feat(desktop): HUD mode window and its session handoff

A transparent, frameless, always-on-top window that renders the real chat
surface, so its composer is the app's composer rather than a lookalike that
drifts. Main owns the window, its remembered geometry, and click-through.

Leaving is a handoff, not a window close. The gateway binds a session's event
stream to exactly one socket, so a turn started in the HUD streams only there
and the app window hears nothing — no deltas, no turn-complete, no draft clear,
and nothing to poll for mid-turn. So the app re-resumes the session the HUD
ended on, which rebinds the transport, reconciles the transcript, and picks up
an in-flight turn. Main carries the session id across, since it is the only
party that outlives the HUD's renderer.
This commit is contained in:
Brooklyn Nicholson 2026-08-08 01:38:57 -05:00
parent 8560dc6b97
commit 7b0dbd2242
7 changed files with 546 additions and 3 deletions

View File

@ -9034,6 +9034,273 @@ function closePetOverlay() {
petOverlayWindow = null
}
// ── HUD mode ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
//
// The chrome-free floating chat: a transparent, frameless, always-on-top
// window showing only the composer and its scrollback, so Hermes can be driven
// while the user works in another app.
//
// Unlike the pet overlay / quick entry, this is a FULL app renderer with its
// own gateway — the same thing createInstanceWindow() spawns, reshaped. That
// is deliberate: the HUD renders the real chat surface, so its composer is the
// app's composer (slash commands, attachments, queue, voice) instead of a
// lookalike that drifts. Entering HUD mode hides the main window; leaving
// restores it.
let hudWindow = null
// Whether the main window was visible when HUD mode was entered, so exiting
// puts the desktop back as it was rather than raising a window the user had
// already minimized.
let hudRestoreMainWindow = false
// The session the HUD is currently on, reported by its renderer whenever the
// selection changes. Leaving HUD mode is a HANDOFF, not just a window close:
// the gateway binds a session's event stream to exactly one socket, so the
// turn the HUD started is streaming to the HUD's socket and the app window
// hears nothing. The app has to re-resume that session to take the stream
// back, and it can only do that if it knows which session to ask for — the
// HUD may have switched sessions, or started a new one the app has never
// seen. Main is the only party that outlives the HUD's renderer, so it holds
// the id and hands it over in the close broadcast.
let hudSessionId = null
// A wide, short bar parked near the bottom of the active display — the shape
// of a game chat frame, and where one belongs. Defaults only: once the user
// moves or resizes the HUD, hud-state.json wins (same pattern as the main
// window's window-state.json).
const HUD_WIDTH = 620
const HUD_HEIGHT = 320
const HUD_BOTTOM_MARGIN = 72
const HUD_STATE_PATH = path.join(app.getPath('userData'), 'hud-state.json')
function readHudState() {
try {
const raw = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(HUD_STATE_PATH, 'utf8'))
if (
[raw?.x, raw?.y, raw?.width, raw?.height].every(v => Number.isFinite(v)) &&
raw.width >= 380 &&
raw.height >= 160
) {
return raw
}
} catch {
// First run / unreadable — fall through to defaults.
}
return null
}
function persistHudState() {
if (!hudWindow || hudWindow.isDestroyed()) {
return
}
try {
const { x, y, width, height } = hudWindow.getNormalBounds()
fs.mkdirSync(path.dirname(HUD_STATE_PATH), { recursive: true })
writeFileAtomic(HUD_STATE_PATH, JSON.stringify({ x, y, width, height }, null, 2))
} catch (err) {
rememberLog(`[hud-state] persist failed: ${err?.message || err}`)
}
}
const schedulePersistHudState = debounce(persistHudState, 250)
function hudBounds() {
// Remembered spot first — validated against the LIVE displays so a HUD
// parked on an unplugged monitor comes back on-screen instead of lost.
const saved = readHudState()
if (saved) {
const onScreen = screen.getAllDisplays().some(d => {
const a = d.workArea
return (
saved.x < a.x + a.width - 40 &&
saved.x + saved.width > a.x + 40 &&
saved.y < a.y + a.height - 40 &&
saved.y + saved.height > a.y + 40
)
})
if (onScreen) {
return saved
}
}
const display = screen.getDisplayNearestPoint(screen.getCursorScreenPoint())
const area = display?.workArea
if (!area) {
return { width: HUD_WIDTH, height: HUD_HEIGHT, x: undefined, y: undefined }
}
const width = Math.min(HUD_WIDTH, area.width)
const height = Math.min(HUD_HEIGHT, area.height)
return {
width,
height,
x: Math.round(area.x + (area.width - width) / 2),
y: Math.round(Math.max(area.y, area.y + area.height - height - HUD_BOTTOM_MARGIN))
}
}
function hudUrl(sessionId) {
const query = '?win=hud'
const route = sessionId ? `#/${encodeURIComponent(sessionId)}` : '#/'
if (DEV_SERVER) {
return `${DEV_SERVER.endsWith('/') ? DEV_SERVER.slice(0, -1) : DEV_SERVER}/${query}${route}`
}
return `${pathToFileURL(resolveRendererIndex()).toString()}${query}${route}`
}
// Tell every window whether the HUD is up, so a toggle in any of them reads
// the truth even when the HUD is closed from its own side (⌘W / its exit row).
// Carries the HUD's session so the app window can re-home onto it on the way
// out (see hudSessionId).
function broadcastHudState(open) {
const payload = { open, sessionId: hudSessionId }
for (const win of BrowserWindow.getAllWindows()) {
if (!win.isDestroyed()) {
win.webContents.send('hermes:hud:changed', payload)
}
}
}
