Live Stream: Show compression recovery from session state

[franksong2702]

Thinking Path

#5538 shipped the first #4685 recovery path: compression-exhausted sessions recommend a focused continuation child session, and generic continue prompts are intercepted. That depends on users seeing the recovery card. The normal SSE path stores _compressionRecovery on the terminal assistant message, but rebuilt or legacy sessions can still expose the active recovery payload at session.compression_recovery without a message marker. In that state the send box can block generic continuation while the visible card/action is missing.

Touched contract family: Live-to-final / compression recovery state. Evidence used: #4685 shipped recovery payload semantics, compression_recovery session payload, and the render path in static/ui.js.

What Changed

• Keep message-level _compressionRecovery as the preferred source for the recovery card.
• When the active session still has compression_exhausted recovery state but the message marker is absent, render the existing recovery card on the last assistant terminal message.
• Gate that fallback to isLastAssistant && isTurnFinalAssistant so active session-level recovery does not add cards to historical assistant turns.
• Guard the helper lookup for partial renderMessages() harnesses that do not load the full UI module.
• Add a focused regression test for the session-level fallback.

Why It Matters

Without this fallback, a recovered/rebuilt compression-exhausted session can enter an inconsistent UX: the app knows recovery is required and intercepts generic continue, but the user does not get the visible "Start focused continuation" action. This keeps #4685's shipped first slice usable when session-level state survives but message-level display metadata is missing.

Release-note-ready wording: show the focused continuation recovery card when a compression-exhausted session only has session-level recovery metadata.

UI evidence: this does not introduce a new visual state; it reuses the existing compression recovery card and changes only when that existing card appears. The new regression guards the missing-card state.

Verification

• node --check static/ui.js
• ./scripts/test.sh tests/test_compression_recovery_action.py -q -> 16 passed
• ./scripts/test.sh tests/test_compression_recovery_action.py tests/test_auto_compression_terminal_failure.py -q -> 30 passed
• ./scripts/test.sh tests/test_anchor_fallback_ownership.py::test_render_messages_keeps_anchor_owned_turn_out_of_legacy_activity_rebuilds -q -> 1 passed

Risks / Follow-ups

• This PR intentionally does not add new recovery choices or change continuation-session creation. Track long-running context compression exhaustion and recovery UX #4685 remains open for richer recovery UX and policy work.
• The fallback is intentionally limited to the last assistant terminal message to avoid duplicate recovery cards on historical turns.

Model Used

AI-assisted. Provider: OpenAI. Model: GPT-5 Codex. Notable tool use: local shell, focused repo tests, GitHub CLI.

[cutter-sh]

🎬 Cutter preview — PR #5655

/chat — When context compression is exhausted, the assistant reply now surfaces a recovery card to start a focused continuation.

[greptile-apps]

Greptile Summary

This PR adds a session-level fallback for the compression recovery card: when the active session has compression_exhausted recovery state but the last assistant message lacks the _compressionRecovery marker, the fallback path calls _activeCompressionRecoveryPayload() to source the card payload from S.session.compression_recovery. A new structural test verifies the fallback code is present in ui.js.

• Fallback rendering path: Extends renderMessages() to check _activeCompressionRecoveryPayload() for the last assistant terminal message when m._compressionRecovery is absent, keeping the recovery card visible for rebuilt/legacy sessions.
• Guard clause added: Wraps the fallback in a typeof _activeCompressionRecoveryPayload==='function' check to protect partial renderMessages() test harnesses that do not load the full UI module.
• New regression test: Adds a static string-pattern assertion in test_compression_recovery_action.py confirming the fallback structure is present in the source.

Confidence Score: 4/5

Safe to merge for the primary intended use case (session has compression_recovery property but message marker is absent), but has a defect in the legacy message-scan fallback path that can produce duplicate recovery cards.

The new fallback delegates to _activeCompressionRecoveryPayload(), which has a secondary message-scan path for sessions where S.session has no compression_recovery property. In that path, if a non-last message already holds _compressionRecovery (rendered by the primary branch), the scan returns the same payload and the last assistant message renders a second recovery card. The PR explicitly guards against duplicate cards on historical turns, but the guard only prevents the fallback from applying to historical turns — it does not prevent a historical turn rendered via the primary path from producing a card alongside the fallback card on the last message.

static/ui.js — specifically the interaction between the new fallback at line 13817 and the message-scan branch inside _activeCompressionRecoveryPayload() (lines 447–453).

