René's URL Explorer Experiment

{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"DiscussionForumPosting","headline":"Expand / collapse (maximize) toggle for the chat composer","articleBody":"## Problem or Motivation\n\nOpenWork's chat composer (`FreeFormInput`) auto-grows as you type, but only up to\na **fixed cap** — `min(66% of window height, 540px)`. There is no way to\ndeliberately give the input a large editing area. When drafting or editing a long\nprompt (a spec, a big paste, a multi-paragraph instruction), you're stuck writing\nand scrolling inside a small box even when the window has plenty of room.\n\nComparable desktop chat surfaces (Claude's desktop app, ChatGPT desktop, Codex\ndesktop) all offer a **maximize / expand** affordance on the composer so you can\npop the input open into a tall editor for composing long messages, then collapse\nit back. OpenWork is the conspicuous exception: the composer toolbar already has a\nmodel picker, a thinking-level picker, a context-usage indicator and an attach\ncontrol, but no expand toggle.\n\n## Proposed Solution\n\nAdd an **expand / collapse toggle** to the composer toolbar (right-side controls,\nnext to the thinking-level and model pickers, mirroring their `!compactMode`\nrule):\n\n- A small icon button (Maximize when collapsed, Minimize when expanded) with a\n  tooltip (\"Expand composer\" / \"Collapse composer\") and `aria-pressed` reflecting\n  the state.\n- Clicking it maximizes the input to a large share of the window\n  (`max(78% of window height, 560px)`, recomputed on resize) by applying a tall\n  `minHeight`/`maxHeight` to the editable area, so the box is genuinely large even\n  when empty.\n- Clicking again collapses it back to the normal auto-grow cap.\n- The maximized state resets when switching sessions, so a new conversation always\n  starts compact.\n\nThis is a **frontend-only** change:\n\n- It only adjusts the renderer's local layout state (`isComposerExpanded`) and the\n  inline height style already applied to the `RichTextInput`. No backend / no\n  qwen-code change.\n- Two new i18n keys (`chat.expandComposer`, `chat.collapseComposer`) added to all\n  locales for the tooltip.\n\n## Alternatives Considered\n\n- **Auto-grow only** (the status quo) helps for moderate text but caps out; it\n  can't be opened deliberately for long-form composing, and never exceeds ~540px.\n- **A separate full-screen editor modal** would be heavier and diverge from the\n  established composer-toolbar pattern (model/thinking pickers) that this mirrors.\n  An inline maximize is the lighter, more discoverable fit and can be layered with\n  a modal later if wanted.\n\n## Additional Context\n\nFeasibility: **frontend-only / doable.** Verified against `apps/electron` — the\ncomposer already owns its height state (`inputMaxHeight`, computed from the window\nin a resize effect) and passes an inline `style` (merged onto the contenteditable)\nto `RichTextInput`; the toggle just introduces a second, larger height and swaps\nwhich one is applied.\n\n### Acceptance criteria (CDP e2e assertion)\n\nA new `e2e/assertions/composer-expand.assert.ts` drives the real built app over\nCDP entirely in the draft (no-session) state — no seeded conversation needed:\n\n1. The composer renders the expand toggle, initially `aria-pressed=\"false\"`.\n2. Measure the input area's height (collapsed).\n3. Click the toggle → the input **grows substantially** (height \u003e= 2× the\n   collapsed height) **and** the toggle flips to `aria-pressed=\"true\"`.\n4. Click again → the input **collapses back** to roughly its start height **and**\n   the toggle returns to `aria-pressed=\"false\"`.\n\nThe height measurements prove the toggle actually *resizes* the composer, not\nmerely swaps an icon.\n\nPart of the autonomous desktop-feature loop (`loop-bot`).","author":{"url":"https://github.com/DragonnZhang","@type":"Person","name":"DragonnZhang"},"datePublished":"2026-07-03T01:37:08.000Z","interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":"https://schema.org/CommentAction","userInteractionCount":0},"url":"https://github.com/48/openwork/issues/48"}