProjectDir:get'),
+    setDefaultProjectDir: dir => ipcRenderer.invoke('hermes:setting:defaultProjectDir:set', dir),
+    pickDefaultProjectDir: () => ipcRenderer.invoke('hermes:setting:defaultProjectDir:pick')
+  },
  revealLogs: () => ipcRenderer.invoke('hermes:logs:reveal'),
  getRecentLogs: () => ipcRenderer.invoke('hermes:logs:recent'),
  readDir: dirPath => ipcRenderer.invoke('hermes:fs:readDir', dirPath),
@@ -3,8 +3,11 @@
  <head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8" />
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
-    <link rel="icon" href="/apple-touch-icon.png" />
-    <link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="/apple-touch-icon.png" />
+    <meta name="color-scheme" content="light dark" />
+    <meta name="theme-color" content="#0a0a0a" />
+    <link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="180x180" href="/apple-touch-icon.png" />
+    <link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="180x180" href="/apple-touch-icon.png" />
+    <link rel="shortcut icon" href="/apple-touch-icon.png" />
    <title>Hermes</title>
  </head>
  <body>
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@
    "@dnd-kit/sortable": "^10.0.0",
    "@dnd-kit/utilities": "^3.2.2",
    "@hermes/shared": "file:../shared",
+    "@icons-pack/react-simple-icons": "^13.13.0",
    "@nanostores/react": "^1.1.0",
    "@nous-research/ui": "^0.13.0",
    "@radix-ui/react-slot": "^1.2.4",
@@ -1,14 +1,20 @@
+import { useState } from 'react'
+
 import { Button } from '@/components/ui/button'
 import { Codicon } from '@/components/ui/codicon'
+import {
+  Dialog,
+  DialogContent,
+  DialogDescription,
+  DialogHeader,
+  DialogTitle
+} from '@/components/ui/dialog'
 import {
  DropdownMenu,
  DropdownMenuContent,
  DropdownMenuItem,
  DropdownMenuLabel,
  DropdownMenuSeparator,
-  DropdownMenuSub,
-  DropdownMenuSubContent,
-  DropdownMenuSubTrigger,
  DropdownMenuTrigger
 } from '@/components/ui/dropdown-menu'
 import { Clipboard, FileText, FolderOpen, type IconComponent, ImageIcon, Link, MessageSquareText } from '@/lib/icons'
@@ -17,6 +23,24 @@ import { cn } from '@/lib/utils'
 import { GHOST_ICON_BTN } from './controls'
 import type { ChatBarState } from './types'

+const PROMPT_SNIPPETS: readonly PromptSnippet[] = [
+  {
+    description: 'Audit the current change for regressions, dropped edge cases, and missing tests.',
+    label: 'Code review',
+    text: 'Please review this for bugs, regressions, and missing tests.'
+  },
+  {
+    description: 'Outline an approach before touching code so the diff stays focused.',
+    label: 'Implementation plan',
+    text: 'Please make a concise implementation plan before changing code.'
+  },
+  {
+    description: 'Walk through how the selected code works and link to the key files.',
+    label: 'Explain this',
+    text: 'Please explain how this works and point me to the key files.'
+  }
+]
+
 export function ContextMenu({
  state,
  onInsertText,
@@ -25,81 +49,114 @@ export function ContextMenu({
  onPickFiles,
  onPickFolders,
  onPickImages
-}: {
-  state: ChatBarState
-  onInsertText: (text: string) => void
-  onOpenUrlDialog: () => void
-  onPasteClipboardImage?: () => void
-  onPickFiles?: () => void
-  onPickFolders?: () => void
-  onPickImages?: () => void
-}) {
+}: ContextMenuProps) {
+  // Prompt snippets used to be a Radix submenu. That submenu didn't open
+  // reliably when the parent menu was positioned at the bottom of the
+  // window (composer "+" anchor), so we promoted it to a real Dialog —
+  // easier to grow with search / descriptions, and no positioning math.
+  const [snippetsOpen, setSnippetsOpen] = useState(false)
+
  return (
-    <DropdownMenu>
-      <DropdownMenuTrigger asChild>
-        <Button
-          aria-label={state.tools.label}
-          className={cn(
-            GHOST_ICON_BTN,
-            'data-[state=open]:bg-(--chrome-action-hover) data-[state=open]:text-foreground'
-          )}
-          disabled={!state.tools.enabled}
-          size="icon"
-          title={state.tools.label}
-          type="button"
-          variant="ghost"
-        >
-          <Codicon name="add" size="1rem" />
-        </Button>
-      </DropdownMenuTrigger>
-      <DropdownMenuContent align="start" className="w-60" side="top" sideOffset={10}>
-        <DropdownMenuLabel className="text-[0.7rem] font-medium uppercase tracking-wide text-muted-foreground/85">
-          Attach
-        </DropdownMenuLabel>
-        <ContextMenuItem disabled={!onPickFiles} icon={FileText} onSelect={onPickFiles}>
-          Files…
-        </ContextMenuItem>
-        <ContextMenuItem disabled={!onPickFolders} icon={FolderOpen} onSelect={onPickFolders}>
-          Folder…
-        </ContextMenuItem>
-        <ContextMenuItem disabled={!onPickImages} icon={ImageIcon} onSelect={onPickImages}>
-          Images…
-        </ContextMenuItem>
-        <ContextMenuItem disabled={!onPasteClipboardImage} icon={Clipboard} onSelect={onPasteClipboardImage}>
-          Paste image
-        </ContextMenuItem>
-        <ContextMenuItem icon={Link} onSelect={onOpenUrlDialog}>
-          URL…
-        </ContextMenuItem>
+    <>
+      <DropdownMenu>
+        <DropdownMenuTrigger asChild>
+          <Button
+            aria-label={state.tools.label}
+            className={cn(
+              GHOST_ICON_BTN,
+              'data-[state=open]:bg-(--chrome-action-hover) data-[state=open]:text-foreground'
+            )}
+            disabled={!state.tools.enabled}
+            size="icon"
+            title={state.tools.label}
+            type="button"
+            variant="ghost"
+          >
+            <Codicon name="add" size="1rem" />
+          </Button>
+        </DropdownMenuTrigger>
+        <DropdownMenuContent align="start" className="w-60" side="top" sideOffset={10}>
+          <DropdownMenuLabel className="text-[0.7rem] font-medium uppercase tracking-wide text-muted-foreground/85">
+            Attach
+          </DropdownMenuLabel>
+          <ContextMenuItem disabled={!onPickFiles} icon={FileText} onSelect={onPickFiles}>
+            Files…
+          </ContextMenuItem>
+          <ContextMenuItem disabled={!onPickFolders} icon={FolderOpen} onSelect={onPickFolders}>
+            Folder…
+          </ContextMenuItem>
+          <ContextMenuItem disabled={!onPickImages} icon={ImageIcon} onSelect={onPickImages}>
+            Images…
+          </ContextMenuItem>
+          <ContextMenuItem disabled={!onPasteClipboardImage} icon={Clipboard} onSelect={onPasteClipboardImage}>
+            Paste image
+          </ContextMenuItem>
+          <ContextMenuItem icon={Link} onSelect={onOpenUrlDialog}>
+            URL…
+          </ContextMenuItem>

-        <DropdownMenuSeparator />
+          <DropdownMenuSeparator />

-        <DropdownMenuSub>
-          <DropdownMenuSubTrigger>
-            <MessageSquareText />
-            <span>Prompt snippets</span>
-          </DropdownMenuSubTrigger>
-          <DropdownMenuSubContent className="w-72">
-            {[
-              { label: 'Code review', text: 'Please review this for bugs, regressions, and missing tests.' },
-              { label: 'Implementation plan', text: 'Please make a concise implementation plan before changing code.' },
-              { label: 'Explain this', text: 'Please explain how this works and point me to the key files.' }
-            ].map(snippet => (
-              <ContextMenuItem icon={MessageSquareText} key={snippet.label} onSelect={() => onInsertText(snippet.text)}>
-                {snippet.label}
-              </ContextMenuItem>
-            ))}
-          </DropdownMenuSubContent>
-        </DropdownMenuSub>
+          <ContextMenuItem icon={MessageSquareText} onSelect={() => setSnippetsOpen(true)}>
+            Prompt snippets…
+          </ContextMenuItem>

-        <DropdownMenuSeparator />
+          <DropdownMenuSeparator />

-        <div className="px-2 py-1 text-[0.7rem] text-muted-foreground/80">
-          Tip: type <kbd className="rounded bg-muted/70 px-1 py-px font-mono text-[0.65rem]">@</kbd> to reference files
-          inline.
-        </div>
-      </DropdownMenuContent>
-    </DropdownMenu>
+          <div className="px-2 py-1 text-[0.7rem] text-muted-foreground/80">
+            Tip: type <kbd className="rounded bg-muted/70 px-1 py-px font-mono text-[0.65rem]">@</kbd> to reference files
+            inline.
+          </div>
+        </DropdownMenuContent>
+      </DropdownMenu>
+
+      <PromptSnippetsDialog
+        onInsertText={onInsertText}
+        onOpenChange={setSnippetsOpen}
+        open={snippetsOpen}
+        snippets={PROMPT_SNIPPETS}
+      />
+    </>
+  )
+}
+
+function PromptSnippetsDialog({
+  onInsertText,
+  onOpenChange,
+  open,
+  snippets
+}: PromptSnippetsDialogProps) {
+  return (
+    <Dialog onOpenChange={onOpenChange} open={open}>
+      <DialogContent className="max-w-md gap-3">
+        <DialogHeader>
+          <DialogTitle>Prompt snippets</DialogTitle>
+          <DialogDescription>Pick a starter prompt to drop into the composer.</DialogDescription>
+        </DialogHeader>
+        <ul className="grid gap-1">
+          {snippets.map(snippet => (
+            <li key={snippet.label}>
+              <button
+                className="group/snippet flex w-full cursor-pointer items-start gap-2.5 rounded-md border border-transparent px-2.5 py-2 text-left transition-colors hover:border-(--ui-stroke-tertiary) hover:bg-(--ui-control-hover-background) focus-visible:border-(--ui-stroke-tertiary) focus-visible:bg-(--ui-control-hover-background) focus-visible:outline-none"
+                onClick={() => {
+                  onInsertText(snippet.text)
+                  onOpenChange(false)
+                }}
+                type="button"
+              >
+                <MessageSquareText className="mt-0.5 size-3.5 shrink-0 text-(--ui-text-tertiary) group-hover/snippet:text-foreground" />
+                <span className="grid min-w-0 gap-0.5">
+                  <span className="text-sm font-medium text-foreground">{snippet.label}</span>
+                  <span className="text-[length:var(--conversation-caption-font-size)] text-(--ui-text-tertiary)">
+                    {snippet.description}
+                  </span>
+                </span>
+              </button>
+            </li>
+          ))}
+        </ul>
+      </DialogContent>
+    </Dialog>
  )
 }

@@ -108,12 +165,7 @@ export function ContextMenuItem({
  disabled,
  icon: Icon,
  onSelect
-}: {
-  children: string
-  disabled?: boolean
-  icon: IconComponent
-  onSelect?: () => void
-}) {
+}: ContextMenuItemProps) {
  return (
    <DropdownMenuItem disabled={disabled} onSelect={onSelect}>
      <Icon />
@@ -121,3 +173,33 @@ export function ContextMenuItem({
    </DropdownMenuItem>
  )
 }
+
+interface ContextMenuItemProps {
+  children: string
+  disabled?: boolean
+  icon: IconComponent
+  onSelect?: () => void
+}
+
+interface ContextMenuProps {
+  onInsertText: (text: string) => void
+  onOpenUrlDialog: () => void
+  onPasteClipboardImage?: () => void
+  onPickFiles?: () => void
+  onPickFolders?: () => void
+  onPickImages?: () => void
+  state: ChatBarState
+}
+
+interface PromptSnippet {
+  description: string
+  label: string
+  text: string
+}
+
+interface PromptSnippetsDialogProps {
+  onInsertText: (text: string) => void
+  onOpenChange: (open: boolean) => void
+  open: boolean
+  snippets: readonly PromptSnippet[]
+}
@@ -1024,6 +1024,8 @@ export function ChatBar({
    <div className={cn('relative', stacked ? 'w-full' : 'min-w-(--composer-input-inline-min-width) flex-1')}>
      <div
        aria-label="Message"
+        autoCorrect="off"
+        autoCapitalize="off"
        className={cn(
          'min-h-(--composer-input-min-height) max-h-(--composer-input-max-height) overflow-y-auto bg-transparent pb-1 pr-1 pt-1 leading-normal text-foreground outline-none disabled:cursor-not-allowed',
          'empty:before:content-[attr(data-placeholder)] empty:before:text-muted-foreground/60',
@@ -1045,6 +1047,7 @@ export function ChatBar({
        onPaste={handlePaste}
        ref={editorRef}
        role="textbox"
+        spellCheck="true"
        suppressContentEditableWarning
      />
      {/* assistant-ui requires ComposerPrimitive.Input somewhere in the tree
@@ -97,6 +97,17 @@ export function ChatPreviewRail({ onRestartServer, setTitlebarToolGroup }: ChatP
                    : 'border-r border-(--ui-stroke-quaternary) text-(--ui-text-tertiary) [--tab-bg:var(--ui-sidebar-surface-background)] hover:bg-(--chrome-action-hover) hover:text-foreground'
                )}
                key={tab.id}
+                // Middle-click closes the tab, matching browser/IDE muscle
+                // memory. `onMouseDown` swallows the middle-button press so
+                // Chromium doesn't switch into autoscroll mode.
+                onAuxClick={event => {
+                  if (event.button !== 1) return
+                  event.preventDefault()
+                  closeRightRailTab(tab.id)
+                }}
+                onMouseDown={event => {
+                  if (event.button === 1) event.preventDefault()
+                }}
              >
                {active && (
                  <span aria-hidden="true" className="absolute inset-x-0 top-0 h-px bg-(--ui-stroke-primary)" />
@@ -67,6 +67,12 @@ import { VirtualSessionList } from './virtual-session-list'

 const VIRTUALIZE_THRESHOLD = 25

+// Render the modifier key the user actually presses on this platform. The
+// global accelerator is bound to both Cmd+N (macOS) and Ctrl+N (everywhere
+// else) in desktop-controller.tsx, but the hint should match muscle memory.
+const NEW_SESSION_KBD: readonly string[] =
+  typeof navigator !== 'undefined' && navigator.platform.toLowerCase().includes('mac') ? ['⌘', 'N'] : ['Ctrl', 'N']
+
 const SIDEBAR_NAV: SidebarNavItem[] = [
  {
    id: 'new-session',
@@ -438,7 +444,7 @@ export function ChatSidebar({
                        <>
                          <span className="min-w-0 flex-1 truncate max-[46.25rem]:hidden">{item.label}</span>
                          {item.id === 'new-session' && (
-                            <KbdGroup className="ml-auto max-[46.25rem]:hidden" keys={['⇧', 'N']} />
+                            <KbdGroup className="ml-auto max-[46.25rem]:hidden" keys={[...NEW_SESSION_KBD]} />
                          )}
                        </>
                      )}
@@ -540,23 +546,28 @@ export function ChatSidebar({
            forceEmptyState={showSessionSkeletons}
            groups={agentsGrouped ? agentGroups : undefined}
            headerAction={
-              <Button
-                aria-label={agentsGrouped ? 'Show sessions as a single list' : 'Group sessions by workspace'}
-                className={cn(
-                  'cursor-pointer text-(--ui-text-tertiary) opacity-70 hover:bg-(--ui-control-hover-background) hover:text-foreground hover:opacity-100 focus-visible:opacity-100',
-                  agentsGrouped && 'bg-(--ui-control-active-background) text-foreground opacity-100'
-                )}
-                onClick={event => {
-                  event.stopPropagation()
-                  setSidebarRecentsOpen(true)
-                  setSidebarAgentsGrouped(!agentsGrouped)
-                }}
-                size="icon-xs"
-                title={agentsGrouped ? 'Ungroup sessions' : 'Group by workspace'}
-                variant="ghost"
-              >
-                <Codicon name={agentsGrouped ? 'list-unordered' : 'root-folder'} size="0.75rem" />
-              </Button>
+              // Grouping operates on unpinned recents; if everything is
+              // pinned the toggle does nothing visible, so hide it to avoid
+              // a phantom click target.
+              agentSessions.length > 0 ? (
+                <Button
+                  aria-label={agentsGrouped ? 'Show sessions as a single list' : 'Group sessions by workspace'}
+                  className={cn(
+                    'cursor-pointer text-(--ui-text-tertiary) opacity-70 hover:bg-(--ui-control-hover-background) hover:text-foreground hover:opacity-100 focus-visible:opacity-100',
+                    agentsGrouped && 'bg-(--ui-control-active-background) text-foreground opacity-100'
+                  )}
+                  onClick={event => {
+                    event.stopPropagation()
+                    setSidebarRecentsOpen(true)
+                    setSidebarAgentsGrouped(!agentsGrouped)
+                  }}
+                  size="icon-xs"
+                  title={agentsGrouped ? 'Ungroup sessions' : 'Group by workspace'}
+                  variant="ghost"
+                >
+                  <Codicon name={agentsGrouped ? 'list-unordered' : 'root-folder'} size="0.75rem" />
+                </Button>
+              ) : null
            }
            label="Sessions"
            labelMeta={countLabel(agentSessions.length, knownSessionTotal)}
@@ -633,7 +644,7 @@ function SidebarPinnedEmptyState() {
      <span className="grid w-3.5 shrink-0 place-items-center text-(--ui-text-quaternary)">
        <Codicon name="pin" size="0.75rem" />
      </span>
-      <span>Shift click to pin a chat</span>
+      <span>Shift-click a chat to pin · drag to reorder</span>
    </div>
  )
 }
@@ -428,14 +428,6 @@ export function CronView({ setStatusbarItemGroup: _setStatusbarItemGroup, ...pro
  return (
    <PageSearchShell
      {...props}
-      filters={
-        <div className="flex flex-wrap items-center justify-center gap-2">
-          <Button onClick={() => setEditor({ mode: 'create' })} size="sm">
-            <Codicon name="add" />
-            New cron
-          </Button>
-        </div>
-      }
      onSearchChange={setQuery}
      searchPlaceholder="Search cron jobs..."
      searchTrailingAction={
@@ -457,6 +449,10 @@ export function CronView({ setStatusbarItemGroup: _setStatusbarItemGroup, ...pro
      {!jobs ? (
        <PageLoader label="Loading cron jobs..." />
      ) : visibleJobs.length === 0 ? (
+        // Empty state owns the primary "create" CTA — we used to also have
+        // one in the filters bar but it was redundant. Only show the button
+        // when there are zero jobs total; the search-empty case ("No
+        // matches") just asks the user to broaden their query.
        <EmptyState
          actionLabel={totalCount === 0 ? 'Create first cron' : undefined}
          description={
@@ -469,6 +465,19 @@ export function CronView({ setStatusbarItemGroup: _setStatusbarItemGroup, ...pro
        />
      ) : (
        <div className="h-full overflow-y-auto px-4 py-3">
+          {/* Inline header replaces the old top-bar "New cron" button. We
+              still need a single, always-visible affordance to add a job
+              when the list is non-empty (rows themselves only expose
+              edit/pause/trigger/delete). */}
+          <div className="mb-2 flex items-center justify-between">
+            <span className="text-[0.7rem] uppercase tracking-wide text-muted-foreground">
+              {enabledCount}/{totalCount} active
+            </span>
+            <Button onClick={() => setEditor({ mode: 'create' })} size="sm">
+              <Codicon name="add" />
+              New cron
+            </Button>
+          </div>
          <div className="divide-y divide-border/40 rounded-lg border border-border/40 bg-background/70">
            {visibleJobs.map(job => (
              <CronJobRow
@@ -484,8 +493,6 @@ export function CronView({ setStatusbarItemGroup: _setStatusbarItemGroup, ...pro
          </div>
        </div>
      )}
-      <div className="hidden">{totalCount === 0 ? 'No scheduled jobs' : `${enabledCount}/${totalCount} active`}</div>
-
      <CronEditorDialog editor={editor} onClose={() => setEditor({ mode: 'closed' })} onSave={handleEditorSave} />

      <Dialog onOpenChange={open => !open && !deleting && setPendingDelete(null)} open={pendingDelete !== null}>
@@ -372,14 +372,22 @@ export function DesktopController() {
        target instanceof HTMLTextAreaElement ||
        target instanceof HTMLSelectElement

-      if (editing || event.defaultPrevented || event.repeat || event.altKey || event.ctrlKey || event.metaKey) {
+      if (event.defaultPrevented || event.repeat || event.altKey || event.code !== 'KeyN') {
        return
      }

