Returning to Chat leaves the desktop terminal at phone width #472

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1. devswha commented on Oct 9, 2026

   

   devswha

   on Oct 9, 2026

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   Re-checked on v0.4.2 (b82584d): still as described.

   Why: when a device leaves Terminal for Chat, PaneTerminal only marks its attach keep_size on the client (src/lib/ws.ts keepSize) and sends nothing, so the shared pty stays at the last grid an interact client set, the phone's. The desktop re-asserts its own grid only on its own resize, window focus or visibilitychange (refit in src/components/PaneTerminal.tsx). A desktop that stays focused keeps the phone's width until it is clicked away and back.

   There is no fix without a design choice, because the server is never told that the phone stopped showing the terminal:

   1. A release frame. Leaving Terminal sends a new WS message; the server then resizes the pty to the grid of an interact client still showing the terminal (or asks those clients to re-assert). No ping-pong, since a device in Chat never claims the size. Cost: a protocol change in shared/protocol.ts, a contract test, an answer in the demo transport, and a remote bundle bump so remote PCs understand it.
   2. Re-assert on the desktop's next input. No new frame: after another device resized the pty, the desktop re-fits on its next key or click in the terminal. Cheap, but the desktop stays narrow while someone only watches it, and two devices both typing in Terminal trade the size back and forth, which is the ping-pong this issue asks to avoid.
   3. A periodic or geometry-triggered re-assert from the desktop. Rejected: with the phone still in Terminal, the two clients resize each other in a loop.

   Option 1 is the one that does what the issue asks. It is a protocol change, so it waits for a maintainer decision.
2. devswha

   added a commit that references this issue on Oct 13, 2026

   fix(terminal): take the pty back from the phone's input line and key …

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   ce1777d
3. devswha

   closed this as completedin #1068on Oct 14, 2026
4. polaroidkidd

   added a commit that references this issue on Oct 14, 2026

   fix(terminal): give the shared grid back when a phone returns to Chat (…

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   This issue will close once commit 001cd89 is merged into the 'main' branch.

   001cd89
5. devswha

   added 3 commits that reference this issue on Oct 14, 2026

   fix(terminal): hand the shared grid only to a device still showing th…

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   7776c4f

   fix(terminal): keep the grid on a visible unfocused desktop

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   09daa13

   fix(terminal): keep the grid on a desktop that is visible but unfocus…

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   935d35d