Merge pull request #46951 from NousResearch/bb/new-session-window

feat(desktop): hotkey to open a new session in a compact window

apps/desktop/electron/main.cjs

@@ -5083,65 +5083,75 @@ function focusWindow(win) {
   win.focus()
 }
 
+function spawnSecondaryWindow({ sessionId, watch, newSession } = {}) {
+  const icon = getAppIconPath()
+  const win = new BrowserWindow({
+    width: SESSION_WINDOW_MIN_WIDTH,
+    height: SESSION_WINDOW_MIN_HEIGHT,
+    minWidth: SESSION_WINDOW_MIN_WIDTH,
+    minHeight: SESSION_WINDOW_MIN_HEIGHT,
+    title: 'Hermes',
+    titleBarStyle: 'hidden',
+    titleBarOverlay: getTitleBarOverlayOptions(),
+    trafficLightPosition: IS_MAC ? WINDOW_BUTTON_POSITION : undefined,
+    vibrancy: IS_MAC ? 'sidebar' : undefined,
+    opacity: windowOpacity(),
+    icon,
+    // Don't show until the renderer's first themed paint is ready. macOS
+    // `vibrancy` ignores `backgroundColor` and paints a translucent OS
+    // material (which follows the OS appearance, not the app theme), so a
+    // dark-themed app on a light-mode Mac flashes white until the renderer
+    // covers it. ready-to-show fires after the boot-time paint in
+    // themes/context.tsx, so the window appears already themed.
+    show: false,
+    backgroundColor: getWindowBackgroundColor(),
+    webPreferences: {
+      preload: path.join(__dirname, 'preload.cjs'),
+      contextIsolation: true,
+      webviewTag: true,
+      sandbox: true,
+      nodeIntegration: false,
+      devTools: true
+    }
+  })
+
+  if (IS_MAC) {
+    win.setWindowButtonPosition?.(WINDOW_BUTTON_POSITION)
+  }
+
+  win.once('ready-to-show', () => {
+    if (!win.isDestroyed()) win.show()
+  })
+
+  win.on('will-enter-full-screen', () => sendWindowStateChanged(true))
+  win.on('enter-full-screen', () => sendWindowStateChanged(true))
+  win.on('will-leave-full-screen', () => sendWindowStateChanged(false))
+  win.on('leave-full-screen', () => sendWindowStateChanged(false))
+
+  wireCommonWindowHandlers(win)
+
+  win.loadURL(
+    buildSessionWindowUrl(sessionId, {
+      devServer: DEV_SERVER,
+      rendererIndexPath: DEV_SERVER ? undefined : resolveRendererIndex(),
+      watch,
+      newSession
+    })
+  )
+
+  return win
+}
+
 // Open (or focus) a standalone window for a single chat session.
 function createSessionWindow(sessionId, { watch = false } = {}) {
-  return sessionWindows.openOrFocus(sessionId, () => {
-    const icon = getAppIconPath()
-    const win = new BrowserWindow({
-      width: SESSION_WINDOW_MIN_WIDTH,
-      height: SESSION_WINDOW_MIN_HEIGHT,
-      minWidth: SESSION_WINDOW_MIN_WIDTH,
-      minHeight: SESSION_WINDOW_MIN_HEIGHT,
-      title: 'Hermes',
-      titleBarStyle: 'hidden',
-      titleBarOverlay: getTitleBarOverlayOptions(),
-      trafficLightPosition: IS_MAC ? WINDOW_BUTTON_POSITION : undefined,
-      vibrancy: IS_MAC ? 'sidebar' : undefined,
-      opacity: windowOpacity(),
-      icon,
-      // Don't show until the renderer's first themed paint is ready. macOS
-      // `vibrancy` ignores `backgroundColor` and paints a translucent OS
-      // material (which follows the OS appearance, not the app theme), so a
-      // dark-themed app on a light-mode Mac flashes white until the renderer
-      // covers it. ready-to-show fires after the boot-time paint in
-      // themes/context.tsx, so the window appears already themed.
-      show: false,
-      backgroundColor: getWindowBackgroundColor(),
-      webPreferences: {
-        preload: path.join(__dirname, 'preload.cjs'),
-        contextIsolation: true,
-        webviewTag: true,
-        sandbox: true,
-        nodeIntegration: false,
-        devTools: true
-      }
-    })
+  return sessionWindows.openOrFocus(sessionId, () => spawnSecondaryWindow({ sessionId, watch }))
+}
 