-      if (event.shiftKey && event.code === 'KeyN') {
-        event.preventDefault()
-        startFreshSessionDraft()
+      // Two accelerators for "new session":
+      //   - Cmd/Ctrl+N (browser-like, works while typing in any input)
+      //   - Shift+N    (single-key, only when no input is focused)
+      const accelerator = event.metaKey || event.ctrlKey
+      const singleKey = !accelerator && !editing && event.shiftKey
+
+      if (!accelerator && !singleKey) {
+        return
      }
+
+      event.preventDefault()
+      startFreshSessionDraft()
    }

    window.addEventListener('keydown', onKeyDown)
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ import { useRouteEnumParam } from '../hooks/use-route-enum-param'
 import { PageSearchShell } from '../page-search-shell'
 import type { SetStatusbarItemGroup } from '../shell/statusbar-controls'

+import { PlatformAvatar } from './platform-icon'
+
 interface MessagingViewProps extends React.ComponentProps<'section'> {
  setStatusbarItemGroup?: SetStatusbarItemGroup
 }
@@ -39,29 +41,6 @@ const STATE_LABELS: Record<string, string> = {
  startup_failed: 'Startup failed'
 }

-const PLATFORM_TINTS: Record<string, string> = {
-  telegram: 'bg-sky-500/15 text-sky-600 dark:text-sky-300',
-  discord: 'bg-indigo-500/15 text-indigo-600 dark:text-indigo-300',
-  slack: 'bg-violet-500/15 text-violet-600 dark:text-violet-300',
-  mattermost: 'bg-blue-500/15 text-blue-600 dark:text-blue-300',
-  matrix: 'bg-emerald-500/15 text-emerald-600 dark:text-emerald-300',
-  signal: 'bg-cyan-500/15 text-cyan-600 dark:text-cyan-300',
-  whatsapp: 'bg-green-500/15 text-green-600 dark:text-green-300',
-  bluebubbles: 'bg-blue-500/15 text-blue-600 dark:text-blue-300',
-  homeassistant: 'bg-teal-500/15 text-teal-600 dark:text-teal-300',
-  email: 'bg-amber-500/15 text-amber-600 dark:text-amber-300',
-  sms: 'bg-rose-500/15 text-rose-600 dark:text-rose-300',
-  dingtalk: 'bg-blue-500/15 text-blue-600 dark:text-blue-300',
-  feishu: 'bg-cyan-500/15 text-cyan-600 dark:text-cyan-300',
-  wecom: 'bg-emerald-500/15 text-emerald-600 dark:text-emerald-300',
-  wecom_callback: 'bg-emerald-500/15 text-emerald-600 dark:text-emerald-300',
-  weixin: 'bg-green-500/15 text-green-600 dark:text-green-300',
-  qqbot: 'bg-amber-500/15 text-amber-600 dark:text-amber-300',
-  yuanbao: 'bg-orange-500/15 text-orange-600 dark:text-orange-300',
-  api_server: 'bg-slate-500/15 text-slate-600 dark:text-slate-300',
-  webhook: 'bg-zinc-500/15 text-zinc-600 dark:text-zinc-300'
-}
-
 const PILL_TONE: Record<StatusTone, string> = {
  good: 'bg-primary/10 text-primary',
  muted: 'bg-muted text-muted-foreground',
@@ -442,19 +421,6 @@ function PlatformRow({
  )
 }

-function PlatformAvatar({ platformId, platformName }: { platformId: string; platformName: string }) {
-  return (
-    <span
-      className={cn(
-        'inline-flex size-6 shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-md text-[length:var(--conversation-caption-font-size)] font-medium',
-        PLATFORM_TINTS[platformId] || 'bg-(--ui-bg-tertiary) text-(--ui-text-tertiary)'
-      )}
-    >
-      {platformName.charAt(0).toUpperCase()}
-    </span>
-  )
-}
-
 function PlatformDetail({
  edits,
  onClear,
@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+import type { ComponentType, SVGProps } from 'react'
+
+import {
+  SiApple,
+  SiBilibili,
+  SiDiscord,
+  SiGmail,
+  SiHomeassistant,
+  SiMatrix,
+  SiMattermost,
+  SiQq,
+  SiSignal,
+  SiTelegram,
+  SiWechat,
+  SiWhatsapp
+} from '@icons-pack/react-simple-icons'
+
+import { Globe, Link as LinkIcon, MessageSquareText } from '@/lib/icons'
+import { cn } from '@/lib/utils'
+
+// We render simpleicons.org brand glyphs for platforms whose owners publish a
+// usable mark (telegram, discord, matrix, ...). A few brands — Slack, Dingtalk,
+// Feishu, WeCom — have been removed from Simple Icons at the brand owner's
+// request, so we fall back to a colored letter monogram for those.
+//
+// `iconColor` is the brand's hex from simpleicons.org so we can paint each
+// glyph in its native color on top of a soft tint. The fallback monogram uses
+// the same hex to keep visual consistency.
+type IconKind = 'brand' | 'generic'
+
+interface PlatformIconSpec {
+  Icon: ComponentType<SVGProps<SVGSVGElement>>
+  color: string
+  kind: IconKind
+}
+
+const PLATFORM_ICONS: Record<string, PlatformIconSpec> = {
+  telegram: { Icon: SiTelegram, color: '#26A5E4', kind: 'brand' },
+  discord: { Icon: SiDiscord, color: '#5865F2', kind: 'brand' },
+  // Slack removed from Simple Icons by Salesforce request — letter monogram.
+  mattermost: { Icon: SiMattermost, color: '#0058CC', kind: 'brand' },
+  matrix: { Icon: SiMatrix, color: '#000000', kind: 'brand' },
+  signal: { Icon: SiSignal, color: '#3A76F0', kind: 'brand' },
+  whatsapp: { Icon: SiWhatsapp, color: '#25D366', kind: 'brand' },
+  bluebubbles: { Icon: SiApple, color: '#0BD318', kind: 'brand' },
+  homeassistant: { Icon: SiHomeassistant, color: '#18BCF2', kind: 'brand' },
+  email: { Icon: SiGmail, color: '#EA4335', kind: 'brand' },
+  sms: { Icon: MessageSquareText, color: '#F43F5E', kind: 'generic' },
+  webhook: { Icon: LinkIcon, color: '#71717A', kind: 'generic' },
+  api_server: { Icon: Globe, color: '#64748B', kind: 'generic' },
+  weixin: { Icon: SiWechat, color: '#07C160', kind: 'brand' },
+  qqbot: { Icon: SiQq, color: '#EB1923', kind: 'brand' },
+  yuanbao: { Icon: SiBilibili, color: '#FB7299', kind: 'brand' }
+}
+
+interface PlatformAvatarProps {
+  platformId: string
+  platformName: string
+  className?: string
+}
+
+export function PlatformAvatar({ className, platformId, platformName }: PlatformAvatarProps) {
+  const spec = PLATFORM_ICONS[platformId]
+
+  const baseClass = cn(
+    'inline-grid size-6 shrink-0 place-items-center rounded-md text-[length:var(--conversation-caption-font-size)] font-medium',
+    className
+  )
+
+  if (!spec) {
+    return (
+      <span
+        aria-hidden="true"
+        className={cn(baseClass, 'bg-(--ui-bg-tertiary) text-(--ui-text-tertiary)')}
+      >
+        {platformName.charAt(0).toUpperCase()}
+      </span>
+    )
+  }
+
+  const { Icon, color } = spec
+
+  return (
+    <span
+      aria-hidden="true"
+      className={baseClass}
+      style={{
+        // 16% tint of the brand color so the glyph reads against any surface
+        // without the avatar dominating the row.
+        backgroundColor: `color-mix(in srgb, ${color} 16%, transparent)`,
+        color
+      }}
+    >
+      <Icon className="size-3.5" />
+    </span>
+  )
+}
@@ -28,10 +28,16 @@ export function PageSearchShell({
      {...props}
      className={cn('flex h-full min-w-0 flex-col overflow-hidden bg-(--ui-chat-surface-background)', className)}
    >
-      <div className="relative z-10 grid gap-2 border-b border-(--ui-stroke-tertiary) px-3 py-2.5">
+      {/*
+        This header sits in the titlebar row, so it overlaps the OS window-drag
+        region painted by the shell. Without `-webkit-app-region: no-drag` on
+        the search row, mousedown on the input gets intercepted as a window-
+        drag start and the input never receives focus (visible as "I can't
+        click the search box" on the messaging/cron/etc pages).
+      */}
+      <div className="relative z-10 grid gap-2 border-b border-(--ui-stroke-tertiary) px-3 py-2.5 [-webkit-app-region:no-drag]">
        {/* Reserve the top-right titlebar tools + native window-controls
-            footprint so the full-width search input never slides under them
-            (this header sits in the titlebar row at the window top). */}
+            footprint so the full-width search input never slides under them. */}
        <div
          style={{
            paddingRight:
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@ const ROW_HEIGHT = 22
 const INDENT = 10

 interface ProjectTreeProps {
+  collapseNonce: number
+  cwd: string
  data: TreeNode[]
  onActivateFile: (path: string) => void
  onActivateFolder: (path: string) => void
@@ -21,6 +23,8 @@ interface ProjectTreeProps {
 }

 export function ProjectTree({
+  collapseNonce,
+  cwd,
  data,
  onActivateFile,
  onActivateFolder,
@@ -63,7 +67,7 @@ export function ProjectTree({

      onNodeOpenChange(id, node.isOpen)

-      if (node.isOpen && node.data.children === undefined) {
+      if (node.isOpen && node.data?.isDirectory && node.data.children === undefined) {
        void onLoadChildren(id)
      }
    },
@@ -72,7 +76,7 @@ export function ProjectTree({

  const handleActivate = useCallback(
    (node: NodeApi<TreeNode>) => {
-      if (!node.data.isDirectory) {
+      if (node.data && !node.data.isDirectory) {
        onPreviewFile?.(node.data.id)
      }
    },
@@ -83,7 +87,7 @@ export function ProjectTree({
    <div className="min-h-0 flex-1 overflow-hidden" ref={containerRef}>
      {size.height > 0 && size.width > 0 ? (
        <Tree<TreeNode>
-          childrenAccessor={node => (node.isDirectory ? (node.children ?? []) : null)}
+          childrenAccessor={node => (node?.isDirectory ? (node.children ?? []) : null)}
          data={data}
          disableDrag
          disableDrop
@@ -91,6 +95,7 @@ export function ProjectTree({
          height={size.height}
          indent={INDENT}
          initialOpenState={openState}
+          key={`${cwd}:${collapseNonce}`}
          onActivate={handleActivate}
          onToggle={handleToggle}
          openByDefault={false}
@@ -135,6 +140,10 @@ function ProjectTreeRow({
  onAttachFolder: (path: string) => void
  onPreviewFile?: (path: string) => void
 }) {
+  if (!node.data) {
+    return <div style={style} />
+  }
+
  const isFolder = node.data.isDirectory
  const isPlaceholder = node.data.id.endsWith('::__loading__')

@@ -47,16 +47,20 @@ function placeholderChild(parentId: string): TreeNode {
 }

 export interface UseProjectTreeResult {
+  /** Bumped by collapseAll so callers can remount the tree fully collapsed. */
+  collapseNonce: number
  data: TreeNode[]
  openState: Record<string, boolean>
  rootError: string | null
  rootLoading: boolean
+  collapseAll: () => void
  loadChildren: (id: string) => Promise<void>
  refreshRoot: () => Promise<void>
  setNodeOpen: (id: string, open: boolean) => void
 }

 interface ProjectTreeState {
+  collapseNonce: number
  cwd: string
  data: TreeNode[]
  loaded: boolean
@@ -67,6 +71,7 @@ interface ProjectTreeState {
 }

 const initialState: ProjectTreeState = {
+  collapseNonce: 0,
  cwd: '',
  data: [],
  loaded: false,
@@ -112,6 +117,7 @@ async function loadRoot(cwd: string, { force = false }: { force?: boolean } = {}
  }

  $projectTree.set({
+    collapseNonce: current.collapseNonce,
    cwd,
    data: [],
    loaded: false,
@@ -174,6 +180,19 @@ export function useProjectTree(cwd: string): UseProjectTreeResult {
    [cwd]
  )

+  // Clears the recorded open state and bumps the nonce; the tree is keyed on
+  // the nonce so it remounts with everything collapsed (loaded children stay
+  // cached in `data`, just hidden).
+  const collapseAll = useCallback(() => {
+    setProjectTree(current => {
+      if (current.cwd !== cwd) {
+        return current
+      }
+
+      return { ...current, collapseNonce: current.collapseNonce + 1, openState: {} }
+    })
+  }, [cwd])
+
  const loadChildren = useCallback(
    async (id: string) => {
      if (!cwd || inflight.has(id)) {
@@ -222,6 +241,8 @@ export function useProjectTree(cwd: string): UseProjectTreeResult {

  return useMemo(
    () => ({
+      collapseAll,
+      collapseNonce: state.cwd === cwd ? state.collapseNonce : 0,
      data: state.cwd === cwd ? state.data : [],
      loadChildren,
      openState: state.cwd === cwd ? state.openState : {},
@@ -231,10 +252,12 @@ export function useProjectTree(cwd: string): UseProjectTreeResult {
      setNodeOpen
    }),
    [
+      collapseAll,
      cwd,
      loadChildren,
      refreshRoot,
      setNodeOpen,
+      state.collapseNonce,
      state.cwd,
      state.data,
      state.openState,
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { useStore } from '@nanostores/react'
 import type { ReactNode } from 'react'

+import { ErrorBoundary } from '@/components/error-boundary'
 import { Button } from '@/components/ui/button'
 import { Codicon } from '@/components/ui/codicon'
 import { Loader } from '@/components/ui/loader'
@@ -52,7 +53,10 @@ export function RightSidebarPane({
        .pop() ?? currentCwd)
    : 'No folder selected'

-  const { data, loadChildren, openState, refreshRoot, rootError, rootLoading, setNodeOpen } = useProjectTree(currentCwd)
+  const { collapseAll, collapseNonce, data, loadChildren, openState, refreshRoot, rootError, rootLoading, setNodeOpen } =
+    useProjectTree(currentCwd)
+
+  const canCollapse = Object.values(openState).some(Boolean)
  const effectiveTab: RightSidebarTabId = terminalTakeover ? 'files' : activeTab

  const chooseFolder = async () => {
@@ -97,6 +101,8 @@ export function RightSidebarPane({
        <TerminalSlot />
      ) : (
        <FilesystemTab
+          canCollapse={canCollapse}
+          collapseNonce={collapseNonce}
          cwd={currentCwd}
          cwdName={cwdName}
          data={data}
@@ -106,6 +112,7 @@ export function RightSidebarPane({
          onActivateFile={onActivateFile}
          onActivateFolder={onActivateFolder}
          onChangeFolder={chooseFolder}
+          onCollapseAll={collapseAll}
          onLoadChildren={loadChildren}
          onNodeOpenChange={setNodeOpen}
          onPreviewFile={previewFile}
@@ -160,13 +167,22 @@ function RightSidebarChrome({
 }

 interface FilesystemTabProps extends FileTreeBodyProps {
+  canCollapse: boolean
  cwdName: string
  hasCwd: boolean
  onChangeFolder: () => Promise<void> | void
+  onCollapseAll: () => void
  onRefresh: () => void
 }

+const HEADER_ACTION_CLASS =
+  'size-6 shrink-0 rounded-md text-sidebar-foreground/70 transition-colors hover:bg-sidebar-accent! hover:text-sidebar-accent-foreground! focus-visible:ring-2 focus-visible:ring-sidebar-ring'
+
+const HEADER_ACTION_REVEAL_CLASS = `${HEADER_ACTION_CLASS} pointer-events-none opacity-0 transition-opacity focus-visible:opacity-100 group-focus-within/project-header:pointer-events-auto group-focus-within/project-header:opacity-100 group-hover/project-header:pointer-events-auto group-hover/project-header:opacity-100`
+
 function FilesystemTab({
+  canCollapse,
+  collapseNonce,
  cwd,
  cwdName,
  data,
@@ -176,6 +192,7 @@ function FilesystemTab({
  onActivateFile,
  onActivateFolder,
  onChangeFolder,
+  onCollapseAll,
  onLoadChildren,
  onNodeOpenChange,
  onPreviewFile,
@@ -188,14 +205,35 @@ function FilesystemTab({
        <button
          className="flex min-w-0 flex-1 items-center rounded-md text-left hover:text-(--ui-text-secondary)"
          onClick={() => void onChangeFolder()}
-          title={hasCwd ? cwd : 'No folder selected'}
+          title={hasCwd ? `${cwd} — click to change folder` : 'Open a folder'}
          type="button"
        >
          <SidebarPanelLabel>{cwdName}</SidebarPanelLabel>
        </button>
+        <Button
+          aria-label="Open folder"
+          className={HEADER_ACTION_CLASS}
+          onClick={() => void onChangeFolder()}
+          size="icon"
+          title={hasCwd ? 'Open a different folder' : 'Open a folder'}
+          variant="ghost"
+        >
+          <Codicon name="folder-opened" size="0.8125rem" />
+        </Button>
+        <Button
+          aria-label="Collapse all folders"
+          className={HEADER_ACTION_REVEAL_CLASS}
+          disabled={!hasCwd || !canCollapse}
+          onClick={onCollapseAll}
+          size="icon"
+          title="Collapse all folders"
+          variant="ghost"
+        >
+          <Codicon name="collapse-all" size="0.8125rem" />
+        </Button>
        <Button
          aria-label="Refresh tree"
-          className="pointer-events-none size-6 shrink-0 rounded-md text-sidebar-foreground/70 opacity-0 transition-opacity hover:bg-sidebar-accent! hover:text-sidebar-accent-foreground! focus-visible:opacity-100 focus-visible:ring-2 focus-visible:ring-sidebar-ring group-focus-within/project-header:pointer-events-auto group-focus-within/project-header:opacity-100 group-hover/project-header:pointer-events-auto group-hover/project-header:opacity-100"
+          className={HEADER_ACTION_REVEAL_CLASS}
          disabled={!hasCwd || loading}
          onClick={onRefresh}
          size="icon"
@@ -206,6 +244,7 @@ function FilesystemTab({
        </Button>
      </RightSidebarSectionHeader>
      <FileTreeBody
+        collapseNonce={collapseNonce}
        cwd={cwd}
        data={data}
        error={error}
@@ -226,6 +265,7 @@ export function RightSidebarSectionHeader({ children }: { children: ReactNode })
 }

 interface FileTreeBodyProps {
+  collapseNonce: number
  cwd: string
  data: ReturnType<typeof useProjectTree>['data']
  error: string | null
@@ -239,6 +279,7 @@ interface FileTreeBodyProps {
 }

 function FileTreeBody({
+  collapseNonce,
  cwd,
  data,
  error,
@@ -267,15 +308,34 @@ function FileTreeBody({
  }

  return (
-    <ProjectTree
-      data={data}
-      onActivateFile={onActivateFile}
-      onActivateFolder={onActivateFolder}
-      onLoadChildren={onLoadChildren}
-      onNodeOpenChange={onNodeOpenChange}
-      onPreviewFile={onPreviewFile}
-      openState={openState}
-    />
+    <ErrorBoundary
+      fallback={({ reset }) => (
+        <div className="flex min-h-0 flex-1 flex-col items-center justify-center gap-2 px-4 text-center">
+          <EmptyState body="The file tree hit an error rendering this folder." title="Tree error" />
+          <button
+            className="text-[0.68rem] font-medium text-muted-foreground transition hover:text-foreground"
+            onClick={reset}
+            type="button"
+          >
+            Try again
+          </button>
+        </div>
+      )}
+      key={cwd}
+      label="file-tree"
+    >
+      <ProjectTree
+        collapseNonce={collapseNonce}
+        cwd={cwd}
+        data={data}
+        onActivateFile={onActivateFile}
+        onActivateFolder={onActivateFolder}
+        onLoadChildren={onLoadChildren}
+        onNodeOpenChange={onNodeOpenChange}
+        onPreviewFile={onPreviewFile}
+        openState={openState}
+      />
+    </ErrorBoundary>
  )
 }

@@ -50,16 +50,23 @@ export function useCwdActions({
      }

      if (!activeSessionId) {
+        setCurrentCwd(trimmed)
+
        try {
          const info = await requestGateway<{ branch?: string; cwd?: string }>('config.get', {
            key: 'project',
            cwd: trimmed
          })

