- Sidebar: the three-way kind filter (Teaching/All/Practice, persisted
in localStorage) above the search; two new-session doors (Teaching →
/chat/new, Practice → /chat/new?mode=practice); practice rows carry
the dumbbell badge and 'Practicing…' busy meta.
- Draft: ?mode=practice swaps the copy (title, empty state, 'What do
you want to practice?') and startDraftSession posts kind:'practice'.
- Graph entry (home composer): teach|practice switch on the stats row's
left edge (StatsBar leadingSlot); practice mode shows the propositions
chip that opens the chain table as a picker (its floating bar becomes
'Practice these' — no delete fence); the picks seed the opening prompt
('Propositions from the map:…') while the title stays the typed text.
The reported bug (2026-09-28): every chat ran glm-5.3-flash regardless of
any pick, while composer and settings UIs agreed with each other and lied
about the run. Root cause: a fossil default-settings record (settings.json
chat section, frozen pre-slots-wave) was stamped verbatim into every new
chat at birth by the new-session flow, and resolveConversationSpec prefers
the per-chat record over the strong slot forever.
Owner redesign — models are per session, always; the strong slot is the
new-session default:
- POST /api/chats stamps the newborn verbatim from the strong slot
(model + thinking level); no client settings PUT on create anymore
- the composer control is dual-bound: in-session it reads/writes the
session's own record (GET /api/chats/:id, PUT .../settings); on the
draft surfaces it binds the strong slot (picking there = changing the
default)
- thinking levels follow the identical mechanics (confirmed by owner)
- the zombie default-settings system dies whole: useDefaultSettings,
/api/settings/defaults, src/store/default-settings.ts, the chat
section of UserSettings (sanitizer strips fossil copies), the legacy
default-settings.json fold, and DEFAULT_SETTINGS_FILE
- catalogDefaultsFor collapses to the strong slot alone
- thinking display for a legacy unstamped session resolves exactly like
the engine (session ?? strong ?? model ladder)
Tests: new chat-birth-stamp suite pins the stamp, the unconfigured boot,
the unset level, and the copy-not-live-view regression; defaults pins
rewritten strong-only; legacy-migration suite deleted.
Chunk B (owner-designed, model-slots wave) on the merged engine surface
(main 1d66a17):
AGENT SECTION — SLOTS ONLY (owner ruling)
- The six per-role model rows are GONE; three slot rows instead:
Strong (Prober + Teacher), Cheap (five workhorse roles), Vision
(visual maker + PDF reader), roster + resolved-default in every hint.
- Slot dropdowns share the app's menu language over the FEDERATED
catalog (/api/models = keyed providers only, fresh per call — saving
a key in Keys immediately widens the picker); the vision slot
filters to image-capable models (Model.input); the menu's highlight
now matches provider+id (ids can collide across providers).
- Slots write the new models section (PUT /api/settings/models) through
the dialog's write seam; per-role overrides stay schema-only.
- ModelMenuList rows read 'provider · id' — federation makes the
provider bookkeeping-relevant. Usage stamps render provider-qualified
(prettyModel(qualified): 'Glm 5.3 Flash · openrouter') in the stats
bar's turn lines.
SEARCH ENGINE (search wave: no default, owner)
- A row in Tools: Tavily/Brave via the shared-menu look, Automatic =
the pin removed (auto-activation). The live reason line comes from
/api/search; no engine key at all grays the whole row + disables the
trigger (a keyless choice would only block auto-activation).
FIRST-RUN SETUP FLOW (owner design A: composer CTA + send interception)
- Chats cannot start until all three slots are picked — no defaults
for 33 providers (slotsConfigured: all three slot models required).
- The graph view's new-session dock (home) shows a 'Set up your models'
CTA while unconfigured; submitting a topic opens the SetupDialog WITH
THE DRAFT PRESERVED; Save stores the models section and the queued
message sends. Same interception on /chat/new sends.
- STAGED BY DEPENDENCY (owner: keys first, models after): no keyed
provider → stage 1 deep-links the settings dialog on Keys (open now
takes a section); a saved key reopens at stage 2 on the next submit.
- Stage 2: Strong → Cheap → Vision pickers (federated, vision-filtered,
all three required). Closable without configuring — browsing stays
possible; the gate is the send, not the dialog. Layered Esc: an open
slot menu eats Esc before the dialog.
- Two closure bugs caught live: onDone→start/send captured the stale
pre-save 'configured' (the flow now forces the replayed send); menu-Esc
used to close the whole dialog.
Settings-dialog provider: open(section?) lands on a section (stage 1
deep-link). Tests: composeSlotModel/composeSearchEngine pure, slot SSR
replacing role rows, slotsConfigured/setupStage first-run gates,
provider-qualified prettyModel. Gates: typecheck, lint, 792/792, build.
Owner reframe (2026-09-18): the model + thinking + context controls on
the home graph view and /chat/new are not a draft overlay on a baked-in
default — they ARE the settings page for the default model, and the
user's last choice IS the default. BYOK first boot has no keys and
possibly no OpenRouter, so there is NO default to show: the controls
render 'no model' ('—') until the first pick.
The flash was the deeper symptom: the surfaces rendered from client
state that started empty and fetched truth afterward, so every visit
flashed the config pin (GLM/low — a dev artifact) for a few frames.
Fix at the root: both pages are now force-dynamic server components
that read the record (readDefaultSettings → initialSettings) and hand
it to the client — the first frame shows truth. Dynamic routes aren't
cached client-side (staleTimes.dynamic = 0), so every navigation
re-reads the record; the useDefaultSettings hook keeps only save-side
state (optimistic set + PUT). The GET-on-mount and its touch-guard are
gone.
ModelControl gains noDefaultModel (the default surfaces only): unset
settings render no model/level, never the catalog pin; the thinking
menu no-ops until a model exists. Chat surfaces keep the catalog
fallback — the engine runs the config pin when a session record has no
override, so the control keeps showing what will actually run.
Renamed draft→default throughout: data/default-settings.json,
GET/PUT /api/settings/defaults, useDefaultSettings. New sessions
still inherit the default on creation exactly as before.
Live-verified: first-boot 'no model' with zero flash, picker +
Shift+Tab cycle, values held across session→/chat/new→home roundtrips
and a reload (10×100ms samples, never the old default), zero console
errors.
The sidebar button no longer POSTs a record (no more "Untitled session"
litter): it opens /chat/new, a sessionless draft view visually identical
to a fresh chat (same header + probe chip, the same ConversationEmptyState,
the same composer blob + stats dock). The session comes to exist only
when the learner sends the first message — and that message becomes its
title (startDraftSession: POST /api/chats {title: msg} → PUT the lifted
pre-chat settings → redirect /chat/<id>?prompt=<msg>, whose initialPrompt
path delivers the message as turn 1 — the home composer's proven contract).
- app/chat/new/page.tsx: the static draft route (static beats [id]).
- components/new-session.tsx: DraftShell (pure render seam) + NewSession
(router wiring); the model picker's empty-chatId branch defers its save
and lifts the selection, so pre-chat model/thinking rides the creation.
- components/sidebar.tsx: newSession is a plain router.push("/chat/new").
- tests/render-new-session.test.tsx: 6 pins — the create-on-send contract
(title = message, settings PUT, no-op on empty text) + the shell render.
Live-verified end to end: button → draft (0 creations), pre-chat Qwen
pick, send → exactly one session titled with the message, settings
persisted, redirect + turn 1 running. Gates 431/431.
amosblomqvist