function spawnHudWindow(sessionId) {
const win = new BrowserWindow({
...hudBounds(),
minWidth: 380,
minHeight: 160,
frame: false,
transparent: true,
resizable: true,
movable: true,
minimizable: false,
maximizable: false,
fullscreenable: false,
// Same rationale as the pet overlay: on Windows/Linux keep the helper out
// of the taskbar/alt-tab list; on macOS use an NSPanel so the frameless
// window never becomes the app's cmd-tab anchor.
skipTaskbar: !IS_MAC,
hasShadow: false,
alwaysOnTop: true,
type: IS_MAC ? 'panel' : undefined,
// Clips the window to a rounded silhouette rather than a hard rectangle.
roundedCorners: true,
hiddenInMissionControl: IS_MAC,
show: false,
backgroundColor: '#00000000',
// The full chat webPreferences — this window streams a real transcript, so
// it needs everything a chat window needs (preload bridge, autoplay for
// voice, the shared throttling contract).
webPreferences: chatWindowWebPreferences(PRELOAD_PATH)
})
win.setAlwaysOnTop(true, IS_MAC ? 'floating' : 'screen-saver')
win.setHiddenInMissionControl?.(true)
try {
win.setVisibleOnAllWorkspaces(
true,
IS_MAC ? { visibleOnFullScreen: true, skipTransformProcessType: true } : undefined
)
} catch {
// Not supported everywhere — best effort.
}
// Streaming into a window that is ALWAYS blurred (the user is in another
// app) is the entire feature, so it gets the same stream-aware unthrottling
// every chat window does.
streamThrottle.register(win)
wireCommonWindowHandlers(win, zoomWiringForWindowKind('chat'))
// Remember where the user parks and sizes it (debounced — these fire many
// times mid-drag).
win.on('moved', schedulePersistHudState)
win.on('resized', schedulePersistHudState)
win.once('ready-to-show', () => {
if (win.isDestroyed()) {
return
}
win.show()
win.focus()
// Step the app aside: the HUD IS the surface now.
if (hudRestoreMainWindow && mainWindow && !mainWindow.isDestroyed()) {
mainWindow.hide()
}
})
win.on('closed', () => {
if (hudWindow === win) {
hudWindow = null
}
// Closed from its own side (⌘W) — put the app back so the user is never
// left with no surface, and correct every window's toggle.
restoreMainWindowFromHud()
broadcastHudState(false)
})
loadWindowUrl(win, hudUrl(sessionId), 'HUD')
return win
}
// Put the app window back the way HUD mode found it.
function restoreMainWindowFromHud() {
if (!hudRestoreMainWindow) {
return
}
hudRestoreMainWindow = false
if (mainWindow && !mainWindow.isDestroyed()) {
mainWindow.show()
}
}
function openHudWindow(sessionId) {
if (hudWindow && !hudWindow.isDestroyed()) {
focusWindow(hudWindow)
return hudWindow
}
hudRestoreMainWindow = Boolean(mainWindow && !mainWindow.isDestroyed() && mainWindow.isVisible())
hudSessionId = sessionId || null
hudWindow = spawnHudWindow(sessionId)
broadcastHudState(true)
return hudWindow
}
function closeHudWindow() {
const win = hudWindow
hudWindow = null
if (win && !win.isDestroyed()) {
// Null'd first so the 'closed' handler doesn't broadcast a second time.
win.removeAllListeners('closed')
win.close()
}
restoreMainWindowFromHud()
broadcastHudState(false)
if (mainWindow && !mainWindow.isDestroyed()) {
focusWindow(mainWindow)
}
}
// ── Quick Entry ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
//
// A global shortcut summons a small frameless always-on-top composer from
@ -9702,6 +9969,37 @@ ipcMain.on('hermes:pet-overlay:control', (_event, payload) => {
mainWindow.webContents.send('hermes:pet-overlay:control', payload)
})
// --- HUD mode (chrome-free floating chat) -----------------------------------
ipcMain.handle('hermes:hud:open', async (_event, request) => {
openHudWindow(typeof request?.sessionId === 'string' ? request.sessionId : null)
return { ok: true }
})
// Let clicks fall through the HUD wherever it isn't really there. An
// always-on-top window eats every click inside its rectangle, and most of that
// rectangle is a faded-out band over whatever the user is actually working in.
// `forward` keeps mousemove flowing so the renderer can re-arm when the cursor
// reaches the bar.
ipcMain.on('hermes:hud:ignore-mouse', (_event, ignore) => {
if (hudWindow && !hudWindow.isDestroyed()) {
hudWindow.setIgnoreMouseEvents(Boolean(ignore), { forward: true })
}
})
// The HUD renderer reporting which session it is on, so the close broadcast
// can hand it back to the app window (see hudSessionId).
ipcMain.on('hermes:hud:session', (event, sessionId) => {
if (hudWindow && !hudWindow.isDestroyed() && event.sender === hudWindow.webContents) {
hudSessionId = typeof sessionId === 'string' && sessionId ? sessionId : null
}
})
ipcMain.handle('hermes:hud:close', async () => {
closeHudWindow()
return { ok: true }
})
ipcMain.handle('hermes:bootstrap:reset', async () => {
// Renderer's "Reload and retry" path. Clear the latched failure and
// reset connection state so the next startHermes() call restarts the
@ -11994,6 +12292,17 @@ app.on('before-quit', event => {
closePetOverlay()
wakeIndicatorController.close()
// Same for the HUD — an always-on-top panel outliving the app would leave a
// floating composer with nothing behind it. Close it directly rather than via
// closeHudWindow(): that also re-shows the main window, which is wrong on the
// way out (and `hudRestoreMainWindow` may still be armed from entering HUD).
if (hudWindow && !hudWindow.isDestroyed()) {
hudWindow.removeAllListeners('closed')
hudWindow.destroy()
}
hudWindow = null
// Same for the Quick Entry composer — and release its global accelerator so a
// quitting Hermes never keeps another app's chord hostage.
closeQuickEntryWindow()