-          setCurrentCwd(info.cwd || trimmed)
+          // Adopt the backend's normalized cwd so the persisted workspace and
+          // branch stay consistent with what the agent will use.
+          if (info.cwd) {
+            setCurrentCwd(info.cwd)
+          }
+
          setCurrentBranch(info.branch || '')
-        } catch (err) {
-          notifyError(err, 'Working directory change failed')
+        } catch {
+          setCurrentBranch('')
        }

        return
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import {
  $currentCwd,
  $messages,
  $sessions,
+  getRememberedWorkspaceCwd,
  setActiveSessionId,
  setAwaitingResponse,
  setBusy,
@@ -32,6 +33,7 @@ import {
  setMessages,
  setSelectedStoredSessionId,
  setSessions,
+  setSessionsTotal,
  setSessionStartedAt,
  setTurnStartedAt
 } from '@/store/session'
@@ -291,7 +293,8 @@ export function useSessionActions({
      })
      setSessionStartedAt(null)
      setTurnStartedAt(null)
-      setCurrentCwd('')
+      // New chats inherit the current workspace.
+      setCurrentCwd(getRememberedWorkspaceCwd())
      setCurrentBranch('')
      clearComposerDraft()
      clearComposerAttachments()
@@ -308,7 +311,7 @@ export function useSessionActions({
    creatingSessionRef.current = true

    try {
-      const cwd = $currentCwd.get().trim()
+      const cwd = $currentCwd.get().trim() || getRememberedWorkspaceCwd()
      const created = await requestGateway<SessionCreateResponse>('session.create', { cols: 96, ...(cwd && { cwd }) })
      const stored = created.stored_session_id ?? null

@@ -687,6 +690,9 @@ export function useSessionActions({
      const previousPinned = $pinnedSessionIds.get()

      setSessions(prev => prev.filter(s => s.id !== storedSessionId))
+      // Keep $sessionsTotal in sync so the sidebar's "Load N more" footer
+      // doesn't keep claiming the removed row is still on the server.
+      setSessionsTotal(prev => Math.max(0, prev - 1))
      $pinnedSessionIds.set(previousPinned.filter(id => id !== storedSessionId))

      // Tear down before awaiting so the route effect can't resume the
@@ -709,6 +715,7 @@ export function useSessionActions({
      } catch (err) {
        if (removed) {
          setSessions(prev => [removed, ...prev])
+          setSessionsTotal(prev => prev + 1)
        }

        $pinnedSessionIds.set(previousPinned)
@@ -761,6 +768,10 @@ export function useSessionActions({

      // Soft-hide: drop from the sidebar immediately, keep the data.
      setSessions(prev => prev.filter(s => s.id !== storedSessionId))
+      // Archived sessions are hidden by the listSessions(min_messages=1) query
+      // on the next refresh, so they count as "removed" for the load-more
+      // footer math.
+      setSessionsTotal(prev => Math.max(0, prev - 1))
      $pinnedSessionIds.set(previousPinned.filter(id => id !== storedSessionId))

      if (wasSelected) {
@@ -773,6 +784,7 @@ export function useSessionActions({
      } catch (err) {
        if (archived) {
          setSessions(prev => [archived, ...prev.filter(s => s.id !== storedSessionId)])
+          setSessionsTotal(prev => prev + 1)
        }

        $pinnedSessionIds.set(previousPinned)
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import { type MutableRefObject, useCallback, useEffect, useRef } from 'react'
 import type { ChatMessage } from '@/lib/chat-messages'
 import { preserveLocalAssistantErrors } from '@/lib/chat-messages'
 import { createClientSessionState } from '@/lib/chat-runtime'
-import { $busy, $messages, setSessionWorking } from '@/store/session'
+import { $busy, $messages, noteSessionActivity, setSessionWorking } from '@/store/session'

 import type { ClientSessionState } from '../../types'

@@ -140,6 +140,13 @@ export function useSessionStateCache({
      }

      setSessionWorking(next.storedSessionId, next.busy)
+      // Every state update is effectively a "still alive" heartbeat for
+      // streaming events. The session-store watchdog uses this to keep the
+      // working flag alive during long-running turns and to clear it once
+      // the stream goes silent.
+      if (next.busy) {
+        noteSessionActivity(next.storedSessionId)
+      }
      syncSessionStateToView(sessionId, next)

      return next
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { useStore } from '@nanostores/react'
-import { useState } from 'react'
+import { useEffect, useState } from 'react'

 import { Button } from '@/components/ui/button'
 import { CheckCircle2, ExternalLink, Loader2, RefreshCw, Sparkles } from '@/lib/icons'
@@ -10,7 +10,8 @@ import {
  $updateChecking,
  $updateStatus,
  checkUpdates,
-  openUpdatesWindow
+  openUpdatesWindow,
+  refreshDesktopVersion
 } from '@/store/updates'

 import { ListRow, SectionHeading, SettingsContent } from './primitives'
@@ -46,6 +47,14 @@ export function AboutSettings() {
  const checking = useStore($updateChecking)
  const [justChecked, setJustChecked] = useState(false)

+  // The version atom is loaded once at app boot, which makes About show a
+  // stale number after a self-update (the running binary is current, the
+  // displayed string is not). Re-read on mount so opening About always
+  // reflects the running build.
+  useEffect(() => {
+    void refreshDesktopVersion()
+  }, [])
+
  const behind = status?.behind ?? 0
  const supported = status?.supported !== false
  const applying = apply.applying || apply.stage === 'restart'
@@ -22,8 +22,6 @@ import {
 import { LoadingState, Pill, SectionHeading, SettingsContent } from './primitives'
 import type { EnvPatch, EnvRowProps, ProviderGroup, SearchProps } from './types'

-const SHOW_ADVANCED_STORAGE_KEY = 'desktop.settings.keys.show_advanced'
-
 interface EnvActionsProps {
  varKey: string
  info: EnvVarInfo
@@ -186,8 +184,11 @@ function EnvProviderGroup({
  group: ProviderGroup
  rowProps: Omit<EnvRowProps, 'varKey' | 'info'>
 }) {
-  const [expanded, setExpanded] = useState(false)
  const setCount = group.entries.filter(([, info]) => info.is_set).length
+  // Default-expand providers that already have at least one key set; the
+  // user is much more likely to be coming back to edit those than to start
+  // configuring a fresh provider from scratch.
+  const [expanded, setExpanded] = useState(setCount > 0)

  return (
    <div className="overflow-hidden rounded-xl bg-background/60">
@@ -222,27 +223,17 @@ export function KeysSettings({ query }: SearchProps) {
  const [revealed, setRevealed] = useState<Record<string, string>>({})
  const [saving, setSaving] = useState<string | null>(null)

-  const [showAdvanced, setShowAdvanced] = useState<boolean>(() => {
-    try {
-      const stored = window.localStorage.getItem(SHOW_ADVANCED_STORAGE_KEY)
-
-      if (stored === null) {
-        return false
-      }
-
-      return stored === 'true'
-    } catch {
-      return false
-    }
-  })
-
+  // We used to hide ~80% of rows behind a global "Show advanced" toggle, but
+  // everything in this view is configuration-level — "advanced" was a poor
+  // distinction. The full list is rendered now and provider groups
+  // default-collapsed-unless-set keep the surface manageable.
  useEffect(() => {
    try {
-      window.localStorage.setItem(SHOW_ADVANCED_STORAGE_KEY, showAdvanced ? 'true' : 'false')
+      window.localStorage.removeItem('desktop.settings.keys.show_advanced')
    } catch {
-      // Ignore persistence failures and keep in-memory preference.
+      // Ignore — old key cleanup is best-effort.
    }
-  }, [showAdvanced])
+  }, [])

  useEffect(() => {
    let cancelled = false
@@ -262,28 +253,21 @@ export function KeysSettings({ query }: SearchProps) {
    return () => void (cancelled = true)
  }, [])

-  const filterEnv = useCallback(
-    (info: EnvVarInfo, key: string, q: string, cat: string, extra?: string) => {
-      if (asText(info.category) !== cat) {
-        return false
-      }
+  const filterEnv = useCallback((info: EnvVarInfo, key: string, q: string, cat: string, extra?: string) => {
+    if (asText(info.category) !== cat) {
+      return false
+    }

-      if (!showAdvanced && Boolean(info.advanced)) {
-        return false
-      }
+    if (!q) {
+      return true
+    }

-      if (!q) {
-        return true
-      }
-
-      return (
-        key.toLowerCase().includes(q) ||
-        includesQuery(info.description, q) ||
-        Boolean(extra && extra.toLowerCase().includes(q))
-      )
-    },
-    [showAdvanced]
-  )
+    return (
+      key.toLowerCase().includes(q) ||
+      includesQuery(info.description, q) ||
+      Boolean(extra && extra.toLowerCase().includes(q))
+    )
+  }, [])

  const providerGroups = useMemo<ProviderGroup[]>(() => {
    if (!vars) {
@@ -415,12 +399,6 @@ export function KeysSettings({ query }: SearchProps) {

  return (
    <SettingsContent>
-      <div className="mb-4 flex justify-end">
-        <Button onClick={() => setShowAdvanced(s => !s)} size="sm" variant="outline">
-          {showAdvanced ? 'Hide advanced' : 'Show advanced'}
-        </Button>
-      </div>
-
      <div className="mb-6">
        <SectionHeading
          icon={Zap}
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import { Button } from '@/components/ui/button'
 import { deleteSession, listSessions, setSessionArchived } from '@/hermes'
 import { sessionTitle } from '@/lib/chat-runtime'
 import { triggerHaptic } from '@/lib/haptics'
-import { Archive, ArchiveOff, Loader2, Trash2 } from '@/lib/icons'
+import { Archive, ArchiveOff, FolderOpen, Loader2, Trash2 } from '@/lib/icons'
 import { notify, notifyError } from '@/store/notifications'
 import { setSessions } from '@/store/session'
 import type { SessionInfo } from '@/types/hermes'
@@ -105,6 +105,8 @@ export function SessionsSettings({ query }: SearchProps) {

  return (
    <SettingsContent>
+      <DefaultProjectDirSetting />
+
      <SectionHeading
        icon={Archive}
        meta={sessions.length ? String(sessions.length) : undefined}
@@ -166,3 +168,104 @@ export function SessionsSettings({ query }: SearchProps) {
    </SettingsContent>
  )
 }
+
+// Lets the user pin the default cwd for new sessions. Without this, packaged
+// builds on Windows used to spawn sessions in the install dir (`win-unpacked`
+// / Program Files), which buried any files Hermes wrote there.
+function DefaultProjectDirSetting() {
+  const [dir, setDir] = useState<null | string>(null)
+  const [fallback, setFallback] = useState<string>('')
+  const [busy, setBusy] = useState(false)
+
+  useEffect(() => {
+    // The bridge is only present when running inside Electron. In a Vitest
+    // / Storybook / non-Electron context `window.hermesDesktop` is
+    // undefined, so guard the WHOLE call chain rather than chaining
+    // `?.settings.getDefaultProjectDir().then(...)` (the latter would
+    // short-circuit to `undefined.then(...)` and throw at runtime).
+    const settings = window.hermesDesktop?.settings
+
+    if (!settings) {
+      return
+    }
+
+    let alive = true
+
+    void settings.getDefaultProjectDir().then(result => {
+      if (!alive) return
+      setDir(result.dir)
+      setFallback(result.defaultLabel)
+    })
+
+    return () => {
+      alive = false
+    }
+  }, [])
+
+  const choose = useCallback(async () => {
+    const settings = window.hermesDesktop?.settings
+
+    if (!settings) return
+
+    setBusy(true)
+
+    try {
+      const picked = await settings.pickDefaultProjectDir()
+
+      if (picked.canceled || !picked.dir) {
+        return
+      }
+
+      const result = await settings.setDefaultProjectDir(picked.dir)
+      setDir(result.dir)
+      notify({ durationMs: 2_000, kind: 'success', message: 'Default project directory updated' })
+    } catch (err) {
+      notifyError(err, 'Could not update default directory')
+    } finally {
+      setBusy(false)
+    }
+  }, [])
+
+  const clear = useCallback(async () => {
+    const settings = window.hermesDesktop?.settings
+
+    if (!settings) return
+
+    setBusy(true)
+
+    try {
+      await settings.setDefaultProjectDir(null)
+      setDir(null)
+    } catch (err) {
+      notifyError(err, 'Could not clear default directory')
+    } finally {
+      setBusy(false)
+    }
+  }, [])
+
+  return (
+    <div className="mb-6">
+      <SectionHeading icon={FolderOpen} title="Default project directory" />
+      <p className="mb-2 text-[length:var(--conversation-caption-font-size)] text-(--ui-text-tertiary)">
+        New sessions start in this folder unless you pick another. Leave it unset to use your home directory.
+      </p>
+      <ListRow
+        action={
+          <div className="flex items-center gap-1.5">
+            <Button disabled={busy} onClick={() => void choose()} size="sm" type="button" variant="outline">
+              <FolderOpen className="size-3.5" />
+              <span>{dir ? 'Change' : 'Choose'}</span>
+            </Button>
+            {dir && (
+              <Button disabled={busy} onClick={() => void clear()} size="sm" type="button" variant="ghost">
+                Clear
+              </Button>
+            )}
+          </div>
+        }
+        description={dir || `Defaults to ${fallback || '~/hermes-projects'}.`}
+        title={dir ? dir : 'Not set'}
+      />
+    </div>
+  )
+}
@@ -54,14 +54,18 @@ export function StatusbarControls({ className, leftItems = [], items = [], ...pr
      )}
      {...props}
    >
-      <div className="flex min-w-0 items-stretch gap-0.5 overflow-x-auto">
+      {/* `overflow-x-clip` (not `overflow-x-auto`) so a wide status item — for
+          example "Connecting…" on a fresh/untitled session — can't paint a
+          horizontal scrollbar across the bottom of the window. Items already
+          `truncate` their labels, so clipping is the right behavior. */}
+      <div className="flex min-w-0 items-stretch gap-0.5 overflow-x-clip">
        {leftItems
          .filter(item => !item.hidden)
          .map(item => (
            <StatusbarItemView item={item} key={`left:${item.id}`} navigate={navigate} />
          ))}
      </div>
-      <div className="flex min-w-0 items-stretch gap-0.5 overflow-x-auto">
+      <div className="flex min-w-0 items-stretch gap-0.5 overflow-x-clip">
        {items
          .filter(item => !item.hidden)
          .map(item => (
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ export const TITLEBAR_FALLBACK_WINDOW_BUTTON_X = 24
 export const TITLEBAR_EDGE_INSET = 14

 export const titlebarButtonClass =
-  'h-[var(--titlebar-control-height)] w-[var(--titlebar-control-size)] rounded-md text-muted-foreground/85 transition-colors hover:bg-(--ui-control-hover-background) hover:text-foreground'
+  'h-[var(--titlebar-control-height)] w-[var(--titlebar-control-size)] cursor-pointer rounded-md text-muted-foreground/85 transition-colors hover:bg-(--ui-control-hover-background) hover:text-foreground'

 export const titlebarHeaderBaseClass =
  'pointer-events-none relative z-3 flex h-(--titlebar-height) shrink-0 items-center justify-start gap-3 border-b border-(--ui-stroke-tertiary) bg-(--ui-chat-surface-background) px-[max(0.75rem,var(--titlebar-content-inset,0rem))]'
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+import type { FC } from 'react'
+import { useMemo } from 'react'
+
+import { ansiColorClass, hasAnsiCodes, parseAnsi } from '@/lib/ansi'
+import { cn } from '@/lib/utils'
+
+interface AnsiTextProps {
+  text: string
+  className?: string
+}
+
+/** Renders text with embedded ANSI SGR codes as colored / bold spans. Falls
+ *  back to a plain string node when no codes are present so the parser cost
+ *  is paid only when there's something to colorize. */
+export const AnsiText: FC<AnsiTextProps> = ({ className, text }) => {
+  const segments = useMemo(() => (hasAnsiCodes(text) ? parseAnsi(text) : null), [text])
+
+  if (!segments) {
+    return <span className={className}>{text}</span>
+  }
+
+  return (
+    <span className={className}>
+      {segments.map((segment, index) => (
+        <span
+          className={cn(segment.bold && 'font-semibold', segment.fg && ansiColorClass(segment.fg))}
+          key={`ansi-${index}`}
+        >
+          {segment.text}
+        </span>
+      ))}
+    </span>
+  )
+}
@@ -48,7 +48,8 @@ import { detectTrigger, textBeforeCaret, type TriggerState } from '@/app/chat/co
 import { ComposerTriggerPopover } from '@/app/chat/composer/trigger-popover'
 import { extractDroppedFiles, HERMES_PATHS_MIME } from '@/app/chat/hooks/use-composer-actions'
 import { ClarifyTool } from '@/components/assistant-ui/clarify-tool'
-import { DirectiveContent, DirectiveText } from '@/components/assistant-ui/directive-text'
+import { DirectiveContent } from '@/components/assistant-ui/directive-text'
+import { UserMessageText } from '@/components/assistant-ui/user-message-text'
 import { hermesDirectiveFormatter } from '@/components/assistant-ui/directive-text'
 import { MarkdownText } from '@/components/assistant-ui/markdown-text'
 import { VirtualizedThread } from '@/components/assistant-ui/thread-virtualizer'
@@ -703,9 +704,10 @@ const UserMessage: FC<{
        </span>
      )}
      {hasBody && (
-        <span className="wrap-anywhere block whitespace-pre-line">
-          <MessagePrimitive.Parts components={{ Text: DirectiveText }} />
-        </span>
+        // Render the user's text through a minimal markdown pipeline:
+        // backtick `code` and ``` fenced ``` blocks, with directive chips
+        // (`@file:` etc.) still resolved inside the plain-text spans.
+        <UserMessageText className="wrap-anywhere" text={messageText} />
      )}
    </>
  )
@@ -35,7 +35,18 @@ export interface ToolView {
  previewTarget?: string
  rawArgs: string
  rawResult: string
+  /** Set for tools whose output naturally contains ANSI escape codes
+   *  (terminal/execute_code) so the renderer knows to run them through
+   *  the ANSI parser instead of printing them as literals. */
+  rendersAnsi?: boolean
  searchHits?: SearchResultRow[]
+  /** When the backend reports stderr as a separate stream (terminal /
+   *  execute_code), the renderer shows it as its own labeled, neutrally
+   *  tinted block under stdout — distinct from an error tone. */
+  stderr?: string
+  /** When set, the renderer uses stdout+stderr as separate sections and
+   *  ignores the merged `detail`. */
+  stdout?: string
  status: ToolStatus
  subtitle: string
  title: string
@@ -1002,6 +1013,10 @@ function toolDetailText(
  }

  if (part.toolName === 'terminal' || part.toolName === 'execute_code') {
+    // Streams are split out into ToolView.stdout / ToolView.stderr by
+    // buildToolView so the renderer can label them separately. The merged
+    // fallback here is only used when the backend doesn't expose either
+    // stream individually.
    const output = firstStringField(resultRecord, ['output', 'stdout', 'stderr'])

    const lines = Array.isArray(resultRecord.lines)
@@ -1209,6 +1224,18 @@ export function buildToolView(part: ToolPart, inlineDiff: string): ToolView {

  const resultCount = status === 'error' ? null : toolResultCount(part, argsRecord, resultRecord)

+  // For shell/code tools we surface stdout and stderr as separate labeled
+  // streams in the renderer. Many CLIs use stderr for informational
+  // messages (npm progress, git hints), so we deliberately don't paint
+  // stderr destructively even though it's tagged.
+  const rendersAnsi = part.toolName === 'terminal' || part.toolName === 'execute_code'
+  const stdout = rendersAnsi ? firstStringField(resultRecord, ['stdout']) : ''
+  const stderrRaw = rendersAnsi ? firstStringField(resultRecord, ['stderr']) : ''
+  // Only attach stderr when the backend actually returned it as its own
+  // field — otherwise the merged `detail` already covers it and double-
+  // rendering would duplicate output.
+  const hasSplitStreams = rendersAnsi && (Boolean(stdout) || Boolean(stderrRaw))
+
  return {
    countLabel: resultCount ? formatCountLabel(resultCount) : undefined,
    detail,
@@ -1220,7 +1247,10 @@ export function buildToolView(part: ToolPart, inlineDiff: string): ToolView {
    previewTarget: toolPreviewTarget(part.toolName, argsRecord, resultRecord),
    rawArgs: prettyJson(part.args),
    rawResult: prettyJson(part.result),
+    rendersAnsi: rendersAnsi || undefined,
    searchHits: searchHits?.length ? searchHits : undefined,
+    stderr: hasSplitStreams ? stderrRaw || undefined : undefined,
+    stdout: hasSplitStreams ? stdout || undefined : undefined,
    status,
    subtitle,
    title,
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import { useStore } from '@nanostores/react'
 import { createContext, type FC, type PropsWithChildren, type ReactNode, useContext, useMemo } from 'react'
 import { useShallow } from 'zustand/shallow'

