Agent Note: Web UI drops steer entry and interjection chrome

Status: implemented Archived: 2026-08-07

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Problem

Mid-turn steering is a host/agent-loop capability (mode:'steer', a durable user/message). The Web product already locked the composer while a turn runs and never shipped a queue/steer menu, yet the client still threaded 'queue' | 'steer' through the input machine, conversation.send, and locale keys, and rendered consumed steering as a badged 「插话」/「Interjection」 bubble. That left a half-built UI surface: an unused submit mode, a product label for a gesture users cannot perform, and e2e goldens that pinned chrome the product does not own.

Decision

Keep host and runtime steering intact. Remove only the Web UI entry and chrome:

InputMachine / SessionInput / InputActions.submit / hub defaultSink are queue-only; they always call session.prompt(..., 'queue').
ConversationService.send(text) drops its mode argument and always queues.
Durable steer content renders as a plain right-aligned bubble (no badge, no user IconActions) so external/host steers stay visible on replay.
Delete message.steering locale strings and the unused badge CSS.
The web steering e2e still POSTs mode:'steer' over /api/session.prompt and asserts durable + model-visible obedience; it no longer expects interjection chrome. Update web input machine note fact lines to match.

Alternatives considered

Delete host steering entirely. Out of scope; the user asked only for Web UI display and entry. Agent-loop drain, session events, and the wire mode remain load-bearing for ACP/TUI/automation.

Hide durable steer user/message content from the transcript. Would lie on replay when an external client steers; rejected in favor of a plain bubble.

Keep the mode parameter but only ever pass 'queue'. Leaves dead API surface and tests that invent 'steer' paths the composer cannot reach.

Consequences

Superseded in part. Decision bullets 1 and 3 through 5 no longer describe master: composer steering shipped later, and the context-source and steer marks decision owns its caption. The current facts follow.
Host steering ownership is unchanged: agent-loop drain, session events, and the wire mode remain load-bearing for ACP, automation, and non-Web clients.
ConversationService.send(text) still takes no mode and always queues; the composer's Steer gesture uses session.prompt(mode: 'steer') instead.
Durable steer user/message content still folds into the transcript, so an externally submitted steer stays truthful on replay. It now carries the interjection caption instead of rendering as a bare bubble.
Non-user next-step items (agent.inject context: approval notices, task completion, attached snapshots) broadcast with the context placement and never render as pending steering bubbles; they stay invisible until claimed as durable user/message context cards.

Testing

packages/client/ui-conversation unit/jsdom coverage: input machine enter/sink, ConversationService routing, the MessageItem steering arm, InputBar submit.
apps/web/tests/steering.e2e.ts keyless replay plus its goldens, which pin the caption.
packages/host/apiproxy session/queue projection test asserts user-origin next-step items stay steering while plugin-origin items land as context.

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