Fix split cwd inheritance while shell cwd is stale

[austinywang]

Summary

• bootstrap bash shell integration on the first interactive prompt for macOS bash
• preserve requested working directories when creating splits before shell integration reports a live cwd
• update the split cwd regression tests to assert explicit focus/tab selection instead of focus stealing

Verification

• ./scripts/reload.sh --tag cwd-regression
• local tests not run per repo policy

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Summary by cubic

Fixes split pane cwd inheritance when the source shell hasn’t reported a cwd yet by falling back to the pane’s requested startup directory. Also bootstraps macOS bash shell integration at the first interactive prompt and standardizes close confirmation key equivalents.

• Bug Fixes
  • Splits now inherit cwd in order: reported cwd → requested startup cwd → workspace cwd.
  • macOS /bin/bash loads Ghostty/cmux integration via PROMPT_COMMAND on first prompt when enabled.
  • Close confirmations: Enter confirms, Esc cancels; app is brought to front for alerts.
  • Tests updated to focus returned panes/tabs explicitly and verify cwd inheritance deterministically.

^{Written for commit 4bb2125. Summary will update on new commits.}

Summary by CodeRabbit

• Bug Fixes

  • Improved working directory inheritance when creating terminal splits—new splits now correctly use the source terminal's directory.
  • Enhanced keyboard navigation in close dialogs with standard shortcuts (Return to close, Escape to cancel).
  • Refined bash shell integration handling.

• Tests

  • Added tests for working directory inheritance in terminal splits.

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Project	Deployment	Actions	Updated (UTC)
cmux	Ready	Preview, Comment	Mar 14, 2026 0:03am

[coderabbitai]

Caution

Review failed

Pull request was closed or merged during review

📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

This PR exposes terminal working directory information through new requestedWorkingDirectory properties, refines workspace split creation to prioritize per-panel working directories with a multi-tier fallback strategy, updates keyboard navigation in close confirmation dialogs (Enter/Escape bindings and initial responder focus), and adds/updates tests to verify split working directory inheritance behavior.

Changes

Cohort / File(s)	Summary
Terminal Properties Sources/GhosttyTerminalView.swift, Sources/Panels/TerminalPanel.swift	Expose previously private workingDirectory as public computed property requestedWorkingDirectory through terminal surface and panel layers for external access.
Dialog & Keyboard Behavior Sources/TabManager.swift, Sources/Workspace.swift	Enhance close confirmation dialog keyboard navigation: bind Enter to primary (close) button, Escape to cancel, set close button as initial responder, and update app activation logic.
Split Working Directory Resolution Sources/Workspace.swift	Refine splitWorkingDirectory fallback chain: prefer non-empty panelDirectories[panelId], then requestedWorkingDirectory, finally workspace currentDirectory; add requestedDir to debug logging.
Test Coverage cmuxTests/CmuxWebViewKeyEquivalentTests.swift, tests/test_split_cwd_inheritance.py	Add new test class verifying split inherits requested working directory when reported cwd is stale; refactor Python integration test to use explicit surface/panel/tab tracking with _focus_first_surface helper and updated parameter handling.

Estimated code review effort

🎯 3 (Moderate) | ⏱️ ~22 minutes

Possibly related issues

• Browser surface becomes unclickable after switching workspaces #377: The dialog focus and keyboard binding changes (Enter for confirm, Escape for cancel) directly address the failing CloseWindowConfirmDialogUITests scenario.
• Regression: split terminal (Cmd+D / Cmd+Shift+D) no longer inherits working directory #1398: The requestedWorkingDirectory property and refined workspace split logic to prefer per-panel directories address the split-CWD inheritance regression.

Possibly related PRs

• Fix browser split behavior and prevent tagged app auto-close #646: Both PRs modify Workspace.swift's split-creation logic, including splitWorkingDirectory resolution and logging.
• Fix split CWD inheritance and bash job notification spam #925: Both PRs refine split-CWD inheritance in Workspace.newTerminalSplit by leveraging requestedWorkingDirectory and per-panel directory handling.
• Add cmux <path> to open directories and Homebrew binary stanza #705: Both PRs touch terminal working directory exposure and handling in workspace creation/split flows.

Poem

🐰 A rabbit's splits now find their way,
With directories trimmed and preferences at play.
Enter confirms, Escape denies,
Working directories crystallize—no more surprise! ✨

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 2 | ❌ 1

❌ Failed checks (1 warning)

Check name	Status	Explanation	Resolution
Docstring Coverage	⚠️ Warning	Docstring coverage is 25.00% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%.	Write docstrings for the functions missing them to satisfy the coverage threshold.

✅ Passed checks (2 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Title check	✅ Passed	The PR title clearly and specifically describes the main change: fixing split working directory inheritance when the shell's reported cwd is not yet available.
Description check	✅ Passed	The PR description includes a Summary section covering what changed and why, and a Verification section with testing steps, though a demo video is not applicable for backend changes and the bot review checklist appears incomplete.

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✨ Finishing Touches

• 📝 Generate docstrings (stacked PR)
• 📝 Generate docstrings (commit on current branch)

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests
• Post copyable unit tests in a comment
• Commit unit tests in branch cmux/cwd-regression

📝 Coding Plan

• Generate coding plan for human review comments

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[cubic-dev-ai]

No issues found across 6 files