+import { AnsiText } from '@/components/assistant-ui/ansi-text'
 import { useElapsedSeconds } from '@/components/chat/activity-timer'
 import { ActivityTimerText } from '@/components/chat/activity-timer-text'
 import { CompactMarkdown } from '@/components/chat/compact-markdown'
@@ -344,11 +345,41 @@ function ToolEntry({ part }: ToolEntryProps) {
                  )}
                </div>
              ) : null
+            ) : view.stdout || view.stderr ? (
+              // Stdout + stderr split: render both as labeled blocks. stderr
+              // is intentionally NOT painted destructive — many CLIs log
+              // informational output there.
+              <div className="max-w-full text-xs leading-relaxed text-(--ui-text-secondary)">
+                {view.detailLabel && <p className={TOOL_SECTION_LABEL_CLASS}>{view.detailLabel}</p>}
+                {view.stdout && (
+                  <div className="space-y-0.5">
+                    {view.stderr && <p className={TOOL_SECTION_LABEL_CLASS}>stdout</p>}
+                    <pre className={cn(TOOL_SECTION_PRE_CLASS, 'whitespace-pre-wrap wrap-anywhere')}>
+                      {view.rendersAnsi ? <AnsiText text={view.stdout} /> : view.stdout}
+                    </pre>
+                  </div>
+                )}
+                {view.stderr && (
+                  <div className={cn('space-y-0.5', view.stdout && 'mt-1.5')}>
+                    <p className={TOOL_SECTION_LABEL_CLASS}>stderr</p>
+                    <pre
+                      className={cn(
+                        TOOL_SECTION_PRE_CLASS,
+                        'whitespace-pre-wrap wrap-anywhere text-(--ui-text-tertiary)'
+                      )}
+                    >
+                      {view.rendersAnsi ? <AnsiText text={view.stderr} /> : view.stderr}
+                    </pre>
+                  </div>
+                )}
+              </div>
            ) : (
              <div className="max-w-full text-xs leading-relaxed text-(--ui-text-secondary)">
                {view.detailLabel && <p className={TOOL_SECTION_LABEL_CLASS}>{view.detailLabel}</p>}
                {renderDetailAsCode ? (
-                  <pre className={cn(TOOL_SECTION_PRE_CLASS, 'whitespace-pre-wrap wrap-anywhere')}>{view.detail}</pre>
+                  <pre className={cn(TOOL_SECTION_PRE_CLASS, 'whitespace-pre-wrap wrap-anywhere')}>
+                    {view.rendersAnsi ? <AnsiText text={view.detail} /> : view.detail}
+                  </pre>
                ) : (
                  <CompactMarkdown className={cn(TOOL_SECTION_SURFACE_CLASS, 'wrap-anywhere')} text={view.detail} />
                )}
@@ -0,0 +1,150 @@
+import type { FC } from 'react'
+import { Fragment, useMemo } from 'react'
+
+import { DirectiveContent } from '@/components/assistant-ui/directive-text'
+import { cn } from '@/lib/utils'
+
+// User messages should render the bare-minimum of markdown: backtick `code`
+// spans and ``` fenced blocks. We deliberately don't pull in the full
+// assistant Markdown pipeline (Streamdown + KaTeX + syntax highlighter)
+// because user input rarely contains structured docs and the heavy pipeline
+// adds a lot of runtime cost per bubble.
+//
+// Directive chips (`@file:`, `@image:`, ...) still resolve via DirectiveContent
+// inside the plain-text segments.
+
+interface FenceSegment {
+  kind: 'fence'
+  code: string
+  lang: string | null
+}
+
+interface InlineSegment {
+  kind: 'inline'
+  text: string
+}
+
+interface InlineCodeSegment {
+  kind: 'inline-code'
+  code: string
+}
+
+interface InlineTextSegment {
+  kind: 'inline-text'
+  text: string
+}
+
+type TopSegment = FenceSegment | InlineSegment
+type InlineNode = InlineCodeSegment | InlineTextSegment
+
+const FENCE_RE = /```([^\n`]*)\n([\s\S]*?)```/g
+
+// Greedy backtick run length so ``code with `backticks` inside`` works.
+const INLINE_CODE_RE = /(`+)([^`\n][\s\S]*?)\1/g
+
+function splitFences(text: string): TopSegment[] {
+  const segments: TopSegment[] = []
+  let cursor = 0
+
+  for (const match of text.matchAll(FENCE_RE)) {
+    const start = match.index ?? 0
+
+    if (start > cursor) {
+      segments.push({ kind: 'inline', text: text.slice(cursor, start) })
+    }
+
+    segments.push({
+      kind: 'fence',
+      lang: (match[1] || '').trim() || null,
+      code: match[2] ?? ''
+    })
+    cursor = start + match[0].length
+  }
+
+  if (cursor < text.length) {
+    segments.push({ kind: 'inline', text: text.slice(cursor) })
+  }
+
+  return segments
+}
+
+function splitInlineCode(text: string): InlineNode[] {
+  const nodes: InlineNode[] = []
+  let cursor = 0
+
+  for (const match of text.matchAll(INLINE_CODE_RE)) {
+    const start = match.index ?? 0
+
+    if (start > cursor) {
+      nodes.push({ kind: 'inline-text', text: text.slice(cursor, start) })
+    }
+
+    nodes.push({ kind: 'inline-code', code: match[2] })
+    cursor = start + match[0].length
+  }
+
+  if (cursor < text.length) {
+    nodes.push({ kind: 'inline-text', text: text.slice(cursor) })
+  }
+
+  return nodes
+}
+
+interface UserMessageTextProps {
+  text: string
+  className?: string
+}
+
+export const UserMessageText: FC<UserMessageTextProps> = ({ className, text }) => {
+  const top = useMemo(() => splitFences(text), [text])
+
+  return (
+    <span className={cn('block', className)} data-slot="aui_user-message-text">
+      {top.map((segment, segmentIndex) => {
+        if (segment.kind === 'fence') {
+          return (
+            <pre
+              className="my-1.5 max-w-full overflow-x-auto rounded-md border border-border/45 bg-[color-mix(in_srgb,currentColor_5%,transparent)] px-2.5 py-2 font-mono text-[0.86em] leading-snug"
+              data-slot="aui_user-fence"
+              key={`fence-${segmentIndex}`}
+            >
+              <code className="block whitespace-pre">{segment.code}</code>
+            </pre>
+          )
+        }
+
+        return (
+          <Fragment key={`inline-${segmentIndex}`}>
+            <InlineSegmentView text={segment.text} />
+          </Fragment>
+        )
+      })}
+    </span>
+  )
+}
+
+const InlineSegmentView: FC<{ text: string }> = ({ text }) => {
+  const nodes = useMemo(() => splitInlineCode(text), [text])
+
+  return (
+    <span className="wrap-anywhere block whitespace-pre-line">
+      {nodes.map((node, nodeIndex) =>
+        node.kind === 'inline-code' ? (
+          <code
+            className="mx-px rounded bg-[color-mix(in_srgb,currentColor_8%,transparent)] px-1 py-px font-mono text-[0.92em]"
+            data-slot="aui_user-inline-code"
+            key={`code-${nodeIndex}`}
+          >
+            {node.code}
+          </code>
+        ) : (
+          // Pass plain-text bits through DirectiveContent so @file:/@url: chips
+          // still render. DirectiveContent already preserves whitespace.
+          <Fragment key={`text-${nodeIndex}`}>
+            <DirectiveContent text={node.text} />
+          </Fragment>
+        )
+      )}
+    </span>
+  )
+}
@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+import { Component, type ErrorInfo, type ReactNode } from 'react'
+
+import { Button } from '@/components/ui/button'
+import { AlertTriangle, RefreshCw } from '@/lib/icons'
+
+export interface ErrorBoundaryFallbackProps {
+  error: Error
+  reset: () => void
+}
+
+interface ErrorBoundaryProps {
+  children: ReactNode
+  fallback?: (props: ErrorBoundaryFallbackProps) => ReactNode
+  label?: string
+  onError?: (error: Error, info: ErrorInfo) => void
+}
+
+interface ErrorBoundaryState {
+  error: Error | null
+}
+
+export class ErrorBoundary extends Component<ErrorBoundaryProps, ErrorBoundaryState> {
+  state: ErrorBoundaryState = { error: null }
+
+  static getDerivedStateFromError(error: Error): ErrorBoundaryState {
+    return { error }
+  }
+
+  componentDidCatch(error: Error, info: ErrorInfo) {
+    const tag = this.props.label ? `[error-boundary:${this.props.label}]` : '[error-boundary]'
+    console.error(tag, error, info.componentStack)
+    this.props.onError?.(error, info)
+  }
+
+  reset = () => {
+    this.setState({ error: null })
+  }
+
+  render() {
+    const { error } = this.state
+
+    if (!error) {
+      return this.props.children
+    }
+
+    if (this.props.fallback) {
+      return this.props.fallback({ error, reset: this.reset })
+    }
+
+    return <RootErrorFallback error={error} reset={this.reset} />
+  }
+}
+
+function RootErrorFallback({ error, reset }: ErrorBoundaryFallbackProps) {
+  return (
+    <div className="fixed inset-0 z-[1500] flex items-center justify-center bg-(--ui-chat-surface-background) p-6">
+      <div className="w-full max-w-[40rem] overflow-hidden rounded-xl border border-(--ui-stroke-secondary) bg-(--ui-chat-bubble-background) shadow-sm">
+        <div className="flex items-start gap-3 border-b border-(--ui-stroke-tertiary) px-5 py-4">
+          <div className="flex size-9 shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-lg bg-destructive/10 text-destructive">
+            <AlertTriangle className="size-5" />
+          </div>
+          <div>
+            <h2 className="text-[0.9375rem] font-semibold tracking-tight">Something broke in the interface</h2>
+            <p className="mt-1 text-[0.8125rem] leading-5 text-(--ui-text-tertiary)">
+              The view hit an unexpected error. Your chats and settings are safe - try again, or reload the window.
+            </p>
+          </div>
+        </div>
+
+        <div className="grid gap-4 p-5">
+          <div className="rounded-2xl border border-destructive/30 bg-destructive/10 px-4 py-3 font-mono text-[0.7rem] leading-4 text-destructive">
+            {error.message || String(error)}
+          </div>
+
+          <div className="flex flex-wrap gap-2">
+            <Button onClick={reset}>
+              <RefreshCw className="size-4" />
+              Try again
+            </Button>
+            <Button onClick={() => window.location.reload()} variant="outline">
+              Reload window
+            </Button>
+            <Button onClick={() => void window.hermesDesktop?.revealLogs()?.catch(() => undefined)} variant="ghost">
+              Open logs
+            </Button>
+          </div>
+        </div>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  )
+}
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ import * as React from 'react'
 import { cn } from '@/lib/utils'

 const buttonVariants = cva(
-  "inline-flex shrink-0 items-center justify-center gap-2 rounded-md text-sm font-medium whitespace-nowrap transition-all outline-none focus-visible:border-ring focus-visible:ring-[0.1875rem] focus-visible:ring-ring/50 disabled:pointer-events-none disabled:opacity-50 aria-invalid:border-destructive aria-invalid:ring-destructive/20 dark:aria-invalid:ring-destructive/40 [&_svg]:pointer-events-none [&_svg]:shrink-0 [&_svg:not([class*='size-'])]:size-4",
+  "inline-flex shrink-0 cursor-pointer items-center justify-center gap-2 rounded-md text-sm font-medium whitespace-nowrap transition-all outline-none focus-visible:border-ring focus-visible:ring-[0.1875rem] focus-visible:ring-ring/50 disabled:pointer-events-none disabled:cursor-default disabled:opacity-50 aria-invalid:border-destructive aria-invalid:ring-destructive/20 dark:aria-invalid:ring-destructive/40 [&_svg]:pointer-events-none [&_svg]:shrink-0 [&_svg:not([class*='size-'])]:size-4",
  {
    variants: {
      variant: {
@@ -46,7 +46,10 @@ function DialogContent({
      <DialogOverlay />
      <DialogPrimitive.Content
        className={cn(
-          'fixed left-1/2 top-1/2 z-[130] pointer-events-auto grid w-full max-w-lg -translate-x-1/2 -translate-y-1/2 gap-3 rounded-xl border border-(--ui-stroke-secondary) bg-(--ui-chat-bubble-background) p-4 text-[length:var(--conversation-text-font-size)] text-foreground shadow-md duration-200 data-[state=closed]:animate-out data-[state=closed]:fade-out-0 data-[state=closed]:zoom-out-95 data-[state=open]:animate-in data-[state=open]:fade-in-0 data-[state=open]:zoom-in-95',
+          // Cap height at 85vh and let long content scroll inside the dialog
+          // instead of overflowing off-screen (long cron titles, tool detail
+          // dumps, etc.). Individual dialogs can still override via className.
+          'fixed left-1/2 top-1/2 z-[130] pointer-events-auto grid max-h-[85vh] w-full max-w-lg -translate-x-1/2 -translate-y-1/2 gap-3 overflow-y-auto rounded-xl border border-(--ui-stroke-secondary) bg-(--ui-chat-bubble-background) p-4 text-[length:var(--conversation-text-font-size)] text-foreground shadow-md duration-200 data-[state=closed]:animate-out data-[state=closed]:fade-out-0 data-[state=closed]:zoom-out-95 data-[state=open]:animate-in data-[state=open]:fade-in-0 data-[state=open]:zoom-in-95',
          className
        )}
        data-slot="dialog-content"
@@ -24,8 +24,11 @@ function DropdownMenuContent({
  return (
    <DropdownMenuPrimitive.Portal>
      <DropdownMenuPrimitive.Content
+        // `dt-portal-scrollbar` reproduces the thin themed scrollbar from
+        // `.scrollbar-dt` for portaled overlays (Radix renders this under
+        // document.body, outside #root's scope). See styles.css.
        className={cn(
-          'z-50 max-h-(--radix-dropdown-menu-content-available-height) min-w-36 origin-(--radix-dropdown-menu-content-transform-origin) overflow-x-hidden overflow-y-auto rounded-lg border border-(--ui-stroke-secondary) bg-[color-mix(in_srgb,var(--ui-bg-elevated)_96%,transparent)] p-1 text-[length:var(--conversation-text-font-size)] text-popover-foreground shadow-md backdrop-blur-md data-[side=bottom]:slide-in-from-top-1 data-[side=left]:slide-in-from-right-1 data-[side=right]:slide-in-from-left-1 data-[side=top]:slide-in-from-bottom-1 data-[state=closed]:animate-out data-[state=closed]:fade-out-0 data-[state=closed]:zoom-out-95 data-[state=open]:animate-in data-[state=open]:fade-in-0 data-[state=open]:zoom-in-95',
+          'dt-portal-scrollbar z-50 max-h-(--radix-dropdown-menu-content-available-height) min-w-36 origin-(--radix-dropdown-menu-content-transform-origin) overflow-x-hidden overflow-y-auto rounded-lg border border-(--ui-stroke-secondary) bg-[color-mix(in_srgb,var(--ui-bg-elevated)_96%,transparent)] p-1 text-[length:var(--conversation-text-font-size)] text-popover-foreground shadow-md backdrop-blur-md data-[side=bottom]:slide-in-from-top-1 data-[side=left]:slide-in-from-right-1 data-[side=right]:slide-in-from-left-1 data-[side=top]:slide-in-from-bottom-1 data-[state=closed]:animate-out data-[state=closed]:fade-out-0 data-[state=closed]:zoom-out-95 data-[state=open]:animate-in data-[state=open]:fade-in-0 data-[state=open]:zoom-in-95',
          className
        )}
        data-slot="dropdown-menu-content"
@@ -188,8 +191,13 @@ function DropdownMenuSubContent({
 }: React.ComponentProps<typeof DropdownMenuPrimitive.SubContent>) {
  return (
    <DropdownMenuPrimitive.SubContent
+      // SubContent inherits the same portal/scrollbar issue as Content (Radix
+      // renders it under document.body), so apply `dt-portal-scrollbar`. Use
+      // a fixed `max-h-80` rather than the Radix available-height variable:
+      // that variable is only published on Content, NOT SubContent — using
+      // it here collapses the submenu to 0px height.
      className={cn(
-        'z-50 min-w-36 origin-(--radix-dropdown-menu-content-transform-origin) overflow-hidden rounded-lg border border-(--ui-stroke-secondary) bg-[color-mix(in_srgb,var(--ui-bg-elevated)_96%,transparent)] p-1 text-[length:var(--conversation-text-font-size)] text-popover-foreground shadow-md backdrop-blur-md data-[side=bottom]:slide-in-from-top-1 data-[side=left]:slide-in-from-right-1 data-[side=right]:slide-in-from-left-1 data-[side=top]:slide-in-from-bottom-1 data-[state=closed]:animate-out data-[state=closed]:fade-out-0 data-[state=closed]:zoom-out-95 data-[state=open]:animate-in data-[state=open]:fade-in-0 data-[state=open]:zoom-in-95',
+        'dt-portal-scrollbar z-50 max-h-80 min-w-36 origin-(--radix-dropdown-menu-content-transform-origin) overflow-y-auto rounded-lg border border-(--ui-stroke-secondary) bg-[color-mix(in_srgb,var(--ui-bg-elevated)_96%,transparent)] p-1 text-[length:var(--conversation-text-font-size)] text-popover-foreground shadow-md backdrop-blur-md data-[side=bottom]:slide-in-from-top-1 data-[side=left]:slide-in-from-right-1 data-[side=right]:slide-in-from-left-1 data-[side=top]:slide-in-from-bottom-1 data-[state=closed]:animate-out data-[state=closed]:fade-out-0 data-[state=closed]:zoom-out-95 data-[state=open]:animate-in data-[state=open]:fade-in-0 data-[state=open]:zoom-in-95',
        className
      )}
      data-slot="dropdown-menu-sub-content"
@@ -27,6 +27,11 @@ declare global {
      setPreviewShortcutActive?: (active: boolean) => void
      openExternal: (url: string) => Promise<void>
      fetchLinkTitle: (url: string) => Promise<string>
+      settings: {
+        getDefaultProjectDir: () => Promise<{ defaultLabel: string; dir: null | string }>
+        pickDefaultProjectDir: () => Promise<{ canceled: boolean; dir: null | string }>
+        setDefaultProjectDir: (dir: null | string) => Promise<{ dir: null | string }>
+      }
      revealLogs: () => Promise<{ ok: boolean; path: string; error?: string }>
      getRecentLogs: () => Promise<{ path: string; lines: string[] }>
      readDir: (path: string) => Promise<HermesReadDirResult>
@@ -0,0 +1,123 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest'
+
+import { ansiColorClass, hasAnsiCodes, parseAnsi } from './ansi'
+
+const ESC = '\x1b'
+
+describe('parseAnsi', () => {
+  it('returns a single default segment for plain text', () => {
+    expect(parseAnsi('hello world')).toEqual([{ bold: false, fg: null, text: 'hello world' }])
+  })
+
+  it('returns nothing for an empty string', () => {
+    expect(parseAnsi('')).toEqual([])
+  })
+
+  it('parses a basic foreground color sequence and resets', () => {
+    const input = `${ESC}[31merror${ESC}[0m ok`
+
+    expect(parseAnsi(input)).toEqual([
+      { bold: false, fg: 'red', text: 'error' },
+      { bold: false, fg: null, text: ' ok' }
+    ])
+  })
+
+  it('treats bold (1) and bold-off (22) as toggles without affecting fg', () => {
+    const input = `${ESC}[1mloud${ESC}[22m quiet`
+
+    expect(parseAnsi(input)).toEqual([
+      { bold: true, fg: null, text: 'loud' },
+      { bold: false, fg: null, text: ' quiet' }
+    ])
+  })
+
+  it('treats default-fg (39) as a foreground-only reset (keeps bold)', () => {
+    const input = `${ESC}[1;31mboth${ESC}[39mbold-only`
+
+    expect(parseAnsi(input)).toEqual([
+      { bold: true, fg: 'red', text: 'both' },
+      { bold: true, fg: null, text: 'bold-only' }
+    ])
+  })
+
+  it('handles bright colors via the 90-97 range', () => {
+    expect(parseAnsi(`${ESC}[92mgreen`)).toEqual([{ bold: false, fg: 'bright-green', text: 'green' }])
+  })
+
+  it('coalesces adjacent runs with the same style', () => {
+    const input = `${ESC}[31ma${ESC}[31mb${ESC}[31mc`
+
+    expect(parseAnsi(input)).toEqual([{ bold: false, fg: 'red', text: 'abc' }])
+  })
+
+  it('skips 256-color (38;5) trailing args without painting fg or leaking the params as text', () => {
+    // 256-color and truecolor aren't rendered (FG_BY_CODE doesn't cover them),
+    // but the parser must consume the trailing `;5;<n>` / `;2;r;g;b` args so
+    // they never bleed into the visible segment text.
+    const segments = parseAnsi(`${ESC}[38;5;208morange${ESC}[0m`)
+
+    expect(segments).toHaveLength(1)
+    expect(segments[0].fg).toBe(null)
+    expect(segments[0].text).toBe('orange')
+  })
+
+  it('skips truecolor (38;2;r;g;b) trailing args', () => {
+    const segments = parseAnsi(`${ESC}[38;2;10;20;30mrgb${ESC}[0m`)
+
+    expect(segments).toHaveLength(1)
+    expect(segments[0].fg).toBe(null)
+    expect(segments[0].text).toBe('rgb')
+  })
+
+  it('drops non-SGR CSI sequences (cursor motion, erase) without consuming surrounding text', () => {
+    const input = `before${ESC}[2Jmiddle${ESC}[10;5Hafter`
+
+    expect(parseAnsi(input)).toEqual([{ bold: false, fg: null, text: 'beforemiddleafter' }])
+  })
+
+  it('treats an empty SGR parameter (ESC[m) as a full reset', () => {
+    const input = `${ESC}[1;31mfoo${ESC}[mbar`
+
+    expect(parseAnsi(input)).toEqual([
+      { bold: true, fg: 'red', text: 'foo' },
+      { bold: false, fg: null, text: 'bar' }
+    ])
+  })
+})
+
+describe('hasAnsiCodes', () => {
+  it('returns false for plain text', () => {
+    expect(hasAnsiCodes('hello world')).toBe(false)
+  })
+
+  it('returns true when any CSI introducer is present', () => {
+    expect(hasAnsiCodes(`${ESC}[31mred`)).toBe(true)
+  })
+})
+
+describe('ansiColorClass', () => {
+  it('returns a non-empty Tailwind class string for every supported color', () => {
+    const colors = [
+      'black',
+      'red',
+      'green',
+      'yellow',
+      'blue',
+      'magenta',
+      'cyan',
+      'white',
+      'bright-black',
+      'bright-red',
+      'bright-green',
+      'bright-yellow',
+      'bright-blue',
+      'bright-magenta',
+      'bright-cyan',
+      'bright-white'
+    ] as const
+
+    for (const color of colors) {
+      expect(ansiColorClass(color)).toMatch(/\S/)
+    }
+  })
+})
@@ -0,0 +1,175 @@
+// Minimal ANSI SGR parser for rendering terminal output inside chat tool
+// cards. Only handles the SGR codes that show up in practice (color, bold,
+// reset); cursor motions and other CSI sequences are dropped silently.
+//
+// Returns a flat array of styled segments so callers can render them as
+// React spans without each consumer having to re-implement the parser.
+
+export interface AnsiSegment {
+  bold: boolean
+  /** Tailwind text-color class or null for the default foreground. */
+  fg: AnsiColor | null
+  text: string
+}
+
+export type AnsiColor =
+  | 'black'
+  | 'red'
+  | 'green'
+  | 'yellow'
+  | 'blue'
+  | 'magenta'
+  | 'cyan'
+  | 'white'
+  | 'bright-black'
+  | 'bright-red'
+  | 'bright-green'
+  | 'bright-yellow'
+  | 'bright-blue'
+  | 'bright-magenta'
+  | 'bright-cyan'
+  | 'bright-white'
+
+const FG_BY_CODE: Record<number, AnsiColor> = {
+  30: 'black',
+  31: 'red',
+  32: 'green',
+  33: 'yellow',
+  34: 'blue',
+  35: 'magenta',
+  36: 'cyan',
+  37: 'white',
+  90: 'bright-black',
+  91: 'bright-red',
+  92: 'bright-green',
+  93: 'bright-yellow',
+  94: 'bright-blue',
+  95: 'bright-magenta',
+  96: 'bright-cyan',
+  97: 'bright-white'
+}
+
+// CSI = ESC '[' params 'final'. We only care about SGR (final == 'm'); other
+// final bytes are matched and consumed so they don't leak into the rendered
+// text. Range covers the common CSI command set (A-Z / a-z / @).
+// eslint-disable-next-line no-control-regex
+const CSI_RE = /\x1b\[([\d;]*)([\x40-\x7e])/g
+// Other escape sequences (single-char OSC/SS3/etc.) — strip silently.
+// eslint-disable-next-line no-control-regex
+const OTHER_ESCAPE_RE = /\x1b[@-Z\\-_]|\x1b\][^\x07\x1b]*(?:\x07|\x1b\\)/g
+
+export function parseAnsi(input: string): AnsiSegment[] {
+  if (!input) {
+    return []
+  }
+
+  // Strip non-CSI escapes upfront — none of them carry text we want to keep
+  // and CSI_RE wouldn't match them.
+  const cleaned = input.replace(OTHER_ESCAPE_RE, '')
+
+  const segments: AnsiSegment[] = []
+  let cursor = 0
+  let bold = false
+  let fg: AnsiColor | null = null
+
+  const pushText = (text: string) => {
+    if (!text) {
+      return
+    }
+
+    const last = segments.at(-1)
+
+    if (last && last.bold === bold && last.fg === fg) {
+      last.text += text
+
+      return
+    }
+
+    segments.push({ bold, fg, text })
+  }
+
+  CSI_RE.lastIndex = 0
+  let match: RegExpExecArray | null
+
+  while ((match = CSI_RE.exec(cleaned)) !== null) {
+    const start = match.index
+
+    if (start > cursor) {
+      pushText(cleaned.slice(cursor, start))
+    }
+
+    if (match[2] === 'm') {
+      const codes = match[1]
+        .split(';')
+        .map(part => (part === '' ? 0 : Number(part)))
+        .filter(value => Number.isFinite(value))
+
+      for (let i = 0; i < codes.length; i += 1) {
+        const code = codes[i]
+
+        if (code === 0) {
+          bold = false
+          fg = null
+        } else if (code === 1) {
+          bold = true
+        } else if (code === 22) {
+          bold = false
+        } else if (code === 39) {
+          fg = null
+        } else if (code in FG_BY_CODE) {
+          fg = FG_BY_CODE[code]
+        } else if (code === 38) {
+          // 256-color / truecolor — skip the trailing args we don't render.
+          if (codes[i + 1] === 5) {
+            i += 2
+          } else if (codes[i + 1] === 2) {
+            i += 4
+          }
+        }
+        // Background colors (40-47, 100-107) and effects we don't render are
+        // intentionally ignored — the segment keeps the prior bold/fg state.
+      }
+    }
+
+    cursor = CSI_RE.lastIndex
+  }
+
+  if (cursor < cleaned.length) {
+    pushText(cleaned.slice(cursor))
+  }
+
+  return segments
+}
+
+const TAILWIND_BY_COLOR: Record<AnsiColor, string> = {
+  // Tuned for legibility against the muted bg-(--ui-bg-tertiary) surface used
+  // in tool cards. We don't paint pure ANSI colors (#000, #fff) because they
+  // disappear into the surface.
+  'black': 'text-zinc-700 dark:text-zinc-300',
+  'red': 'text-red-700 dark:text-red-300',
+  'green': 'text-emerald-700 dark:text-emerald-300',
+  'yellow': 'text-amber-700 dark:text-amber-300',
+  'blue': 'text-blue-700 dark:text-blue-300',
+  'magenta': 'text-fuchsia-700 dark:text-fuchsia-300',
+  'cyan': 'text-cyan-700 dark:text-cyan-300',
+  'white': 'text-zinc-600 dark:text-zinc-200',
+  'bright-black': 'text-zinc-500 dark:text-zinc-400',
+  'bright-red': 'text-rose-600 dark:text-rose-300',
+  'bright-green': 'text-emerald-600 dark:text-emerald-200',
+  'bright-yellow': 'text-amber-600 dark:text-amber-200',
+  'bright-blue': 'text-sky-600 dark:text-sky-300',
+  'bright-magenta': 'text-pink-600 dark:text-pink-300',
+  'bright-cyan': 'text-teal-600 dark:text-teal-200',
+  'bright-white': 'text-zinc-500 dark:text-zinc-100'
+}
+
+export function ansiColorClass(color: AnsiColor): string {
+  return TAILWIND_BY_COLOR[color]
+}
+
+/** Returns true if the input contains at least one CSI sequence. Cheap check
+ *  so callers can skip the parser for plain-ASCII output. */
+export function hasAnsiCodes(input: string): boolean {
+  // eslint-disable-next-line no-control-regex
+  return /\x1b\[/.test(input)
+}
@@ -20,7 +20,11 @@ const PRIORITY_KEYS = [
 ] as const

