René's URL Explorer Experiment

{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"DiscussionForumPosting","headline":"Surface recently-used commands in the Command Palette (⌘K)","articleBody":"## Problem or Motivation\n\nOpenWork's global command palette (⌘K / Ctrl+K, shipped in #42) lists every\nregistered action grouped by category, but it has **no memory** of what you\nactually run. Every time you open it you start at the same static list and must\nre-search — even for the command you ran ten seconds ago.\n\nEvery mature command-palette surface fixes this with a **\"Recently used\"**\nsection pinned to the top: VS Code's ⌘⇧P, Raycast, Linear's ⌘K, and Claude Code\nDesktop's command menu all float your most-recent commands first so the actions\nyou use are one keystroke away. OpenWork's palette is the conspicuous exception.\n\n## Proposed Solution\n\nAdd a **\"Recently used\"** group at the top of the command palette:\n\n- Each action **run from the palette** is appended to a recents list (most-recent\n  first), persisted in the renderer's `localStorage` (global, like a shell\n  history), de-duplicated (an action never appears twice), and capped at 6\n  entries.\n- When the palette opens with an **empty** query, the recents render in a\n  dedicated **\"Recently used\"** group **above** the category groups.\n- The recents list is filtered to actions that still exist, aren't excluded from\n  the palette, and can actually run right now (`canExecute`) — so it never\n  surfaces a stale or dead command.\n- As soon as you **type a query**, the recents group is **hidden** — a search\n  should rank by relevance, not recency — and normal cmdk filtering takes over.\n  Clearing the query brings the recents back.\n\n## Feasibility\n\n**Classification: pure frontend — candidate.** No qwen-code backend involvement.\n\n- The palette already lists the centralized action registry and dispatches via\n  `execute()`; recording a recent is a one-line call in the palette's existing\n  `runAction`. No new IPC, no main-process change.\n- Persistence reuses the existing `lib/local-storage.ts` `KEYS`/`get`/`set`\n  helper (one new key, `command-palette-recents`), exactly as other renderer UI\n  prefs do.\n- The ordering logic (`pushRecent`: dedupe → prepend → cap) is a small pure\n  module, fully unit-testable without a DOM.\n- The recents group reuses the same cmdk primitives (`CommandGroup`/`CommandItem`\n  /`CommandShortcut`) the palette already renders. One new i18n key\n  (`commands.recent`) added to all 7 locales for the group heading.\n\n## Alternatives Considered\n\n- **Frecency (frequency + recency) ranking:** richer, but heavier and harder to\n  reason about; a simple most-recent-first list matches shell/VS-Code behaviour\n  and can be layered up later.\n- **Showing recents even while searching:** conflicts with cmdk's relevance\n  filtering and produces duplicate rows; hiding the group for non-empty queries\n  is the standard, cleaner behaviour.\n- **Per-workspace recents:** a global history matches the palette's global,\n  cross-workspace action set and is simpler; can be scoped later if wanted.\n\n## Additional Context\n\nConfirmed genuinely missing: `CommandPalette.tsx` builds its groups purely from\n`actionsByCategory` with no persistence and no recents concept.\n\n### Acceptance criteria (CDP e2e assertion)\n\nA new `e2e/assertions/command-palette-recents.assert.ts` drives the real built\napp over CDP entirely in the draft (no-session) state — no seeded conversation\nand no backend. The palette reads recents fresh from `localStorage` on each open,\nso the assertion seeds them and walks the full lifecycle:\n\n1. Seed `localStorage['craft-command-palette-recents'] = ['app.toggleTheme']`,\n   open the palette → a **\"Recently used\"** group renders exactly one row\n   (`Toggle Theme`), **above** the first category row.\n2. Type `sidebar` → the recents group **hides** (zero recent rows) while normal\n   filtering still surfaces a `Toggle Sidebar` match; clearing the query brings\n   the recents group **back**.\n3. Run a *new*, not-yet-recent action (`Toggle Sidebar`) from the palette, then\n   **reopen** it → the recents group now has **two** rows with `Toggle Sidebar`\n   **first** and `Toggle Theme` second.\n\nThe reopen step is load-bearing: reading the palette after running an action\nproves it actually **persists** what you run and orders recents newest-first —\nnot merely that a seeded list can render. In addition, the pure `pushRecent`\nmodule ships with unit tests covering dedupe, move-to-front, cap, and immutability.\n\nPart of the autonomous desktop-feature loop (`loop-bot`).","author":{"url":"https://github.com/DragonnZhang","@type":"Person","name":"DragonnZhang"},"datePublished":"2026-07-05T01:36:36.000Z","interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":"https://schema.org/CommentAction","userInteractionCount":0},"url":"https://github.com/56/openwork/issues/56"}