From 433fffc297f1b7a6591633a6035a6b9c2480e1ca Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: phathur <phathur@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Thu, 16 Jul 2026 16:12:40 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] feat(desktop): improve session list sidebar

- Add "No project" bucket for unowned sessions (empty cwd, home directory, ~/.hermes path) that were previously hidden
- Increase project preview session limit from 3 to 20, so users can see more recent sessions without drilling into projects
- Fix frontend mapping logic to support pathless synthetic groups like No project

Closes issue where users couldn't see sessions without explicit project assignment, and only saw 3 most recent sessions per project in overview.
---
 .../chat/sidebar/projects/workspace-groups.ts |  7 +--
 apps/desktop/src/store/projects.ts            |  2 +-
 tui_gateway/project_tree.py                   | 49 +++++++++++++++++++
 3 files changed, 52 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/app/chat/sidebar/projects/workspace-groups.ts b/apps/desktop/src/app/chat/sidebar/projects/workspace-groups.ts
index 04e18f7c7b95d..96bb08d499312 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/app/chat/sidebar/projects/workspace-groups.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/app/chat/sidebar/projects/workspace-groups.ts
@@ -582,10 +582,7 @@ export function overlayLivePreviews(
   const out: Record<string, SessionInfo[]> = {}
 
   for (const node of projects) {
-    if (!node.path) {
-      continue
-    }
-
+    const key = node.path ?? node.id
     const liveRows = byProject.get(node.id) ?? []
     const base = (node.previewSessions ?? []).filter(session => !removed.has(session.id))
 
@@ -602,7 +599,7 @@ export function overlayLivePreviews(
       }
     }
 
-    out[node.path] = [...map.values()].sort((a, b) => sessionRecency(b) - sessionRecency(a)).slice(0, limit)
+    out[key] = [...map.values()].sort((a, b) => sessionRecency(b) - sessionRecency(a)).slice(0, limit)
   }
 
   return out
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/store/projects.ts b/apps/desktop/src/store/projects.ts
index 7504f6686031a..755db10c248bc 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/store/projects.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/store/projects.ts
@@ -257,7 +257,7 @@ export async function refreshProjectTree(): Promise<void> {
   $projectTreeLoading.set(true)
 
   try {
-    const res = await gatewayRequest<ProjectTreePayload>('projects.tree', { preview_limit: 3 })
+    const res = await gatewayRequest<ProjectTreePayload>('projects.tree', { preview_limit: 20 })
     // The flat Sessions list shows everything; scoped ids are only used here to
     // reconcile the optimistic eviction layer against what the server still lists.
     const scoped = new Set(res.scoped_session_ids ?? [])
diff --git a/tui_gateway/project_tree.py b/tui_gateway/project_tree.py
index 3f243153964c9..d3bc89701c984 100644
--- a/tui_gateway/project_tree.py
+++ b/tui_gateway/project_tree.py
@@ -520,6 +520,55 @@ def _last_active(project_sessions: list[dict]) -> float:
 
     result: list[dict] = []
 
+    # Add "No project" bucket for unowned sessions that can't be auto-grouped
+    no_project_sessions: list[dict] = []
+    for session in unowned:
+        root = _session_repo_root(session, resolve)
+        if root and _junk(root):
+            # Junk git repo (home, hermes_home), don't create auto project
+            no_project_sessions.append(session)
+            continue
+        if root:
+            # Valid repo, will be handled by auto-project tier
+            continue
+        cwd = (session.get("cwd") or "").strip()
+        if not cwd or _junk_cwd(cwd):
+            # Empty cwd or junk cwd (home/hermes_home root), no project
+            no_project_sessions.append(session)
+            continue
+        placement = _place(cwd, (session.get("git_branch") or "").strip(), resolve, (session.get("git_repo_root") or "").strip())
+        if not placement:
+            # No valid placement, add to no project
+            no_project_sessions.append(session)
+    
+    if no_project_sessions:
+        scoped_ids.extend(s["id"] for s in no_project_sessions if s.get("id"))
+        result.append(
+            _project_node(
+                pid="__no_project__",
+                label="No project",
+                path=None,
+                repos=[{
+                    "id": "__no_project__",
+                    "label": "No project",
+                    "path": None,
+                    "groups": [{
+                        "id": "__no_project__",
+                        "label": "",
+                        "path": None,
+                        "sessions": [] if not hydrate else sorted(no_project_sessions, key=_session_time, reverse=True),
+                        "sessionCount": len(no_project_sessions),
+                        "isHome": False,
+                        "isKanban": False,
+                    }],
+                    "sessionCount": len(no_project_sessions),
+                }],
+                session_count=len(no_project_sessions),
+                last_active=_last_active(no_project_sessions),
+                preview_sessions=_previews(no_project_sessions),
+            )
+        )
+
     # Tier 1: explicit, user-created projects (always shown, even with 0 sessions).
     for project in active_projects:
         psessions = by_project.get(project["id"], [])