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bug(control): window activation times out during external operator handoffs #797
Description
With two app windows on two monitors, external window focus and a background-window lane removal failed with Window focus was not acknowledged and outcome_unknown. Selecting the target through the native Window menu allowed subsequent work.
Evidence: focus call 95c97fce-bca0-4bc7-9901-90b45d988d1c; lane-removal call 13e43d53-5120-41ae-88d7-820dc9088728. The latter left revision 14cab13706ba43c9 unchanged. After manual window selection, a later lane removal succeeded (9dfbbeb4-2aba-4384-96e4-127eadaca13d). Same-key replay correctly retained the original uncertain outcome.
Reproduction context: keep two windows open, operate from another app, request the other window or a mutation requiring activation. This was observed repeatedly in one session, not yet isolated as a deterministic reproduction.
Expected/acceptance: activate the existing window reliably or explain the OS restriction; distinguish application activation from BrowserWindow focus; verify foreground/background and multi-monitor transitions. Do not bypass truthful acknowledgement. Source lead: main/window/focusWindow.ts calls show/focus and waits 2500ms. Root cause remains unconfirmed. Impact: valid operations stall and require manual recovery.
Environment: macOS, development Electron, two Agent Code windows, external MCP plus computer use, observed 2026-09-05. Exact running build revision was not verified. Refs #793, #795.
Activity
Juliusolsson05 commentedon Sep 5, 2026
Candidate activation fix in #812 calls Electron app activation before window show/focus and retains truthful acknowledgment/timeout handling. Unit focus checks and isolated two-window MCP routing pass, but they do not reproduce the reported two-monitor handoff. This remains Refs, not Fixes, pending that actual trial.
Juliusolsson05 commentedon Sep 27, 2026
Closing (tentative): a likely fix shipped and nobody has reproduced it since (triage 2026-09-27, main
a70403ef).#812 (merged 2026-09-05) added
app.focus({ steal: true })and kept the 2.5 s acknowledgement for cross-window focus (src/main/window/focusWindow.ts:17,24). The file hasn't changed since. There have been no new reports or reproductions in the three weeks since, and the issue was still labelled needs-evidence.Reopen when: focusing an Agent Code window on another monitor times out again. Note the monitor layout and include the operation history (
ac_operations_read).