-    if (IS_MAC) {
-      win.setWindowButtonPosition?.(WINDOW_BUTTON_POSITION)
-    }
-
-    win.once('ready-to-show', () => {
-      if (!win.isDestroyed()) win.show()
-    })
-
-    win.on('will-enter-full-screen', () => sendWindowStateChanged(true))
-    win.on('enter-full-screen', () => sendWindowStateChanged(true))
-    win.on('will-leave-full-screen', () => sendWindowStateChanged(false))
-    win.on('leave-full-screen', () => sendWindowStateChanged(false))
-
-    wireCommonWindowHandlers(win)
-
-    win.loadURL(
-      buildSessionWindowUrl(sessionId, {
-        devServer: DEV_SERVER,
-        rendererIndexPath: DEV_SERVER ? undefined : resolveRendererIndex(),
-        watch
-      })
-    )
-
-    return win
-  })
+// Open a fresh compact window on the new-session draft (#/). Not registry-keyed:
+// like ⌘N in a browser, every press opens a new window — and a draft window that
+// later converts to a real session must not get refocused as if it were blank.
+function createNewSessionWindow() {
+  return spawnSecondaryWindow({ newSession: true })
 }
 
 function createWindow() {
@@ -5328,6 +5338,11 @@ ipcMain.handle('hermes:window:openSession', async (_event, sessionId, opts) => {
 
   return { ok: true }
 })
+ipcMain.handle('hermes:window:openNewSession', async () => {
+  createNewSessionWindow()
+
+  return { ok: true }
+})
 ipcMain.handle('hermes:bootstrap:reset', async () => {
   // Renderer's "Reload and retry" path. Clear the latched failure and
   // reset connection state so the next startHermes() call restarts the

apps/desktop/electron/preload.cjs

@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ contextBridge.exposeInMainWorld('hermesDesktop', {
   touchBackend: profile => ipcRenderer.invoke('hermes:backend:touch', profile),
   getGatewayWsUrl: profile => ipcRenderer.invoke('hermes:gateway:ws-url', profile),
   openSessionWindow: (sessionId, opts) => ipcRenderer.invoke('hermes:window:openSession', sessionId, opts),
+  openNewSessionWindow: () => ipcRenderer.invoke('hermes:window:openNewSession'),
   getBootProgress: () => ipcRenderer.invoke('hermes:boot-progress:get'),
   getConnectionConfig: profile => ipcRenderer.invoke('hermes:connection-config:get', profile),
   saveConnectionConfig: payload => ipcRenderer.invoke('hermes:connection-config:save', payload),

apps/desktop/electron/session-windows.cjs

@@ -15,12 +15,13 @@ const SESSION_WINDOW_MIN_HEIGHT = 620
 // flag MUST sit in the query string BEFORE the '#': anything after the '#' is
 // treated as the route by HashRouter and would break routeSessionId(). The
 // renderer reads the flag from window.location.search to suppress the install /
-// onboarding overlays and the global session sidebar. `watch=1` marks a
-// spectator window (e.g. a running subagent's session): the renderer resumes
-// it lazily so the gateway never builds an agent just to stream into it.
-function buildSessionWindowUrl(sessionId, { devServer, rendererIndexPath, watch } = {}) {
-  const query = `?win=secondary${watch ? '&watch=1' : ''}`
-  const route = `#/${encodeURIComponent(sessionId)}`
+// onboarding overlays and the global session sidebar. `new=1` marks the compact
+// scratch window; `watch=1` marks a spectator window (e.g. a running subagent's
+// session): the renderer resumes it lazily so the gateway never builds an agent
+// just to stream into it.
+function buildSessionWindowUrl(sessionId, { devServer, rendererIndexPath, watch, newSession } = {}) {
+  const query = `?win=secondary${newSession ? '&new=1' : ''}${watch ? '&watch=1' : ''}`
+  const route = newSession ? '#/' : `#/${encodeURIComponent(sessionId)}`
 
   if (devServer) {
     const base = devServer.endsWith('/') ? devServer.slice(0, -1) : devServer

apps/desktop/electron/session-windows.test.cjs

@@ -82,6 +82,12 @@ test('buildSessionWindowUrl adds the watch flag for spectator windows, before th
   assert.equal(url, 'http://localhost:5173/?win=secondary&watch=1#/abc')
 })
 
