fix(desktop): persist /title set before the first message instead of queuing

[austinpickett]

Symptom

In a fresh desktop chat, typing /title my-custom-name as the first action, then sending a message (e.g. hello), leaves the session titled hello (the first-message preview) — the manual title is silently lost. The status line even confirms it queued: "Session title set: my-custom-name (queued while session initializes)".

Root cause

The desktop/TUI defers the session's SQLite row to the first prompt (so abandoned empty drafts don't litter the sidebar). When /title runs before any message, session.title (tui_gateway/server.py) finds no row, so set_session_title returns rowcount 0. The handler then only stashed pending_title and returned pending: true, betting that the post-turn apply block would write the title later.

That deferral is fragile: when the first turn doesn't land/persist under the same session_key (or the apply path doesn't fire), the queued title is dropped and the row's title stays NULL. The sidebar's sessionTitle() then falls back to title || preview || 'Untitled' → the message preview hello.

The messaging gateway's _handle_title_command never had this bug — it creates the row immediately and sets the title directly.

Fix

Make the desktop path match the messaging gateway: an explicit /title is clear user intent, not an abandoned draft, so persist the row up front (_ensure_session_db_row) and set the title immediately through the profile-aware _session_db handle, returning pending: false.

This also fixes the frontend symptom for free. The desktop /title handler does an optimistic setSessions(...) then an immediate refreshSessions(); while pending:true that pull hit the still-NULL row and clobbered the optimistic title back to the preview. With the row now persisted synchronously, that same refresh pulls the correct title.

If row creation can't take (DB unavailable / racing writer), it falls back to the existing pending_title queue, so the post-turn apply block remains a recovery path. The sidebar's min_messages >= 1 filter keeps a titled 0-message row hidden, so a /title'd-but-never-used draft still doesn't clutter the list.

Testing

• Replaced test_session_title_queues_when_db_row_not_ready (asserted the buggy queue behavior) with test_session_title_creates_row_and_sets_immediately_when_not_ready, which asserts the row is created up front, the title is set, pending:false, and pending_title is cleared.
• Added test_session_title_falls_back_to_queue_when_row_create_fails to lock in the recovery path.
• Verified against the real handler with a temp HERMES_HOME + real SessionDB: /title before any row now creates the row and sets the title (pending:false).
• pytest tests/test_tui_gateway_server.py -k "title or pending or auto_title or prompt_submit" → all pass.

[github-actions]

🔎 Lint report: fix/desktop-title-before-first-message vs origin/main

ruff

Total: 0 on HEAD, 0 on base (➖ 0)

🆕 New issues: none

✅ Fixed issues: none

Unchanged: 0 pre-existing issues carried over.

ty (type checker)

Total: 10990 on HEAD, 10989 on base (🆕 +1)

🆕 New issues (2):

Rule	Count
invalid-assignment	2

First entries

tests/test_tui_gateway_server.py:1797: [invalid-assignment] invalid-assignment: Invalid subscript assignment with key of type `Literal["row"]` and value of type `dict[str, str | None]` on object of type `dict[str, None | bool]`
tests/run_agent/test_credits_notices_toggle.py:76: [invalid-assignment] invalid-assignment: Object of type `None` is not assignable to attribute `_credits_session_start_micros` of type `int`

✅ Fixed issues (2):

Rule	Count
unresolved-attribute	2

First entries

tests/run_agent/test_credits_notices_toggle.py:76: [unresolved-attribute] unresolved-attribute: Unresolved attribute `_credits_session_start_micros` on type `AIAgent`
run_agent.py:2941: [unresolved-attribute] unresolved-attribute: Object of type `Self@get_credits_spent_micros` has no attribute `_credits_session_start_micros`

Unchanged: 5790 pre-existing issues carried over.

Diagnostics are surfaced as warnings — this check never fails the build.

[OutThisLife]

Approving. Verified against current main:

• The desktop /title-before-first-message path previously only stashed pending_title and bet on the post-turn apply block — exactly the race the writeup describes (the handler returns pending:true on rowcount 0 when no row exists yet).
• The fix correctly mirrors the messaging gateway's _handle_title_command: _ensure_session_db_row(session) (INSERT OR IGNORE) + setting the title through the profile-aware _session_db handle. Routing through _session_db instead of the bare _get_db() is also strictly more correct for remote/profile sessions, whose row lives in that profile's own state.db rather than the launch profile's.
• The fallback to pending_title on a failed persist preserves the post-turn apply recovery path.
• The min_messages >= 1 sidebar filter keeps a titled 0-message draft hidden, so this doesn't reintroduce empty-draft clutter.
• Tests swap the buggy queue assertion for behavior assertions (row created, title set, pending:false, pending_title cleared) and add the fallback-to-queue case. CI green.

LGTM.