View File

@ -46,6 +46,23 @@ contextBridge.exposeInMainWorld('hermesDesktop', {
return () => ipcRenderer.removeListener('hermes:pet-overlay:control', listener)
}
},
// HUD mode: the chrome-free floating chat. A full app renderer (own gateway)
// sized as a floating bar, so it mounts the real composer. Main owns the
// window; `onChanged` keeps every window's toggle truthful.
hud: {
open: request => ipcRenderer.invoke('hermes:hud:open', request),
close: () => ipcRenderer.invoke('hermes:hud:close'),
setIgnoreMouse: ignore => ipcRenderer.send('hermes:hud:ignore-mouse', ignore),
// The HUD tells main which session it is on; main hands that back to the
// app window when the HUD closes, so the app can re-home onto it.
setSession: sessionId => ipcRenderer.send('hermes:hud:session', sessionId),
onChanged: callback => {
const listener = (_event, state) => callback(state)
ipcRenderer.on('hermes:hud:changed', listener)
return () => ipcRenderer.removeListener('hermes:hud:changed', listener)
}
},
// Quick Entry: the global-hotkey mini composer window. Main owns the OS
// shortcut + the persisted preference; the quick window only captures text
// and hands it back, and the primary renderer submits it through the normal

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@ -98,9 +98,10 @@ export function installZoomReassertOnWindowEvents(win, reassert, platform = proc
}
/**
* Zoom-wiring decision per window kind. Chat windows (main + session) keep
* global UI zoom; the pet overlay and the Quick Entry composer opt out because
* they size their own OS window and inheriting zoom would crop/overflow them.
* Zoom-wiring decision per window kind. Chat windows (main + session + the HUD)
* keep global UI zoom; the pet overlay and the Quick Entry composer opt out
* because they size their own OS window and inheriting zoom would crop or
* overflow them.
*
* Extracted so the "helper windows opt out, everything else opts in" contract is
* unit-testable without booting a BrowserWindow or reading source.

