feat(sidebar): surface unread tasks with an exclamation icon

[MattPua]

Problem

• Agent finishes task → not obvious in task list what needs attention / what's unseen
• Read/unread plumbing already existed (lastViewedAt/lastActivityAt, markActivity on turn-complete, markAsViewed on open) but didn't surface:
  • Masked — in TaskIcon, unread sat below cloud/PR icons → on finish, cloud/PR icon won, unread never showed
  • Too subtle — when shown, tiny 8px green dot
  • Stale — off-screen completion wrote timestamp to backend but never updated react-query cache (getAllTaskTimestamps, staleTime 30s) → isUnread stuck false until next focus/reconnect refetch

Change

CleanShot.2026-06-15.at.14.04.48.mp4

• Promote unread above cloud/PR/diff/suspended in TaskIcon, render as amber WarningCircle ❗ ("Unread — new activity")
• Imperative markActivity/markViewed now invalidate timestamps query after mutate → unread shows instant on off-screen completion
• Open task → markAsViewed clears isUnread → normal status icon returns (marked read on view)
• Live states (generating / needs-permission) still win — not "finished and unseen"
• Shared by sidebar list, command palette, canvas channel list (all via TaskIcon) → consistent everywhere

Activity → read/unread lifecycle

markActivity only fires for a live session (local agent, or cloud while watched). Unwatched-cloud completion has no markActivity — it rides server updated_at + the 30s task-list poll instead.

stateDiagram-v2
    [*] --> Unviewed
    Unviewed --> Read: markAsViewed (open)
    Read --> Unread: markActivity (local / watched-cloud finish)
    Read --> Unread: server updated_at + poll (unwatched cloud, ≤30s)
    Unread --> Read: markAsViewed (open)
    note right of Unread
        markActivity path: invalidate timestamps
        query → sidebar recomputes isUnread instantly
    end note

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TaskIcon priority (after)

flowchart TD
    A[task state] --> B{needsPermission?}
    B -->|yes| P[HandPalm]
    B -->|no| C{isGenerating?}
    C -->|yes| G[spinner]
    C -->|no| D{isUnread?}
    D -->|yes| U["amber WarningCircle ❗"]
    D -->|no| E{terminal cloud?}
    E -->|yes| CL[cloud status]
    E -->|no| F{isSuspended?}
    F -->|yes| S[Pause]
    F -->|no| H{PR / diff?}
    H -->|yes| PR[PR / branch]
    H -->|no| Z[pinned / Slack / chat]

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Note

• isUnread only true once viewed at least once (lastViewedAt != null) → tasks never opened (e.g. Slack) won't flag til first open. Lower-noise default; easy to flip.
• Currently-focused task stays read (continuously re-marked viewed) — exclamation is for tasks you've opened then navigated away from.

Testing

• biome lint clean on changed files
• Remaining package typecheck errors = pre-existing unbuilt-dist build-order noise, unrelated

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Created with PostHog Code

[github-actions]

React Doctor found no issues in the changed files. 🎉

_{Reviewed by React Doctor for commit c0fff88.}

[greptile-apps]

_{Reviews (1): Last reviewed commit: "fix(sidebar): surface unread tasks with ..." | Re-trigger Greptile}

[greptile-apps]

_{Reviews (2): Last reviewed commit: "fix(sidebar): refresh unread state when ..." | Re-trigger Greptile}