fix(native-chat): plain wording for chat errors and status rows

mobile/src/session/mobile-structured-operation-id-retirement.test.ts

@@ -297,7 +297,8 @@ describe('what a structured refusal says on the phone', () => {
 
     expect(result).toEqual({
       status: 'failed',
-      message: "The Orca running this chat doesn't support this. Update Orca, then try again."
+      message:
+        'This needs a newer Orca on the computer running this chat. Update Orca there, then try again.'
     })
   })
 })

src/main/native-chat/agent-session-journal/journal-corruption-repair.test.ts

@@ -146,10 +146,12 @@ describe('a malformed row', () => {
       .snapshot()
       .items.map((entry) => entry.body)
       .find((entry) => entry.kind === 'status')
-    expect(disclosure).toMatchObject({ kind: 'status' })
-    expect(disclosure && 'text' in disclosure ? disclosure.text : '').toContain(
-      '1 journal line could not be read'
-    )
+    // Named for the client to word, with English for a client that can't.
+    expect(disclosure).toEqual({
+      kind: 'status',
+      text: "Part of this chat's history couldn't be loaded.",
+      presentation: 'history-repaired'
+    })
   })
 })
 

src/main/native-chat/agent-session-journal/journal-repair-disclosure.ts

@@ -4,8 +4,12 @@
 // nothing but its anchor and this row is a repair that has not been
 // reconstructed yet, not a timeline.
 
+import { agentSessionHostStatusBody } from '../../../shared/agent-session-host-status-rows'
 import { agentJournalItemKey } from '../../../shared/agent-session-journal-item-key'
-import type { AgentJournalItemIdentity } from '../../../shared/agent-session-journal-types'
+import type {
+  AgentJournalItemIdentity,
+  AgentJournalPlainStatusItem
+} from '../../../shared/agent-session-journal-types'
 
 /** One stable identity, so a reopen upserts the same row instead of adding one. */
 export const JOURNAL_REPAIR_DISCLOSURE_IDENTITY: AgentJournalItemIdentity = {
@@ -19,14 +23,13 @@ export const JOURNAL_REPAIR_DISCLOSURE_ITEM_ID = agentJournalItemKey(
 
 export type JournalRepairDisclosure = {
   identity: AgentJournalItemIdentity
-  body: { kind: 'status'; text: string }
+  body: AgentJournalPlainStatusItem
 }
 
 /** Disclosed when a repair skipped a row it could not read. */
-export function journalRepairDisclosure(input: { malformedRows: number }): JournalRepairDisclosure {
-  const lines = `${input.malformedRows} journal line${input.malformedRows === 1 ? '' : 's'}`
+export function journalRepairDisclosure(): JournalRepairDisclosure {
   return {
     identity: JOURNAL_REPAIR_DISCLOSURE_IDENTITY,
-    body: { kind: 'status', text: `${lines} could not be read` }
+    body: agentSessionHostStatusBody('history-repaired')
   }
 }

src/main/native-chat/agent-session-journal/journal-store-open.ts

@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ export async function openJournalStoreState(input: {
     input.setMalformedRows(loaded.malformedRows)
   }
   if (input.malformedRows() > 0 && !input.readOnly()) {
-    const disclosure = journalRepairDisclosure({ malformedRows: input.malformedRows() })
+    const disclosure = journalRepairDisclosure()
     await input.appendItem(disclosure.identity, disclosure.body, input.highestFence())
   }
   await settleStaleSubagentRosters(input, loaded)

src/main/native-chat/agent-session-journal/journal-store-schema.test.ts

@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ import type {
 } from '../../../shared/agent-session-journal-types'
 import type Database from '../../sqlite/sync-database'
 import { JOURNAL_DB_SCHEMA_VERSION } from './journal-database-schema'
+import { journalRepairDisclosure } from './journal-repair-disclosure'
 import { journalDatabasePath } from './journal-host-database'
 import type { AgentSessionJournal } from './journal-store'
 import {
@@ -109,6 +110,7 @@ afterEach(async () => {
   await rm(root, { recursive: true, force: true })
 })
 
+const REPAIR_TEXT = journalRepairDisclosure().body.text
 describe('axis 1: the database shape', () => {
   // A newer build's database opens read-only: its chats read, and nothing here writes to it.
   it('reads a database a newer build stamped, refuses every write, and writes nothing', async () => {
@@ -242,9 +244,7 @@ describe('axis 2: the row body shape', () => {
     expect(items.some((entry) => entry.body.kind === 'message')).toBe(true)
     // …and the skip is visible in the timeline instead of silently swallowed.
     expect(
-      items.some(
-        (entry) => entry.body.kind === 'status' && entry.body.text.includes('could not be read')
-      )
+      items.some((entry) => entry.body.kind === 'status' && entry.body.text === REPAIR_TEXT)
     ).toBe(true)
   })
 