 const ERROR_KEYS = ['error', 'errors', 'failure', 'exception'] as const
-const ERROR_MSG_KEYS = ['message', 'reason', 'detail', 'stderr'] as const
+// 'stderr' deliberately excluded: many CLIs emit informational lines on
+// stderr (npm progress, git's hint:, gcc's `In file included from`) that
+// aren't errors. Treating those as error signal flipped tool cards into
+// destructive styling for healthy commands.
+const ERROR_MSG_KEYS = ['message', 'reason', 'detail'] as const
 const NON_ERROR_TEXT = new Set(['', '0', 'false', 'none', 'null', 'nil', 'ok', 'success', 'n/a', 'na'])

 type Json = Record<string, unknown>
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import { createRoot } from 'react-dom/client'
 import { HashRouter } from 'react-router-dom'

 import App from './app'
+import { ErrorBoundary } from './components/error-boundary'
 import { HapticsProvider } from './components/haptics-provider'
 import { installClipboardShim } from './lib/clipboard'
 import { ThemeProvider } from './themes/context'
@@ -32,14 +33,16 @@ const queryClient = new QueryClient({

 createRoot(document.getElementById('root')!).render(
  <StrictMode>
-    <QueryClientProvider client={queryClient}>
-      <ThemeProvider>
-        <HapticsProvider>
-          <HashRouter>
-            <App />
-          </HashRouter>
-        </HapticsProvider>
-      </ThemeProvider>
-    </QueryClientProvider>
+    <ErrorBoundary label="root">
+      <QueryClientProvider client={queryClient}>
+        <ThemeProvider>
+          <HapticsProvider>
+            <HashRouter>
+              <App />
+            </HashRouter>
+          </HapticsProvider>
+        </ThemeProvider>
+      </QueryClientProvider>
+    </ErrorBoundary>
  </StrictMode>
 )
@@ -3,10 +3,15 @@ import { atom } from 'nanostores'
 import type { ContextSuggestion } from '@/app/types'
 import type { HermesConnection } from '@/global'
 import type { ChatMessage } from '@/lib/chat-messages'
+import { persistString, storedString } from '@/lib/storage'
 import type { SessionInfo, UsageStats } from '@/types/hermes'

 type Updater<T> = T | ((current: T) => T)

+const WORKSPACE_CWD_KEY = 'hermes.desktop.workspace-cwd'
+
+export const getRememberedWorkspaceCwd = (): string => storedString(WORKSPACE_CWD_KEY)?.trim() || ''
+
 interface AppAtom<T> {
  get: () => T
  set: (value: T) => void
@@ -39,7 +44,7 @@ export const $currentProvider = atom('')
 export const $currentReasoningEffort = atom('')
 export const $currentServiceTier = atom('')
 export const $currentFastMode = atom(false)
-export const $currentCwd = atom('')
+export const $currentCwd = atom(getRememberedWorkspaceCwd())
 export const $currentBranch = atom('')
 export const $currentUsage = atom<UsageStats>({
  calls: 0,
@@ -73,7 +78,14 @@ export const setCurrentProvider = (next: Updater<string>) => updateAtom($current
 export const setCurrentReasoningEffort = (next: Updater<string>) => updateAtom($currentReasoningEffort, next)
 export const setCurrentServiceTier = (next: Updater<string>) => updateAtom($currentServiceTier, next)
 export const setCurrentFastMode = (next: Updater<boolean>) => updateAtom($currentFastMode, next)
-export const setCurrentCwd = (next: Updater<string>) => updateAtom($currentCwd, next)
+
+export const setCurrentCwd = (next: Updater<string>) => {
+  updateAtom($currentCwd, next)
+  // Keep localStorage in sync with the atom: a real folder is remembered, an
+  // empty cwd clears the key (|| null → removeItem).
+  persistString(WORKSPACE_CWD_KEY, $currentCwd.get().trim() || null)
+}
+
 export const setCurrentBranch = (next: Updater<string>) => updateAtom($currentBranch, next)
 export const setCurrentUsage = (next: Updater<UsageStats>) => updateAtom($currentUsage, next)
 export const setSessionStartedAt = (next: Updater<number | null>) => updateAtom($sessionStartedAt, next)
@@ -85,6 +97,53 @@ export const setIntroSeed = (next: Updater<number>) => updateAtom($introSeed, ne
 export const setContextSuggestions = (next: Updater<ContextSuggestion[]>) => updateAtom($contextSuggestions, next)
 export const setModelPickerOpen = (next: Updater<boolean>) => updateAtom($modelPickerOpen, next)

+// Watchdog tracking — when does a "working" session count as stuck?
+// Long-running tool calls (LLM inference, long shell commands, web fetches)
+// can take a few minutes legitimately. We allow 8 minutes of complete
+// silence on the stream before clearing the working flag; in practice this
+// catches gateway hangs and dropped streams without false-positive-clearing
+// real long turns.
+const SESSION_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT_MS = 8 * 60 * 1000
+const sessionWatchdogTimers = new Map<string, ReturnType<typeof setTimeout>>()
+
+function armSessionWatchdog(sessionId: string) {
+  const existing = sessionWatchdogTimers.get(sessionId)
+
+  if (existing) {
+    clearTimeout(existing)
+  }
+
+  const timer = setTimeout(() => {
+    sessionWatchdogTimers.delete(sessionId)
+    // Re-check the latest state at fire-time. If the user already navigated
+    // away or the session genuinely finished, the timer is a no-op.
+    if ($workingSessionIds.get().includes(sessionId)) {
+      setWorkingSessionIds(current => current.filter(id => id !== sessionId))
+    }
+  }, SESSION_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT_MS)
+
+  sessionWatchdogTimers.set(sessionId, timer)
+}
+
+function clearSessionWatchdog(sessionId: string) {
+  const existing = sessionWatchdogTimers.get(sessionId)
+
+  if (existing) {
+    clearTimeout(existing)
+    sessionWatchdogTimers.delete(sessionId)
+  }
+}
+
+/** Call when a streaming event for a session lands. Refreshes the watchdog
+ *  so the session keeps its "working" status as long as data keeps coming. */
+export function noteSessionActivity(sessionId: string | null | undefined) {
+  if (!sessionId || !$workingSessionIds.get().includes(sessionId)) {
+    return
+  }
+
+  armSessionWatchdog(sessionId)
+}
+
 export function setSessionWorking(sessionId: string | null | undefined, working: boolean) {
  if (!sessionId) {
    return
@@ -99,4 +158,13 @@ export function setSessionWorking(sessionId: string | null | undefined, working:

    return alreadyWorking ? current.filter(id => id !== sessionId) : current
  })
+
+  // Bookend the watchdog: arm it whenever a session enters "working",
+  // disarm it whenever it leaves. A subsequent noteSessionActivity() from
+  // a streaming event will refresh the timer.
+  if (working) {
+    armSessionWatchdog(sessionId)
+  } else {
+    clearSessionWatchdog(sessionId)
+  }
 }
@@ -145,6 +145,34 @@ export function openUpdatesWindow(): void {
  void checkUpdates()
 }

+/** Re-read the running app's version from the Electron main process and
+ *  publish it on `$desktopVersion`. Called when the About panel mounts, the
+ *  update flow finishes, and the window regains focus, so the About text
+ *  stays in sync with the just-installed binary instead of frozen at the
+ *  value captured at first-load. */
+export async function refreshDesktopVersion(): Promise<DesktopVersionInfo | null> {
+  if (typeof window === 'undefined') {
+    return null
+  }
+
+  // Best-effort UI sync: callers (checkUpdates, startUpdatePoller, window
+  // focus handler) all kick this off with `void refreshDesktopVersion()`,
+  // so any rejection from the IPC bridge (e.g. main process shutting down
+  // mid-reload, or the bridge not yet ready on first paint) would surface
+  // as an unhandled promise rejection in the renderer. Swallow it.
+  try {
+    const next = await window.hermesDesktop?.getVersion?.()
+
+    if (next) {
+      $desktopVersion.set(next)
+    }
+
+    return next ?? null
+  } catch {
+    return null
+  }
+}
+
 export async function checkUpdates(): Promise<DesktopUpdateStatus | null> {
  const bridge = window.hermesDesktop?.updates

@@ -158,6 +186,10 @@ export async function checkUpdates(): Promise<DesktopUpdateStatus | null> {
    const status = await bridge.check()
    $updateStatus.set(status)
    maybeNotifyUpdateAvailable(status)
+    // The update check pulls the latest hermes_cli + bundled package metadata
+    // into place. Re-read the running version so About reflects the now-fresh
+    // checkout rather than the one captured at process start.
+    void refreshDesktopVersion()

    return status
  } catch (error) {
@@ -249,7 +281,7 @@ export function startUpdatePoller(): void {

  pollerStarted = true
  void checkUpdates()
-  void window.hermesDesktop?.getVersion?.().then(info => $desktopVersion.set(info))
+  void refreshDesktopVersion()
  bridge.onProgress(ingestProgress)

  window.addEventListener('focus', onFocus)
@@ -275,4 +307,8 @@ function onFocus() {

  lastFocusAt = now
  void checkUpdates()
+  // Cheap and safe to re-read on every (throttled) focus: the user may have
+  // updated Hermes from another window/CLI between focuses, and About should
+  // catch up without forcing a restart.
+  void refreshDesktopVersion()
 }
@@ -641,6 +641,41 @@ canvas {
  .scrollbar-dt *::-webkit-scrollbar-button {
    display: none;
  }
+
+  /* Variant for portaled overlays (Radix DropdownMenu, Popover, etc.) that
+     render under document.body, outside the `.scrollbar-dt` scope on
+     #root. Same visual treatment, applied directly to the overlay
+     container so its (and only its) internal scrollbar is themed. */
+  .dt-portal-scrollbar {
+    scrollbar-width: thin;
+    scrollbar-color: color-mix(in srgb, var(--dt-midground) 28%, transparent) transparent;
+  }
+
+  .dt-portal-scrollbar::-webkit-scrollbar {
+    width: 0.375rem;
+    height: 0.375rem;
+  }
+
+  .dt-portal-scrollbar::-webkit-scrollbar-track,
+  .dt-portal-scrollbar::-webkit-scrollbar-corner {
+    background: transparent;
+  }
+
+  .dt-portal-scrollbar::-webkit-scrollbar-thumb {
+    background: color-mix(in srgb, var(--dt-midground) 28%, transparent);
+    border-radius: 9999rem;
+    border: 0.0625rem solid transparent;
+    background-clip: padding-box;
+  }
+
+  .dt-portal-scrollbar::-webkit-scrollbar-thumb:hover {
+    background: color-mix(in srgb, var(--dt-midground) 50%, transparent);
+    background-clip: padding-box;
+  }
+
+  .dt-portal-scrollbar::-webkit-scrollbar-button {
+    display: none;
+  }
 }

 /* Bottom clearance lives on [data-slot='aui_composer-clearance'] —
@@ -107,14 +107,17 @@ def set_session_vars(
    user_name: str = "",
    session_key: str = "",
    message_id: str = "",
+    cwd: str = "",
 ) -> list:
    """Set all session context variables and return reset tokens.

-    Call ``clear_session_vars(tokens)`` in a ``finally`` block to restore
-    the previous values when the handler exits.
+    Call ``clear_session_vars(tokens)`` in a ``finally`` block when the handler
+    exits. Note ``clear_session_vars`` resets every var to ``""`` (to suppress
+    the ``os.environ`` fallback) rather than restoring prior values — these
+    helpers are not nestable/stack-safe, and the returned tokens are accepted
+    only for API compatibility.

