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Enhanced TUI Chat Interface

Overview​

The enhanced TUI chat interface provides better visibility into orchestrator operations by adding dedicated panels for task tracking and orchestrator reasoning. This addresses the limitation where users couldn't see task assignments, progress, or orchestrator decision-making during chat sessions.

Features​

Three-Panel Layout​

The enhanced interface displays three panels when the orchestrator is running:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Chat/Output Area (60%)                                      │
│                                                             │
│ [User input and agent responses]                            │
│                                                             │
├──────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────┤
│ Task List (20%)          │ Orchestrator Thinking (20%)      │
│ ● Running: code-agent    │ [Orchestrator] Analyzing deps... │
│ ○ Queued: review-agent   │ [Orchestrator] Selected agent... │
│ ✓ Completed: plan-agent │ [Orchestrator] Executing step... │
└──────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────┘

Task List Panel​

The task list panel displays:

  • Status Icons: Visual indicators for task status
    • ● (Running) - Yellow
    • ○ (Queued) - Gray
    • ✓ (Completed) - Green
    • ✗ (Error) - Red
    • ⏸ (Paused) - Blue
    • ⊗ (Cancelled) - Dim
  • Task Name: The name/description of the task
  • Agent ID: The agent assigned to execute the task
  • Progress Summary: Shows completed/total tasks and failed count

Orchestrator Thinking Panel​

The orchestrator thinking panel displays:

  • Real-time Logs: Orchestrator decision-making process
  • Syntax Highlighting:
    • [Orchestrator] prefix in primary color
    • Keywords like "Analyzing", "Selected", "Executing" in info color
    • Errors in error color
    • Success messages in success color
  • Auto-scroll: Automatically scrolls to latest output
  • Scroll Position Indicator: Shows current line position

Keyboard Shortcuts​

Panel Navigation​

  • Tab: Cycle focus between Chat, Task List, and Orchestrator panels
  • Ctrl+T: Toggle task list panel visibility
  • Ctrl+O: Toggle orchestrator thinking panel visibility

Scrolling​

When a panel is focused, you can scroll within it:

  • ↑/↓ Arrow Keys: Scroll up/down by 1 line
  • Page Up/Page Down: Scroll up/down by 10 lines
  • Home: Jump to top of panel
  • End: Jump to bottom of panel

Focus Indicators​

The focused panel displays a highlighted border (using border_active theme color) to indicate which panel accepts keyboard input.

Responsive Layout​

The interface adapts to different terminal sizes:

  • Wide terminals (≥100 cols): Three-panel horizontal layout (60/20/20)
  • Narrow terminals (60-99 cols): Vertical stack with chat on top, task/orchestrator split on bottom
  • Very narrow terminals (<60 cols): Chat only with toggle indicators in title

Troubleshooting​

Connection Errors​

If you see "Connection lost" messages in the orchestrator thinking panel:

  • The gRPC server may not be running
  • Check that the Radium server is accessible
  • The system will automatically retry after 2 seconds

Missing Panels​

If panels don't appear:

  • Ensure orchestration is running (orchestration_running must be true)
  • Check panel visibility with Ctrl+T and Ctrl+O
  • On very narrow terminals, panels are hidden by default

No Tasks Displayed​

If the task list shows "No active workflow":

  • No tasks are currently queued or running
  • Tasks are only displayed when a workflow is active
  • Start a workflow or requirement execution to see tasks

Technical Details​

State Management​

  • TaskListState: Tracks task list with agent assignments and progress
  • OrchestratorThinkingPanel: Uses OutputBuffer for log storage (1000 line capacity)
  • Panel Focus: Managed via PanelFocus enum (Chat, TaskList, Orchestrator)

Data Integration​

  • Task List: Polled from gRPC ListTasks RPC every 500ms
  • Orchestrator Logs: Polled from monitoring service every 500ms
  • Error Handling: Connection errors display in orchestrator panel with retry logic

Component Architecture​

  • TaskListPanel: Renders task table with status icons and colors
  • OrchestratorThinkingPanel: Renders scrollable log view with syntax highlighting
  • orchestrator_view: Manages layout and responsive behavior

Developer Guide​

Adding Custom Panels​

To add a new panel to the orchestrator view:

  1. Create a new component in apps/tui/src/components/
  2. Add panel visibility state to App struct
  3. Update render_orchestrator_view to include new panel
  4. Add keyboard shortcuts for panel toggle
  5. Update PanelFocus enum if needed

Extending Task List​

To add more task information:

  1. Extend TaskListItem struct in task_list_state.rs
  2. Update TaskListPanel::render to display new fields
  3. Update gRPC polling to populate new fields

Customizing Syntax Highlighting​

To modify orchestrator log highlighting:

  1. Edit OrchestratorThinkingPanel::apply_syntax_highlighting
  2. Add new patterns and color mappings
  3. Use theme colors for consistency