fix(harness): remove empty-project agent creation button

.changeset/remove-empty-project-create-action.md

@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+---
+"@sapiom/harness": patch
+---
+
+Remove the inline first-agent creation button from empty projects, including
+projects reopened without a live session and clients connected to older servers.
+Keep ordinary project session shortcuts, menu actions, and scan boundary notes.

packages/harness/README.md

@@ -101,6 +101,10 @@ opens that session's ordinary conversation and Canvas/Steps experience. A new
 project's first ordinary session is initially titled **Plan Agents**; the title
 does not confer a role and can be renamed like any other session.
 
+Empty projects have no inline first-agent creation button, including after a
+session ends. Use the project's session shortcut or its menu to start work;
+warnings about separate checkouts that were not searched remain visible.
+
 When a new project gains its first active root binding, Studio durably schedules
 one evidence-first map bootstrap for that first session. The model reads the
 current map and uses the same structured tools available to every project

packages/harness/web/e2e/create-agent.spec.ts

@@ -199,15 +199,24 @@ test.describe("legacy-server agent creation compatibility", () => {
     await expect(page.getByTestId("workflow-cancelled")).toHaveCount(0);
   });
 
-  test("the empty-project row opens the same dialog", async ({ page }) => {
-    // One create flow, not one per door: the empty project's CTA is the same
-    // subject and must not be a second mechanism that drifts.
+  test("an empty project has no inline create action and retains its menu dialog", async ({
+    page,
+  }) => {
     await page.getByTestId("rail-add-project").click();
     await page
       .getByTestId("folder-field-input")
       .fill("/Users/demo/blank-slate");
     await page.getByTestId("open-project").click();
-    await page.getByTestId("project-empty-blank-slate").click();
+    const group = page.getByTestId("workspace-group-blank-slate");
+    await expect(group).toBeVisible();
+    await expect(group.getByTestId("project-empty-blank-slate")).toHaveCount(0);
+    await expect(
+      group.getByRole("button", {
+        name: /^Create (the first |an )agent here$/,
+      }),
+    ).toHaveCount(0);
+    await openProjectMenu(page, "blank-slate");
+    await page.getByTestId("project-create-agent-blank-slate").click();
 
     await expect(page.getByTestId("create-agent-dialog")).toBeVisible();
     await expect(page.getByTestId("create-agent-project")).toHaveText(

packages/harness/web/e2e/open-project.spec.ts

@@ -79,6 +79,7 @@ test.describe("the header + opens a project", () => {
     await expect(page.getByTestId("agent-map-empty")).toHaveText(
       "Nothing generated yet",
     );
+    await expect(group.getByTestId("project-empty-blank-slate")).toHaveCount(0);
     // The server-owned project-open lifecycle contributes one real ordinary
     // session. Plan Agents is only that tab's initial title—never a pinned row
     // or a second synthetic navigation element.
@@ -126,6 +127,21 @@ test.describe("the header + opens a project", () => {
     await page.getByTestId("filing-group-by").selectOption("group");
     await page.keyboard.press("Escape");
     await expect(page.getByTestId("project-row-blank-slate")).toBeVisible();
+
+    // Ending the automatic conversation must not bring back the retired
+    // first-agent action beneath the still-empty project.
+    await page.getByTestId(`session-tab-main-${firstSessionId}`).click();
+    await page.getByTestId("session-menu").click();
+    await page.getByTestId("session-end-btn").click();
+    await page.getByTestId("end-session-confirm-btn").click();
+    await expect(page.getByTestId("session-context")).not.toHaveAttribute(
+      "data-session-id",
+      firstSessionId!,
+    );
+    await expect(group.getByTestId("project-empty-blank-slate")).toHaveCount(0);
+    await expect(
+      group.getByRole("button", { name: /^Create (the first |an )agent here$/ }),
+    ).toHaveCount(0);
   });
 
   test("a Studio project keeps ordinary session and agent creation available", async ({
@@ -140,7 +156,10 @@ test.describe("the header + opens a project", () => {
     await expect(page.getByTestId("agent-map-frame")).toBeVisible();
     await expect(page.locator(".harness-terminal .xterm")).toBeVisible();
 
-    await expect(group.getByTestId("project-empty-blank-slate")).toBeVisible();
+    await expect(group.getByTestId("project-empty-blank-slate")).toHaveCount(0);
+    await expect(
+      group.getByRole("button", { name: /^Create (the first |an )agent here$/ }),
+    ).toHaveCount(0);
     await expect(
       group.getByTestId("project-start-session-blank-slate"),
     ).toHaveAttribute("aria-label", "Start a session in blank-slate");
@@ -165,16 +184,6 @@ test.describe("the header + opens a project", () => {
     await expect(page.locator(".rail-empty")).toHaveCount(0);
   });
 
