[Feature]: Allow Sidebar V2 threads to be sorted by recent activity

[bsmassena]

Before submitting

• I searched existing issues and did not find a duplicate.
• I am describing a concrete problem or use case, not just a vague idea.

Area

apps/web

Problem or use case

Sidebar V2 keeps active threads in creation order. When I return to an older unfinished thread and continue working in it, the thread remains far down the list instead of moving near the top.

This makes active work unnecessarily hard to find. I often have to scan or search through the sidebar again immediately after sending a new message in an older thread.

Issue #805 requested this behavior previously and was closed after thread activity sorting was implemented in version 0.0.14. However, Sidebar V2 currently uses a separate creation-order rule, so the original use case is no longer covered there.

Proposed solution

Allow users to choose how active threads are sorted in Sidebar V2:

• Created at: preserve the current stable creation order.
• Recent activity: show the thread with the most recent user message first.

This should be a user preference rather than changing the default behavior for everyone. When I send a new message to an older unfinished thread, it should move to the top of the active thread list when Recent activity is selected.

Pinned threads should keep their manual ordering. Snoozed and Settled sections should keep their existing ordering rules.

If possible, Sidebar V2 could reuse the existing sidebarThreadSortOrder setting, which already supports updated_at and created_at and is used by the legacy sidebar and other thread lists.

Why this matters

Users often return to older unfinished threads to continue a task. Creation order does not reflect what they are currently working on, so active threads can remain buried below many newer but inactive threads.

An optional recent-activity order would keep current work easy to reach while preserving the stable creation-order behavior for users who prefer it.

Smallest useful scope

Add a Created at / Recent activity sorting option for active threads in the web/desktop Sidebar V2.

The first version only needs to reorder active, unpinned threads using the existing client-side thread timestamps and persisted sidebar sort preference. Pinned, Snoozed, and Settled ordering can remain unchanged.

Alternatives considered

I currently use sidebar search or manually scan the list to find the old thread again. Pinning can help for known long-running threads, but it is not practical to pin every thread I may return to.

Automatically changing the behavior for everyone could make the sidebar feel unstable, so an explicit sorting preference seems preferable.

Risks or tradeoffs

Recent-activity sorting causes rows to move when users resume older threads. That movement is intentional in this mode but may be undesirable for users who value positional stability, which is why the existing creation-order behavior should remain available and can remain the default.

The activity timestamp should be narrowly defined. Using the latest user message would avoid moving threads because of unrelated metadata or background status updates.

Examples or references

Related issue:

• Order threads in a project based on activity #805 — Order threads in a project based on activity

Related Sidebar V2 discussion:

• [Feature]: Prioritize Sidebar V2 threads that need review #4695 — Prioritize Sidebar V2 threads that need review

Sidebar V2 currently documents its active-thread ordering as static creation order, with activity intentionally not reordering the list.

Contribution

• I would be open to helping implement this.

[Torrey-Smith-165]

I am desperately in need of this feature. Or even the ability to customize the order of threads that are non-settled (what are threads that aren't settled called?). Drag + Drop re-ordering similar to codex would be the ultimate goal I assume.

I am frequently having 20-25+ threads that are "non-settled", and having to scroll down to the 23rd thread which happens to be the main thread I am working on currently is extremely annoying for my workflow. Ideally I would be able to drag+drop re-order it to one of the first slots.

Don't want to step on any toes, but happy to put a PR up for this if given blessing.

Codex drag+drop re-order for reference:

[bsmassena]

I implemented this issue in my fork and ended up with two sorting options: "Created" and "Last user message".

I initially considered sorting by "Last activity", but that caused threads to move up every time the agent sent another response. In practice, "Last user message" worked much better, since the thread stays in place while the agent is working.

Drag and drop would definitely be a nice addition too.

[kirillrocks]

Like is it random right now?

[olafura]

This gist is a demonstration of how this feature could be built or customized with the Qt/QML branch. It is an example to try and adapt, not a complete implementation of the discussion request or a feature shipped in upstream T3 Code.

I made an opt-in Last user message sort for the Qt sidebar. It changes Active rows only, leaves Pinned/Snoozed/Settled alone, and can switch back to the page's original order. This gist uses the repository's existing Rosé dashboard example, with the controls above the page.

It uses user-message timestamps rather than general updates, so agent responses and renames don't reshuffle the list. The preference is local. Native sidebar arrows follow the displayed order; global next/previous shortcuts retain the page's order.

Demonstration gist and setup.

The screenshot uses demo data.

Code and checks assisted by Codex.

[olafura]

Sorry for the lack of context this is showing how using this technique in the linked discussion would help with your issue #10708

[lexabu]

+1. I run a lot of parallel threads, and the thread I'm working in keeps getting buried under ones I made more recently. That's the bug in #16412: activity never re-sorts the list.

The "Last message" option in #15216 would fix the main problem. I'd also like the usual set of sort choices, same as most chat and email clients:

• Last message sent (newest first): the most useful default for active work. As @bsmassena said, it's better than "last activity" because rows don't jump while the agent streams.
• Last activity: includes agent replies and completed runs, so threads that just finished come to the top.
• Created (newest or oldest first): today's behavior.
• Alphabetical by title.
• Manual / configured order: keep drag-to-reorder.

Pinned, snoozed and settled can keep their own ordering. If the sort is saved per environment as #15216 does, it would also cover the mobile apps (#14358, #15711).

[AdEx-Partners-DE]

A data point from a fork that has run a different answer to this since yesterday (so: early): order the active list by what the thread needs from you, not by a timestamp.

The setting has three values: Manual (today's behaviour), By status, and By project. By status sorts into tiers:

1. waiting on an approval or an answer (longest wait first)
2. failed
3. stopped on a usage limit
4. finished, unread
5. finished, read
6. waiting / working

Within a tier the existing order is kept, so nothing is reshuffled there.

Why this may be relevant to the thread here: @bsmassena found that "last activity" makes rows jump on every agent response and settled on "last user message". A status order has the same calm property for a different reason. A row only moves when its state changes (agent finishes, asks, fails), which is exactly the moment you want it to move. With 15 to 20 active threads on Windows, the top of the list is now always the thing that is blocked on me.

It does not replace a "last message" sort; the two answer different questions ("what did I touch" vs "what needs me"). It is one more value on the same setting, and the sort itself is a pure function with unit tests (orderInboxThreads in Sidebar.logic.ts).

Implementation (web only so far, client setting, picked from a sort button in the sidebar header): https://github.com/AdEx-Partners-DE/t3code/tree/feat/sidebar-inbox-order-and-project-colors

No screenshots, because my sidebar is full of client project names. Mobile is not covered.

Posted by Claude (AI) on behalf of @AdEx-Partners-DE; not reviewed by a human.