fix: harden session sidebar title recovery

server/coding-cli/session-indexer.ts

@@ -6,10 +6,11 @@ import chokidar from 'chokidar'
 import { logger } from '../logger.js'
 import { getPerfConfig, startPerfTimer } from '../perf-logger.js'
 import { configStore, SessionOverride } from '../config-store.js'
+import { extractTitleFromMessage } from '../title-utils.js'
 import type { CodingCliProvider } from './provider.js'
 import { makeSessionKey, type CodingCliSession, type CodingCliProviderName, type ProjectGroup } from './types.js'
 import { sanitizeCodexTaskEventsForTruncatedSnippet } from './providers/codex.js'
-import { resolveGitCheckoutRoot, resolveGitRepoRoot } from './utils.js'
+import { extractFromIdeContext, isSystemContext, resolveGitCheckoutRoot, resolveGitRepoRoot } from './utils.js'
 import { diffProjects } from '../sessions-sync/diff.js'
 import type { SessionMetadataStore, SessionMetadataEntry } from '../session-metadata-store.js'
 
@@ -47,6 +48,19 @@ function maxDefined(a: number | undefined, b: number | undefined): number | unde
   return Math.max(a, b)
 }
 
+function normalizeTitle(title: string | undefined): string | undefined {
+  const trimmed = title?.trim()
+  return trimmed ? trimmed : undefined
+}
+
+function resolveSessionTitle(
+  parsedTitle: string | undefined,
+  previousTitle: string | undefined,
+  storedTitle: string | undefined,
+): string | undefined {
+  return normalizeTitle(parsedTitle) || normalizeTitle(previousTitle) || normalizeTitle(storedTitle)
+}
+
 // Byte pattern for a text user message (content is a string, not a tool_result array).
 const USER_TEXT_PATTERN = Buffer.from('"role":"user","content":"')
 
@@ -247,15 +261,35 @@ async function readLightweightMeta(filePath: string): Promise<LightweightFileMet
           if (Number.isFinite(parsed)) createdAt = parsed
         }
         if (!title) {
-          const isUser = obj?.role === 'user' || obj?.type === 'user' || obj?.message?.role === 'user'
+          const nestedMessagePayload =
+            obj?.type === 'response_item' && obj?.payload?.type === 'message'
+              ? obj.payload
+              : undefined
+          const rawContent =
+            nestedMessagePayload?.content ??
+            obj?.message?.content ??
+            obj?.content
+          const isUser =
+            nestedMessagePayload?.role === 'user' ||
+            obj?.role === 'user' ||
+            obj?.type === 'user' ||
+            obj?.message?.role === 'user'
           if (isUser) {
-            const content = obj?.message?.content || obj?.content
-            const text = typeof content === 'string'
-              ? content
-              : Array.isArray(content)
-                ? content.filter((b: any) => typeof b?.text === 'string').map((b: any) => b.text).join(' ')
+            const rawText = typeof rawContent === 'string'
+              ? rawContent
+              : Array.isArray(rawContent)
+                ? rawContent
+                    .filter((part: any) => typeof part?.text === 'string')
+                    .map((part: any) => part.text)
+                    .join('\n')
                 : undefined
-            if (typeof text === 'string' && text.trim()) title = text.trim().slice(0, 200)
+
+            const ideRequest = rawText ? extractFromIdeContext(rawText) : undefined
+            const candidate = ideRequest
+              || (!isSystemContext(rawText ?? '') ? rawText?.replace(/<\/?image[^>]*>/g, '').trim() : '')
+            if (candidate) {
+              title = extractTitleFromMessage(candidate, 200)
+            }
           }
         }
         if (sessionId && cwd && title && createdAt) break
@@ -718,7 +752,12 @@ export class CodingCliSessionIndexer {
     }
   }
 
