bug(desktop): flat "Sessions" list missing from sidebar after update (only Pinned/Projects show, search still works)

[rrschott-ai]

Environment

• Hermes Agent v0.18.0 (2026.7.1), upstream 19d4174
• Windows 11
• Desktop app, single profile ("default")

What happened

After updating (desktop auto-update), the sidebar's flat "recent sessions"
list disappeared. The nav rail (New session / Capabilities / Messaging /
Artifacts), Pinned section, and Projects section still render fine.
Sessions are still findable via the sidebar search box, but there's no way
to browse/navigate the plain recent-sessions roster directly anymore.

Steps to reproduce

1. Update to v0.18.0 / upstream 19d4174 (includes Capabilities page (Skills/Tools/MCP + Hub) + responsive overlay nav & mobile polish (desktop) #57590)
2. Open the desktop app
3. Look at the sidebar below Pinned/Projects — no flat Sessions section

Expected

A "Sessions" (or ungrouped/recents) section listing recent sessions,
as before the update.

Actual

No such section. Pinned and Projects still show. Search still finds
sessions by title/id (works fine — likely via the new #57685
/sessions search), but there's no direct list to click into.

Already ruled out

• Not a narrow-sidebar/responsive-width issue — widened the sidebar fully,
  no change.
• Not a stale-renderer issue — fully quit the app (tray → quit, not just
  closed the window) and relaunched, no change.
• Not a profile-routing issue (fix(desktop): route profile roster through active profile #57810 / fix(desktop): honor CLI's sticky active_profile on desktop startup #57916) — only one profile exists
  ("default"), no ~/.hermes/active_profile override file present.

Suspected cause

Landed same day as the update, touches exactly this area:
#57590 "Capabilities page (Skills/Tools/MCP + Hub) + responsive overlay
nav & mobile polish (desktop)" — reworks sessions-section.tsx and
master-detail.tsx in apps/desktop/src/app/chat/sidebar/.

[rrschott-ai]

[GottZ]

This was generated by AI during triage.

Summary

One PR addresses #57968. #58069 restores the missing flat Sessions roster alongside the Projects browser by separating their rendering and adding an explicit visibility rule for grouped, overview, and project-scoped states.

Related pull requests

• fix(desktop): restore sidebar sessions with projects #58069 best fix — (+101/-10) — fixes: The diff directly corrects the Projects/Sessions switch that caused recents to disappear, retaining the project browser while rendering displayAgentSessions in a separate Sessions section on the projects overview and avoiding duplication inside a project. It also adds focused regression tests for all three visibility states; the contributor keep_open review confirms that this mechanism remains valid on current main and rates the fix highly salvageable.

Suggested consolidation

Merge #58069 — it directly addresses the reported sidebar regression, preserves project-scoped behavior, and adds regression coverage for the visibility rule. There are no competing PRs to close as duplicates.

Complex graph

flowchart LR
    classDef open fill:#dbeafe,stroke:#1d4ed8,color:#1e3a8a
    classDef merged fill:#dcfce7,stroke:#15803d,color:#14532d
    classDef closed fill:#e5e7eb,stroke:#6b7280,color:#1f2937
    classDef unverified fill:#f3f4f6,stroke:#9ca3af,color:#374151
    classDef best stroke-width:3px,stroke:#b45309
    classDef target stroke-width:3px,stroke:#4338ca
    I57968(["issue #57968 (open)"])
    P58069["PR #58069 (open)"]
    P58069 -->|best fix| I57968
    class I57968 open
    class I57968 target
    class P58069 open
    class P58069 best
    click I57968 "https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/issues/57968"
    click P58069 "https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/58069"

Loading

Graph: solid arrow = fixes / best fix, dashed arrow = partial or unverified (see edge label); boxed group = PRs duplicating each other; amber border = best fix; indigo border = target; gray node = closed or no verify verdict yet (state tag in the node label).

Cross-PR triage: Reviewed 1 pull request and 1 issue in this complex. Each diff was read against this issue; Assessment working set: 10 kB of PR diffs, 3 kB of issue/PR text, 1 kB of discussion (2 comments), 2 verify verdicts. verdicts reflect diff content, not PR titles. Part of an automated triage batch.