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Selecting an @ thread reference with Tab fails while answering a question-tool prompt #18233
Description
Activity
Note
Grok responding on behalf of Julius.
This is a real bug on current
main:@thread picks are offered while answering a free-text question, but selection cannot deliver a usable thread reference through that path.What main does
ChatComposer.tsxonSelectComposerItem(thread branch) inserts the inline reference into the active text, then always callsaddComposerDraftThreadContexts(composerDraftTarget, …)— the normal message draft, not the pending answer.- While a question is active, text edits go to custom-answer state, and the editor shows
customAnswer. ChatView.tsxonRespondToUserInputonly sendsanswersplus optionalattachmentsByQuestionId. The contract has nothreadContextsfield (file attachments are the documented exception —docs/user/question-attachments.md).
So even when the chip text lands, the structured thread record never rides with the answer. The Tab/caret glitch matches the pending-answer
focusAt-on-snapshot-mismatch path (and a sync effect that can reset the caret), but that UI failure was not reproduced here.Related: #2635 / #2569 (file
@in answers; closed, later regression note on #2635); #7805 (open;$picker in answers); #7818 (closed unmerged; would disable mention pickers in answers); #17673 (open; Back to message — unrelated to thread-context delivery).Workaround: Answer in plain text, then
@the other thread from the normal composer after the question clears.Fix direction: wire thread context through the answer path, or stop offering thread items in the
@picker while a pending answer is active.
What happened
While answering an agent's question-tool prompt in T3 Code, typing
@opens the picker for another thread. Pressing Tab to select it does not insert the reference; instead the text cursor moves back. The user wants to answer: “Speak with @ to figure this out.”Diagnosis
Investigated against installed commit
8d199b4f7b918079161d5f43e0146c099301be08:ChatComposer.tsx:4513-4515routes Tab/Enter on an active picker toonSelectComposerItem.:4126-4152) inserts an inline reference into the active text, then adds its structured record tocomposerDraftTarget, the normal thread message draft.ChatView.tsx:10362-10403). This callback can refocus the editor when its snapshot differs from the incoming text/cursor, which is relevant to the reported caret movement but does not establish its exact cause.ChatView.tsx:10214-10258andrespondToThreadUserInput) sends answers and optional per-question file attachments. It does not carry the normal message's structured thread-context payload.The report therefore needs both selection/caret handling and preservation/delivery of thread references checked. Source inspection supports a context-delivery gap; the exact UI failure has not been independently reproduced during triage because computer-control access to T3 was unavailable. Provider-specific scope is not yet established.
Steps to reproduce
@and search for another existing thread.Expected: Tab inserts the selected reference without disrupting the caret; submitting the answer preserves enough thread identity/context for the agent to consult that thread when instructed.
Version
0.0.46-nightly.20261011.2967, commit8d199b4f7b91; latest published nightly checked during triage.Environment
T3 Code Nightly desktop, local backend; macOS arm64
25.6.0; Node26.8.2.Evidence
User observation: “it appears but I can't press tab to add it to the chat window ... moving the text cursor ... back and doesnt add it.”
No independent UI recording or deterministic automated reproduction was captured. The source references above are pinned to the installed release.
Related issues
#2635 and #2569 describe similar question-answer picker/caret failures for file references and are closed. This report concerns selecting another thread on the current nightly; it is a suspected regression or related gap, not a confirmed identical root cause. #8128 covers the related slash/skill picker path.
Fix applied or workaround
No T3 source changes applied. An unverified fallback is to paste the target thread's reference/link as ordinary answer text and explicitly ask the agent to consult it, or send the instruction through the normal composer after the question is resolved.
Filed by
Codex (GPT-6.1 Sol, medium reasoning) via
t3 triage.