-    Returns a list of ``Token`` objects (one per variable) that can be
-    passed to ``clear_session_vars``.
+    ``cwd`` pins the logical working directory for this context.
    """
    tokens = [
        _SESSION_PLATFORM.set(platform),
@@ -126,6 +129,12 @@ def set_session_vars(
        _SESSION_KEY.set(session_key),
        _SESSION_MESSAGE_ID.set(message_id),
    ]
+    try:
+        from agent.runtime_cwd import set_session_cwd
+
+        set_session_cwd(cwd)
+    except Exception:
+        pass
    return tokens


@@ -151,6 +160,12 @@ def clear_session_vars(tokens: list) -> None:
        _SESSION_MESSAGE_ID,
    ):
        var.set("")
+    try:
+        from agent.runtime_cwd import clear_session_cwd
+
+        clear_session_cwd()
+    except Exception:
+        pass


 def get_session_env(name: str, default: str = "") -> str:
@@ -3370,7 +3370,7 @@ def _sync_codex_pool_entries(
        entry["last_error_reset_at"] = None


-def _save_codex_tokens(tokens: Dict[str, str], last_refresh: str = None) -> None:
+def _save_codex_tokens(tokens: Dict[str, str], last_refresh: str = None, label: str = None) -> None:
    """Save Codex OAuth tokens to Hermes auth store (~/.hermes/auth.json)."""
    if last_refresh is None:
        last_refresh = datetime.now(timezone.utc).isoformat().replace("+00:00", "Z")
@@ -3380,6 +3380,8 @@ def _save_codex_tokens(tokens: Dict[str, str], last_refresh: str = None) -> None
        state["tokens"] = tokens
        state["last_refresh"] = last_refresh
        state["auth_mode"] = "chatgpt"
+        if label and str(label).strip():
+            state["label"] = str(label).strip()
        _save_provider_state(auth_store, "openai-codex", state)
        _sync_codex_pool_entries(auth_store, tokens, last_refresh)
        _save_auth_store(auth_store)
@@ -307,28 +307,20 @@ def auth_add_command(args) -> None:
        return

    if provider == "openai-codex":
-        # Clear any existing suppression marker so a re-link after `hermes auth
-        # remove openai-codex` works without the new tokens being skipped.
-        auth_mod.unsuppress_credential_source(provider, "device_code")
        creds = auth_mod._codex_device_code_login()
        label = (getattr(args, "label", None) or "").strip() or label_from_token(
            creds["tokens"]["access_token"],
            _oauth_default_label(provider, len(pool.entries()) + 1),
        )
-        entry = PooledCredential(
-            provider=provider,
-            id=uuid.uuid4().hex[:6],
-            label=label,
-            auth_type=AUTH_TYPE_OAUTH,
-            priority=0,
-            source=f"{SOURCE_MANUAL}:device_code",
-            access_token=creds["tokens"]["access_token"],
-            refresh_token=creds["tokens"].get("refresh_token"),
-            base_url=creds.get("base_url"),
+        auth_mod._save_codex_tokens(
+            creds["tokens"],
            last_refresh=creds.get("last_refresh"),
+            label=label,
        )
-        pool.add_entry(entry)
-        print(f'Added {provider} OAuth credential #{len(pool.entries())}: "{entry.label}"')
+        pool = load_pool(provider)
+        entry = next((item for item in pool.entries() if item.source == "device_code"), None)
+        shown_label = entry.label if entry is not None else label
+        print(f'Saved {provider} OAuth device-code credentials: "{shown_label}"')
        return

    if provider == "xai-oauth":
@@ -201,6 +201,7 @@ if _try_termux_ultrafast_version():
    raise SystemExit(0)

 import argparse
+import hashlib
 import json
 import shutil
 import subprocess
@@ -6869,6 +6870,147 @@ def _desktop_dist_exists(desktop_dir: Path) -> bool:
    return (desktop_dir / "dist" / "index.html").exists()


+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Desktop build stamp — content-hash based skip logic
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# The desktop Electron build is expensive.
+# Unlike the web UI (which uses mtime comparison), the desktop uses a
+# SHA-256 content hash of the source tree so that:
+#   - ``git checkout`` / ``git pull`` that touch mtimes but not content
+#     don't trigger a rebuild
+#   - ``hermes update`` can unconditionally call ``hermes desktop --build-only``
+#     and it will skip if nothing actually changed
+#   - ``hermes desktop`` (interactive launch) skips the build when the
+#     stamp matches, making repeated launches fast
+#
+# Stamp file: $HERMES_HOME/desktop-build-stamp.json
+# Schema:
+#   {
+#     "contentHash": "<sha256 hex of source files>",
+#     "sourceMode": true | false,
+#     "builtAt": "<ISO 8601>"
+#   }
+
+def _compute_desktop_content_hash(project_root: Path) -> str:
+    """Return a SHA-256 hex digest of all source files that feed the desktop build.
+
+    Covers ``apps/desktop/`` (excluding anything matched by .gitignore)
+    plus the root ``package.json`` / ``package-lock.json`` (workspace config
+    that determines dependency resolution for the desktop workspace).
+
+    Parses the repo-root ``.gitignore`` via *pathspec* so we automatically
+    skip ``node_modules/``, ``dist/``, ``*.pyc``, etc. without maintaining
+    a hardcoded skip-list.
+    """
+    h = hashlib.sha256()
+
+    def _hash_file(path: Path) -> None:
+        rel = str(path.relative_to(project_root))
+        h.update(rel.encode())
+        h.update(b"\0")
+        try:
+            with open(path, "rb") as f:
+                for chunk in iter(lambda: f.read(65536), b""):
+                    h.update(chunk)
+        except (OSError, IOError):
+            pass
+        h.update(b"\0")
+
+
+    from pathspec import PathSpec
+
+    gitignore = project_root / ".gitignore"
+    lines: list[str] = []
+    if gitignore.is_file():
+        lines = gitignore.read_text(encoding="utf-8").splitlines()
+    spec = PathSpec.from_lines("gitignore", lines)
+
+    # Root workspace config
+    for name in ("package.json", "package-lock.json"):
+        p = project_root / name
+        if p.is_file():
+            rel = str(p.relative_to(project_root))
+            if not spec.match_file(rel):
+                _hash_file(p)
+
+    # Walk apps/desktop/ — prune ignored directories in-place
+    desktop_dir = project_root / "apps" / "desktop"
+    for dirpath, dirnames, filenames in os.walk(desktop_dir, topdown=True):
+        # Prune ignored directories so we never descend into them
+        dirnames[:] = [
+            d for d in dirnames
+            if not spec.match_file(str((Path(dirpath) / d).relative_to(project_root)))
+        ]
+
+        for fn in sorted(filenames):
+            fp = Path(dirpath) / fn
+            rel = str(fp.relative_to(project_root))
+            if not spec.match_file(rel):
+                _hash_file(fp)
+
+    return h.hexdigest()
+
+
+def _desktop_stamp_path() -> Path:
+    """Return the path to the desktop build stamp file under $HERMES_HOME."""
+    from hermes_constants import get_hermes_home
+    return get_hermes_home() / "desktop-build-stamp.json"
+
+
+def _desktop_build_needed(desktop_dir: Path, project_root: Path, *, source_mode: bool) -> bool:
+    """Return True when the desktop build output is stale or missing.
+
+    Compares the current content hash against the saved stamp. Also returns
+    True if the expected build artifact doesn't exist (e.g. first run after
+    ``hermes update`` that pulled new source but hasn't built yet).
+    """
+    # If there's no build output at all, we definitely need to build
+    if source_mode:
+        if not _desktop_dist_exists(desktop_dir):
+            return True
+    else:
+        if _desktop_packaged_executable(desktop_dir) is None:
+            return True
+
+    stamp_file = _desktop_stamp_path()
+    if not stamp_file.is_file():
+        return True
+
+    try:
+        stamp_data = json.loads(stamp_file.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
+    except (OSError, json.JSONDecodeError, KeyError):
+        return True
+
+    # If the mode changed (source vs packaged), force a rebuild
+    if stamp_data.get("sourceMode") != source_mode:
+        return True
+
+    saved_hash = stamp_data.get("contentHash")
+    if not saved_hash:
+        return True
+
+    current_hash = _compute_desktop_content_hash(project_root)
+    return current_hash != saved_hash
+
+
+def _write_desktop_build_stamp(project_root: Path, *, source_mode: bool) -> None:
+    """Write the desktop build stamp after a successful build."""
+    stamp_file = _desktop_stamp_path()
+    try:
+        stamp_file.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+        content_hash = _compute_desktop_content_hash(project_root)
+        from datetime import datetime, timezone
+        stamp_data = {
+            "contentHash": content_hash,
+            "sourceMode": source_mode,
+            "builtAt": datetime.now(timezone.utc).isoformat(),
+        }
+        stamp_file.write_text(json.dumps(stamp_data, indent=2) + "\n", encoding="utf-8")
+    except Exception as exc:
+        # Never let stamp-writing block or fail a build
+        logger.debug("Failed to write desktop build stamp: %s", exc)
+
+
 def _desktop_packaged_executable(desktop_dir: Path) -> Optional[Path]:
    """Return the current platform's unpacked Electron app executable."""
    release_dir = desktop_dir / "release"
@@ -6928,8 +7070,7 @@ def _desktop_macos_relaunchable_fixup(desktop_dir: Path) -> None:
    except Exception as exc:
        print(f"  (warning: macOS relaunch fixup skipped: {exc})")

-
-def cmd_gui(args):
+def cmd_gui(args: argparse.Namespace):
    """Build and launch the native Electron desktop GUI."""
    desktop_dir = PROJECT_ROOT / "apps" / "desktop"
    if not (desktop_dir / "package.json").exists():
@@ -6954,6 +7095,8 @@ def cmd_gui(args):

    source_mode = getattr(args, "source", False)
    skip_build = getattr(args, "skip_build", False)
+    force_build = getattr(args, "force_build", False)
+
    packaged_executable = _desktop_packaged_executable(desktop_dir)

    if source_mode or not skip_build:
@@ -6965,7 +7108,7 @@ def cmd_gui(args):
    else:
        npm = None

-    if getattr(args, "skip_build", False):
+    if skip_build:
        if source_mode:
            if not _desktop_dist_exists(desktop_dir):
                print(f"✗ --skip-build --source was passed but no desktop dist found at: {desktop_dir / 'dist'}")
@@ -6986,27 +7129,41 @@ def cmd_gui(args):
        else:
            print(f"→ Skipping desktop package build (--skip-build); using {packaged_executable}")
    else:
-        print("→ Installing desktop workspace dependencies...")
-        install_result = _run_npm_install_deterministic(npm, PROJECT_ROOT, capture_output=False)
-        if install_result.returncode != 0:
-            print("✗ Desktop dependency install failed")
-            print(f"  Run manually:  cd {PROJECT_ROOT} && npm ci")
-            sys.exit(install_result.returncode or 1)
+        # Check the content-hash stamp before doing any build work.
+        # If the source tree hasn't changed since the last successful build,
+        # skip the npm install + build entirely (saves a ton of useless work).
+        # --force-build overrides the stamp and always rebuilds.
+        build_needed = force_build or _desktop_build_needed(
+            desktop_dir, PROJECT_ROOT, source_mode=source_mode
+        )
+        if not build_needed:
+            build_label = "source build" if source_mode else "packaged app"
+            print(f"✓ Desktop {build_label} is up to date (content stamp matches)")
+        else:
+            print("→ Installing desktop workspace dependencies...")
+            install_result = _run_npm_install_deterministic(npm, PROJECT_ROOT, capture_output=False)
+            if install_result.returncode != 0:
+                print("✗ Desktop dependency install failed")
+                print(f"  Run manually:  cd {PROJECT_ROOT} && npm ci")
+                sys.exit(install_result.returncode or 1)

-        build_label = "source build" if source_mode else "packaged app"
-        print(f"→ Building desktop {build_label}...")
-        build_script = "build" if source_mode else "pack"
-        build_result = subprocess.run([npm, "run", build_script], cwd=desktop_dir, env=env, check=False)
-        if build_result.returncode != 0:
-            print("✗ Desktop GUI build failed")
-            print(f"  Run manually:  cd apps/desktop && npm run {build_script}")
-            sys.exit(build_result.returncode or 1)
-        packaged_executable = _desktop_packaged_executable(desktop_dir)
-        if not source_mode:
-            # Locally-built apps are ad-hoc signed; make them relaunchable after
-            # an in-place self-update (otherwise macOS reports "Hermes is
-            # damaged"). No-op on non-macOS and on real-identity builds.
-            _desktop_macos_relaunchable_fixup(desktop_dir)
+            build_label = "source build" if source_mode else "packaged app"
+            print(f"→ Building desktop {build_label}...")
+            build_script = "build" if source_mode else "pack"
+            build_result = subprocess.run([npm, "run", build_script], cwd=desktop_dir, env=env, check=False)
+            if build_result.returncode != 0:
+                print("✗ Desktop GUI build failed")
+                print(f"  Run manually:  cd apps/desktop && npm run {build_script}")
+                sys.exit(build_result.returncode or 1)
+            packaged_executable = _desktop_packaged_executable(desktop_dir)
+            if not source_mode:
+                # Locally-built apps are ad-hoc signed; make them relaunchable after
+                # an in-place self-update (otherwise macOS reports "Hermes is
+                # damaged"). No-op on non-macOS and on real-identity builds.
+                _desktop_macos_relaunchable_fixup(desktop_dir)
+
+            # Build succeeded — write the stamp so next run can skip
+            _write_desktop_build_stamp(PROJECT_ROOT, source_mode=source_mode)

    # --build-only: produce the artifact but do NOT launch. The installer's
    # --update flow drives the rebuild headlessly and then launches the desktop
@@ -9697,6 +9854,25 @@ def _cmd_update_impl(args, gateway_mode: bool):
        _update_node_dependencies()
        _build_web_ui(PROJECT_ROOT / "web")

+        # Rebuild the desktop app if the source tree changed since the last
+        # build.  ``hermes desktop --build-only`` uses the content-hash stamp
+        # internally, so this is effectively a no-op when nothing changed.
+        # Only bother if the user has a desktop app installed (indicated by
+        # an existing packaged executable or desktop dist); people who have
+        # never run ``hermes desktop`` shouldn't be forced into a full
+        # Electron build by ``hermes update``.
+        desktop_dir = PROJECT_ROOT / "apps" / "desktop"
+        has_desktop_app = _desktop_packaged_executable(desktop_dir) is not None or _desktop_dist_exists(desktop_dir)
+        if (desktop_dir / "package.json").exists() and shutil.which("npm") and has_desktop_app:
+            print("→ Checking if desktop app needs rebuilding...")
+            build_result = subprocess.run(
+                [sys.executable, "-m", "hermes_cli.main", "desktop", "--build-only"],
+                cwd=PROJECT_ROOT,
+                check=False,
+            )
+            if build_result.returncode != 0:
+                print("  ⚠ Desktop build failed (non-fatal; run `hermes desktop` to retry)")
+
        print()
        print("✓ Code updated!")

@@ -11364,7 +11540,7 @@ def cmd_dashboard(args):
        if not _build_web_ui(PROJECT_ROOT / "web", fatal=True):
            sys.exit(1)
    elif getattr(args, "skip_build", False):
-        # --skip-build trusts the caller to have pre-built the web UI.
+        # --build-mode skip trusts the caller to have pre-built the web UI.
        # Verify the dist actually exists; otherwise the server will start
        # and serve 404s with no obvious cause (issue #23817).
        _dist_root = (
@@ -14733,11 +14909,6 @@ Examples:
            "Electron app, then launches that packaged artifact."
        ),
    )
-    gui_parser.add_argument(
-        "--skip-build",
-        action="store_true",
-        help="Skip npm install/package and launch the existing unpacked app from apps/desktop/release",
-    )
    gui_parser.add_argument(
        "--source",
        action="store_true",
@@ -14766,6 +14937,16 @@ Examples:
        "--cwd",
        help="Initial project directory for Desktop chat sessions (sets HERMES_DESKTOP_CWD)",
    )
+    gui_parser.add_argument(
+        "--skip-build",
+        action="store_true",
+        help="Skip npm install/package and launch the existing unpacked app from apps/desktop/release",
+    )
+    gui_parser.add_argument(
+        "--force-build",
+        action="store_true",
+        help="Force a full rebuild even if the content stamp matches",
+    )
    gui_parser.set_defaults(func=cmd_gui)

    # =========================================================================
@@ -241,6 +241,12 @@ _PROVIDER_MODELS: dict[str, list[str]] = {
    "google-gemini-cli": [
        "gemini-3.1-pro-preview",
        "gemini-3-pro-preview",
+        # Code Assist serves two flash slugs with different access gates
+        # (gemini-cli models.ts): gemini-3-flash-preview is the preview flash
+        # that subscription/free-tier OAuth users actually reach, while
+        # gemini-3.5-flash is GA-channel-gated. Offer both so non-GA users
+        # aren't stuck with a slug cloudcode-pa 404s for them.
+        "gemini-3-flash-preview",
        "gemini-3.5-flash",
    ],
    "zai": [
@@ -3729,31 +3729,12 @@ def _codex_full_login_worker(session_id: str) -> None:
        if not access_token:
            raise RuntimeError("token exchange did not return access_token")

-        # Persist via credential pool — same shape as auth_commands.add_command
-        from agent.credential_pool import (
-            PooledCredential,
-            load_pool,
-            AUTH_TYPE_OAUTH,
-            SOURCE_MANUAL,
-        )
-        import uuid as _uuid
-        pool = load_pool("openai-codex")
-        base_url = (
-            os.getenv("HERMES_CODEX_BASE_URL", "").strip().rstrip("/")
-            or DEFAULT_CODEX_BASE_URL
-        )
-        entry = PooledCredential(
-            provider="openai-codex",
-            id=_uuid.uuid4().hex[:6],
-            label="dashboard device_code",
-            auth_type=AUTH_TYPE_OAUTH,
-            priority=0,
-            source=f"{SOURCE_MANUAL}:dashboard_device_code",
-            access_token=access_token,
-            refresh_token=refresh_token,
-            base_url=base_url,
-        )
-        pool.add_entry(entry)
+        from hermes_cli.auth import _save_codex_tokens
+
+        _save_codex_tokens({
+            "access_token": access_token,
+            "refresh_token": refresh_token,
+        })
        with _oauth_sessions_lock:
            sess["status"] = "approved"
        _log.info("oauth/device: openai-codex login completed (session=%s)", session_id)
@@ -64,6 +64,8 @@ dependencies = [
  # (which is a silent killer on Windows — see CONTRIBUTING.md) and
  # `os.killpg` (which doesn't exist on Windows).
  "psutil==7.2.2",
+  # .gitignore-aware file matching for desktop build stamp.
+  "pathspec==1.1.1",
  "fastapi>=0.104.0,<1",
  "uvicorn[standard]>=0.24.0,<1",
  "ptyprocess>=0.7.0,<1; sys_platform != 'win32'",
@@ -6,7 +6,12 @@ from pathlib import Path
 import pytest

 import agent.runtime_cwd as rt
-from agent.runtime_cwd import resolve_agent_cwd, resolve_context_cwd
+from agent.runtime_cwd import (
+    clear_session_cwd,
+    resolve_agent_cwd,
+    resolve_context_cwd,
+    set_session_cwd,
+)


 def _raise_oserror(*args, **kwargs):
@@ -77,3 +82,48 @@ class TestResolveContextCwd:
        # than building Path("   ") and resolving garbage under the launch dir.
        monkeypatch.setenv("TERMINAL_CWD", "   ")
        assert resolve_context_cwd() is None
+
+
+class TestSessionCwdOverride:
+    """The #29531 per-session arm: a contextvar cwd wins over TERMINAL_CWD so a
+    multi-session gateway can pin each session to its own folder."""
+
+    def test_session_cwd_overrides_terminal_cwd(self, monkeypatch, tmp_path):
+        other = tmp_path / "other"
+        other.mkdir()
+        monkeypatch.setenv("TERMINAL_CWD", str(tmp_path))
+        token = set_session_cwd(str(other))
+        try:
+            assert resolve_agent_cwd() == other
+            assert resolve_context_cwd() == other
+        finally:
+            rt._SESSION_CWD.reset(token)
+
+    def test_empty_session_cwd_falls_back_to_terminal_cwd(self, monkeypatch, tmp_path):
+        monkeypatch.setenv("TERMINAL_CWD", str(tmp_path))
+        token = set_session_cwd("")
+        try:
+            assert resolve_agent_cwd() == tmp_path
+            assert resolve_context_cwd() == tmp_path
+        finally:
+            rt._SESSION_CWD.reset(token)
+
+    def test_clear_session_cwd_restores_terminal_cwd(self, monkeypatch, tmp_path):
+        other = tmp_path / "other"
+        other.mkdir()
+        monkeypatch.setenv("TERMINAL_CWD", str(tmp_path))
+        token = set_session_cwd(str(other))
+        try:
+            clear_session_cwd()
+            assert resolve_agent_cwd() == tmp_path
+        finally:
+            rt._SESSION_CWD.reset(token)
+
+    def test_nonexistent_session_cwd_falls_back(self, monkeypatch, tmp_path):
+        monkeypatch.setenv("TERMINAL_CWD", str(tmp_path))
+        token = set_session_cwd(str(tmp_path / "gone"))
+        try:
+            # resolve_agent_cwd guards on isdir; a missing session cwd must not win.
+            assert resolve_agent_cwd() == tmp_path
+        finally:
+            rt._SESSION_CWD.reset(token)
@@ -303,9 +303,11 @@ def test_auth_add_codex_oauth_persists_pool_entry(tmp_path, monkeypatch):

    payload = json.loads((tmp_path / "hermes" / "auth.json").read_text())
    entries = payload["credential_pool"]["openai-codex"]
-    entry = next(item for item in entries if item["source"] == "manual:device_code")
+    entry = next(item for item in entries if item["source"] == "device_code")
+    assert payload["active_provider"] == "openai-codex"
+    assert payload["providers"]["openai-codex"]["tokens"]["access_token"] == token
    assert entry["label"] == "codex@example.com"
-    assert entry["source"] == "manual:device_code"
+    assert entry["source"] == "device_code"
    assert entry["refresh_token"] == "refresh-token"
    assert entry["base_url"] == "https://chatgpt.com/backend-api/codex"

