fix(client-runtime): queued runs that start after a steer show up in the thread

[juliusmarminge]

Fixes #16987.

A queued follow-up gets its run ordinal when it's queued. A steer or new turn sent after it gets a higher ordinal but starts first. On a thread with only part of its history loaded, the client keeps a high-water ordinal and drops any new item at or below it as "unloaded history". When the queued run finally started, its user message and reply fell under that mark and disappeared. The client's resume cursor had already moved past them, so reloading didn't bring them back.

Fix

• Keep queued runs' items. shouldDropMissingPartialTurnItem now keeps a missing item when its run is still queued in the client's projection. The orchestrator commits a queued run's user message before the run.updated that starts it, so the run is still queued when that first item arrives. A bounded snapshot carries every run, so a queued run is always known.
• Keep the rest of that run. It also keeps a missing item when the window already shows an earlier item of the same run. That covers the run's later items, and fix(client): late answers no longer vanish when only part of a thread is loaded #16437's case.
• What is still dropped: items with no run, and items of other runs below the mark.
• Discard caches that lost rows. Thread cache entries get their own schema version, bumped to 4. An old entry fails to decode and the thread loads a fresh bounded snapshot. Shell caches stay at 3, so the sidebar stays warm. Web and mobile both read the shared schema.

Web, desktop and mobile all go through the same reducer in client-runtime, so this covers every client and every provider.

This doesn't change ordering. The rows now appear and stay where they are after a reload, but they sit in queue order, above a steer that actually ran first. Fixing that means giving each run a timeline position when it starts, separate from its ordinal, and that's a separate change.

Tests

orchestrationV2Projection.test.ts, "partial timeline":

• The [Bug]: Queued messages that run after newer steers never appear in the thread #16987 case: the steered run 3 is in the window, then queued run 2 starts in server event order. Both of run 2's rows now appear; before the fix both were dropped.
• fix(client): late answers no longer vanish when only part of a thread is loaded #16437's cases: a late item of a run already in the window is kept; an item of a finished run outside the window is still dropped.

orchestrationCache.test.ts: a version-3 thread entry is rejected and a version-3 shell entry still decodes.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code (Opus 5.5)

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[macroscopeapp]

Approvability

Verdict: Approved at d3f7855

Macroscope's review found this PR approvable — This is a narrowly scoped client-runtime bug fix that preserves queued-run items only in partial timelines and invalidates stale thread caches while leaving shell caches intact. The new behavior is covered by focused reducer and cache tests, with no broader API, infrastructure, or configuration impact.

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[github-actions]

Thread transfer impact

✅ Thread transfer remains within every enforced ceiling.

Provider	Metric	Main baseline	This PR	Impact	PR ceiling
Codex	Total thread wire	5.0 KiB	4.9 KiB	−23 B (−0.5%)	6.8 KiB	✅
Codex	Thread snapshot wire	3.8 KiB	3.8 KiB	0 B (0.0%)	4.9 KiB	✅
Codex	Live turn WebSocket wire	1.2 KiB	1.2 KiB	−23 B (−1.9%)	2.0 KiB	✅
Codex	Live turn WebSocket decoded	20.9 KiB	20.8 KiB	−41 B (−0.2%)	29.3 KiB	✅
Codex	Live turn messages	2	1	−1 (−50.0%)	8	✅
Claude	Total thread wire	5.0 KiB	5.0 KiB	+24 B (+0.5%)	6.8 KiB	✅
Claude	Thread snapshot wire	3.8 KiB	3.8 KiB	0 B (0.0%)	4.9 KiB	✅
Claude	Live turn WebSocket wire	1.2 KiB	1.2 KiB	+24 B (+2.0%)	2.0 KiB	✅
Claude	Live turn WebSocket decoded	21.2 KiB	21.2 KiB	+41 B (+0.2%)	29.3 KiB	✅
Claude	Live turn messages	1	2	+1 (+100.0%)	8	✅

Baseline: bd2346e · PR result: d3f7855 · Source CI: success

Scenario and decoded snapshot size

10 historical turns, 5 command tools per turn, 878.9 KiB retained MCP result per historical turn, and a 1.05 MiB retained result in the measured turn.

• Codex decoded thread snapshot: 108.5 KiB
• Claude decoded thread snapshot: 108.8 KiB

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• packages/client-runtime/src/state/orchestrationV2Projection.test.ts
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🚧 Files skipped from review as they are similar to previous changes (2)

• packages/client-runtime/src/state/orchestrationV2Projection.ts
• packages/client-runtime/src/state/orchestrationV2Projection.test.ts

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📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

Thread snapshots now use a schema version separate from shell snapshots. Partial-timeline filtering now considers run status and visible ordinals when deciding which missing items to retain.

Changes

Thread cache versioning

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Thread cache schema and persistence packages/client-runtime/src/platform/orchestrationCache.ts, apps/mobile/src/connection/environment-cache-store.ts, apps/web/src/connection/storage.ts, packages/client-runtime/src/platform/orchestrationCache.test.ts, apps/mobile/src/connection/environment-cache-store.test.ts	Thread snapshots use schema version 4 in the stored snapshot schema and mobile and web persistence. Tests verify that version 3 thread snapshots are rejected while shell snapshots still decode with version 3.

Partial timeline projection

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Partial-timeline item filtering packages/client-runtime/src/state/orchestrationV2Projection.ts, packages/client-runtime/src/state/orchestrationV2Projection.test.ts	The projection retains items from unfinished runs and applies local visible-item ordinal checks to run-associated items. Tests cover queued and running runs, ordinal insertion, and items from finished runs outside the loaded window.

Priority: ⬆️ High

Estimated code review effort: 3 (Moderate) | ~20 minutes

Change: Bug fix · Severity of issue fixed: Medium

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Merge Risk: ⚪ Minimal · up to d3f78

This change restores queued messages and replies that were missing on partially loaded threads, and it forces older cached thread data to reload. No actionable merge-blocking risk is evident.

Pre-merge checks | 4

✅ Passed checks (4 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Title check		The title clearly identifies the client-runtime fix for queued runs that become visible after a steer. It is concise and specific to the primary change.
Description check		The description explains the problem, fix, affected clients, cache-version change, limitations, linked issue, and focused verification. It does not use the exact "Change" and "Scope and approval" head…
Linked Issues check		The PR meets the coding requirements in [#16987]. shouldDropMissingPartialTurnItem keeps items for runs in unfinished statuses, including queued, and keeps later items when an earlier item from th…
Out of Scope Changes check		The projection change, cache-version split, web and mobile cache updates, and tests directly support [#16987]. The PR preserves ordinal ordering and does not implement the separate timeline-position c…

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Actionable comments posted: 1

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Inline comments:
Review comments at
@packages/client-runtime/src/state/orchestrationV2Projection.ts:
- Around line 103-104: Update the active-run check in the item-retention logic
so it preserves missing items for any non-terminal run status, not just queued
runs. Use the run status definition available to this logic to distinguish
active from terminal states, while keeping the existing behavior for terminal
runs.

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• packages/client-runtime/src/platform/orchestrationCache.ts
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