-  test("the empty row does NOT appear under a merged root-agent project", async ({
-    page,
-  }) => {
-    // `rfq-agent` is a root that IS an agent — `projectIsEmpty` consults
-    // `rootAgent` precisely so its row does not get "no agents" printed under
-    // the agent it is showing.
-    await expect(page.getByTestId("workflow-rfq")).toBeVisible();
-    await expect(page.getByTestId("project-empty-rfq-agent")).toHaveCount(0);
-  });
-
   test("opening a folder that IS an agent project registers the agent too", async ({
     page,
   }) => {

packages/harness/web/src/components/CreateAgentDialog.tsx

@@ -60,9 +60,8 @@ export function CreateAgentDialog({
   /** Leaves for the template gallery — the clone journey this dialog does not
    *  own. Omitted, the link is not rendered. */
   onBrowseTemplates?: () => void;
-  /* NO `triggerRef`. Every door into this dialog is a control that unmounts
-     when it is used — the project row's popover menu closes on click, the
-     empty-project row is replaced by the agent it creates — so a ref handed in
+  /* NO `triggerRef`. The project row's popover menu closes on click,
+     so a ref to the menu item handed in
      here would point at a detached node and Escape would restore focus to
      <body> anyway, only less obviously. Same reason the rail's remove-confirm
      takes the `⋮` itself rather than the menu item. */
@@ -120,10 +119,8 @@ export function CreateAgentDialog({
          per private project name (lib/analytics/before-send.ts,
          USER_NAMED_OBJECTS). */
       tracking={{ dialog: "create_agent", object: "workspace" }}
-      /* NO `triggerRef`. Every door into this dialog is a control that unmounts
-         when it is used — the project row's popover menu closes on click, the
-         empty-project row is replaced by the agent it creates — so a ref handed
-         in here would point at a detached node. */
+      /* NO `triggerRef`. The project row's popover menu closes on click,
+         so a ref to the menu item would point at a detached node. */
       actions={
         <>
           <button className="btn-ghost" disabled={busy} onClick={onCancel}>

