Config option for sidebar section order (agents / spaces / machines), including the phone view

[vinifonz]

Config option for sidebar section order (agents / spaces / machines), including the phone view

herdr version: 0.9.0 stable, Linux client, multi-machine over Tailscale (5 saved machines).

Current behavior

The sidebar's sections render in a fixed vertical order: machines list first, then spaces, then the agents panel. The only ordering key in the config reference is ui.agent_panel_sort (spaces | priority), which sorts entries inside the agents panel. There is no key to reposition the sections relative to each other, and the docs note that collapsed/mobile views "keep their compact layouts", so the phone sidebar cannot be rearranged either.

Proposal

A config key that sets the section order, applied to all sidebar views (expanded desktop, collapsed, mobile):

[ui]
sidebar_section_order = ["agents", "spaces", "machines"]   # default: current fixed order

• Values: agents, spaces, machines; missing sections keep a sensible default position, unknown values rejected by herdr config check.
• Optional finer control if cheap: separate defaults per view (sidebar_section_order_mobile), since a narrow phone view is where the top section dominates what is visible without scrolling.

Motivation

With 0.9's Connecting Machines, the sidebar now carries three sections of very different volatility. Agents is the fastest-moving and most actionable one (which agent is blocked or waiting on me); spaces changes occasionally; the machines list is nearly static — it only matters when I deliberately switch machines. On a phone attached over SSH, only the top of the sidebar fits the screen, so machines-first pushes the agents panel off-screen even though nothing in the machines list changed since the last look. Agents-first would match how the panel is actually read on small screens.

Two earlier asks in issues were closed before this could collect signal: #2039 (agents panel above spaces, closed for not using the bug template) and #3873 (reordering saved machines within the machines list, redirected here). This proposal is the general form of #2039 extended to the 0.9 three-section layout; #3873 would still be useful as a separate, complementary drag/reorder affordance within the machines list.

Workaround tried

None available. Setting ui.agent_panel_sort = "priority" only changes agent sort order inside the panel, and ui.sidebar.* keys style rows without moving sections.

[azizoid]

I'd like this too. I check the Agents list much more often than I switch machines, so putting Machines first pushes the information I need most below a section I rarely use. Please consider an Agents-first order, with the ability to place Machines below it (and Spaces wherever makes sense when that section is present). A simple configurable section order would cover this well.