[bbsngg]

Problem

Clicking New Session in the sidebar reused the mode of whatever session was opened last. handleSessionSelect copied the selected session's mode into the global, sessionStorage-backed newSessionMode. The sidebar buttons (desktop and mobile) and the blank chat tab then passed that value back into handleNewSession.

So after looking at a Workspace Q&A session, the first session of a freshly created project opened as Workspace Q&A. That meant no "Start a project" quick actions, no auto-intake (it only runs in research mode), and a workspace_qa context prefix on the first message. We reproduced this on v1.3.0 in a demo rehearsal.

Rule

Every "start something new" entry point resets to research mode: New Session, a new or blank chat tab, project creation, and chat-from-reference. You get Workspace Q&A only by choosing it:

• "Ask about this file" in the file tree or editor (handleStartWorkspaceQa)
• the mode toggle in the composer's "…" menu

I chose this over "research only when .pipeline/docs/research_brief.json is missing" for two reasons:

• The mode of an unrelated session the user happened to open last says nothing about what they want next.
• A file-dependent default would make New Session behave differently from project to project.

Research mode is already the documented default, and the composer toggle is one click away.

Changes

• src/utils/newSessionMode.ts: the rule (nextNewSessionMode) and the sessionStorage persistence, moved out of useProjectsState into a pure module.
• useProjectsState: every mode change now goes through one applyNewSessionModeEvent.
  • handleNewSession(project) no longer takes a mode.
  • Project creation also resets to research, so auto-intake runs.
  • The composer toggle now persists the user's choice, like the other entry points.
• Sidebar (Sidebar, SidebarProjectList, SidebarProjectItem, SidebarProjectSessions) and MainContent: removed the newSessionMode prop and the mode argument. The type change means no caller can carry the old mode over again.

Tests

• New src/utils/__tests__/newSessionMode.test.ts. It covers:
  • the rehearsal sequence: open a Workspace Q&A session → create a project → New Session gives research
  • a stale workspace_qa left in sessionStorage
  • the explicit Workspace Q&A entry points still working
• npm run typecheck: passes.
• npx vitest run: 565/566 pass. The one failure is server/utils/__tests__/codexCli.test.js > getBundledCodexCliInvocation, a path comparison that fails only because the local worktree symlinks node_modules from another checkout. This change does not touch it.
• Not checked in the running app.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code