Improve ECA Menu UX and Streamline Workflow

[davidwuchn]

Summary

This PR improves the ECA menu user experience with clearer descriptions, streamlined workflows, and better differentiation between similar commands.

Changes

1. Upgrade Menu Shows Status Buffer by Default

• Changed ai-code-eca-upgrade to show status buffer by default (no prefix arg)
• C-c a u now shows the ECA upgrade status buffer
• C-u C-c a u upgrades the ECA binary from GitHub releases
• C-u C-u C-c a u upgrades the ECA Emacs package

2. Distinct Behavior for E vs a

• C-c a a (Start AI CLI): Quick start - reuses existing session if available
• C-c a E (Start ECA for project): Always prompts for workspace selection
• This removes the previous overlap where both commands had similar behavior

3. Clearer Menu Descriptions

Key	Before	After
E	"Start ECA (C-u: pick project)"	"Start ECA for project..."
D	"Dashboard"	"ECA Workspace Dashboard"
A	"Add project"	"Add project to session"
X	"Remove project"	"Remove project from session"
F	"Share file"	"Add file to shared context"
M	"Share repo map"	"Add repo map to shared context"
B	"Add clipboard"	"Add clipboard as file context"

4. Streamlined Package Upgrade

• Removed y-or-n-p prompt from ai-code-eca-upgrade-package
• Users already explicitly clicked "Upgrade package" button, no need for confirmation

5. Menu Item Reorder

• Moved B (Add clipboard as file context) above Y (Clear shared) for logical grouping of "add" actions

6. Backend Check in Menu Addition

• ai-code-eca--add-menu-group now checks if ECA is the selected backend before adding menu items

7. Safe Project Detection

• Fixed ai-code-eca-create-session-for-workspace to safely handle cases where no project is detected

Files Changed

• ai-code-eca.el - All UX improvements
• test/test_ai-code-eca.el - Test fixes

Testing

• All 26 tests pass (25 passed, 1 skipped for batch mode limitations)

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This PR refines the Emacs Code Assistant (ECA) integration in ai-code-interface.el by improving transient menu UX, making ECA session startup behaviors more distinct, and adjusting upgrade workflows to be more user-directed.

Changes:

• Updates ECA transient menu labels, key ordering, and backend-specific menu injection behavior.
• Changes ECA “start for project” flow to always prompt for a workspace root (instead of overloading prefix-arg behavior).
• Switches the backend :upgrade entry to open the upgrade status UI (ai-code-eca-upgrade-show) and updates tests accordingly.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 4 out of 4 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

File	Description
ai-code-eca.el	Updates ECA menu text/order, gates menu injection on selected backend, revises workspace-session start flow, and streamlines package upgrade confirmation.
ai-code-backends.el	Points ECA backend :upgrade to ai-code-eca-upgrade-show.
test/test_ai-code-eca.el	Updates menu-group tests for backend gating, layout keys reorder, and batch-mode transient availability.
test/test_ai-code-backends.el	Updates backend spec contract test to match new :upgrade function.

[davidwuchn]

please help review and feed back

[tninja]

codex-cli reported two high level points to look into.

1. 高优先级
   位置：PR ai-code-eca.el:1061-1070，主入口在 ai-code.el:438 与 ai-code-
   backends.el:540。
   问题：PR 把 ai-code-eca-upgrade 改成了三态前缀语义，但主菜单 u 实际调用的是 ai-code-upgrade-backend，后者没有接收也没有转发 prefix arg，只是直接
   (funcall upgrade)。这意味着 PR 描述中的 C-c a u / C-u C-c a u / C-u C-u C-c a u 在真实入口上并不成立，用户从主菜单永远只会走“无前缀”分支。
   修复建议：把 ai-code-upgrade-backend 改为 (&optional arg) + (interactive
   "P")，并对函数型 :upgrade 用 let ((current-prefix-arg arg)) (call-
   interactively upgrade) 或等价方案转发前缀参数；同时补一个覆盖三种前缀的集成 测试。
2. 高优先级
   位置：PR ai-code-eca.el:265-284。对照已安装的 ECA 实现，/home/
   tninja/.emacs.d/elpa/eca-0.8.1/eca.el:319 与 /home/tninja/.emacs.d/elpa/
   eca-0.8.1/eca-util.el:186。
   问题：PR 文档字符串和 Summary 都说 E 会“create or reuse session for that
   workspace”，但代码直接调用 eca-create-session。而 eca-create-session 在 ECA 0.8.1 里只是无条件新建 session，不做查重或复用；真正带复用逻辑的是 eca 命
   令，它先 (or (eca-session) (eca-create-session ...))。所以当前实现会为同一
   workspace 反复创建新 session，和需求不符。
   修复建议：不要直接 eca-create-session。应先按所选 workspace-root 查已有
   session，再复用；或者复用 eca 自身的会话选择逻辑，并在需要时临时绑定 eca-
   find-root-for-buffer-function / 提供显式查找函数。还需要补测试，验证对同一
   workspace 重复执行 E 不会产生重复 session。

Let me know when it is ready to merge.

[tninja]

@davidwuchn 你的PR summary很漂亮, 这是怎么做的?

[davidwuchn]

Fixes Applied

Issue #1: Prefix arg not forwarded ✅

File: ai-code-backends.el:540

Fix: Added &optional arg parameter and forward via call-interactively:

(defun ai-code-upgrade-backend (&optional arg)
  (interactive "P")
  ...
  (let ((current-prefix-arg arg))
    (call-interactively upgrade))
  ...)

Now C-c a u, C-u C-c a u, and C-u C-u C-c a u work correctly.

---

Issue #2: Session not reused ✅

File: ai-code-eca.el:265

Fix: Added ai-code-eca--find-session-by-workspace helper and check for existing session before creating new:

(defun ai-code-eca--find-session-by-workspace (workspace-root)
  "Find an existing session that has WORKSPACE-ROOT in its workspace folders."
  (when (boundp 'eca--sessions)
    (let ((target (expand-file-name workspace-root)))
      (cl-find-if
       (lambda (session)
         (member target (mapcar #'expand-file-name
                                (eca--session-workspace-folders session))))
       (eca-vals eca--sessions)))))

If a session exists with the selected workspace, it's reused instead of creating a duplicate.

---

Tests Added

• ai-code-test-upgrade-backend-forwards-prefix-arg - Verifies prefix forwarding
• ai-code-test-eca-find-session-by-workspace - Verifies session finding