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@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
/**
* HUD app-window handoff.
*
* The gateway binds a session's event stream to exactly ONE socket the last
* one to submit or resume it (`session["transport"]`). The HUD is a full
* renderer with its own socket, so entering HUD mode moves that binding to the
* HUD and the app window stops hearing the session entirely: no deltas, no
* turn-complete, no draft clear. Nothing to poll for either, since mid-turn
* there is nothing persisted to re-pull.
*
* So leaving HUD mode is a re-home, not a window close. The app window resumes
* the session the HUD ended on the existing hydration path, which rebinds the
* transport, reconciles the transcript, and picks up an in-flight turn and
* repaints its composer from the shared draft stash the HUD has been writing.
*/
import { useStore } from '@nanostores/react'
import { useEffect, useRef } from 'react'
import { reloadPersistedDrafts, requestComposerDraftSync } from '@/store/composer'
import { reportHudSession, watchHudState } from '@/store/hud'
import { $selectedStoredSessionId } from '@/store/session'
import { isHudWindow } from '@/store/windows'
import { openSession, type OpenSessionNavigate } from '../open-session'
interface HudHandoffParams {
navigate: OpenSessionNavigate
resumeSession: (storedSessionId: string) => unknown
}
/** App-window side: take the session back when the HUD goes away. Also keeps
* the titlebar toggle honest when the HUD is closed from its own side. */
export function useHudHandoff({ navigate, resumeSession }: HudHandoffParams): void {
const paramsRef = useRef<HudHandoffParams>({ navigate, resumeSession })
paramsRef.current = { navigate, resumeSession }
useEffect(() => {
// The HUD's own renderer mounts the same wiring; it is the window going
// away, so it has nothing to re-home.
if (isHudWindow()) {
return
}
return watchHudState(hudSessionId => {
// The HUD may have typed or sent since this window last read the stash.
reloadPersistedDrafts()
const selected = $selectedStoredSessionId.get()
const target = hudSessionId ?? selected
// The HUD switched sessions (or started one this window has never seen):
// route to it and let the route resume do the rest, including loading
// that session's draft as the composer's scope swaps.
if (target && target !== selected) {
openSession(target, paramsRef.current.navigate)
return
}
// Same session, so the composer's scope never changes and its
// per-session swap effect will never re-consult the stash. Repaint it.
requestComposerDraftSync('reload')
if (target) {
void paramsRef.current.resumeSession(target)
}
})
}, [])
}
/** HUD side: keep main told which session this window is on. */
export function useReportHudSession(): void {
const selectedStoredSessionId = useStore($selectedStoredSessionId)
useEffect(() => {
if (isHudWindow()) {
reportHudSession(selectedStoredSessionId)
}
}, [selectedStoredSessionId])
}

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@ -62,6 +62,17 @@ declare global {
onState: (callback: (payload: PetOverlayStatePayload) => void) => () => void
onControl: (callback: (payload: PetOverlayControl) => void) => () => void
}
// HUD mode: the chrome-free floating chat. A FULL app renderer with its
// own gateway (like an instance window), sized and skinned as a floating
// bar — so it mounts the real composer rather than a lookalike. Main
// owns the window; `onChanged` keeps every window's toggle truthful.
hud?: {
open: (request?: { sessionId?: null | string }) => Promise<{ ok: boolean }>
close: () => Promise<{ ok: boolean }>
setIgnoreMouse: (ignore: boolean) => void
setSession: (sessionId: null | string) => void
onChanged: (callback: (state: { open: boolean; sessionId: null | string }) => void) => () => void
}
// Quick Entry: a global-hotkey mini composer window. Main owns the OS
// shortcut registration + the persisted preference (it must restore the
// shortcut on a cold launch without the renderer visiting Settings), so