@@ -264,9 +264,7 @@ describe('axis 2: the row body shape', () => {
     expect(
       reopened
         .snapshot()
-        .items.filter(
-          (entry) => entry.body.kind === 'status' && entry.body.text.includes('could not be read')
-        )
+        .items.filter((entry) => entry.body.kind === 'status' && entry.body.text === REPAIR_TEXT)
     ).toHaveLength(1)
   })
 

src/main/native-chat/agent-session-wire/agent-session-history-page-bounds.ts

@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import type {
   AgentJournalSubmission
 } from '../../../shared/agent-session-journal-types'
 import { REMOTE_RUNTIME_MAX_OUTBOUND_JSON_BYTES } from '../../../shared/remote-runtime-memory-limits'
+import { agentSessionHostStatusBody } from '../../../shared/agent-session-host-status-rows'
 
 export const AGENT_SESSION_HISTORY_MAX_PAGE_BYTES = REMOTE_RUNTIME_MAX_OUTBOUND_JSON_BYTES / 2
 
@@ -46,17 +47,11 @@ export function submissionBytesByItemId(
   return bytes
 }
 
-export function oversizedHistoryItem(
-  item: AgentJournalRenderItem,
-  byteLength: number
-): AgentJournalRenderItem {
+export function oversizedHistoryItem(item: AgentJournalRenderItem): AgentJournalRenderItem {
   return {
     ...item,
     itemId: boundJournalKeyComponent(item.itemId),
-    body: {
-      kind: 'status',
-      text: `[Orca: item truncated — ${byteLength} bytes exceeds the history page budget]`
-    }
+    body: agentSessionHostStatusBody('history-item-too-large')
   }
 }
 
@@ -72,7 +67,7 @@ export function boundHistoryItemsByBytes(
   for (const group of ordered) {
     const bytes = group.reduce((sum, item) => sum + historyEntryBytes(item, submissionBytes), 0)
     if (kept.length === 0 && bytes > maxBytes) {
-      kept.push(group.map((item) => oversizedHistoryItem(item, bytes)))
+      kept.push(group.map((item) => oversizedHistoryItem(item)))
       break
     }
     if (total + bytes > maxBytes) {

src/main/native-chat/agent-session-wire/agent-session-history-page-grouping-parity.test.ts

@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ function referenceBoundHistoryItemsByBytes(
   for (const group of ordered) {
     const bytes = group.reduce((sum, item) => sum + historyEntryBytes(item, submissionBytes), 0)
     if (kept.length === 0 && bytes > maxBytes) {
-      kept.push(group.map((item) => oversizedHistoryItem(item, bytes)))
+      kept.push(group.map((item) => oversizedHistoryItem(item)))
       break
     }
     if (total + bytes > maxBytes) {
@@ -153,7 +153,9 @@ it('matches eager byte bounding at every budget boundary in both directions', ()
             ).toEqual(expected)
             if (
               actual.items.some(
-                (entry) => entry.body.kind === 'status' && /truncated/.test(entry.body.text)
+                (entry) =>
+                  entry.body.kind === 'status' &&
+                  entry.body.presentation === 'history-item-too-large'
               )
             ) {
               truncatedCases += 1

src/main/native-chat/agent-session-wire/agent-session-history-page.test.ts

@@ -319,9 +319,12 @@ describe('history page byte ceiling', () => {
       readAgentSessionHistory(journal, { sessionId: 'session-1', direction: 'tail', limit: 40 })
     )
     expect(tail.items).toHaveLength(1)
-    const bodyOnPage = tail.items[0]?.body
-    expect(bodyOnPage?.kind).toBe('status')
-    expect(bodyOnPage?.kind === 'status' ? bodyOnPage.text : '').toContain('[Orca: item truncated')
+    // Named for the client to word, with English for a client that can't.
+    expect(tail.items[0]?.body).toEqual({
+      kind: 'status',
+      text: 'This part of the chat was too large to show.',
+      presentation: 'history-item-too-large'
+    })
   })
 })
 

src/main/native-chat/agent-session-wire/agent-session-history-page.ts

@@ -248,7 +248,7 @@ function readForward(
   if (contentBytes > HISTORY_PAGE_CONTENT_BUDGET_BYTES) {
     items = items.map((item) => {
       const bytes = historyEntryBytes(item, submissionBytes)
-      return bytes > HISTORY_PAGE_CONTENT_BUDGET_BYTES ? oversizedHistoryItem(item, bytes) : item
+      return bytes > HISTORY_PAGE_CONTENT_BUDGET_BYTES ? oversizedHistoryItem(item) : item
     })
     contentBytes = pageContentBytes(items, projected.batch.removedItemIds)
   }

src/main/native-chat/agent-session-wire/structured-agent-session-claude-unproven-stop-send.test.ts

