Chat icon/panel missing from recording view on desktop

[hyper-charlie]

Problem

User cannot find the chat icon or panel when viewing a completed recording on desktop, even though the transcript is fully processed.

Environment

• Platform: macOS
• App Version: 1.0.6
• Build: 9820787
• Locale: en-US

Steps to Reproduce

1. Open a completed recording with a finished transcript
2. View the recording details
3. Look for chat icon/panel to chat with AI about the recording

Expected Behavior

Chat icon or panel should be visible to allow user to interact with AI about the recording content.

Actual Behavior

Chat icon/panel is not visible. User sees: Summary, Lecture, Memos, Transcript, and Create other format tabs/options only.

Additional Notes

• Transcript is fully completed
• User has refreshed the app
• User is on latest version (1.0.6)

[devin-ai-integration]

Codebase Context for Chat Icon/Panel in Recording View

How the Chat Button Works

The chat functionality in the session (recording) view is rendered as a floating button at the bottom-right corner of the screen — it is not a tab in the session header alongside Summary, Memos, Transcript, etc.

Rendering chain:

1. StandardTabWrapper (apps/desktop/src/components/main/body/index.tsx:698-719) renders StandardTabChatButton
2. StandardTabChatButton → TabChatButton (same file, lines 651-696)
3. TabChatButton queries the "chat" feature flag via flagCommands.isEnabled("chat")
4. If enabled, renders ChatFloatingButton (apps/desktop/src/components/chat/index.tsx)
5. ChatFloatingButton renders ChatTrigger (apps/desktop/src/components/chat/trigger.tsx) — a circular button with /assets/dynamic.gif icon, portaled to document.body

Feature Flag

The chat feature flag is hardcoded to true in plugins/flag/src/feature.rs:24:

Feature::Chat => FlagStrategy::Hardcoded(true),

So the flag itself should not be the cause. However, TabChatButton fetches this via an async useQuery call — if the IPC command errors or the query hasn't resolved yet, isChatEnabled would be falsy and the button would not render.

Chat Button Visibility Conditions

TabChatButton hides the button when:

• isChatEnabled is falsy (query not resolved / errored)
• chat.mode === "RightPanelOpen" or "FullTab" (panel already open)
• Current tab is ai, settings, chat_support, or onboarding

For a sessions tab (recording view), none of these exclusions should apply.

Additionally, ChatTrigger has a hide-on-caret-near-bottom behavior — when the user's cursor is near the bottom of the editor, the button slides off-screen (translate-y-[85%]). It reappears when the mouse moves near the button area.

Relevant Files

File	Role
apps/desktop/src/components/main/body/index.tsx (lines 651-735)	TabChatButton + StandardTabChatButton — gating logic
apps/desktop/src/components/chat/index.tsx	ChatFloatingButton — floating button container
apps/desktop/src/components/chat/trigger.tsx	ChatTrigger — the actual button element
apps/desktop/src/components/chat/view.tsx	ChatView — chat panel content
apps/desktop/src/store/zustand/tabs/chat-mode.ts	Chat mode state machine (FloatingClosed/FloatingOpen/RightPanelOpen/FullTab)
apps/desktop/src/contexts/shell/chat.ts	useChatMode hook + Cmd+J hotkey
plugins/flag/src/feature.rs	Feature flag definition (hardcoded true)
apps/desktop/src/routes/app/main/_layout.index.tsx	Main layout with resizable chat panel

Recent Changes in This Area

Several significant changes since Feb 6:

• 61d08d6d6 (Feb 9) — Replaced xstate with zustand for chat mode state. This was a major refactor that fixed a race condition between chat mode and tab state, but fundamentally changed how chat mode transitions work.
• 52ab89a82 (Feb 6) — Fixed chat floating button not responding to clicks after xstate actor stop issue.
• 65a1123d5 (Feb 12) — Added data-chat-trigger attribute to trigger button, removed DissolvingContainer wrapper from session content.
• 789c8643c — Chat various improvements (Chat various improvements #3942)
• 74a296708 — fix(chat): adjust chat component sizing and positioning (fix(chat): adjust chat component sizing and positioning #3814)

Possible Root Causes

1. The button IS there but not visually obvious: The chat button is a floating circle at the bottom-right (not a header tab). If the user is looking for it among Summary/Lecture/Memos/Transcript tabs, they won't find it there. The user might try pressing Cmd+J to toggle the chat panel.

2. Hide-on-caret behavior: If the cursor is positioned near the bottom of the editor, the button slides almost entirely off-screen. Moving the mouse away from the bottom should make it reappear.

3. Feature flag query timing: The useQuery for the flag has a 10-second refetch interval. If the initial IPC call to the Rust backend fails silently, the button won't render until a successful refetch.

4. Asset loading: The button uses /assets/dynamic.gif — if this asset fails to load, the button would appear as a blank white circle that's easy to miss against a white background.

Suggested Investigation

• Ask the user to try Cmd+J (or Ctrl+J on non-Mac) to toggle the chat panel
• Check if the button appears when scrolling to the top of the note (away from bottom edge)
• Inspect the DOM for [data-chat-trigger] element to confirm if it's present but hidden
• Check DevTools console for any IPC errors related to the flag plugin