packages/harness/web/src/components/WorkflowsRail.tsx

@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ interface WorkflowsRailProps {
    *  itself, its agents, and the session cwds under it — minus any project
    *  opened separately inside it. See `lib/project-membership.ts`. */
   closedProjects: string[];
-  /** Checkouts a scan of each root declined to enter — see the empty-project row. */
+  /** Checkouts a scan of each root declined to enter — shown in a note row. */
   unsearchedCheckouts: Record<string, string[]>;
   /** Removes a project: out of `recentDirs`, out of the rail, and the live
    *  sessions rooted in it end. Nothing on disk is touched. */
@@ -1500,74 +1500,35 @@ export function WorkflowsRail({
                       depth={0}
                     />
                   )}
-                {/* AN EMPTY PROJECT SAYS SO, on its own row.
-                    `projectIsEmpty` is the one emptiness answer and it consults
-                    `rootAgent` — a merged root-agent project has nothing in
-                    `dirs` or `agents` and a naive check would print this line
-                    under an agent row. `creating` already has its own spinner,
-                    and a bare project with a live session already has its
-                    Scaffold affordance, so neither reaches this. */}
-                {!collapsed && empty && !creating && bare == null && (
-                  <>
-                    <div className="workspace-row is-nested workspace-row-empty">
+                {/* Preserve the scan boundary explanation for an empty project.
+                    First-agent creation belongs to the project menu; an empty
+                    project never gets a separate inline creation action. */}
+                {!collapsed &&
+                  empty &&
+                  !creating &&
+                  bare == null &&
+                  (unsearchedCheckouts[project.root]?.length ?? 0) > 0 && (
+                    <div className="workspace-row is-nested">
                       <span
                         className="row-disclosure row-disclosure-static"
                         aria-hidden="true"
                       />
-                      <button
-                        type="button"
-                        className="tree-row tree-row-empty-action"
-                        data-testid={`project-empty-${project.label}`}
-                        data-tooltip={`Start an agent in ${project.root}`}
-                        onClick={() =>
-                          onCreateAgent(project.root, project.label)
-                        }
+                      <div
+                        className="tree-row tree-row-note"
+                        data-testid={`project-unsearched-${project.label}`}
+                        title={`Open one as its own project to see its agents:\n${unsearchedCheckouts[
+                          project.root
+                        ]!.join("\n")}`}
                       >
-                        <Icon name="Sparkles" size={13} />
+                        <Icon name="GitBranch" size={13} />
                         <span className="tree-row-label">
-                          {(unsearchedCheckouts[project.root]?.length ?? 0) > 0
-                            ? "Create an agent here"
-                            : "Create the first agent here"}
+                          {unsearchedCheckouts[project.root]!.length === 1
+                            ? "1 checkout not searched"
+                            : `${unsearchedCheckouts[project.root]!.length} checkouts not searched`}
                         </span>
-                      </button>
-                    </div>
-                    {/* THE BOUNDARY'S OWN ANSWER, when there is one.
-                        A scan stops at every separate checkout, so a folder that
-                        is not itself a repo but holds several clones finds
-                        NOTHING while the agents are right there. Rendering only
-                        "Create the FIRST agent here" over that folder states
-                        something false, and falsely in the worst direction: it
-                        tells the user the agents they can see on disk do not
-                        exist. The count is the difference between "there is
-                        nothing here" and "I did not look in there". */}
-                    {(unsearchedCheckouts[project.root]?.length ?? 0) > 0 && (
-                      <div className="workspace-row is-nested">
-                        <span
-                          className="row-disclosure row-disclosure-static"
-                          aria-hidden="true"
-                        />
-                        <div
-                          className="tree-row tree-row-note"
-                          data-testid={`project-unsearched-${project.label}`}
-                          /* The ROW states the fact; the tooltip carries the
-                             remedy and the paths. A 320px rail cannot hold both
-                             in one line, and truncating the remedy would leave
-                             the fact looking like a dead end. */
-                          title={`Open one as its own project to see its agents:\n${unsearchedCheckouts[
-                            project.root
-                          ]!.join("\n")}`}
-                        >
-                          <Icon name="GitBranch" size={13} />
-                          <span className="tree-row-label">
-                            {unsearchedCheckouts[project.root]!.length === 1
-                              ? "1 checkout not searched"
-                              : `${unsearchedCheckouts[project.root]!.length} checkouts not searched`}
-                          </span>
-                        </div>
                       </div>
-                    )}
-                  </>
-                )}
+                    </div>
+                  )}
                 {!collapsed && axis === "project" && (
                   <ProjectTreeRows
                     dirs={project.dirs}

packages/harness/web/src/styles.css

@@ -10829,26 +10829,6 @@ button.system-graph-node.is-navigable:focus-visible {
   white-space: nowrap;
 }
 
-/* An empty project's own line. Nested to the depth its agents would occupy,
-   so the row reads as "this is where they would be" rather than as a second
-   header. Non-interactive: there is nothing here to click, and a hover state
-   would promise otherwise. */
-.workspace-row-empty {
-  pointer-events: none;
-}
-
-/* …EXCEPT the action inside it (SAP-2981). The inert row predates it carrying
-   a button: the empty project used to be a label that stated a fact, and the
-   rule kept it from eating hover on the rows around it. Once "Create the first
-   agent here" moved in, the same rule swallowed every click on it — measured,
-   `elementFromPoint` over the middle of that button returned the enclosing
-   `.workspace-group`, and Playwright's click retried for 30s against a control
-   that could never receive one. The spec beside it only ever asserted
-   `toBeEnabled()`, which a control nobody can click passes. */
-.workspace-row-empty .tree-row-empty-action {
-  pointer-events: auto;
-}
-
 .tree-row-empty {
   padding-left: var(--tree-pad-x);
   color: var(--text-faint);
@@ -10885,21 +10865,8 @@ button.system-graph-node.is-navigable:focus-visible {
   padding: 0 3px;
 }
 
-/* The empty project's action row. It uses the shared `.tree-row` skeleton so it
-   sits on the agent rows' rhythm — this is where the first agent will appear,
-   and the row should already read as that place. */
-.tree-row-empty-action {
-  color: var(--text-faint);
-  font-size: var(--type-meta);
-}
-
-.tree-row-empty-action:hover {
-  color: var(--text);
-  background: var(--bg-hover);
-}
-
-/* A NOTE ROW, not an action. The empty-project row's companion when a scan
-   stopped at separate checkouts: it states a fact the user needs in order to
+/* A NOTE ROW, not an action. When a scan stopped at separate checkouts,
+   it states a fact the user needs in order to
    read the empty project correctly, and it is deliberately NOT clickable —
    which checkout to open is the user's decision, and guessing one would be the
    same overreach as the walk entering all of them. */