Needs you: a waiting chat's row shows its question, not its last reply

webviews/src/agent-session/acpmux/needsYou/NeedsYou.gallery.ts

@@ -98,7 +98,9 @@ const sessions = [
     host: "build-box",
     hostKind: "cloud",
     indicator: "input",
-    preview: "Which tag should the notes start from?",
+    // Its ask lives on the build box: the row says the question its summary names, never this reply.
+    preview: "Drafted the notes from the merged pull requests.",
+    waitingOn: { on: "question", prompt: "Which tag should the notes start from?" },
     updatedAt: ago(32),
   }),
 ];

webviews/src/agent-session/acpmux/needsYou/model.ts

@@ -105,15 +105,20 @@ export function needsYouItems(input: NeedsYouInput): NeedsYouItem[] {
     }
   }
   // A chat that waits on the person with no ask read here (a chat on another computer, or one
-  // whose ask is still being read): one item, so it is never missing from the list.
+  // whose ask is still being read): one item, so it is never missing from the list. Its summary
+  // still names what it waits on (acpmux `waitingOn`, with a question's first prompt): the row
+  // says that question; only a chat that names no question falls back to its last reply.
   for (const session of input.sessions) {
     if (asked.has(session.sessionId) || session.archived) continue;
     if (session.indicator !== "input" && !(session.pendingPermissions && session.pendingPermissions > 0)) continue;
+    const waiting = session.waitingOn;
+    const prompt = waiting?.on === "question" ? waiting.prompt : undefined;
+    const ask = prompt ?? session.preview ?? "";
     items.push({
       id: `chat:${session.sessionId}`,
-      kind: "input",
+      kind: !waiting ? "input" : waiting.on === "permission" ? "approval" : VERIFY.test(ask) ? "verify" : "decision",
       sessionId: session.sessionId,
-      ask: session.preview ?? "",
+      ask,
       who: who(session, session.sessionId, byId),
       ...(session.updatedAt ? { at: session.updatedAt } : {}),
       answers: [],

webviews/test/agent-pane-needs-you.test.tsx

@@ -128,6 +128,53 @@ test("a chat waiting with no readable ask still shows, once; an archived chat ne
   expect(items[1]!.ask).toBe("Pick a branch");
 });
 
+// Leo 2026-10-21: a row read "Waiting 5m" over the chat's last reply while a question waited. A chat
+// whose ask the page cannot read (another computer's) still names it in its summary (acpmux
+// `waitingOn`, `waitingPrompt`): the row shows that question; only a chat that names nothing falls
+// back to its last reply.
+test("a waiting chat's row shows the question it waits on, not its last reply", () => {
+  const items = needsYouItems({
+    sessions: [
+      session("question", {
+        indicator: "input",
+        updatedAt: 5,
+        preview: "I moved the retry helper into fetch.ts.",
+        waitingOn: { on: "question", prompt: "Which branch should the docs target?" },
+      }),
+      session("permission", {
+        indicator: "input",
+        updatedAt: 4,
+        preview: "The tests pass; pushing next.",
+        waitingOn: { on: "permission" },
+      }),
+      session("unnamed", {
+        indicator: "input",
+        updatedAt: 3,
+        preview: "Which tag should the notes start from?",
+        waitingOn: { on: "question" },
+      }),
+      session("plain", { indicator: "input", updatedAt: 2, preview: "Pick a branch" }),
+    ],
+    asks: [],
+  });
+  expect(items.map((item) => [item.id, item.kind, item.ask])).toEqual([
+    ["chat:question", "decision", "Which branch should the docs target?"],
+    ["chat:permission", "approval", "The tests pass; pushing next."],
+    ["chat:unnamed", "decision", "Which tag should the notes start from?"],
+    ["chat:plain", "input", "Pick a branch"],
+  ]);
+  expect(items.every((item) => item.answers.length === 0)).toBe(true);
+  const html = renderToStaticMarkup(
+    <NeedsYouPanel
+      items={items.slice(0, 1)}
+      actions={{ answer: async () => undefined, goTo: () => undefined, ask: async () => "" }}
+    />,
+  );
+  expect(html).toContain("Which branch should the docs target?");
+  expect(html).not.toContain("I moved the retry helper");
+  expect(html).toContain(translate("needsYou.kind.decision"));
+});
+
 test("the open chat's held agent pair messages are one item with Resume; a resumed pair is not", () => {
   const pair = (peer: string, resumed: boolean) =>
     ({