Preflight Checklist
Problem Statement
In the VSCode extension, a conversation where Claude has responded but the user hasn't looked at it yet looks identical to an old conversation the user already reviewed. There's no visual distinction between "has unread responses" and "already seen."
The existing status icons (running, waiting for plan approval) are great for showing active state, but once a conversation completes, there's no way to tell if you've reviewed the output or not.
Proposed Solution
Add an unread indicator using a new color on the existing status circle. The colored circle pattern is already familiar to users (green for running, etc.), so adding a color for "has unread responses" would be consistent and immediately intuitive.
- Mark as unread when Claude produces responses the user hasn't viewed
- Mark as read when the user opens and views the conversation
Use Case Example
Before: User has 15 past conversations. Some have new responses from Claude, others were reviewed days ago. They all look the same — the user has to click through them one by one to find which have new output.
After: Conversations with unread responses show a distinct color on their status circle. The user immediately sees which ones need attention.
Alternative Solutions
Priority
Medium — becomes more important as users accumulate conversations.
Feature Category
IDE Integration (VSCode extension)
Preflight Checklist
Problem Statement
In the VSCode extension, a conversation where Claude has responded but the user hasn't looked at it yet looks identical to an old conversation the user already reviewed. There's no visual distinction between "has unread responses" and "already seen."
The existing status icons (running, waiting for plan approval) are great for showing active state, but once a conversation completes, there's no way to tell if you've reviewed the output or not.
Proposed Solution
Add an unread indicator using a new color on the existing status circle. The colored circle pattern is already familiar to users (green for running, etc.), so adding a color for "has unread responses" would be consistent and immediately intuitive.
Use Case Example
Before: User has 15 past conversations. Some have new responses from Claude, others were reviewed days ago. They all look the same — the user has to click through them one by one to find which have new output.
After: Conversations with unread responses show a distinct color on their status circle. The user immediately sees which ones need attention.
Alternative Solutions
Priority
Medium — becomes more important as users accumulate conversations.
Feature Category
IDE Integration (VSCode extension)