Root cause (user-confirmed repro): a persisted "remember this key" nsec session
restores the logged-in pubkey + UI on reload, but NOT the in-memory signer (the
private key is only passphrase-encrypted). Storage unlock then has no signer, and
the fallback (ensureActiveSignerForPubkey) can only rebuild an EXTENSION signer —
so an nsec user dead-ended on the misleading "No active signer found. Please login."
even though they still look logged in. The crypto layer itself is correct: an
empirical repro shows storageService.unlock round-trips master-key encrypt/decrypt
fine with real nsec cipher closures.
Fix: detect the locked persisted-nsec case (getLockedStoredNsecSession via
getStoredSessionActorMetadata, scoped to the account being unlocked) and surface an
actionable error/status ("re-enter your passphrase from the Login menu to unlock
your saved key, then unlock storage") in both the Unlock-button flow and the passive
Storage-pane status text, instead of the generic no-signer / no-decryptor messages.
New error code storage-unlock-locked-nsec-session.
Tests: tests/storage-unlock-locked-nsec.test.mjs (6 behavioral). Build + lint clean;
existing storage-service tests still 14/14.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <[email protected]>