+test('buildSessionWindowUrl routes new-session windows to the draft (#/)', () => {
+  const url = buildSessionWindowUrl(null, { devServer: 'http://localhost:5173', newSession: true })
+
+  assert.equal(url, 'http://localhost:5173/?win=secondary&new=1#/')
+})
+
 test('registry opens one window per session and focuses on re-open', () => {
   const registry = createSessionWindowRegistry()
   let built = 0

apps/desktop/src/app/chat/index.tsx

@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ import {
   $sessions,
   sessionPinId
 } from '@/store/session'
+import { isNewSessionWindow, isSecondaryWindow } from '@/store/windows'
 import type { ModelOptionsResponse } from '@/types/hermes'
 
 import { routeSessionId } from '../routes'
@@ -122,7 +123,7 @@ function ChatHeader({
   // A brand-new session has no session to pin/delete/rename, so the header is
   // just a dead "New session" label + chevron. Drop it (and its border)
   // entirely until there's a real session to act on.
-  if (!selectedSessionId && !activeSessionId && !isRoutedSessionView) {
+  if (isNewSessionWindow() || (!selectedSessionId && !activeSessionId && !isRoutedSessionView)) {
     return null
   }
 
@@ -302,7 +303,10 @@ export function ChatView({
   // waiting for the resume effect (which paints a frame later) to clear them.
   const routeSessionMismatch = isRoutedSessionView && routedSessionId !== selectedSessionId
 
-  const showIntro = freshDraftReady && !isRoutedSessionView && !selectedSessionId && !activeSessionId && messagesEmpty
+  // The compact new-session pop-out skips the wordmark/tagline intro — it's a
+  // scratch window, not the full-height empty state.
+  const showIntro =
+    !isSecondaryWindow() && freshDraftReady && !isRoutedSessionView && !selectedSessionId && !activeSessionId && messagesEmpty
 
   // Session is still loading if the route references a session we haven't
   // resumed yet. Once `activeSessionId` is set (runtime has resumed), the

apps/desktop/src/app/desktop-controller.tsx

@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@ import {
   setSessionsLoading,
   setSessionsTotal
 } from '../store/session'
+import { onSessionsChanged } from '../store/session-sync'
 import { clearSessionTodos, setSessionTodos, todoListActive } from '../store/todos'
 import { openUpdatesWindow, startUpdatePoller, stopUpdatePoller } from '../store/updates'
 import { isSecondaryWindow } from '../store/windows'
@@ -464,6 +465,17 @@ export function DesktopController() {
     void refreshSessions()
   }, [refreshSessions])
 
+  // Another window mutated the shared session list (e.g. a chat started in the
+  // pop-out). Re-pull so the sidebar reflects it. Pop-outs have no sidebar, so
+  // only real windows bother.
+  useEffect(() => {
+    if (isSecondaryWindow()) {
+      return
+    }
+
+    return onSessionsChanged(() => void refreshSessions().catch(() => undefined))
+  }, [refreshSessions])
+
   // ALL-profiles view pages one profile at a time: fetch that profile's next
   // page and merge it in place, leaving every other profile's rows untouched.
   const loadMoreSessionsForProfile = useCallback(async (profile: string) => {

apps/desktop/src/app/hooks/use-keybinds.ts

@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ import {
   switcherActive,
   switcherJustClosed
 } from '@/store/session-switcher'
+import { openNewSessionInNewWindow } from '@/store/windows'
 import { useTheme } from '@/themes/context'
 
 import { requestComposerFocus } from '../chat/composer/focus'
@@ -132,6 +133,7 @@ export function useKeybinds(deps: KeybindRuntimeDeps): void {
       deps.startFreshSession()
       window.dispatchEvent(new CustomEvent('hermes:new-session-shortcut'))
     },
+    'session.newWindow': () => void openNewSessionInNewWindow(),
     'session.next': () => stepSession(1),
     'session.prev': () => stepSession(-1),
     ...sessionSlotHandlers,

