fix(Dialog): capture the opener before descendant autofocus effects

[ManoharPaturi]

Fixes #5637

Summary

A controlled Dialog whose content mounts in the open commit restored focus to <body> on close. Two defects, both fixed:

1. The opener was captured too late. The Dialog captured document.activeElement in its passive effect, but React runs child passive effects before the parent's — so a freshly mounted DialogHeader focused its own title first, and the Dialog captured its own heading. When closing unmounts that content, focus restoration targeted a detached node and the user's focus stranded on <body>. The capture now runs in a useLayoutEffect on the open edge: all layout effects run before any passive effect, so the capture always sees the element the user was on before the dialog's descendants moved focus.
2. DialogHeader focused its title while the dialog was closed. Its shouldAutoFocus check only excluded inline mode, and the standard path renders children (hidden) while closed, so a header mounted under isOpen={false} stole focus onto an invisible element. DialogContext now carries isOpen, and the header suppresses autofocus while closed — its effect re-runs when the dialog opens, so the title still becomes the screen reader anchor on open, exactly as before for content that mounts in the open commit.

Tests

• Regression 1 (the issue's minimal shape): opener button → open with content mounting in the same commit → title focused while open → close → document.activeElement is the opener. Failed on main (focus landed on <body>), passes here.
• Regression 2: DialogHeader mounted under isOpen={false} leaves focus on <body>. Failed on main (title stolen focus), passes here.
• Full Dialog directory: 85 passed. Dependent suites (CommandPalette, BottomSheet, Popover, Layer): 490 passed.

Verification

tsc --noEmit clean (core); eslint 0 problems on touched files; prettier clean; check:changesets clean. Changeset included.

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Project	Deployment	Actions	Updated
astryx	Ready	Preview	Sep 24, 2026 7:06pm UTC

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PR Analysis Report

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No new or modified components detected.

Bundle Size Summary

Package	Size (ESM)	Size (CJS)	Gzipped
@astryxdesign/core	N/A	4.9KB	1.2KB

Accessibility Audit

Status: No accessibility violations detected.

Visual Regression

25 of 420 shot(s) changed. View the report

A change here is a question, not a failure: check whether the after is the
picture you intended. Record that review on the PR. Baseline maintenance is an
explicit dispatch of CI; this report never rewrites the baseline or adds a release gate.

component	story	theme	mode	pixels
Chat	Full AI Chat	probe	light	42,708
Chat	Empty State	probe	light	42,708
Chat	Full AI Chat	probe	dark	41,786
Chat	Empty State	probe	dark	41,786
Slider	Default	probe	light	15,617
Slider	Default	probe	dark	15,615
Chat	With Attachments	probe	light	12,964
Chat	With Attachments	probe	dark	12,114
InputGroup	With Typeahead	probe	light	11,012
InputGroup	With Typeahead	probe	dark	9,189
ComplexSelector	Tree list with search	probe	light	6,245
TextArea	Vertical Form Alignment	probe	light	5,634
ComplexSelector	Tree list with search	probe	dark	5,602
TextArea	Vertical Form Alignment	probe	dark	5,047
ComplexSelector	Fruit ripeness selector	neutral	light	4,007
ComplexSelector	Fruit ripeness selector	neutral	dark	3,825
ToggleButton	Group Single	probe	dark	1,538
ToggleButton	Group Single	probe	light	1,538
MediaTheme	On Dark	neutral	dark	838
Banner	Collapsible Content (Expanded)	probe	dark	92

and 5 more.

Chat — Full AI Chat — probe light

Before	After	Diff

Chat — Empty State — probe light

Before	After	Diff

Chat — Full AI Chat — probe dark

Before	After	Diff

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[astracat-bot]

AI review status for this pull request.

Review status	Updated
🟡 Reviewed (for maintainers only)	Sep 24, 2026, 8:07 PM UTC

[astracat-bot]

Thanks — the focus fix itself looks right and matches the Dialog contract: capturing the opener in a layout effect means a DialogHeader that mounts in the open commit can no longer replace the return target, and suppressing header autofocus while the dialog is closed stops focus landing on an invisible title. The new regressions cover both shapes, and the Dialog and dependent suites pass.

One change is needed before this lands:

• packages/core/src/Dialog/__tests__/Dialog.a11y.known-failures.ts still records modal-dialog.focus.restored for the conditional-content-focus-restoration state as a current failure ("closing the modal dialog did not return focus to its still-available invoker"). This PR makes that outcome pass, and the Chromium accessibility contract requires every known-failure record to match exactly one executed result — an unmatched record fails Dialog.a11y.chromium.spec.ts when it runs at release-check (it does not run in PR CI, which is why checks are green). Please delete just that record, keeping the enters-after-modal record, whose focus-entry ordering this PR does not change and which remains accurate. Running the Dialog Chromium accessibility spec after the removal, where a browser is available, would confirm it.

No other blocking issues were found; the pre-existing focus-entry ordering issue stays recorded and is out of scope here.

[Automated review]