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docs(control): clarify focus versus lane replacement in operator workflows #799
Description
When asked to focus A5, the operator clicked A5 in the shared Dispatch index while lane two was focused. [A5, B7, B8, B9] became [A5, A5, B8, B9], hiding B7 until repaired. These were two views of one agent, not newly duplicated processes.
The existing ac_agents_show intent reuse-existing-view is the appropriate route. The skill already describes that distinction, but a concrete multi-lane recipe would better prevent this observed mistake.
Acceptance: show a worked resolve-label-and-window → locate → reuse-existing-view → verify-window recipe; explain that the shared index places into the focused lane even when another lane already displays the agent; make the target lane evident in UI help. Preserve intentional mirrored views.
This is operator-error prevention, not a claim that the app spontaneously duplicated agents. Impact: the user's monitoring layout was unexpectedly changed and required repair.
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
Implemented in #812: the skill/crash course distinguishes reusing an existing view from placing into a lane. Index hover help uses the actual row destination (focused lane in that row, otherwise its first lane). Creation is documented separately: it selects the captured focused lane by default; selectCreated:false preserves current tabs/lanes, followed by explicit revision-checked lane-select. Mirrors remain supported.
Juliusolsson05 commentedon Sep 5, 2026
The completed #812 implementation extends
selectCreated:falseconsistently to create, resume and duplicate. It preserves the active tab and all lane assignments; explicit placement uses a fresh layout revision. Default true retains normal creation selection of the captured focused lane and does not close its former agent. Crash course/tool descriptions/operator skill now document this distinction and cached creation readiness. Shared-index UI lane help remains in the feature. Implementation961d542eis under two independent orchestration reviews with CI running.