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@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
/**
* HUD mode the chrome-free floating chat.
*
* A transparent, frameless, always-on-top window showing nothing but the REAL
* composer with the reply scrolling above it, so Hermes can be driven while
* the user works in another app (Figma, a browser).
*
* It is NOT a puppet window. Unlike the pet overlay / quick entry, the HUD is
* a full app renderer with its own gateway the same thing `openWindow()`
* spawns, just reshaped. That is the whole design: the HUD renders `ChatView`
* in its `hud` variant, so the composer IS the app's composer (attachments,
* slash commands, queue, voice, model pill) rather than a lookalike that
* drifts. This module owns only the mode flag and the window lifecycle.
*/
import { atom } from 'nanostores'
import { requestComposerDraftSync } from '@/store/composer'
import { isHudWindow } from '@/store/windows'
/** Whether a HUD window is currently up. In the HUD's own renderer this is
* always true (it IS the HUD); in the main window it tracks the child so the
* titlebar toggle reads correctly.
*
* Deliberately NOT persisted. The HUD is a live window main owns, so it can
* never outlive the app a remembered `true` from the last run just makes the
* first toggle a no-op ("the button does nothing after a restart"). Main
* broadcasts the truth on every change, which is the only authority there is. */
export const $hudActive = atom(isHudWindow())
/** True only in the HUD window itself the renderer flag that swaps the app
* shell for the slim floating layout. Constant for the window's life, so it
* never invalidates a render path mid-session. */
export const $hudMode = atom(isHudWindow())
/** True when the shell exposes HUD mode (desktop only). */
export const canUseHud = (): boolean =>
typeof window !== 'undefined' && typeof window.hermesDesktop?.hud?.open === 'function'
export function openHud(sessionId?: null | string): void {
const api = window.hermesDesktop?.hud
if (!api) {
return
}
// Push whatever is half-typed here into the shared draft stash BEFORE the
// HUD window exists, so its composer boots with the text rather than racing
// a cross-window storage event that lands after it has already painted.
requestComposerDraftSync('flush')
$hudActive.set(true)
void api.open({ sessionId: sessionId ?? null })
}
/** Leave HUD mode. Callable from either window main closes the child, the
* HUD closes itself; both restore the app window. */
export function closeHud(): void {
const api = window.hermesDesktop?.hud
if (!api) {
return
}
$hudActive.set(false)
void api.close()
}
export const toggleHud = (sessionId?: null | string) => ($hudActive.get() ? closeHud() : openHud(sessionId))
/** Tell main which session this HUD is on. Main holds it (the HUD's renderer
* doesn't outlive the window) and hands it back in the close broadcast so the
* app window knows what to re-home onto. */
export const reportHudSession = (sessionId: null | string): void => window.hermesDesktop?.hud?.setSession?.(sessionId)
/**
* Track the HUD window's real state so the titlebar toggle can't go stale when
* the HUD is closed from its own side (W, its exit button), and hand the
* app window the session the HUD ended on. Returns a disposer; no-ops outside
* Electron.
*/
export function watchHudState(onClosed?: (sessionId: null | string) => void): () => void {
const off = window.hermesDesktop?.hud?.onChanged?.(({ open, sessionId }) => {
$hudActive.set(open)
if (!open) {
onClosed?.(sessionId)
}
})
return off ?? (() => {})
}

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@ -29,6 +29,31 @@ export function isSecondaryWindow(): boolean {
let watchWindowCache: boolean | null = null
// A "hud" window is HUD mode: the chrome-free floating chat. Unlike the pet
// overlay / quick entry it is a FULL app renderer with its own gateway — the
// flag only tells the shell to render the slim floating layout (composer +
// scrollback) instead of the pane tree, so the composer it shows is the real
// one. Read from location.search for the same reason as the flag above.
let hudWindowCache: boolean | null = null
export function isHudWindow(): boolean {
if (hudWindowCache !== null) {
return hudWindowCache
}
let result = false
try {
result = new URLSearchParams(window.location.search).get('win') === 'hud'
} catch {
result = false
}
hudWindowCache = result
return result
}
// A "watch" window spectates a session that is being driven elsewhere (a
// running subagent). It resumes lazily — the gateway registers history + a
// transport for the live mirror without building an agent, so opening it is
@ -51,6 +76,13 @@ export function isWatchWindow(): boolean {
return result
}
// True for any window that is NOT the primary app instance — a secondary
// session window or the HUD. Single-claim channels (the quick-entry capture
// bridge, the pet overlay control bridge) and the install/onboarding overlays
// belong to the primary alone: two windows answering one channel turns one
// keystroke into N prompts, and a HUD is the last place to paint onboarding.
export const isAuxiliaryWindow = (): boolean => isSecondaryWindow() || isHudWindow()
// True when running inside the Electron desktop shell (the preload bridge is
// present). The "open in new window" affordance is desktop-only.
export function canOpenSessionWindow(): boolean {