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TORCH/docs/CONSOLE_CHAT_AND_COMPACT_CARDS_SPEC.md
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Priority Console upgrade: compact cards and agent Chat

Status: owner-approved, high-priority development requirement. Not implemented. These UI slices should lead the next development cycle after explicit owner resume. They do not override runtime safety gates or the current manual fleet pause.

Compact cards and detail modal

Make card-based views a scanning layer rather than full-document readers. Apply a shared collapsed-height/max-height policy across data types, with consistent heights within each grid/view and responsive size variants. Do not squeeze tables, charts or conversations into an arbitrary universal card height.

Show title, state, accountable agent, a two/three-line summary and important blockers or decisions. Clamp overflowing ordinary content with an explicit View details action. Critical warnings must remain identifiable and accessible; provide a concise warning summary and full detail rather than clipping it silently. Retain sensible quick actions such as approve/reject on collapsed cards, using existing evidence/revision/preview confirmation and authority checks.

Clicking the card's detail affordance opens an accessible modal with complete content, evidence, linked conversations/tasks and contextual actions. Nested action buttons must not accidentally open the modal or trigger another mutation. Modal content may scroll. Preserve underlying view/filter/scroll and unsent input; support keyboard access, focus containment/restoration, Escape, labelled headings, mobile full-screen details and explicit stale/deleted-record states. Refresh must not replace unsaved edits or apply an action against an obsolete revision.

Start with Work and Needs Your Attention, then cover remaining card-based views with the same pattern. Do not replace specialist views or create duplicate data.

Conversational Chat view

Add Chat immediately below Overview in the sidebar. Default to the highest-level approved project coordinator, currently Session Manager, not a permanently hard-coded identity. Show an empty/explanatory state if none is configured; never create or activate an agent to satisfy the screen.

Provide a familiar chronological message stream, composer and selector for every activated fleet identity. Persistently show Talking to…, identity, role, runtime availability and a distinct visual accent. Colour is supplementary: labels, avatars/initials and accessible contrast must also distinguish participants.

Combine durable owner exchanges and publishable inter-agent exchanges involving the selected agent, preserving sender, recipient, thread/context and causal links. Clearly distinguish direct owner conversation from collapsible routine fleet traffic; replying must explicitly target the selected agent or named thread and never silently broadcast. Do not claim every harness transcript is available. Reuse existing owner-agent-chat/messages and formal Conversations audit view, not a parallel conversation database. Include links to tasks, approvals, images and supporting evidence. No private chain-of-thought or indiscriminate terminal, secret or private-file exposure.

Stream publishable replies/progress only when the adapter supports it; otherwise show honest durable-message updates. Expose queued/delivered/being-handled/failed outcomes accurately: acknowledgement alone does not mean work is done. Preserve drafts per recipient, history on navigation/reload, reconnect deduplication and an explicit send destination. New arrivals must not force-scroll a user reading history. Keep the composer usable on mobile and by keyboard.

Messages can be saved while paused without waking an agent. Future wake-on-message requires separately qualified reservations, budget, authority and owner-approved policy. Casual chat does not bypass an explicit approval or grant new authority. Use clearly labelled demo fixtures with no live APIs, not private fleet history.

Acceptance and delivery

Use realistic long content, many senders, agent switches, interrupted delivery, stale records and pending owner decisions. Inspect desktop/mobile/keyboard flows in an actual browser and retain screenshots. Prove bounded collapsed layout, complete details, action correctness, focus restoration, preserved filters/drafts, safe refresh, accurate chat attribution and no launch on paused send.

Existing backlog proposals remain authoritative. New high-priority slices cover compact cards/details, Chat presentation and independent browser qualification. Runtime wake safety remains a prerequisite for execution, not a reason to delay safe read-only/chat-intake UI development.