@@ -280,7 +280,7 @@ it('holds the message with its reason while the exit stays unverifiable, and sen
     {
       kind: 'status',
       tone: 'warning',
-      text: "Orca couldn't confirm Claude's previous process ended. Messages wait to be sent until Orca confirms it has ended.",
+      text: 'Claude from before may still be running. Your messages will send once it stops.',
       failure: { kind: 'previousExitUnverifiable' }
     }
   ])

src/renderer/src/components/agent-child-row-text.ts

@@ -1,7 +1,10 @@
 import type { AgentChildRowModel } from '../../../shared/agent-child-row-model'
 import { formatAgentTypeLabel } from '../../../shared/agent-type-label'
 import { agentStateLabel } from '@/components/AgentStateDot'
-import { backgroundTaskStateReason } from '@/components/native-chat/background-task-roster'
+import {
+  backgroundTaskStateReason,
+  backgroundTaskStateWord
+} from '@/components/native-chat/background-task-roster'
 import { translate } from '@/i18n/i18n'
 import { agentNoUpdateLabel } from '@/lib/agent-row-decay-state'
 import { formatAgentToolPreview } from '@/lib/agent-row-tool-preview'
@@ -41,7 +44,7 @@ export function agentChildRowDetailText(row: AgentChildRowModel, now: number): s
     case 'role':
       return formatAgentTypeLabel(detail.agentType)
     case 'reason':
-      return backgroundTaskStateReason(detail.state) ?? ''
+      return backgroundTaskStateReason(detail.state) ?? backgroundTaskStateWord(detail.state)
   }
 }
 

src/renderer/src/components/native-chat/NativeChatAutocompleteMenus.test.tsx

@@ -106,12 +106,32 @@ describe('NativeChatPickerMenu', () => {
       />
     )
 
-    expect(screen.getAllByText('Could not load skills from this host')).toHaveLength(2)
+    expect(screen.getAllByText("Couldn't load skills")).toHaveLength(2)
     expect(screen.queryByText('Loading skills...')).toBeNull()
     fireEvent.click(screen.getByRole('button', { name: 'Retry' }))
     expect(onRetry).toHaveBeenCalledOnce()
   })
 
+  it('announces the same unavailable sentence it shows, with no Retry', () => {
+    render(
+      <NativeChatPickerMenu
+        autocomplete={autocomplete({
+          items: [],
+          skillStatus: 'error',
+          skillErrorKind: 'unavailable'
+        })}
+        activeIndex={0}
+        listboxId="picker"
+        onChoose={vi.fn()}
+        onRetry={vi.fn()}
+      />
+    )
+
+    expect(screen.getAllByText("Skills aren't available in SSH chats")).toHaveLength(2)
+    expect(screen.queryByText("Couldn't load skills")).toBeNull()
+    expect(screen.queryByRole('button', { name: 'Retry' })).toBeNull()
+  })
+
   it('uses command-only empty copy for a picker without skill support', () => {
     render(
       <NativeChatPickerMenu

src/renderer/src/components/native-chat/NativeChatAutocompleteMenus.tsx

@@ -39,6 +39,14 @@ export const NativeChatPickerMenu = memo(function NativeChatPickerMenu({
   const emptyText = noMatches ? getPickerEmptyText(autocomplete) : null
   const collision = commands.find((item) => item.skillCollision)
   const duplicate = skills.find((item) => item.sources.length > 1)
+  // One sentence for the line and the screen reader, so the two never disagree.
+  const skillErrorText =
+    autocomplete.skillErrorKind === 'unavailable'
+      ? translate(
+          'components.native-chat.composer.skillsUnavailableHost',
+          "Skills aren't available in SSH chats"
+        )
+      : translate('components.native-chat.composer.skillsLoadFailed', "Couldn't load skills")
 
   let optionIndex = 0
   return (
@@ -71,17 +79,7 @@ export const NativeChatPickerMenu = memo(function NativeChatPickerMenu({
       ) : null}
       {autocomplete.skillStatus === 'error' ? (
         <PickerStatus>
-          <span className="min-w-0 flex-1">
-            {autocomplete.skillErrorKind === 'unavailable'
-              ? translate(
-                  'components.native-chat.composer.skillsUnavailableHost',
-                  'Skills are unavailable for this host'
-                )
-              : translate(
-                  'components.native-chat.composer.skillsLoadFailed',
-                  'Could not load skills from this host'
-                )}
-          </span>
+          <span className="min-w-0 flex-1">{skillErrorText}</span>
           {autocomplete.skillErrorKind !== 'unavailable' ? (
             <button
               type="button"
@@ -114,10 +112,7 @@ export const NativeChatPickerMenu = memo(function NativeChatPickerMenu({
         {autocomplete.skillStatus === 'loading'
           ? translate('components.native-chat.composer.loadingSkills', 'Loading skills...')
           : autocomplete.skillStatus === 'error'
-            ? translate(
-                'components.native-chat.composer.skillsLoadFailed',
-                'Could not load skills from this host'
-              )
+            ? skillErrorText
             : emptyText
               ? emptyText
               : autocomplete.skillsEnabled

src/renderer/src/components/native-chat/NativeChatBackgroundTaskRun.test.tsx

@@ -56,10 +56,10 @@ describe('NativeChatBackgroundTaskRun', () => {
     expect(screen.getByText('Background workflow')).toBeInTheDocument()
   })
 
