[brennanb2025]

	Files	Added	Deleted	Net
Test	5	$\color{#1a7f37}{\Huge{\mathbf{+}}}$​2	$\color{#cf222e}{\Huge{\mathbf{−}}}$​224	$\color{#cf222e}{\Huge{\mathbf{−}}}$​222
Prod	8	$\color{#1a7f37}{\Huge{\mathbf{+}}}$​16	$\color{#cf222e}{\Huge{\mathbf{−}}}$​81	$\color{#cf222e}{\Huge{\mathbf{−}}}$​65

Problem

#26489 started "+" agent launches with no prompt through the host's agent.launch. That covered the "+" menu, Quick Launch, the floating panel's "+" and shortcut, the new-agent shortcut and the dashboard. The goal was strict parity with main. Review after merge found that the host starts those agents through the terminal path built for terminals no window is showing, into a tab the window had already opened. That path differs from the window's own path in ways a user can hit:

• Failure handling:
  • if the launch log can't open, the new tab disappears;
  • a deleted workspace folder gives a different message;
  • failed starts don't record the agent_error analytics event.
• Windows: the shell and WSL runtime are resolved from different settings than the window uses.
• Smaller differences: the start size (fixed 120×40, then resized) and environment variables differ.

Fixing these one by one in the window (#27077) would have patched the symptoms. The cause is that Orca has two separate terminal-start paths. A plan to merge them into one is being reviewed now, and it moves these launches onto the single path properly.

What this changes for you

These launches go back to exactly how they worked before #26489, which is main's long-standing window launch. Nothing else changes. The "… with AI" buttons and every other launch are untouched.

How

git revert 7634bbfffe0 (#26489). It applies cleanly to current main: 13 files, +18 / −305.

Verified

• tc-gate pnpm tc:web passes.
• Named tests pass, 12/12: launch-dashboard-agent.test.ts, FloatingTerminalWindowControls.test.tsx, agent-launch-through-host.test.ts.
• orca-ci-checks --no-typecheck passes, 23/23.
• Live UI check (hidden windows, stand-in agents, isolated profiles): all 10 rows PASS at 468074a.
  • Covered: "+" (Claude, Codex), Quick Launch by click and Enter, floating "+" and its shortcut, ⌘⌥T, a saved Quick Command with a prompt (marker with non-ASCII arrives once), close right after launch and at ~1 s, switching workspace mid-launch, a folder workspace, Chat UI on, and tab order after a browser tab.
  • Each behaves like main's window route before Start plain new-tab agent launches through the host's agent.launch #26489. Real config files were unchanged.
  • Not covered: Windows, Linux, SSH and WSL, and real agents.

Author: @BrennanKB5

[brennanb2025]

Status: ready for review.

• Review: the change is a clean git revert of Start plain new-tab agent launches through the host's agent.launch #26489 (13 files, +18 / −305). It still merges cleanly onto current main, after fix(hosts): agent launch platform and shell come from the execution host #27259.
• Checks: tc:web, 12 named tests and orca-ci-checks (23/23) pass locally, and CI is green.
• Live QA: 10/10 rows pass on hidden windows with stand-in agents. Every "+" launch surface behaves like main's window route before Start plain new-tab agent launches through the host's agent.launch #26489. Windows, Linux, SSH, WSL and real agents were not covered.