@@ -1129,10 +1131,6 @@ def test_auth_remove_codex_manual_source_suppresses_reseed(tmp_path, monkeypatch
 def test_auth_add_codex_clears_suppression_marker(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
    """Re-linking codex via `hermes auth add openai-codex` must clear any suppression marker."""
    monkeypatch.setenv("HERMES_HOME", str(tmp_path / "hermes"))
-    monkeypatch.setattr(
-        "agent.credential_pool._seed_from_singletons",
-        lambda provider, entries: (False, set()),
-    )
    hermes_home = tmp_path / "hermes"
    hermes_home.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)

@@ -1171,7 +1169,8 @@ def test_auth_add_codex_clears_suppression_marker(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
    assert "openai-codex" not in payload.get("suppressed_sources", {})
    # New pool entry must be present
    entries = payload["credential_pool"]["openai-codex"]
-    assert any(e["source"] == "manual:device_code" for e in entries)
+    assert any(e["source"] == "device_code" for e in entries)
+    assert payload["active_provider"] == "openai-codex"


 def test_seed_from_singletons_respects_codex_suppression(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ from hermes_cli import main as cli_main
 def _ns(**kw):
    defaults = dict(
        skip_build=False,
+        build_only=False,
+        force_build=False,
        source=False,
        fake_boot=False,
        ignore_existing=False,
@@ -60,6 +62,8 @@ def test_gui_installs_packages_and_launches_desktop_app(tmp_path, monkeypatch):

    with patch("hermes_cli.main.shutil.which", return_value="/usr/bin/npm"), \
         patch("hermes_cli.main._run_npm_install_deterministic", return_value=install_ok) as mock_install, \
+         patch("hermes_cli.main._desktop_build_needed", return_value=True), \
+         patch("hermes_cli.main._write_desktop_build_stamp"), \
         patch("hermes_cli.main._desktop_macos_relaunchable_fixup"), \
         patch("hermes_cli.main.subprocess.run", side_effect=[pack_ok, launch_ok]) as mock_run, \
         pytest.raises(SystemExit) as exc:
@@ -86,6 +90,8 @@ def test_gui_forwards_desktop_environment_overrides(tmp_path, monkeypatch):

    with patch("hermes_cli.main.shutil.which", return_value="/usr/bin/npm"), \
         patch("hermes_cli.main._run_npm_install_deterministic", return_value=ok), \
+         patch("hermes_cli.main._desktop_build_needed", return_value=True), \
+         patch("hermes_cli.main._write_desktop_build_stamp"), \
         patch("hermes_cli.main._desktop_macos_relaunchable_fixup"), \
         patch("hermes_cli.main.subprocess.run", side_effect=[ok, ok]) as mock_run, \
         pytest.raises(SystemExit):
@@ -158,6 +164,8 @@ def test_gui_source_mode_uses_renderer_build_and_electron(tmp_path, monkeypatch)

    with patch("hermes_cli.main.shutil.which", return_value="/usr/bin/npm"), \
         patch("hermes_cli.main._run_npm_install_deterministic", return_value=install_ok), \
+         patch("hermes_cli.main._desktop_build_needed", return_value=True), \
+         patch("hermes_cli.main._write_desktop_build_stamp"), \
         patch("hermes_cli.main.subprocess.run", side_effect=[build_ok, launch_ok]) as mock_run, \
         pytest.raises(SystemExit) as exc:
        cli_main.cmd_gui(_ns(source=True))
@@ -179,3 +187,158 @@ def test_gui_source_mode_uses_renderer_build_and_electron(tmp_path, monkeypatch)
 def test_gui_is_known_builtin_for_plugin_gating(argv):
    with patch.object(sys, "argv", argv):
        assert cli_main._plugin_cli_discovery_needed() is False
+
+
+# ── Content-hash stamp tests ──────────────────────────────────────────
+
+
+def test_desktop_build_stamp_skips_build_when_up_to_date(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+    """When the stamp matches and the artifact exists, build is skipped entirely."""
+    root = _make_desktop_tree(tmp_path)
+    desktop_dir = root / "apps" / "desktop"
+    monkeypatch.setattr(cli_main, "PROJECT_ROOT", root)
+    _make_packaged_executable(root, monkeypatch)
+
+    launch_ok = subprocess.CompletedProcess([], 0)
+
+    with patch("hermes_cli.main._desktop_build_needed", return_value=False), \
+         patch("hermes_cli.main._run_npm_install_deterministic") as mock_install, \
+         patch("hermes_cli.main.subprocess.run", return_value=launch_ok) as mock_run, \
+         patch("hermes_cli.main._desktop_macos_relaunchable_fixup"), \
+         pytest.raises(SystemExit) as exc:
+        cli_main.cmd_gui(_ns())
+
+    assert exc.value.code == 0
+    mock_install.assert_not_called()
+    mock_run.assert_called_once()  # only the launch call, no build
+
+
+def test_desktop_force_build_overrides_stamp(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+    """--force-build forces a rebuild even when the stamp says up-to-date."""
+    root = _make_desktop_tree(tmp_path)
+    desktop_dir = root / "apps" / "desktop"
+    monkeypatch.setattr(cli_main, "PROJECT_ROOT", root)
+    _make_packaged_executable(root, monkeypatch)
+
+    install_ok = subprocess.CompletedProcess(["npm", "ci"], 0)
+    pack_ok = subprocess.CompletedProcess(["npm", "run", "pack"], 0)
+    launch_ok = subprocess.CompletedProcess([], 0)
+
+    with patch("hermes_cli.main.shutil.which", return_value="/usr/bin/npm"), \
+         patch("hermes_cli.main._run_npm_install_deterministic", return_value=install_ok) as mock_install, \
+         patch("hermes_cli.main._desktop_build_needed", return_value=False), \
+         patch("hermes_cli.main._write_desktop_build_stamp") as mock_stamp, \
+         patch("hermes_cli.main._desktop_macos_relaunchable_fixup"), \
+         patch("hermes_cli.main.subprocess.run", side_effect=[pack_ok, launch_ok]) as mock_run, \
+         pytest.raises(SystemExit) as exc:
+        cli_main.cmd_gui(_ns(force_build=True))
+
+    assert exc.value.code == 0
+    mock_install.assert_called_once()
+    mock_stamp.assert_called_once()
+    # pack + launch = 2 calls
+    assert mock_run.call_count == 2
+
+
+def test_compute_desktop_content_hash_stable(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+    """_compute_desktop_content_hash returns the same digest for identical trees."""
+    root = _make_desktop_tree(tmp_path)
+    (root / "apps" / "desktop" / "main.js").write_text("console.log('hi')", encoding="utf-8")
+    (root / "package.json").write_text('{"name":"hermes"}', encoding="utf-8")
+    (root / "package-lock.json").write_text('{}', encoding="utf-8")
+    monkeypatch.setattr(cli_main, "PROJECT_ROOT", root)
+
+    h1 = cli_main._compute_desktop_content_hash(root)
+    h2 = cli_main._compute_desktop_content_hash(root)
+    assert h1 == h2
+    assert len(h1) == 64  # sha256 hex
+
+
+def test_compute_desktop_content_hash_changes_on_edit(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+    """Editing a file under apps/desktop/ changes the hash."""
+    root = _make_desktop_tree(tmp_path)
+    (root / "apps" / "desktop" / "main.js").write_text("v1", encoding="utf-8")
+    (root / "package.json").write_text("{}", encoding="utf-8")
+    (root / "package-lock.json").write_text("{}", encoding="utf-8")
+    monkeypatch.setattr(cli_main, "PROJECT_ROOT", root)
+
+    h1 = cli_main._compute_desktop_content_hash(root)
+    (root / "apps" / "desktop" / "main.js").write_text("v2", encoding="utf-8")
+    h2 = cli_main._compute_desktop_content_hash(root)
+    assert h1 != h2
+
+
+def test_desktop_build_needed_detects_missing_artifact(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+    """Even with a valid stamp, missing artifact means build is needed."""
+    root = _make_desktop_tree(tmp_path)
+    (root / "package.json").write_text("{}", encoding="utf-8")
+    (root / "package-lock.json").write_text("{}", encoding="utf-8")
+    monkeypatch.setattr(cli_main, "PROJECT_ROOT", root)
+    # Write a stamp that matches current content
+    cli_main._write_desktop_build_stamp(root, source_mode=False)
+    # No packaged executable exists → build needed
+    assert cli_main._desktop_build_needed(
+        root / "apps" / "desktop", root, source_mode=False
+    ) is True
+
+
+def test_desktop_build_stamp_round_trip(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+    """Write stamp, then _desktop_build_needed returns False when artifact exists."""
+    root = _make_desktop_tree(tmp_path)
+    (root / "package.json").write_text("{}", encoding="utf-8")
+    (root / "package-lock.json").write_text("{}", encoding="utf-8")
+    monkeypatch.setattr(cli_main, "PROJECT_ROOT", root)
+    # Create the artifact so the "artifact exists" check passes
+    _make_packaged_executable(root, monkeypatch)
+    # Write stamp
+    cli_main._write_desktop_build_stamp(root, source_mode=False)
+    # Build should NOT be needed
+    assert cli_main._desktop_build_needed(
+        root / "apps" / "desktop", root, source_mode=False
+    ) is False
+
+
+def test_compute_desktop_content_hash_works_without_gitignore(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+    """When no .gitignore exists, _compute_desktop_content_hash still works (matches everything)."""
+    root = _make_desktop_tree(tmp_path)
+    (root / "apps" / "desktop" / "main.js").write_text("v1", encoding="utf-8")
+    (root / "package.json").write_text("{}", encoding="utf-8")
+    (root / "package-lock.json").write_text("{}", encoding="utf-8")
+    monkeypatch.setattr(cli_main, "PROJECT_ROOT", root)
+
+    # No .gitignore → pathspec matches nothing → all files hashed
+    h = cli_main._compute_desktop_content_hash(root)
+    assert len(h) == 64  # valid sha256 hex
+
+    # Edit a file → hash changes
+    (root / "apps" / "desktop" / "main.js").write_text("v2", encoding="utf-8")
+    h2 = cli_main._compute_desktop_content_hash(root)
+    assert h != h2
+
+
+def test_compute_desktop_content_hash_respects_gitignore(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+    """Files matched by .gitignore are excluded from the hash."""
+    root = _make_desktop_tree(tmp_path)
+    (root / "apps" / "desktop" / "main.js").write_text("hello", encoding="utf-8")
+    (root / "apps" / "desktop" / "secrets.env").write_text("API_KEY=xxx", encoding="utf-8")
+    (root / "package.json").write_text("{}", encoding="utf-8")
+    (root / "package-lock.json").write_text("{}", encoding="utf-8")
+    (root / ".gitignore").write_text("*.env\n", encoding="utf-8")
+    monkeypatch.setattr(cli_main, "PROJECT_ROOT", root)
+
+    # Reset cached spec
+    cli_main._DESKTOP_STAMP_SPEC = None
+
+    h1 = cli_main._compute_desktop_content_hash(root)
+
+    # Change the .env file (ignored) — hash should NOT change
+    (root / "apps" / "desktop" / "secrets.env").write_text("API_KEY=yyy", encoding="utf-8")
+    cli_main._DESKTOP_STAMP_SPEC = None  # reset since gitignore hasn't changed
+    h2 = cli_main._compute_desktop_content_hash(root)
+    assert h1 == h2, "changing an ignored file should not change the hash"
+
+    # Change the .js file (not ignored) — hash SHOULD change
+    (root / "apps" / "desktop" / "main.js").write_text("world", encoding="utf-8")
+    cli_main._DESKTOP_STAMP_SPEC = None
+    h3 = cli_main._compute_desktop_content_hash(root)
+    assert h1 != h3, "changing a tracked file should change the hash"
@@ -146,6 +146,67 @@ def test_nous_dashboard_device_flow_does_not_retry_legacy_scope_on_invoke_refusa
    assert requested_scopes == [auth_mod.DEFAULT_NOUS_SCOPE]


+def test_codex_dashboard_worker_persists_runtime_provider(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+    from hermes_cli import web_server as ws
+    from hermes_cli.auth import get_active_provider
+    from hermes_cli.runtime_provider import resolve_runtime_provider
+
+    access_token = "h.eyJleHAiOjk5OTk5OTk5OTl9.s"
+
+    class _Resp:
+        def __init__(self, status_code, payload):
+            self.status_code = status_code
+            self._payload = payload
+
+        def json(self):
+            return self._payload
+
+    class _Client:
+        def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
+            pass
+
+        def __enter__(self):
+            return self
+
+        def __exit__(self, *args):
+            return False
+
+        def post(self, url, **kwargs):
+            if url.endswith("/deviceauth/usercode"):
+                return _Resp(200, {
+                    "device_auth_id": "device-auth-id",
+                    "interval": 3,
+                    "user_code": "CODEX-1234",
+                })
+            if url.endswith("/deviceauth/token"):
+                return _Resp(200, {
+                    "authorization_code": "authorization-code",
+                    "code_verifier": "code-verifier",
+                })
+            return _Resp(200, {
+                "access_token": access_token,
+                "refresh_token": "codex-refresh",
+            })
+
+    monkeypatch.setenv("HERMES_HOME", str(tmp_path))
+    monkeypatch.setattr(httpx, "Client", _Client)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(ws.time, "sleep", lambda _: None)
+
+    sid, _ = ws._new_oauth_session("openai-codex", "device_code")
+    try:
+        ws._codex_full_login_worker(sid)
+
+        assert ws._oauth_sessions[sid]["status"] == "approved"
+        assert get_active_provider() == "openai-codex"
+
+        runtime = resolve_runtime_provider(requested=None)
+        assert runtime["provider"] == "openai-codex"
+        assert runtime["api_key"] == access_token
+        assert runtime["api_mode"] == "codex_responses"
+    finally:
+        ws._oauth_sessions.pop(sid, None)
+
+
 def test_nous_dashboard_poller_preserves_effective_scope_when_token_omits_scope(monkeypatch):
    from hermes_cli import auth as auth_mod
    from hermes_cli import web_server as ws
@@ -10,6 +10,55 @@ from unittest.mock import patch
 from tui_gateway import server


+def test_session_context_uses_session_cwd(monkeypatch, tmp_path):
+    """Desktop/TUI sessions must pin the agent cwd per session.
+
+    The gateway process itself is often launched from apps/desktop in dev, so
+    falling back to os.getcwd() makes agents answer from the desktop app folder
+    even when the sidebar/session cwd is a real project.
+    """
+    from agent.runtime_cwd import resolve_agent_cwd
+
+    sid = "cwd-sid"
+    session_key = "cwd-key"
+    project = tmp_path / "project"
+    project.mkdir()
+    launcher = tmp_path / "apps" / "desktop"
+    launcher.mkdir(parents=True)
+
+    server._sessions[sid] = {"session_key": session_key, "cwd": str(project)}
+    monkeypatch.delenv("TERMINAL_CWD", raising=False)
+    monkeypatch.chdir(launcher)
+
+    tokens = server._set_session_context(session_key)
+    try:
+        assert resolve_agent_cwd() == project
+    finally:
+        server._clear_session_context(tokens)
+        server._sessions.pop(sid, None)
+
+
+def test_session_context_explicit_cwd_for_ephemeral_task(monkeypatch, tmp_path):
+    """Background/preview tasks use ephemeral ids absent from `_sessions`, so the
+    parent workspace is passed explicitly; it must pin instead of clearing back
+    to the gateway launch dir."""
+    from agent.runtime_cwd import resolve_agent_cwd
+
+    project = tmp_path / "project"
+    project.mkdir()
+    launcher = tmp_path / "apps" / "desktop"
+    launcher.mkdir(parents=True)
+
+    monkeypatch.delenv("TERMINAL_CWD", raising=False)
+    monkeypatch.chdir(launcher)
+
+    tokens = server._set_session_context("bg_deadbe", cwd=str(project))
+    try:
+        assert resolve_agent_cwd() == project
+    finally:
+        server._clear_session_context(tokens)
+
+
 class _ChunkyStdout:
    def __init__(self):
        self.parts: list[str] = []
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import os
 from types import SimpleNamespace
 from unittest.mock import AsyncMock, MagicMock, patch

+import pytest

 from tools.mcp_tool import MCPServerTask, _format_connect_error, _resolve_stdio_command, _MCP_AVAILABLE

@@ -126,3 +127,83 @@ def test_run_stdio_uses_resolved_command_and_prepended_path(tmp_path):
            await server.shutdown()

    asyncio.run(_test())
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Regression tests for #37589: Desktop/launchd processes inherit a minimal
+# PATH on macOS that does not include ~/.local/bin, /opt/homebrew/bin, or
+# /usr/local/bin. The resolver must locate uv/uvx (the dominant MCP server
+# runtime for Python projects) under those locations.
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+def test_resolve_stdio_command_finds_uvx_in_user_local_bin(tmp_path):
+    """uv's official installer drops uv/uvx at ``~/.local/bin/uvx`` on
+    macOS and Linux. The resolver must pick it up when the GUI PATH
+    doesn't include that directory (#37589)."""
+    local_bin = tmp_path / ".local" / "bin"
+    local_bin.mkdir(parents=True)
+    uvx_path = local_bin / "uvx"
+    uvx_path.write_text("#!/bin/sh\nexit 0\n", encoding="utf-8")
+    uvx_path.chmod(0o755)
+
+    with patch("tools.mcp_tool.shutil.which", return_value=None), \
+         patch("os.path.expanduser", lambda p: p.replace("~", str(tmp_path)) if p == "~" else p):
+        command, env = _resolve_stdio_command("uvx", {"PATH": "/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin"})
+
+    assert command == str(uvx_path)
+    # The resolver prepended the chosen bin so uvx's shebang-resolved
+    # children (uv itself, python) can be found in the same directory.
+    assert env["PATH"].split(os.pathsep)[0] == str(local_bin)
+
+
+def test_resolve_stdio_command_uvx_unchanged_when_already_on_path():
+    """shutil.which hit must still take precedence — don't double-resolve
+    a working bare command on PATH into something else."""
+    resolved_path = "/some/path/uvx"
+    with patch("tools.mcp_tool.shutil.which", return_value=resolved_path):
+        command, _env = _resolve_stdio_command("uvx", {"PATH": "/usr/bin"})
+
+    assert command == resolved_path
+
+
+def test_resolve_stdio_command_skips_unknown_commands():
+    """Bare command names outside the npx/npm/node/uv/uvx allowlist must
+    NOT be matched against the candidate fallback paths — that would
+    produce false positives like rewriting ``command: my-tool`` into a
+    coincidentally-named file at ``/opt/homebrew/bin/my-tool`` (#37589)."""
+    with patch("tools.mcp_tool.shutil.which", return_value=None), \
+         patch("tools.mcp_tool.os.path.expanduser", lambda p: p), \
+         patch("tools.mcp_tool.os.path.isfile", return_value=True), \
+         patch("tools.mcp_tool.os.access", return_value=True):
+        # A command like 'foo' or 'python' must be left alone even if
+        # the test is faking every candidate as present.
+        command, _env = _resolve_stdio_command("foo", {"PATH": "/usr/bin:/bin"})
+
+    assert command == "foo"
+
+
+def test_resolve_stdio_command_prefers_managed_uv(tmp_path):
+    """Managed uv at $HERMES_HOME/bin/uv should be preferred over
+    ~/.local/bin, /opt/homebrew/bin, and /usr/local/bin — MCP servers
+    must use the same uv as the CLI update path (managed_uv.py)."""
+    hermes_bin = tmp_path / "bin"
+    hermes_bin.mkdir()
+    uv_path = hermes_bin / "uv"
+    uv_path.write_text("#!/bin/sh\necho uv 0.1.2\n", encoding="utf-8")
+    uv_path.chmod(0o755)
+
+    # Also create a stale uv at ~/.local/bin to verify ordering.
+    local_bin = tmp_path / ".local" / "bin"
+    local_bin.mkdir(parents=True)
+    stale_uv = local_bin / "uv"
+    stale_uv.write_text("#!/bin/sh\necho stale\n", encoding="utf-8")
+    stale_uv.chmod(0o755)
+
+    with patch("tools.mcp_tool.shutil.which", return_value=None), \
+         patch("os.path.expanduser", lambda p: p.replace("~", str(tmp_path)) if p.startswith("~") else p), \
+         patch.dict(os.environ, {"HERMES_HOME": str(tmp_path)}):
+        command, env = _resolve_stdio_command("uv", {"PATH": "/usr/bin:/bin"})
+
+    assert command == str(uv_path)
+    assert env["PATH"].split(os.pathsep)[0] == str(hermes_bin)
@@ -353,6 +353,16 @@ class FileOperations(ABC):
        """Delete a file. Returns WriteResult with .error set on failure."""
        ...

