Changes view is single-checkout: nested git checkouts (vendored repos) are invisible

[sirwolfgang]

What I'm asking for

The changes view inspects exactly one checkout: the repository that contains the session's working directory. That default is right, but it makes an entire class of workspace invisible.

In our workspace, several subdirectories are independent git checkouts that the root repository ignores (not submodules). Their changes never appear anywhere:

• Forge changes view: nothing. The root repo sees neither tracked nor untracked changes there — the paths are ignored, so diff has nothing to show and ls-files --others --exclude-standard excludes them.
• Changed-files card / changes-review tab: also nothing. workspace-changes records nested repositories as gitlinks, so a tracked submodule would at least show a commit move; an ignored checkout is simply absent.

VS Code avoids this by scanning the workspace for .git and registering one SCM provider per nested repository. The closest equivalent here is a checkout row in the changes tab.

Smallest shape I would propose

• Enumerate nested checkouts under the session directory (bounded depth, skipping .git internals and the configured worktree pool).
• Show a checkout row above the scope menu (Branch / Uncommitted / Unstaged / Staged) when more than one checkout is found.
• Key the panel state and tab address by checkout, and run the existing localDiff against that checkout instead of the session cwd.
• Leave workspace-changes out of scope for this proposal; the changes tab is where we review while the agent works.

Reproduction

mkdir -p /tmp/x && cd /tmp/x && git init -q root && cd root
git commit -q --allow-empty -m base
mkdir -p vendored && (cd vendored && git init -q && git commit -q --allow-empty -m base)
echo 'vendored/' > .gitignore
echo change >> vendored/file.txt
git status --short                      # empty
git ls-files --others --exclude-standard # empty

With a session in /tmp/x/root and the forge bundle enabled, the changes view lists nothing even though vendored/ has a new file.

Related discussions

• [Bug] 进入独立 worktree 后，forge 面板仍显示上一个检出里的变更请求 #12273 — forge bindings are not scoped to a checkout: same blind spot, surfacing as stale change requests.
• [0.2.2-rc.1] 启用 forge bundle 后，旧独立 worktree bundle 无 UI 入口关闭 → 同 id 行重复 + 开关锁定（含实测 workaround） #12171 — composing the forge bundle with a standalone worktree bundle duplicates rows and locks the toggle.
• [dsh-superagent] Support multiple isolated instances in one profile, or a first-class multi-repo mode #11947 — a first-class multi-repo mode (broader ask).
• [Feature Proposal] Add git controls tab in web UI (like GitHub Desktop) / 在 Web 端增加类 GitHub Desktop 风格的 Git 控制与仓库检查标签页 #2866 — a git controls tab (earlier proposal for a wider git surface).
• DSH｜DSH Workbench｜在 DeepSeek Harness Web 中查看文件与审查改动 #5577 — DSH Workbench, a community plugin that shows session, staged and unstaged changes.
• [Bug] grep skips gitignored children; README and glob include them #8580 — grep skips gitignored children: the same "ignored nested content is invisible" failure.
• [Proposal] 在 forge 面板中展示宿主端的 review 评论正文 #12265 — showing review comment bodies in the forge panel (adjacent review gap).

Also noticed while testing the review loop (separate; no action needed here)

• On a local changes tab, line comments only offer Add to input. They are browser-local and cleared when the tab closes, so they cannot act as a review queue.
• The panel reads the index (Staged) but never writes it, so accepting a hunk still means dropping to a terminal.

Happy to test a patch against our layout, or to prototype the enumeration as a plugin if that is the preferred route.