-  private async updateCacheEntry(provider: CodingCliProvider, filePath: string, cacheKey: string) {
+  private async updateCacheEntry(
+    provider: CodingCliProvider,
+    filePath: string,
+    cacheKey: string,
+    sessionMetadata: Record<string, SessionMetadataEntry>,
+  ) {
     let stat: Stats
     try {
       stat = await fsp.stat(filePath)
@@ -772,6 +811,10 @@ export class CodingCliSessionIndexer {
     const sessionId = meta.sessionId || provider.extractSessionId(filePath, meta)
     const previous = cached?.lightweight ? undefined : cached?.baseSession
     const sameSession = previous?.provider === provider.name && previous?.sessionId === sessionId
+    const metaKey = makeSessionKey(provider.name, sessionId)
+    const storedTitle = normalizeTitle(sessionMetadata[metaKey]?.derivedTitle)
+    const parsedTitle = normalizeTitle(meta.title)
+    const resolvedTitle = resolveSessionTitle(parsedTitle, sameSession ? previous?.title : undefined, storedTitle)
     const appendOnlyReparse = sameSession && size >= (cached?.size ?? 0)
     const createdAt = appendOnlyReparse
       ? minDefined(previous?.createdAt, meta.createdAt)
@@ -793,7 +836,7 @@ export class CodingCliSessionIndexer {
       lastActivityAt,
       createdAt,
       messageCount: meta.messageCount,
-      title: meta.title,
+      title: resolvedTitle,
       summary: meta.summary,
       ...(meta.firstUserMessage ? { firstUserMessage: meta.firstUserMessage } : {}),
       cwd: meta.cwd,
@@ -806,6 +849,10 @@ export class CodingCliSessionIndexer {
       codexTaskEvents: meta.codexTaskEvents,
     }
 
+    if (this.sessionMetadataStore && parsedTitle && parsedTitle !== storedTitle) {
+      await this.sessionMetadataStore.set(provider.name, sessionId, { derivedTitle: parsedTitle })
+    }
+
     this.fileCache.set(cacheKey, {
       provider: provider.name,
       mtimeMs,
@@ -1035,14 +1082,17 @@ export class CodingCliSessionIndexer {
       if (existing && existing.baseSession) continue
 
       const sessionId = meta.sessionId || provider.extractSessionId(meta.filePath)
+      const metaKey = makeSessionKey(provider.name, sessionId)
+      const storedTitle = normalizeTitle(sessionMetadata[metaKey]?.derivedTitle)
+      const resolvedTitle = resolveSessionTitle(meta.title, existing?.baseSession?.title, storedTitle)
       const projectPath = meta.cwd ? await resolveGitRepoRoot(meta.cwd) : meta.cwd
       const baseSession: CodingCliSession = {
         provider: provider.name,
         sessionId,
         projectPath,
         lastActivityAt: meta.lastActivityAt || meta.mtimeMs,
         createdAt: meta.createdAt,
-        title: meta.title,
+        title: resolvedTitle,
         cwd: meta.cwd,
         sourceFile: meta.filePath,
         isSubagent: isSubagentSession(meta.filePath) || undefined,
@@ -1081,6 +1131,7 @@ export class CodingCliSessionIndexer {
     filesByProvider: Map<CodingCliProvider, string[]>,
     enabledSet: Set<string>,
     seenCacheKeys: Set<string>,
+    sessionMetadata: Record<string, SessionMetadataEntry>,
   ): Promise<void> {
     // Collect all file-based entries for enrichment. Files the lightweight scan couldn't
     // parse (e.g. Codex with 14KB first lines) use file mtime as the recency estimate.
@@ -1128,7 +1179,7 @@ export class CodingCliSessionIndexer {
       if (INDEXER_DELAY_MS > 0) {
         await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, INDEXER_DELAY_MS))
       }
-      await this.updateCacheEntry(provider, filePath, cacheKey)
+      await this.updateCacheEntry(provider, filePath, cacheKey, sessionMetadata)
       enriched += 1
       if (enriched % REFRESH_YIELD_EVERY === 0) {
         await yieldToEventLoop()
@@ -1202,13 +1253,13 @@ export class CodingCliSessionIndexer {
         })
         fileCount += files.length
 
