Application Switcher to navigate between recent workspaces/chats

[soyasis]

Problem:
It often takes time to find the "right" conversation when you have multiple repos and workspaces open

Propose solution:
Use control+tab (macOS) to navigate between last n conversations/workspaces.
Inspiration from: macOS App Switcher (command+tab) and Arc/Zen control+tab tab switcher

Related issues:

• Mouse back/forward and Cmd+[/] should navigate between past screens and agents #4564

[ongocompany]

Here's a variant I've been running on my fork of 0.8.0, recorded with mock projects:

paseo-recent-strip-and-chips.mp4

A recent-workspaces strip under the workspace header.

• Each workspace you open lands at the left of the strip as a "project · workspace" card, and the current one is outlined. It keeps the last five.
• Cmd+[ / Cmd+] step along the strip on desktop (Alt+[ / Alt+] in the browser) instead of walking the whole sidebar. Cmd+1…9 still follow sidebar order.
• Revisiting a card doesn't reorder the strip, so positions stay put while you hop back and forth.

Finished sessions dock in the same strip. When a session in another workspace finishes or needs input, its card shows in the middle for about three seconds, then shrinks into a chip on the left of the strip. Chips stack in arrival order. Clicking one opens that session and clears it, and opening the workspace any other way clears it too. This covers the "traverse the attention queue without scanning the sidebar" part of #4495.

With a couple dozen projects and several agents running, most of my switching is between the same few places, and finding them in a long sidebar was the slow part. It's app-only, about 600 lines on top of the fork's existing attention card. The shortcut choice overlaps with #4564, which wants Cmd+[ / Cmd+] for back/forward history.

[paseo-bot[bot]]

Getting back to recent workspaces will have another route with PR #7277: open the Command Center with Cmd+K on macOS or Ctrl+K elsewhere and leave the search empty to see the five most recently active workspaces and agents in their respective sections. Rows also show when they were last active. This uses activity time, rather than the order you visited conversations, and does not add a Ctrl+Tab switcher.

This is merged for the next release; the next version number is not decided yet. The current stable release, v0.11.4, and latest beta, v0.12.0-beta.2, do not contain it. Watch the repository’s releases if you want it sooner, as changes often appear in a beta before stable.

Thanks for describing the friction when switching between conversations across repositories.

[961853266hyt]

I built the switcher this thread asks for, on a fork, and I'd like to either ship it as a plugin or offer it to core. Demo (mock sessions; captions added for the video):

The problem
With a dozen agents running across projects, what I keep losing is which session I was just in. I reply to one agent, jump to another, and by the time I want the first one back I've lost track of where it was. The sidebar is sorted by project, not by what I was doing. Working memory holds about four things at once (Cowan, 2001), and ADHD makes that budget tighter.

demo.mp4

What it does

• Hold ⌥ and press Tab (Ctrl+Tab in the Windows/Linux desktop app) to see the sessions you viewed most recently. Each row shows its project icon, workspace, status (working, needs input, ready to review, failed) and when you last looked at it.
• Keep pressing Tab (⇧Tab goes back), or use ↑/↓ or the mouse, then release ⌥ to switch. Esc cancels.
• A quick tap of ⌥Tab jumps straight back to the previous session without showing the list, like ⌘Tab.
• Settings → Session switcher lets you order by last viewed (the default) or last activity, and show 2–15 sessions.

How it differs from ⌘K's recent rows (#7277)
⌘K with an empty search is great for finding things. This is for bouncing between the few sessions I'm actively juggling:

• It follows the order I visited sessions, so the one I just left is always next, even while other agents keep producing output and reshuffle activity order.
• It's one chord with no typing and no Enter: hold, tap, release.
• Every row shows its status, so I can see which session is waiting on me before I switch.

Why it isn't a plugin
I wanted to ship this as a plugin, but the client plugin API doesn't expose what it needs:

1. A keyboard shortcut with key-up / modifier-release events (see Allow plugins to add keyboard shortcuts #5023 and Keyboard shortcuts for plugin commands #5979).
2. A way to open a session. Plugins can openScreen, openPanel and openSettings, but can't navigate to an agent.
3. A signal for which session is focused, to build the "last viewed" history.
4. A surface above the app for the overlay. Plugin UI currently lives in screens, panels, buttons and timeline rows.

If there's interest

I understand that Paseo keeps a lean core and that PRs are closed by default, so I'm not assuming this belongs in core. I'd just like to ask whether either of these might make sense:

• More capabilities for plugins. If the extension points above were available, I'd be glad to publish the switcher as a plugin and maintain it there, so core stays unchanged.
• A small change to core. If you feel a switcher fits Paseo itself, I'd be happy to open a focused PR, or you're welcome to use the branch as a reference in whatever way is useful. It's client-only, with no daemon or protocol changes: about 1,000 lines of app code, plus about 600 lines of tests and strings for all 9 locales. So far I've only tested it in the web app (Chromium), and I'd test the macOS desktop app, Safari and the Windows/Linux desktop app before sending anything.

Thanks for building Paseo, and for taking the time to read this. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

• FYI: 961853266hyt/oh-my-paseo · feat/session-mru-switcher

[paseo-bot[bot]]

Seeing which session needs you before switching gets another option in merged PR #7690. In Command Center (Cmd+K on macOS, Ctrl+K elsewhere), agent results show their provider icon with running, waiting-for-input, ready-for-review or failed indicators, and workspace results show status over their project icon. These update while the list stays open.

This covers the status-preview part of your switcher workflow; it does not add last-viewed ordering or switching on modifier release. Thanks for explaining why seeing status before choosing a session matters.

It is merged and will be in the next release; the next version number is not decided yet. Neither current stable v0.12.0 nor latest beta v0.13.0-beta.1 contains it. Watch Paseo releases if you want it sooner, changes often appear in a beta before stable.

[AlessandroVol23]

I would love that as well! Coming from Claude Desktop where this is implemented quite nicely :)