Important Files Changed

Filename	Overview
static/ui.js	Adds session-level recovery card fallback for last assistant turn; the fallback delegates to _activeCompressionRecoveryPayload() which has a secondary message-scan path that can produce duplicate cards in legacy sessions where a non-last message already holds _compressionRecovery.
tests/test_compression_recovery_action.py	Adds a static structural assertion test (string-matching on source code) verifying the fallback logic is present; does not exercise behavioral rendering or cover the message-scan duplicate-card scenario.

Flowchart

%%{init: {'theme': 'neutral'}}%%
flowchart TD
    A[renderMessages loop — assistant message] --> B{m._compressionRecovery?}
    B -- yes --> C[recoveryPayload = m._compressionRecovery]
    B -- no --> D{isLastAssistant AND isTurnFinalAssistant?}
    D -- no --> E[recoveryPayload = null]
    D -- yes --> F{typeof _activeCompressionRecoveryPayload === 'function'?}
    F -- no --> E
    F -- yes --> G[call _activeCompressionRecoveryPayload]
    G --> H{S.session.compression_recovery present?}
    H -- yes, exhausted --> I[return session-level payload ✅]
    H -- yes, cleared --> J[return null ✅]
    H -- property absent legacy session --> K[scan messages for _compressionRecovery]
    K --> L{non-last message has _compressionRecovery?}
    L -- yes --> M[return that payload ⚠️ duplicate card risk]
    L -- no --> E
    C --> N[_compressionRecoveryHtml rendered]
    I --> N
    M --> N
    E --> O[no recovery card]

Loading

%%{init: {'theme': 'base', 'themeVariables': {"darkMode": true, "background": "#0d1117", "primaryColor": "#21262d", "primaryTextColor": "#e6edf3", "primaryBorderColor": "#8b949e", "lineColor": "#8b949e", "textColor": "#e6edf3", "edgeLabelBackground": "#161b22", "actorBkg": "#21262d", "actorBorder": "#8b949e", "actorTextColor": "#e6edf3", "actorLineColor": "#8b949e", "signalColor": "#8b949e", "signalTextColor": "#e6edf3", "noteBkgColor": "#373320", "noteBorderColor": "#d4a72c", "noteTextColor": "#f0e6c0", "labelBoxBkgColor": "#21262d", "labelBoxBorderColor": "#8b949e", "labelTextColor": "#e6edf3", "loopTextColor": "#e6edf3", "activationBkgColor": "#30363d", "activationBorderColor": "#8b949e"}}}%%
flowchart TD
    A[renderMessages loop — assistant message] --> B{m._compressionRecovery?}
    B -- yes --> C[recoveryPayload = m._compressionRecovery]
    B -- no --> D{isLastAssistant AND isTurnFinalAssistant?}
    D -- no --> E[recoveryPayload = null]
    D -- yes --> F{typeof _activeCompressionRecoveryPayload === 'function'?}
    F -- no --> E
    F -- yes --> G[call _activeCompressionRecoveryPayload]
    G --> H{S.session.compression_recovery present?}
    H -- yes, exhausted --> I[return session-level payload ✅]
    H -- yes, cleared --> J[return null ✅]
    H -- property absent legacy session --> K[scan messages for _compressionRecovery]
    K --> L{non-last message has _compressionRecovery?}
    L -- yes --> M[return that payload ⚠️ duplicate card risk]
    L -- no --> E
    C --> N[_compressionRecoveryHtml rendered]
    I --> N
    M --> N
    E --> O[no recovery card]

Loading

_{Reviews (2): Last reviewed commit: "Render session recovery card from active..." | Re-trigger Greptile}

[greptile-apps]

The isTurnFinalAssistant gate in the fallback branch is always true whenever isLastAssistant is true, making the combined condition equivalent to isLastAssistant alone. isLastAssistant is defined as !isUser && vi === renderVisWithIdx.length-1; for the very last item, nextRendered is undefined, so !nextRendered is true and isTurnFinalAssistant resolves to true unconditionally. The &&isTurnFinalAssistant part provides no additional filtering and could mislead future readers into thinking it guards against a distinct scenario (turn-final but non-last messages).

Suggested change

	: (!isUser&&isLastAssistant&&isTurnFinalAssistant&&typeof _activeCompressionRecoveryPayload==='function' ? _activeCompressionRecoveryPayload() : null);
	: (!isUser&&isLastAssistant&&typeof _activeCompressionRecoveryPayload==='function' ? _activeCompressionRecoveryPayload() : null);

Note: If this suggestion doesn't match your team's coding style, reply to this and let me know. I'll remember it for next time!

