Chat: agent picker shows icons only, can't tell agents apart #9391

Activity

1. github-actions commented on Nov 5, 2026

   

   github-actionsBot

   on Nov 5, 2026 – with GitHub Actions

   Contributor

   More actions

   This looks plausible and is mostly a UX gap, not a crash. In the composer's model picker, the agent row at the top shows one icon per agent and no visible name. Custom agents can reuse the claude icon, so several identical icons can appear side by side. The only label is a native title attribute, which the reporter says they never saw. The selected tab gets only an underline, and the composer pill shows the agent's icon next to the model name, never the agent's name. So nothing on screen says which Claude-iconed agent is active.

   Affected code

   • Tab row: apps/desktop/src/renderer/routes/_authenticated/components/AgentComposer/components/ModelPicker/components/ModelPanel/ModelPanel.tsx:241-287
     • Each tab draws only getPresetIcon(entry.iconId ?? entry.presetId) (:251) as an <img alt=""> (:273-280).
     • The name is set only as aria-label and a native title={entry.label} (:254, :265).
     • The text fallback entry.label.slice(0, 2) (:282) is used only when no icon resolves. Custom agents with iconId: "claude" always resolve one.
   • Composer pill: apps/desktop/src/renderer/routes/_authenticated/components/AgentComposer/components/ModelPicker/ModelPicker.tsx:80-88, 108-113, 164-177
     • pillLabel is currentLabel(model) ?? model?.label ?? currentAgentLabel ?? …. The agent's label is used only when there is no model option, which is rare.
     • The pill's title (:160) holds only the labels hidden at narrow footer widths, never the agent.
   • Where the icons come from:
     • New-workspace composer: NewWorkspaceScreen.tsx:711-730 builds agents from v2Agents with iconId: agent.iconId ?? agent.presetId, so custom agents that pick the Claude icon look the same as native Claude.
     • Live chat pane: AcpChatPane.tsx:353-369 builds agents with no iconId, keyed by presetId and deduplicated with new Set.

   Root cause

   1. The only hover text is a native HTML title (ModelPanel.tsx:265). Native tooltips appear after the OS delay (about 1 s on macOS), are easy to miss inside a fast dropdown, and may not show at all over the menu. The reporter says there is no tooltip in 2.0.5. I could not confirm whether title was already in that build. It is in main now.
   2. The selected tab is marked only by the underline (:258-259). There is no visible text naming the selected agent, either in the panel or in the composer pill. The pill favors the model label (ModelPicker.tsx:109-113).
   3. Nothing makes agents that share an icon look different, such as a label, a badge or a monogram.

   Reproduction

   1. Under Settings → Agents, create two custom agents and choose the Claude icon for both, so iconId: "claude".
   2. Open the new-workspace composer (or a chat), then open the model picker pill.
   3. You get the star tab and then three identical Claude icons. Click any of them: the underline moves, but no name appears. Close the picker: the pill shows the Claude icon and a model name only.

   A bun:test sketch: render ModelPanel with an agentSwitcher holding two agents that both have iconId: "claude" and different labels. Assert that each agent's label is visible as text, or in a tooltip that opens on hover or focus, and not only in aria-label or title. That assertion fails today.

   Suggested fix

   • Tooltips: wrap each tab button in the shared Radix tooltip (packages/ui/src/components/ui/tooltip.tsx) with a short delay, and drop the native title.
   • Selected agent name: show the selected tab's label in the panel, for example a small caption at the end of the tab row or above the search field. Tooltips alone don't help keyboard users or touch devices.
   • Composer pill: when agentSwitcher has more than one agent with the same icon, include the agent name, e.g. ${currentAgentLabel} · ${modelLabel} (the reporter's "Claude (Medieval) · Opus 5.5"). At the narrow footer tiers, add it to the pill's title / sr-only text (ModelPicker.tsx:114-120).
   • Optional: if two tabs resolve to the same icon, add a monogram badge built from entry.label so they look different without hovering.
   • Live chat pane: AcpChatPane.tsx:361 should pass iconId from agentConfigs so it matches NewWorkspaceScreen.
   • i18n: any new caption text needs Lingui macros and new catalog entries (bun run check:i18n).

   Related: #9262 reports the same shared-icon problem on mobile.