-        if (isColdStart) {
-          // Selective enrichment: only the most recent non-subagent sessions.
-          await this.enrichRecentSessions(
-            new Map([[provider, files]]), enabledSet, seenCacheKeys,
-          )
-          for (const f of files) seenCacheKeys.add(normalizeFilePath(f))
-        } else {
+      if (isColdStart) {
+        // Selective enrichment: only the most recent non-subagent sessions.
+        await this.enrichRecentSessions(
+          new Map([[provider, files]]), enabledSet, seenCacheKeys, sessionMetadata,
+        )
+        for (const f of files) seenCacheKeys.add(normalizeFilePath(f))
+      } else {
           // Warm rescan: process all files (cache hits skip unchanged files).
           for (const file of files) {
             processedEntries += 1
@@ -1217,7 +1268,7 @@ export class CodingCliSessionIndexer {
             }
             const cacheKey = normalizeFilePath(file)
             seenCacheKeys.add(cacheKey)
-            await this.updateCacheEntry(provider, file, cacheKey)
+            await this.updateCacheEntry(provider, file, cacheKey, sessionMetadata)
           }
         }
       }
@@ -1274,7 +1325,7 @@ export class CodingCliSessionIndexer {
           this.deleteCacheEntry(file)
           continue
         }
-        await this.updateCacheEntry(provider, file, file)
+        await this.updateCacheEntry(provider, file, file, sessionMetadata)
       }
     }
 

server/session-metadata-store.ts

@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import { logger } from './logger.js'
 
 export interface SessionMetadataEntry {
   sessionType?: string
+  derivedTitle?: string
 }
 
 interface MetadataFile {
@@ -126,7 +127,10 @@ export class SessionMetadataStore {
       if (!sessions[provider]) {
         sessions[provider] = safeRecord()
       }
-      sessions[provider][sessionId] = { ...entry }
+      sessions[provider][sessionId] = {
+        ...(sessions[provider][sessionId] ?? {}),
+        ...entry,
+      }
       await this.save({ version: 1, sessions })
     })
   }

src/store/selectors/sidebarSelectors.ts

@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@ export function buildSessionItems(
   worktreeGrouping: WorktreeGrouping = 'repo',
 ): SidebarSessionItem[] {
   const items: SidebarSessionItem[] = []
+  const itemsByKey = new Map<string, SidebarSessionItem>()
   const runningSessionMap = new Map<string, { terminalId: string; createdAt: number; allTerminalIds: string[] }>()
   const tabSessionMap = new Map<string, { hasTab: boolean }>()
 
@@ -108,7 +109,7 @@ export function buildSessionItems(
       const effectivePath = worktreeGrouping === 'worktree'
         ? (session.checkoutPath || project.projectPath)
         : project.projectPath
-      items.push({
+      const item: SidebarSessionItem = {
         id: `session-${provider}-${session.sessionId}`,
         sessionId: session.sessionId,
         provider,
@@ -129,11 +130,13 @@ export function buildSessionItems(
         isSubagent: session.isSubagent,
         isNonInteractive: session.isNonInteractive,
         firstUserMessage: session.firstUserMessage,
-      })
+        isFallback: undefined,
+      }
+      items.push(item)
+      itemsByKey.set(key, item)
     }
   }
 
-  const knownKeys = new Set(items.map((item) => `${item.provider}:${item.sessionId}`))
   const paneTitles = panes?.paneTitles ?? {}
 
   const pushFallbackItem = (input: {
@@ -146,14 +149,39 @@ export function buildSessionItems(
     metadata?: SessionListMetadata
   }) => {
     const key = `${input.provider}:${input.sessionId}`
-    if (knownKeys.has(key)) return
-    knownKeys.add(key)
+    const existing = itemsByKey.get(key)
+    if (existing) {
+      existing.hasTab = true
+      existing.timestamp = Math.max(existing.timestamp, input.timestamp ?? 0)
+      const fallbackTitle = input.title?.trim()
+      if (!existing.hasTitle && fallbackTitle) {
+        existing.title = fallbackTitle
+        existing.hasTitle = true
+      }
+      const fallbackSessionType = input.metadata?.sessionType || input.sessionType
+      if (fallbackSessionType && (!existing.sessionType || existing.sessionType === existing.provider)) {
+        existing.sessionType = fallbackSessionType
+      }
+      if (!existing.cwd && input.cwd) {
+        existing.cwd = input.cwd
+      }
+      if (!existing.firstUserMessage && input.metadata?.firstUserMessage) {
+        existing.firstUserMessage = input.metadata.firstUserMessage
+      }
+      if (existing.isSubagent === undefined && input.metadata?.isSubagent !== undefined) {
+        existing.isSubagent = input.metadata.isSubagent
+      }
+      if (existing.isNonInteractive === undefined && input.metadata?.isNonInteractive !== undefined) {
+        existing.isNonInteractive = input.metadata.isNonInteractive
+      }
+      return
+    }
 
