fix(chat): no-memory chat no longer says "Searching your memory…"

[alichherawalla]

Bug

With No memory selected, the generating chat still showed "●●● Searching your memory…" — even though a plain chat never touches memory.

Cause

The pre-first-token loader in MemoryChat.tsx hardcoded the string, ignoring the noMemory scope. (The backend is already correct — rag:chat returns early in the no-memory branch and never emits the searching step, so this was purely the frontend label.)

Fix

Extracted a pure, scope-aware waitingLabel():

• No-memory (plain chat) → "Thinking…"
• A project active → "Searching this project…"
• All-memory → "Searching your memory…"

Tests

chat-labels unit suite (3), including a guard that the no-memory label never contains "memory". tsc web clean.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

Summary by CodeRabbit

• New Features
  • Chat loading messages now adapt to context, showing more relevant status text for project-based chats and memory searches.
• Bug Fixes
  • Replaced the fixed “Searching your memory…” placeholder with a dynamic message so the app better reflects what it’s currently doing.
• Tests
  • Added coverage for the different loading messages to ensure the correct text appears in each chat scope.

[qodo-code-review]

PR Summary by Qodo

Fix no-memory chat loader text to avoid claiming memory search

🐞 Bug fix 🧪 Tests 🕐 20-40 Minutes

AI Description

• Replace hardcoded pre-first-token loader text with a scope-aware label
• Add a pure waitingLabel() helper shared by UI and unit tests
• Add unit coverage ensuring no-memory mode never mentions “memory”

Diagram

graph TD
  A["MemoryChat.tsx"] --> B["waitingLabel()"] --> C["Loader text"]
  D["chat-labels.test.ts"] --> B
  subgraph Legend
    direction LR
    _ui[UI component] ~~~ _util[Utility] ~~~ _test[Tests]
  end

Loading

High-Level Assessment

The following are alternative approaches to this PR:

1. Drive loader text directly from backend step/state

• ➕ Eliminates duplicated decision logic between frontend scope and backend behavior
• ➕ Naturally stays aligned if retrieval behavior changes (e.g., new steps)
• ➖ Requires broader wiring/state propagation for the pre-first-token phase
• ➖ More invasive than needed for a simple label bug fix

2. Use an enum + map for scope-to-label (future i18n-ready)

• ➕ Centralizes labels in a structure that is easy to localize later
• ➕ Makes it harder to introduce inconsistent strings across components
• ➖ Slightly more boilerplate than a small pure function for the current needs

Recommendation: The current approach is appropriate for the bug scope: a pure, scope-aware helper plus unit tests is minimal, keeps UI logic simple, and prevents regressions. If loader messaging expands or becomes localized, consider migrating to an enum/map structure or deriving the message from backend step state.

Files changed (3) +38 / -1

Enhancement (1) +17 / -0

chat-labels.tsAdd pure 'waitingLabel()' helper for loader messaging +17/-0

Add pure 'waitingLabel()' helper for loader messaging

• Introduces a small, UI-free utility that selects the correct pre-first-token loader label based on chat scope (project vs no-memory vs all-memory).

src/renderer/src/lib/chat-labels.ts

Bug fix (1) +2 / -1

MemoryChat.tsxUse scope-aware waiting label for pre-first-token loader +2/-1

Use scope-aware waiting label for pre-first-token loader

• Replaces the hardcoded “Searching your memory…” loader text with a call to 'waitingLabel({ noMemory, hasProject: !!activeProjectId })', ensuring the UI reflects the selected memory scope.

src/renderer/src/components/MemoryChat.tsx

Tests (1) +19 / -0

chat-labels.test.tsAdd unit tests for scope-aware waiting label +19/-0

Add unit tests for scope-aware waiting label

• Adds a Vitest suite covering no-memory, all-memory, and project-scoped cases, including a regression guard that the no-memory label never contains “memory”.

src/renderer/src/lib/tests/chat-labels.test.ts

[coderabbitai]

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Review profile: CHILL

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📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

Adds a new chat-labels.ts module exporting a ChatScope interface and waitingLabel function that returns scope-dependent status text. Integrates this into MemoryChat.tsx, replacing a hardcoded string with a computed label, and adds unit tests for the new function.

Changes

Scope-aware waiting label

Layer / File(s)	Summary
ChatScope contract and waitingLabel logic src/renderer/src/lib/chat-labels.ts	Defines ChatScope interface (hasProject, noMemory) and waitingLabel(scope) returning "Searching this project…", "Thinking…", or "Searching your memory…" based on flag precedence.
MemoryChat integration and tests src/renderer/src/components/MemoryChat.tsx, src/renderer/src/lib/__tests__/chat-labels.test.ts	Imports and uses waitingLabel in place of hardcoded status text, computed from noMemory and activeProjectId; adds Vitest tests covering the three label scenarios.

Estimated code review effort: 1 (Trivial) | ~5 minutes

Related Issues: None mentioned.

Related PRs: None mentioned.

Suggested labels: enhancement, frontend, tests

Suggested reviewers: None specified.

Poem

A rabbit taps its keys with glee,
"Thinking…" or "Searching…", let's see!
No memory? A simple thought.
A project scoped? Search is sought.
Three little labels, tested tight—
Hopping through code, all just right! 🐰

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 5

✅ Passed checks (5 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title accurately describes the main user-visible fix: no-memory chats no longer show the misleading loading text.
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.

✨ Finishing Touches

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests
• Commit unit tests in branch fix/no-memory-waiting-label

---

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[qodo-code-review]

Code Review by Qodo

🐞 Bugs (0) 📘 Rule violations (0) 📎 Requirement gaps (0)

Great, no issues found!

Qodo reviewed your code and found no material issues that require review

[alichherawalla]

🧭 Provit — no-memory chat label (judged by Claude)

Built the fix, ran the app on a synthetic-seeded profile, switched the chat to No memory, sent a message, and captured the generation state. Evaluated the frames with the Claude Code backend.

Verified — scope is "No memory":

Verified — generation shows NO "Searching your memory…" text (plain dots loader, no false memory claim):

On the exact loader from the bug report: that's the pre-first-token "working…" box (shown only while generating with no streaming message yet). Its on-screen window is now sub-frame when the model starts fast — even screenshots every 60 ms landed after the streaming placeholder replaced it — so it can't be grabbed as a still here. Its label is now driven by the scope-aware waitingLabel(), which is unit-tested: No-memory → "Thinking…", with an explicit assertion that the no-memory label never contains "memory". The backend was already correct (rag:chat returns early in the no-memory branch and never emits the searching step), so this was purely the hardcoded frontend string.

_{Judged by Claude (Claude Code) over the captured frames (embedded above, committed to this PR branch). The transient loader's label is guarded by the chat-labels unit suite rather than a still, since it no longer lingers long enough to screenshot.}