[nesquena-hermes]

🔬 Gate certification — GREEN ✅ (full gate: Codex + Fable-UX + suite) · ⏸️ visible recovery card → Nathan sign-off

Certified head: sha:a1c1454a (clean rebase, branch gate-rebase/5655-recovery-from-session-state) · PR: #5655 · franksong2702 (T1), Live Stream: Show compression recovery from session state
Verdict: Full gate clean. A correct #4685/#5538 follow-up (#5538 merged) — the compression-recovery action card now re-appears on the last final-assistant message from live session state after a reload/reconnect, not only from the inline message data. Codex SAFE, Fable-UX SHIP-UX, full suite green.

What I ran (rebased worktree /tmp/wt-rebase-5655) — full gate: Codex + Fable + suite

Gate	Result
Rebase onto current master	✅ git apply clean (composes with merged #5538)
Codex (reproduce)	SAFE TO SHIP — 0 findings
Fable-UX	SHIP-UX — card re-appears after reload, no duplicate, correct placement
Full pytest suite	✅ 12176 passed, 0 failed
PR test	✅ 16/16

Findings

✅ Correct + composes with #5538: recoveryPayload = m._compressionRecovery (existing inline) OR — for the last final-assistant message (isLastAssistant && isTurnFinalAssistant) — falls back to _activeCompressionRecoveryPayload() (reads live recovery state). So after a reload/reconnect the recovery card re-surfaces from session state (the #4685 goal) instead of being lost. Codex confirmed: the OR short-circuit prevents a double-render when the inline _compressionRecovery also exists, the isLastAssistant && isTurnFinalAssistant guards prevent a card on a mid-transcript/non-final row, _activeCompressionRecoveryPayload() is null-safe, and — importantly — the button still targets recovery.source_session_id||sessionId (my #5538 lineage-isolation fix preserved, no wrong-session-recovery regression). Fable confirmed the card re-appears cleanly with no duplicate and consistent placement. Full suite green.

Recommendation to the next agent / Nathan

GREEN — merge from branch gate-rebase/5655-recovery-from-session-state (sha:a1c1454a), NOT the PR's stale head 77f54eeb — after a quick visual sign-off (visible recovery card). A clean follow-up to the merged #5538 recovery action — makes the recovery survive a reload by reading session state, no duplicate, preserves the source-session-id lineage fix. Codex SAFE + Fable SHIP-UX + full suite green. concept 4/5. Author @franksong2702 (T1). crit=3.

---

Gate-certifier layer (warm-up → gate → release). I do not merge/tag/deploy. Recovery card now re-surfaces from live session state on the last final-assistant message (OR short-circuit prevents double-render, isLastAssistant+isTurnFinalAssistant guards, null-safe, source_session_id preserved per #5538); Codex SAFE + Fable-UX SHIP-UX + full suite green (0 failed) + 16 tests. Composes with merged #5538. Visible → Nathan. Cert valid for sha:a1c1454a.

[franksong2702]

Base refresh applied for Frank's PR branch.

• Rebased franksong2702/4685-session-level-recovery-card onto current origin/master (9738ebb61).
• Pushed refreshed head 859d25b0 to fork-pr / Frank's PR branch.
• Carried the same two-file recovery-card diff from the certified gate branch (a1c1454a), now on the latest base.

Local verification:

• ./scripts/test.sh tests/test_compression_recovery_action.py -q -> 16 passed
• python3 scripts/ruff_lint.py --diff origin/master -> no new violations
• node --check static/ui.js -> passed

GitHub CI restarted on 859d25b0; browser-smoke, lint, and all test shards were green when read back. Greptile was still in progress at that readback.

[nesquena-hermes]

Shipped in v0.51.897 (deployed live). Thanks @franksong2702 — the recovery card now also renders from the active session-level recovery state on the final assistant message, so a rebuilt/restored compression-exhausted session still surfaces the 'Start focused continuation' action. Gate confirmed it's scoped to the last/turn-final assistant (no double-render) and a cleared recovery stays hidden. 🙏

[nesquena-hermes]

Shipped in v0.51.897 (merged via release branch; the code is in master + deployed live — verified the fallback render is in the served ui.js). Closing as shipped. Thanks again @franksong2702. 🙏