Error instead of silently failing when browsing an unreachable environment

[colonelpanic8]

What Changed

The add-project browser (⌘K → Add project → Local folder) resolves paths on the selected environment's filesystem via filesystemEnvironment.browse, but never read that query's error. This adds an explicit availability check and fails closed instead of failing silently.

• New pure resolveBrowseAvailability in CommandPalette.logic.ts maps the environment's connection phase (available / offline / connecting / reconnecting / error / connected) onto an Available | Unavailable { message } verdict, carrying the underlying reason when there is one. It is keyed on reachability only — a browse failure on a reachable host means the path does not exist yet (the server returns read_directory_failed for a missing parent), which is exactly the Create & Add case, so it must not gate submission.
• The browse RPC is no longer issued at all unless the environment is connected.
• canSubmitBrowsePath is false when unavailable, which disables the Enter path, the submit button, and the clone-destination step (they share it). This also withholds the "create this folder and add it as a project" affordance, so the UI can never offer to create a directory on a host it failed to inspect.
• The reason renders in the results empty state instead of a blank list.
• handleAddProjectForEnvironment refuses with an explicit toast when the target environment is not connected, reusing the same verdict so the toast states the reason rather than a bare status word. This is the layer that covers the desktop folder-picker entry point, which bypasses the browse UI entirely.
• ChatComposer's @-path mention search dropped its error the same way, so an unreachable environment rendered "No matching files or folders." That reads as a definitive answer to a question we never got to ask; it now surfaces the actual failure.

Why

Browsing resolves paths on a machine that may not be reachable, so "no entries" and "could not ask" are very different answers that looked identical.

Reproduced against a paired remote environment that was then killed: the palette rendered an empty Directories group indistinguishable from an empty directory, showed no reason anywhere, and left the Add button enabled. Pressing Enter did nothing at all — no toast, no error, no state change. The failure was entirely invisible.

FileBrowserPanel and FilePreviewPanel already render .error for project file reads, so the add-project browser and the composer path search were the outliers rather than the convention.

UI Changes

Both captures are the same flow — Add project → the remote environment → Local folder → ~/ — against a paired remote whose backend was killed.

Before	After

Before: empty list, no reason, Add enabled, Enter silently does nothing.
After: Reconnecting to railbird-sf. Reason: Failed to fetch remote environment endpoint http://127.0.0.1:47319/.well-known/t3/environment (HttpClientError: Transport error ...), Add disabled.

Verified live in the web app against two t3 serve instances: the second was paired as a remote environment, confirmed Connected, then killed to produce the unreachable state.

Checklist

• This PR is small and focused
• I explained what changed and why
• I included before/after screenshots for any UI changes
• No animation/interaction change, so no video

Validation:

• vp test run apps/web/src/components/CommandPalette.logic.test.ts (14 tests, 9 new)
• vp run --filter @t3tools/web typecheck (no errors in changed files)
• vp lint on all four changed files (no new findings)
• vp fmt --check on all four changed files

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Note

Medium Risk
Changes add-project and composer path flows that depend on remote environment connectivity; behavior is guarded by tests and scoped to reachability, but incorrect gating could block legitimate folder creation or allow silent failures.

Overview
Unreachable remote environments used to look like empty directories in add-project browse and @ path search. This PR fails closed on connection reachability while keeping Create & Add working on connected hosts when the path does not exist yet.

resolveBrowseAvailability maps environment connection phase (and optional error text) to Available or Unavailable with a user-facing message. It intentionally ignores browse/RPC failures when phase is connected, so missing-parent read_directory_failed still allows folder creation.

The command palette skips filesystemEnvironment.browse unless the selected environment is connected, hides directory listings when unavailable, shows the reason in the empty state, and disables path submit (Add / Create & Add / clone destination). handleAddProjectForEnvironment (including desktop folder picker) shows the same message in an error toast instead of attempting the add.

Chat composer @ path mentions now show workspaceEntries.error in the menu empty state instead of “No matching files or folders.” when the lookup failed.

Unit tests cover resolveBrowseAvailability, including connected + browse error staying available.

^{Reviewed by Cursor Bugbot for commit fc2294e. Bugbot is set up for automated code reviews on this repo. Configure here.}

Note

Show error instead of silently failing when browsing an unreachable environment

• Adds resolveBrowseAvailability in CommandPalette.logic.ts that returns an Available/Unavailable verdict with a user-facing message based on the environment's connection phase and error reason.
• The command palette skips filesystem browse queries, hides browse lists, and disables path submission when the selected environment is not connected.
• Adding a project via handleAddProjectForEnvironment now shows a toast error with a specific availability message instead of attempting an operation that will fail.
• The chat composer's path search menu surfaces the actual error message instead of the generic "No matching files or folders."

^{Macroscope summarized fc2294e.}

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Review follow-up (429e392)

Bugbot caught two issues on the first commit; both are fixed.

Browse errors blocked folder creation (high). Real regression, and my fault for unit-testing that branch instead of exercising it. WorkspaceEntries.browse only swallows EACCES/EPERM to an empty listing — ENOENT propagates as read_directory_failed. Treating that as Unavailable made canSubmitBrowsePath false, so Create & Add could never create a folder that did not already exist. Availability is now keyed on connection phase alone. Verified end to end: on a connected environment ~/brand-new-folder-xyz/ shows an enabled Create & Add, and Enter creates the directory and adds the project. Regression test added pinning connected + browse error to Available.

Toast used status, not reason (medium). connectionStatusText renders the bare phase word, so the refusal really did read "Failed to add project — Available". The guard now reuses the availability verdict and reads " isn't connected."

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[macroscopeapp]

Approvability

Verdict: Approved

This is a well-scoped UX improvement that adds proper error messages when browsing an unreachable environment. The changes are self-contained with comprehensive test coverage, involving pure logic additions and UI error display without modifying core business logic.

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[cursor]

Cursor Bugbot has reviewed your changes using high effort and found 2 potential issues.

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^{Reviewed by Cursor Bugbot for commit fc2294e. Configure here.}

[cursor]

Missing env skips refuse guard

Low Severity

When environments.find misses the target id, targetAvailability stays null and the new refuse path never runs, so add continues instead of failing closed. resolveBrowseAvailability already maps a null phase to an Unavailable verdict with a clear message, but that branch is skipped here.

 

^{Reviewed by Cursor Bugbot for commit fc2294e. Configure here.}

[cursor]

Guard blocks opening existing projects

Medium Severity

The new availability refuse runs before findProjectByPath, so an unreachable environment blocks reopening a project that already exists locally. That hits the desktop folder-picker path, which stays enabled while browse submit is disabled, and turns a local open into a Failed to add project toast.

Additional Locations (1)

• apps/web/src/components/CommandPalette.tsx#L1338-L1373

 

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