     const fallbackTitle = input.title?.trim() || input.sessionId.slice(0, 8)
     const runningTerminal = runningSessionMap.get(key)
     const runningTerminalId = runningTerminal?.terminalId
     const runningTerminalIds = runningTerminal?.allTerminalIds
-    items.push({
+    const item: SidebarSessionItem = {
       id: `session-${input.provider}-${input.sessionId}`,
       sessionId: input.sessionId,
       provider: input.provider,
@@ -173,7 +201,9 @@ export function buildSessionItems(
       isNonInteractive: input.metadata?.isNonInteractive,
       firstUserMessage: input.metadata?.firstUserMessage,
       isFallback: true,
-    })
+    }
+    items.push(item)
+    itemsByKey.set(key, item)
   }
 
   const collectFallbackItemsFromNode = (
@@ -323,7 +353,7 @@ export function filterSessionItemsByVisibility(
     if (!settings.showSubagents && item.isSubagent) return false
     if (settings.ignoreCodexSubagents && item.isSubagent && item.provider === 'codex') return false
     if (shouldHideAsNonInteractive(item, settings.showNoninteractiveSessions)) return false
-    if (settings.hideEmptySessions && !item.hasTitle) return false
+    if (settings.hideEmptySessions && !item.hasTitle && !item.hasTab && !item.isRunning) return false
     if (isExcludedByFirstUserMessage(item.firstUserMessage, exclusions, settings.excludeFirstChatMustStart)) return false
     return true
   })

test/e2e/open-tab-session-sidebar-visibility.test.tsx

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest'
-import { act, cleanup, fireEvent, render, screen, waitFor } from '@testing-library/react'
+import { act, cleanup, fireEvent, render, screen, waitFor, within } from '@testing-library/react'
 import { Provider } from 'react-redux'
 import { configureStore } from '@reduxjs/toolkit'
 import App from '@/App'
@@ -1150,4 +1150,78 @@ describe('open tab session sidebar visibility (e2e)', () => {
       expect(screen.getAllByText('137 tour').length).toBeGreaterThan(0)
     })
   })
+
+  it('keeps an open Codex session visible when the indexed sidebar row is titleless', async () => {
+    const sessionId = 'codex-current'
+    fetchSidebarSessionsSnapshot.mockResolvedValue({
+      projects: [
+        {
+          projectPath: '/repo',
+          sessions: [
+            {
+              provider: 'codex',
+              sessionId,
+              projectPath: '/repo',
+              lastActivityAt: 40,
+              title: undefined,
+              cwd: '/repo',
+            },
+          ],
+        },
+      ],
+      totalSessions: 1,
+      oldestIncludedTimestamp: 40,
+      oldestIncludedSessionId: `codex:${sessionId}`,
+      hasMore: false,
+    })
+
+    const store = createStore({
+      tabs: [{
+        id: 'tab-1',
+        title: 'Investigate sidebar visibility',
+        mode: 'codex',
+        resumeSessionId: sessionId,
+        createdAt: Date.now(),
+      }],
+      panes: {
+        layouts: {
+          'tab-1': {
+            type: 'leaf',
+            id: 'pane-1',
+            content: {
+              kind: 'terminal',
+              mode: 'codex',
+              createRequestId: 'req-1',
+              status: 'running',
+              resumeSessionId: sessionId,
+              initialCwd: '/repo',
+            },
+          },
+        },
+        activePane: { 'tab-1': 'pane-1' },
+        paneTitles: { 'tab-1': { 'pane-1': 'Investigate sidebar visibility' } },
+      },
+    })
+
+    render(
+      <Provider store={store}>
+        <App />
+      </Provider>,
+    )
+
+    const sidebarList = await screen.findByTestId('sidebar-session-list')
+
+    await waitFor(() => {
+      expect(within(sidebarList).getAllByText('Investigate sidebar visibility').length).toBeGreaterThan(0)
+    })
+
+    act(() => {
+      broadcastWs({ type: 'sessions.changed', revision: 1 })
+    })
+
+    await waitFor(() => {
+      expect(fetchSidebarSessionsSnapshot).toHaveBeenCalled()
+      expect(within(sidebarList).getAllByText('Investigate sidebar visibility').length).toBeGreaterThan(0)
+    })
+  })
 })