feat(agent): show live progress in conversation pane

README.md

@@ -320,7 +320,7 @@ The bundled plugins:
 To turn one off, add its plugin ID to `disabled_plugins` in your config, e.g. `disabled_plugins = ["fidget"]`.
 Core-owned session recovery, including dirty buffers and undo history, is documented in
 [`docs/SESSION_RECOVERY.md`](docs/SESSION_RECOVERY.md).
-Setting `disable_ai = true` removes the agent plugin and prevents Codex startup. Red launches an installed, authenticated `codex` CLI directly as an app-server. Press `Space A` from normal or visual mode (or run `:Agent`) for the first prompt, then use the persistent conversation footer for follow-ups: click it to position the cursor, cycle into it with `Ctrl-w w`, or press `a`, type, and press Enter to send; `Ctrl-j` or Shift-Enter inserts a newline, Escape leaves the footer, and `Ctrl-p` / `Ctrl-n` recalls prompt history. The pane header provides clickable `Clear`, `New`, and `×` controls. Follow-ups submitted while a turn is running queue in order, `Ctrl-c` stops safely, `x`/`:AgentClear` clears only the visible conversation while preserving context and the current draft, `N`/`:AgentNew` resets the session and starts a new conversation, `q`/`:AgentClose` hides the pane without losing the session or draft, and `y`/`Y` copies the last answer/all messages. Running `:Agent` or `:AgentPrompt` restores a hidden pane. Prompts up to 128 KiB are supported; an oversized paste preserves the current draft and shows a validation message.
+Setting `disable_ai = true` removes the agent plugin and prevents Codex startup. Red launches an installed, authenticated `codex` CLI directly as an app-server. Press `Space A` from normal or visual mode (or run `:Agent`) for the first prompt, then use the persistent conversation footer for follow-ups: click it to position the cursor, cycle into it with `Ctrl-w w`, or press `a`, type, and press Enter to send; `Ctrl-j` or Shift-Enter inserts a newline, Escape leaves the footer, and `Ctrl-p` / `Ctrl-n` recalls prompt history. Use `Ctrl-w a` or `:AgentOpen` to show and focus the pane without opening a prompt or starting a session. The pane header provides clickable `Clear`, `New`, and `×` controls. Follow-ups render immediately with a busy indicator; submissions made during an active turn remain visible and queue in order. `Ctrl-c` stops safely, `x`/`:AgentClear` clears only the visible conversation while preserving context and the current draft, `N`/`:AgentNew` resets the session and starts a new conversation, `q`/`:AgentClose` hides the pane without losing the session or draft, and `y`/`Y` copies the last answer/all messages. Running `:Agent` or `:AgentPrompt` also restores a hidden pane while opening the prompt composer. Prompts up to 128 KiB are supported; an oversized paste preserves the current draft and shows a validation message.
 
 Each turn includes a bounded active-file selection or cursor excerpt with unsaved contents and relevant diagnostics. Ignored, out-of-workspace, binary, and common secret/credential files are omitted. Codex can inspect editor state, open files and splits, select text, use safe navigation/LSP actions, and stage atomic UTF-16 range edits as proposals; tool activity appears in the conversation footer and existing composer focus is preserved. Conversation and prompt history are scoped to the workspace. Red reports the pending file/hunk count when changes are ready and keeps them reviewable with `:AgentReview`. If setup fails, the prompt is preserved for retry after installing Codex or running `codex login`. The offline `red --agent-check` prerequisite report is also available (`red --agent-check --strict` exits non-zero when not ready). Red does not fall back to `codex exec` or native workspace edits.
 

default_config.toml

@@ -218,6 +218,7 @@ Esc = { EnterMode = "Normal" }
 "h" = { PluginCommand = "GitHunkNext" }
 
 [keys.normal."Ctrl-w"]
+"a" = { PluginCommand = "AgentOpen" }
 "h" = "MoveWindowLeft"
 "j" = "MoveWindowDown"
 "k" = "MoveWindowUp"

docs/AGENT_WORKFLOW.md

@@ -31,7 +31,9 @@ command = "/path/to/codex"
 Open a workspace, press `Space A` (or run `:Agent`), type a request, and press
 Enter. Red lazily starts `codex app-server --stdio`, initializes the connection,
 checks the account, starts an ephemeral thread, and submits turns with
-`turn/start`. Assistant deltas stream into the conversation footer. `Ctrl-c`
+`turn/start`. Follow-up text and the busy indicator render before dispatch;
+follow-ups submitted during an active turn appear immediately and remain queued
+in FIFO order. Assistant deltas stream into the conversation footer. `Ctrl-c`
 interrupts the active turn with `turn/interrupt`.
 
 If Codex cannot start, Red preserves the prompt and offers a retry action.
@@ -103,6 +105,7 @@ protocol is unavailable; it does not fall back to `codex exec` or native edits.
 | Command | Purpose |
 | --- | --- |
 | `:Agent` / `:AgentPrompt` | Open the prompt composer. |
+| `:AgentOpen` | Show and focus the conversation pane without opening a prompt. |
 | `:AgentCancel` | Interrupt the active Codex turn. |
 | `:AgentClear` | Clear visible conversation while retaining current context. |
 | `:AgentNew` | Close the current thread and start a new one. |