fix(workspace): Inbox pane — Open canvas on chats only; an ask's Open in chat goes to the chat that raised it (#3714)

[vybe]

Fixes #3714 — Workspace Inbox reading pane. Independent draft off dev (chain-asks-1014, trinity-pm orchestrator, 2026-10-14). Draft until the operator merges.

What

• portalInbox.js: a pure askOriginThread(item) that reuses the ask card's askThreadLink rule and returns the chat a turn raised the ask in, or null.
• PortalInboxPane.vue: Open canvas shows only on chat items, in both the split header and the stacked More menu. An ask (approval / question / alert) gets Open in chat only when a chat turn raised it, sent as the card's own open-thread event so an unloaded or archived chat still opens. A background ask shows no actions and the header keeps its height. More renders only for chats, so an ask never gets an empty menu. Mentions lose Open canvas too, since it is now a chat-only action.
• Specs: portalInbox.spec.js (new askOriginThread block: raised-in-turn, background, no chat, the string 'true' trap, discussion_chat_id only, no snapshot, thread/mention) and portalInbox.mount.spec.js (every ask kind, Open in chat → open-thread, no More on an ask, mention has no Open canvas; positive fixtures set both chat_id and raised_in_turn). The old ask-shows-canvas pin was replaced in place. portalInboxShell.mount.spec.js untouched and green.
• Docs: requirements/core-agent.md, architecture/workspace.md, feature-flows/workspace-inbox.md now say Open canvas is a chat action and describe an ask's Open in chat. No doc still says "chat or an ask".

Rulings carried (orchestrator, on the operator's behalf — plan file)

T1 gate in the template beside the thread-only checks + pure helper · T2 mentions lose Open canvas (chat-only action) · T3 the header ignores discussion_chat_id (the card already offers Continue discussion) · T4 Open in chat lands at the bottom of the chat; an a:<ask_id> anchor is deferred, not filed · T5 navigation sends open-thread, not a URL. All five follow the planner's recommendation.

Review + security

/review (Fable, report-only): MERGEABLE — rider checks (a)–(f) all hold; one informational (this body must state T2 — done above). Mutation check: Vue fix reverted in a scratch worktree → 8 new cases red, 195 green. /cso --diff: no secrets, no invisible Unicode, no v-html or URL building added; the helper fails closed to "no action".

Tests

npx vitest run tests/unit/portalInbox: 9 files, 275 passed. Ratchet specs (source-text, raw-color, loading-gate): 28 passed. Full npm run test:unit: 365 files, 5913 passed (builder's run, 6m38s). Not run here: live stack.

Before merge

• Operator UI check on the rc build: Workspace → Inbox → Action → a question an agent raised in a chat (agent with a canvas): header shows Open in chat and no Open canvas, click lands at the bottom of that chat; an ask from a chat not in the sidebar still opens; a scheduled (background) ask shows no actions; under Unread a chat for the same agent shows Open canvas · Mark read · Reply in chat · Open in chat; below ~720 px the ask shows Back · Open in chat and no More, the chat's More holds Open canvas · Mark read · Reply in chat.
• Docs overlap with open PRs feat(workspace): the autonomy dial — what a companion may do unprompted (ent#641) #2984, feat(workspace): a stage advance reaches the Work card on the write, not the next poll (ent#533) #2713, feat(workspace): the rail's Canvas/Files dot lights on the write, not the next refetch (ent#532) #2709 (core-agent.md, workspace.md): merge-tree result recorded in the first comment below.

Handoffs

• ent#901 (sibling chain) adds a "Withdrawn by the agent" history row in PortalInboxList.vue / PortalAsks.vue; no shared file with this branch.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[vybe]

Merge-tree record (orchestrator, 2026-10-14): this branch merges cleanly onto live dev (fa6c9df). Open PRs sharing files — #2984, #2713, #2709 (core-agent.md, workspace.md) — show the same conflict count against this branch as against live dev (5 / 4 / 7), so this branch adds no conflict; their drift is their own.

[trinity-ability]

/validate-pr — #3724 (tip 053b27b, base dev fa6c9df) — APPROVE

Lane B (frontend + docs; no lane-C/schema paths; tests/ has deletions — the old ask-shows-canvas pin, replaced in place, which is the behaviour this fix reverses). 7 files, +146/−25. Draft.

Category	Status	Notes
Commits / base	✅	2 conventional fix(workspace): commits; targets dev, sits on the live tip
Issue link	✅	Fixes #3714 (P1, type-bug, theme-ui-ux)
Status auto-promotion	⚠️	keyword present, but #3714 is labelled status-ready, not status-in-progress; the merge workflow promotes in-progress → in-dev, so the label may need setting by hand after merge
Requirements / architecture / flow	✅	core-agent.md, architecture/workspace.md, feature-flows/workspace-inbox.md all updated; nothing still says "chat or an ask"
Security §4.1–4.10	✅	no keys, emails, IPs, host paths or mode changes; no v-html or URL building added
Structural review	✅	/review + /cso --diff MERGEABLE (plan file); I1 (state T2 in the PR body) is done
Merge gate, Tier 1	✅	every check on the tip passes (incl. build, e2e, journey-smoke, regression diff); dev-ci is success on fa6c9df; no open dev-ci red issue
Code quality / scope	✅	the gate sits in the template beside the thread-only checks, with a pure helper that reuses askThreadLink (T1)

Execution coverage (§5.4)

changed symbol / test	executed by	live consumer	verdict
askOriginThread	portalInbox.spec.js (7 cases incl. the string 'true' and discussion_chat_id) + the mount cases	PortalInboxPane.vue askThread computed → header v-if / @click	✅
pane header gates (Open canvas thread-only, Open in chat on asks, More thread-only)	portalInbox.mount.spec.js mounts the real PortalInbox (jsdom), split and stacked	Portal.vue <PortalInbox @open-thread="openNewThread">; pane → PortalInbox.vue:202 re-emits	✅
production wiring of open-thread	mount asserts PortalInbox.emitted('open-thread') = {id:'s9', agent_name:'scout'} and that open-chat is not emitted	Portal.vue → openNewThread (the existing card path; the card's own link is :thread-link="false" in the pane, so no duplicate button)	✅
source-text reads	none added	—	✅

Mutation (fix PR), re-run here in an isolated worktree: with PortalInboxPane.vue reverted to dev and the new tests kept, 8 cases fail and 267 pass. Those 8 are every new mount case, including the T2 mention case. With the fix in place: portalInbox* + the source-text, raw-color and loading-gate ratchets → 12 files, 303 passed.

Findings

• Critical: none.
• Warning: the status label on Inbox pane shows Open canvas on asks and no way to the ask's chat #3714 (above). This is process, not code.
• Not claimed: the operator's UI check on the rc build under Before merge. This validation did not run it.

Recommendation: APPROVE. The scope matches the issue and the T1–T5 rulings. The tests fail when the fix is reverted, and Tier 1 and dev are green.

[trinity-ability]

merge-train: validated at 053b27b — /validate-pr APPROVE + fresh /review READY (0 critical; mutation runs: fix reverted → 8 red, emit hand-off deleted → 2 red). Lane B, merges clean onto dev, dev-ci green on e4e739f.