+    def delete_path(self, path: str, recursive: bool = False) -> WriteResult:
+        """Cross-platform delete that handles files and (with recursive=True)
+        directory trees. Default implementation delegates to ``delete_file``
+        for the non-recursive case; backends with native recursive support
+        should override.
+        """
+        if recursive:
+            return WriteResult(error="Recursive delete not implemented for this backend")
+        return self.delete_file(path)
+
    @abstractmethod
    def move_file(self, src: str, dst: str) -> WriteResult:
        """Move/rename a file from src to dst. Returns WriteResult with .error set on failure."""
@@ -1065,13 +1075,64 @@ class ShellFileOperations(FileOperations):
        )

    def delete_file(self, path: str) -> WriteResult:
-        """Delete a file via rm."""
+        """Delete a single file.
+
+        Cross-platform: runs via ``python -c`` against the terminal env's
+        Python so it works on Windows shells (``cmd.exe``/PowerShell) that
+        don't ship ``rm``. Directories are rejected here — use
+        ``delete_path(recursive=True)`` for trees.
+        """
+        return self._python_delete(path, recursive=False)
+
+    def delete_path(self, path: str, recursive: bool = False) -> WriteResult:
+        """Cross-platform delete that handles files and (with recursive=True)
+        directory trees. Always preferred over emitting ``rm -rf`` /
+        ``Remove-Item -Recurse`` directly so the same tool call works on
+        every backend (local / docker / ssh / Windows).
+        """
+        return self._python_delete(path, recursive=recursive)
+
+    def _python_delete(self, path: str, recursive: bool) -> WriteResult:
        path = self._expand_path(path)
        if _is_write_denied(path):
            return WriteResult(error=f"Delete denied: {path} is a protected path")
-        result = self._exec(f"rm -f {self._escape_shell_arg(path)}")
+
+        # We can't shell out to ``rm`` here — it doesn't exist on Windows
+        # ``cmd.exe`` or PowerShell, so this code path is what's left when
+        # the backend's terminal is a Windows shell. Path is baked into the
+        # snippet via ``repr()`` so quoting is correct on every shell.
+        snippet = (
+            "import shutil, pathlib, sys\n"
+            f"p = pathlib.Path({path!r})\n"
+            f"recursive = {bool(recursive)!r}\n"
+            "try:\n"
+            "    if p.is_dir() and not p.is_symlink():\n"
+            "        if recursive:\n"
+            "            shutil.rmtree(p)\n"
+            "        else:\n"
+            "            print('is a directory: ' + str(p), file=sys.stderr); sys.exit(2)\n"
+            "    else:\n"
+            # NOTE: avoid ``unlink(missing_ok=True)`` — that kwarg lands in
+            # Python 3.8 and the remote interpreter (docker/ssh) may still
+            # be 3.7 on older distros. The FileNotFoundError handler below
+            # covers the same case and works back to 3.4.
+            "        p.unlink()\n"
+            "except FileNotFoundError:\n"
+            "    pass\n"
+            "except Exception as exc:\n"
+            "    print(str(exc), file=sys.stderr); sys.exit(1)\n"
+        )
+
+        result = self._exec(f"python3 -c {self._escape_shell_arg(snippet)}")
+
+        # Fall back to ``python`` (Windows / older systems where there's no
+        # ``python3`` symlink but a ``python`` binary is on PATH).
+        if result.exit_code != 0 and "python3" in (result.stdout or ""):
+            result = self._exec(f"python -c {self._escape_shell_arg(snippet)}")
+
        if result.exit_code != 0:
-            return WriteResult(error=f"Failed to delete {path}: {result.stdout}")
+            return WriteResult(error=f"Failed to delete {path}: {(result.stdout or '').strip() or 'unknown error'}")
+
        return WriteResult()

    def move_file(self, src: str, dst: str) -> WriteResult:
@@ -402,8 +402,15 @@ def _prepend_path(env: dict, directory: str) -> dict:
 def _resolve_stdio_command(command: str, env: dict) -> tuple[str, dict]:
    """Resolve a stdio MCP command against the exact subprocess environment.

-    This primarily exists to make bare ``npx``/``npm``/``node`` commands work
-    reliably even when MCP subprocesses run under a filtered PATH.
+    This primarily exists to make bare ``npx``/``npm``/``node`` and
+    ``uv``/``uvx`` commands work reliably even when MCP subprocesses run
+    under a filtered PATH (#37589). On macOS, processes launched from the
+    GUI / LaunchAgents inherit a minimal PATH (``/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin``)
+    that does not include ``~/.local/bin`` (uv user install), ``/opt/homebrew/bin``
+    (Apple Silicon Homebrew), or ``/usr/local/bin`` (Intel Homebrew / Linux
+    from-source), so a bare ``command: uvx`` MCP server fails with ENOENT
+    at ``execvp`` from Hermes Desktop even though it works from an
+    interactive Terminal.
    """
    resolved_command = os.path.expanduser(str(command).strip())
    resolved_env = dict(env or {})
@@ -413,25 +420,42 @@ def _resolve_stdio_command(command: str, env: dict) -> tuple[str, dict]:
        which_hit = shutil.which(resolved_command, path=path_arg)
        if which_hit:
            resolved_command = which_hit
-        elif resolved_command in {"npx", "npm", "node"}:
+        elif resolved_command in {"npx", "npm", "node", "uv", "uvx"}:
            hermes_home = os.path.expanduser(
                os.getenv(
                    "HERMES_HOME", os.path.join(os.path.expanduser("~"), ".hermes")
                )
            )
            candidates = [
+                # Hermes-bundled Node first so the desktop app's pinned
+                # runtime wins over a system Node that may be incompatible.
                os.path.join(hermes_home, "node", "bin", resolved_command),
+                # Managed uv: Hermes owns its own uv/uvx at
+                # $HERMES_HOME/bin/ (see hermes_cli/managed_uv.py).
+                # Always prefer this over PATH/brew/pip installs so MCP
+                # servers use the same uv as the CLI update path.
+                os.path.join(hermes_home, "bin", resolved_command),
+                # uv's official macOS/Linux installer drops uv/uvx here.
+                # This is the dominant install location for developers
+                # on Apple Silicon and Ubuntu. The ``uv`` user installer
+                # is documented to land here.
                os.path.join(os.path.expanduser("~"), ".local", "bin", resolved_command),
-                # /usr/local/bin is the canonical install location for Node on
-                # Linux from-source builds, the upstream node:bookworm-slim
-                # image (which the Hermes Docker image copies node + npm +
-                # corepack from since #4977), and macOS Homebrew on Intel.
-                # Without this candidate, any MCP server configured with an
-                # env.PATH that omits /usr/local/bin (a common pattern when
-                # users hand-author PATH for sandboxing) fails with ENOENT
-                # at execvp, and a naive symlink workaround into the user's
-                # PATH only fails one layer deeper because npx's shebang
-                # re-execs /usr/bin/env node which needs the same directory.
+                # /opt/homebrew/bin — Apple Silicon Homebrew. uv is
+                # installable via `brew install uv`, and a non-trivial
+                # share of macOS users (including the original bug
+                # reporter) have it here.
+                os.path.join(os.sep, "opt", "homebrew", "bin", resolved_command),
+                # /usr/local/bin — the canonical install location for
+                # Node on Linux from-source builds, the upstream
+                # node:bookworm-slim image (which the Hermes Docker
+                # image copies node + npm + corepack from since #4977),
+                # and macOS Homebrew on Intel. Without this candidate,
+                # any MCP server configured with an env.PATH that omits
+                # /usr/local/bin (a common pattern when users hand-author
+                # PATH for sandboxing) fails with ENOENT at execvp, and
+                # a naive symlink workaround into the user's PATH only
+                # fails one layer deeper because npx's shebang re-execs
+                # /usr/bin/env node which needs the same directory.
                os.path.join(os.sep, "usr", "local", "bin", resolved_command),
            ]
            for candidate in candidates:
@@ -809,11 +809,31 @@ def _save_cfg(cfg: dict):
            _cfg_mtime = None


-def _set_session_context(session_key: str) -> list:
+def _cwd_for_session_key(session_key: str) -> str:
+    """Reverse-map session_key to the session's logical cwd.
+
+    Snapshots ``_sessions`` first: concurrent RPC handlers mutate it from the
+    thread pool, so iterating the live view risks ``RuntimeError: dictionary
+    changed size during iteration``.
+    """
+    if not session_key:
+        return ""
+    for sess in list(_sessions.values()):
+        if sess.get("session_key") == session_key:
+            return str(sess.get("cwd") or "")
+    return ""
+
+
+def _set_session_context(session_key: str, cwd: str | None = None) -> list:
    try:
        from gateway.session_context import set_session_vars

-        return set_session_vars(session_key=session_key)
+        # Ephemeral task IDs (background, preview) aren't in `_sessions`, so the
+        # reverse-map returns "" and would clear the cwd override. Callers that
+        # know the parent workspace pass it explicitly so spawned agents inherit
+        # it instead of falling back to the gateway launch dir.
+        resolved = cwd if cwd is not None else _cwd_for_session_key(session_key)
+        return set_session_vars(session_key=session_key, cwd=resolved)
    except Exception:
        return []

@@ -2764,6 +2784,7 @@ def _(rid, params: dict) -> dict:
        explicit_cwd = bool(raw_cwd) and os.path.isdir(os.path.abspath(os.path.expanduser(raw_cwd)))
    except Exception:
        explicit_cwd = False
+    resolved_cwd = _completion_cwd(params)
    _enable_gateway_prompts()

    ready = threading.Event()
@@ -2782,7 +2803,7 @@ def _(rid, params: dict) -> dict:
        "history_lock": threading.Lock(),
        "history_version": 0,
        "image_counter": 0,
-        "cwd": _completion_cwd(params),
+        "cwd": resolved_cwd,
        "inflight_turn": None,
        "last_active": now,
        "pending_title": title or None,
@@ -4624,7 +4645,7 @@ def _(rid, params: dict) -> dict:
    task_id = f"bg_{uuid.uuid4().hex[:6]}"

    def run():
-        session_tokens = _set_session_context(task_id)
+        session_tokens = _set_session_context(task_id, cwd=_session_cwd(session))
        try:
            from run_agent import AIAgent

@@ -4709,14 +4730,25 @@ def _(rid, params: dict) -> dict:
        if line
    )

+    # Normalize defensively: a malformed client path (embedded NUL, etc.) must
+    # not blow up the whole restart — treat it as "no validated cwd".
+    try:
+        preview_cwd = os.path.abspath(os.path.expanduser(cwd)) if cwd else ""
+        if preview_cwd and not os.path.isdir(preview_cwd):
+            preview_cwd = ""
+    except Exception:
+        preview_cwd = ""
+
    def run():
-        session_tokens = _set_session_context(task_id)
+        # Pin the validated preview cwd, else the parent workspace — never an
+        # invalid client path, which would silently fall back to the launch dir.
+        session_tokens = _set_session_context(task_id, cwd=(preview_cwd or _session_cwd(session)))
        try:
            from run_agent import AIAgent
            from tools.terminal_tool import register_task_env_overrides

-            if cwd and os.path.isdir(os.path.abspath(os.path.expanduser(cwd))):
-                register_task_env_overrides(task_id, {"cwd": os.path.abspath(os.path.expanduser(cwd))})
+            if preview_cwd:
+                register_task_env_overrides(task_id, {"cwd": preview_cwd})

            history_note = (
                f" (with {len(parent_history)} parent-session messages of context)"
@@ -1602,21 +1602,26 @@ version = "0.15.1"
 source = { editable = "." }
 dependencies = [
    { name = "croniter" },
+    { name = "fastapi" },
    { name = "fire" },
    { name = "httpx", extra = ["socks"] },
    { name = "jinja2" },
    { name = "openai" },
+    { name = "pathspec" },
    { name = "prompt-toolkit" },
    { name = "psutil" },
+    { name = "ptyprocess", marker = "sys_platform != 'win32'" },
    { name = "pydantic" },
    { name = "pyjwt", extra = ["crypto"] },
    { name = "python-dotenv" },
+    { name = "pywinpty", marker = "sys_platform == 'win32'" },
    { name = "pyyaml" },
    { name = "requests" },
    { name = "rich" },
    { name = "ruamel-yaml" },
    { name = "tenacity" },
    { name = "tzdata", marker = "sys_platform == 'win32'" },
+    { name = "uvicorn", extra = ["standard"] },
 ]

 [package.optional-dependencies]
@@ -1632,11 +1637,9 @@ all = [
    { name = "google-auth-httplib2" },
    { name = "google-auth-oauthlib" },
    { name = "mcp" },
-    { name = "ptyprocess", marker = "sys_platform != 'win32'" },
    { name = "pytest" },
    { name = "pytest-asyncio" },
    { name = "pytest-timeout" },
-    { name = "pywinpty", marker = "sys_platform == 'win32'" },
    { name = "ruff" },
    { name = "setuptools" },
    { name = "simple-term-menu" },
@@ -1739,10 +1742,6 @@ modal = [
 parallel-web = [
    { name = "parallel-web" },
 ]
-pty = [
-    { name = "ptyprocess", marker = "sys_platform != 'win32'" },
-    { name = "pywinpty", marker = "sys_platform == 'win32'" },
-]
 slack = [
    { name = "aiohttp" },
    { name = "slack-bolt" },
@@ -1755,9 +1754,7 @@ termux = [
    { name = "agent-client-protocol" },
    { name = "honcho-ai" },
    { name = "mcp" },
-    { name = "ptyprocess", marker = "sys_platform != 'win32'" },
    { name = "python-telegram-bot", extra = ["webhooks"] },
-    { name = "pywinpty", marker = "sys_platform == 'win32'" },
    { name = "simple-term-menu" },
    { name = "starlette" },
 ]
@@ -1770,9 +1767,7 @@ termux-all = [
    { name = "google-auth-oauthlib" },
    { name = "honcho-ai" },
    { name = "mcp" },
-    { name = "ptyprocess", marker = "sys_platform != 'win32'" },
    { name = "python-telegram-bot", extra = ["webhooks"] },
-    { name = "pywinpty", marker = "sys_platform == 'win32'" },
    { name = "simple-term-menu" },
    { name = "starlette" },
    { name = "uvicorn", extra = ["standard"] },
@@ -1822,6 +1817,7 @@ requires-dist = [
    { name = "elevenlabs", marker = "extra == 'tts-premium'", specifier = "==1.59.0" },
    { name = "exa-py", marker = "extra == 'exa'", specifier = "==2.10.2" },
    { name = "fal-client", marker = "extra == 'fal'", specifier = "==0.13.1" },
+    { name = "fastapi", specifier = ">=0.104.0,<1" },
    { name = "fastapi", marker = "extra == 'web'", specifier = "==0.133.1" },
    { name = "faster-whisper", marker = "extra == 'voice'", specifier = "==1.2.1" },
    { name = "fire", specifier = "==0.7.1" },
@@ -1866,9 +1862,10 @@ requires-dist = [
    { name = "numpy", marker = "extra == 'voice'", specifier = "==2.4.3" },
    { name = "openai", specifier = "==2.24.0" },
    { name = "parallel-web", marker = "extra == 'parallel-web'", specifier = "==0.4.2" },
+    { name = "pathspec", specifier = "==1.1.1" },
    { name = "prompt-toolkit", specifier = "==3.0.52" },
    { name = "psutil", specifier = "==7.2.2" },
-    { name = "ptyprocess", marker = "sys_platform != 'win32' and extra == 'pty'", specifier = "==0.7.0" },
+    { name = "ptyprocess", marker = "sys_platform != 'win32'", specifier = ">=0.7.0,<1" },
    { name = "pydantic", specifier = "==2.13.4" },
    { name = "pyjwt", extras = ["crypto"], specifier = "==2.12.1" },
    { name = "pytest", marker = "extra == 'dev'", specifier = "==9.0.2" },
@@ -1877,7 +1874,7 @@ requires-dist = [
    { name = "python-dotenv", specifier = "==1.2.2" },
    { name = "python-telegram-bot", extras = ["webhooks"], marker = "extra == 'messaging'", specifier = "==22.6" },
    { name = "python-telegram-bot", extras = ["webhooks"], marker = "extra == 'termux'", specifier = "==22.6" },
-    { name = "pywinpty", marker = "sys_platform == 'win32' and extra == 'pty'", specifier = "==2.0.15" },
+    { name = "pywinpty", marker = "sys_platform == 'win32'", specifier = ">=2.0.0,<3" },
    { name = "pyyaml", specifier = "==6.0.3" },
    { name = "qrcode", marker = "extra == 'dingtalk'", specifier = "==7.4.2" },
    { name = "qrcode", marker = "extra == 'feishu'", specifier = "==7.4.2" },
@@ -1900,6 +1897,7 @@ requires-dist = [
    { name = "tenacity", specifier = "==9.1.4" },
    { name = "ty", marker = "extra == 'dev'", specifier = "==0.0.21" },
    { name = "tzdata", marker = "sys_platform == 'win32'", specifier = "==2025.3" },
+    { name = "uvicorn", extras = ["standard"], specifier = ">=0.24.0,<1" },
    { name = "uvicorn", extras = ["standard"], marker = "extra == 'web'", specifier = "==0.41.0" },
    { name = "youtube-transcript-api", marker = "extra == 'youtube'", specifier = "==1.2.4" },
 ]
@@ -3057,6 +3055,15 @@ wheels = [
    { url = "https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/a0/3e/2218fa29637781b8e7ac35a928108ff2614ddd40879389d3af2caa725af5/parallel_web-0.4.2-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:aa3a4a9aecc08972c5ce9303271d4917903373dff4dd277d9a3e30f9cff53346", size = 144012, upload-time = "2026-03-09T22:24:33.979Z" },
 ]

+[[package]]
+name = "pathspec"
+version = "1.1.1"
+source = { registry = "https://pypi.org/simple" }
+sdist = { url = "https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/5a/82/42f767fc1c1143d6fd36efb827202a2d997a375e160a71eb2888a925aac1/pathspec-1.1.1.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:17db5ecd524104a120e173814c90367a96a98d07c45b2e10c2f3919fff91bf5a", size = 135180, upload-time = "2026-04-27T01:46:08.907Z" }
+wheels = [
+    { url = "https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/f1/d9/7fb5aa316bc299258e68c73ba3bddbc499654a07f151cba08f6153988714/pathspec-1.1.1-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:a00ce642f577bf7f473932318056212bc4f8bfdf53128c78bbd5af0b9b20b189", size = 57328, upload-time = "2026-04-27T01:46:07.06Z" },
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "pluggy"
 version = "1.6.0"
@@ -92,8 +92,9 @@ To launch via the CLI, simply run `hermes desktop`. By default it installs works
 | Flag                 | Description                                                                               |
 | -------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
 | `--skip-build`       | Skip npm install/package and launch the existing unpacked app from `apps/desktop/release` |
+| `--force-build`      | Force a full rebuild even if the content stamp matches                                    |
+| `--build-only`       | Build the desktop app but do not launch it (used by `hermes update`)                      |
 | `--source`           | Launch via `electron .` against `apps/desktop/dist` instead of the packaged app           |
-| `--build-only`       | Build the desktop app but do not launch it (used by the installer's `--update` flow)      |
 | `--cwd PATH`         | Initial project directory for desktop chat sessions (sets `HERMES_DESKTOP_CWD`)           |
 | `--hermes-root PATH` | Override the Hermes source root the app uses (sets `HERMES_DESKTOP_HERMES_ROOT`)          |
 | `--ignore-existing`  | Force the app to ignore any `hermes` CLI already on `PATH` during backend resolution      |