-  it('reads a state this build has no word for as no contact, never as live', () => {
+  it('reads a state this build has no word for as no recent update, never as live', () => {
     // oxlint-disable-next-line typescript/consistent-type-assertions -- SAFETY: models a row a newer build wrote, which the wire admits as an open string.
     render(<NativeChatBackgroundTaskRun block={task({ state: 'teleported' as 'done' })} />)
-    expect(screen.getByText(/unverifiable/)).toBeInTheDocument()
+    expect(screen.getByText(/no recent update/)).toBeInTheDocument()
   })
 })
 

src/renderer/src/components/native-chat/NativeChatBackgroundTaskRun.tsx

@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ export function NativeChatBackgroundTaskRun({
   // not read as two different things on the two surfaces.
   const label = resolveBackgroundTaskName({ id: block.taskId, kind, description: block.label })
   // Every attention state states its reason on the row, the same word the strip
-  // uses; `unverifiable` ("no contact") must never be silently dropped.
+  // uses; `unverifiable` has none beyond its state word, which must never be dropped.
   const reason = backgroundTaskStateReason(state)
   // The sentence the provider itself wrote. It is the row's whole reason for
   // existing when a task fails, and it is dropped from the prose above as the

src/renderer/src/components/native-chat/NativeChatBackgroundTasksStatus.test.tsx

@@ -281,7 +281,7 @@ describe('background-task row reasons', () => {
     return screen.getAllByRole('listitem')
   }
 
-  // `unverifiable` is the SSH verdict for "no contact"; a row that hides it reads
+  // `unverifiable` is the SSH verdict for lost contact; a row that hides it reads
   // like a working child. `blocked` is the same class of loss.
   it('names the reason on every attention state, not only on waiting', () => {
     const rows = expandedRows([
@@ -291,7 +291,7 @@ describe('background-task row reasons', () => {
       { id: 'a4', kind: 'agent', description: 'busy child', state: 'working' }
     ])
     expect(rows).toHaveLength(4)
-    expect(rows[0].textContent).toContain('ssh child · no contact')
+    expect(rows[0].textContent).toContain('ssh child · no recent update')
     expect(rows[1].textContent).toContain('flaky child · failed')
     expect(rows[2].textContent).toContain('approval child · needs approval')
     // A running row has nothing to explain.

src/renderer/src/components/native-chat/NativeChatEmptyState.test.tsx

@@ -17,11 +17,11 @@ it('keeps pointing the terminal-backed chat back to its terminal when a read fai
   ).toBeInTheDocument()
 })
 
-it('tells the structured chat its read keeps retrying', () => {
-  render(<NativeChatEmptyState kind="error" retrying />)
-  expect(
-    screen.getByText('The transcript could not be read. Orca keeps trying to load it.')
-  ).toBeInTheDocument()
+// It retries on its own, which the pane does not report, and has no terminal to point back to.
+it('says only that the structured chat did not load while its read retries', () => {
+  const { container } = render(<NativeChatEmptyState kind="error" retrying />)
+  expect(screen.getByText('Could not load conversation')).toBeInTheDocument()
+  expect(container.querySelectorAll('p')).toHaveLength(1)
 })
 
 it('shows the host message in place of the terminal-backed default', () => {
@@ -31,8 +31,8 @@ it('shows the host message in place of the terminal-backed default', () => {
 })
 
 // The structured chat passes words only from the notice table, never the host's.
-it("says the structured chat's own words for the failure once, as the title, above its retrying line", () => {
-  render(
+it("says the structured chat's own words for the failure once, as the title, and nothing more", () => {
+  const { container } = render(
     <NativeChatEmptyState
       kind="error"
       retrying
@@ -43,9 +43,7 @@ it("says the structured chat's own words for the failure once, as the title, abo
     'font-medium'
   )
   expect(screen.queryByText('Could not load conversation')).toBeNull()
-  expect(
-    screen.getByText('The transcript could not be read. Orca keeps trying to load it.')
-  ).toBeInTheDocument()
+  expect(container.querySelectorAll('p')).toHaveLength(1)
 })
 
 it('says a failure no retry gets past in its one line, with nothing of trying again', () => {