apps/desktop/src/app/session/hooks/use-message-stream.ts

@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ import {
   setTurnStartedAt,
   setYoloActive
 } from '@/store/session'
+import { broadcastSessionsChanged } from '@/store/session-sync'
 import { clearSessionSubagents, pruneDelegateFallbackSubagents, upsertSubagent } from '@/store/subagents'
 import { setSessionTodos } from '@/store/todos'
 import { recordToolDiff } from '@/store/tool-diffs'
@@ -641,6 +642,9 @@ export function useMessageStream({
       })
 
       void refreshSessions().catch(() => undefined)
+      // Sync the freshly-titled row to other windows (e.g. main, when the turn
+      // ran in the pop-out).
+      broadcastSessionsChanged()
 
       if (compactedTurnRef.current.delete(sessionId)) {
         shouldHydrate = false

apps/desktop/src/app/session/hooks/use-session-actions.ts

@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ import {
   setYoloActive,
   workspaceCwdForNewSession
 } from '@/store/session'
+import { broadcastSessionsChanged } from '@/store/session-sync'
 import { reportBackendContract } from '@/store/updates'
 import { isWatchWindow } from '@/store/windows'
 import type { SessionCreateResponse, SessionInfo, SessionResumeResponse, SessionRuntimeInfo, UsageStats } from '@/types/hermes'
@@ -472,6 +473,9 @@ export function useSessionActions({
           // server later returns its own preview/title and supersedes this.
           upsertOptimisticSession(created, stored, null, preview?.trim() || null)
           navigate(sessionRoute(stored), { replace: true })
+          // Other windows (e.g. the main window when this is the pop-out) can't
+          // see this session until they re-pull the shared list.
+          broadcastSessionsChanged()
         }
 
         setFreshDraftReady(false)

apps/desktop/src/app/shell/app-shell.tsx

@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ import {
 } from '@/store/layout'
 import { $paneWidthOverride } from '@/store/panes'
 import { $connection } from '@/store/session'
-import { isSecondaryWindow } from '@/store/windows'
+import { isNewSessionWindow, isSecondaryWindow } from '@/store/windows'
 
 import { SIDEBAR_COLLAPSE_MEDIA_QUERY } from '../layout-constants'
 
@@ -80,6 +80,7 @@ export function AppShell({
   const connection = useStore($connection)
   const viewportFullscreen = useSyncExternalStore(subscribeWindowSize, viewportIsFullscreen, () => false)
   const isFullscreen = Boolean(connection?.isFullscreen) || viewportFullscreen
+  const hideTitlebarControls = isNewSessionWindow()
   const titlebarControls = titlebarControlsPosition(connection?.windowButtonPosition, isFullscreen)
   // Width Windows/Linux reserve for the OS-painted min/max/close overlay (zero
   // on macOS, where window controls sit on the left and are reported via
@@ -162,7 +163,9 @@ export function AppShell({
         } as CSSProperties
       }
     >
-      <TitlebarControls leftTools={leftTitlebarTools} onOpenSettings={onOpenSettings} tools={titlebarTools} />
+      {!hideTitlebarControls && (
+        <TitlebarControls leftTools={leftTitlebarTools} onOpenSettings={onOpenSettings} tools={titlebarTools} />
+      )}
 
       <main className="relative z-3 flex min-h-0 w-full flex-1 flex-col overflow-hidden transition-none">
         <PaneShell className="min-h-0 flex-1">
@@ -183,7 +186,9 @@ export function AppShell({
             the panes' z-20 resize handles, keeping every pane resizable. */}
         {mainOverlays}
 
-        <StatusbarControls items={statusbarItems} leftItems={leftStatusbarItems} />
+        {/* The compact pop-out drops the statusbar — it's a scratch window, not
+            the full shell. */}
+        {!isSecondaryWindow() && <StatusbarControls items={statusbarItems} leftItems={leftStatusbarItems} />}
       </main>
 
       {overlays}

apps/desktop/src/components/assistant-ui/thread-list.tsx

@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { ThreadPrimitive, useAuiEvent, useAuiState } from '@assistant-ui/react'
 import {
+  type CSSProperties,
   type ComponentProps,
   type FC,
   memo,
@@ -21,6 +22,7 @@ import {
   resetThreadScroll,
   setThreadAtBottom
 } from '@/store/thread-scroll'
+import { isNewSessionWindow, isSecondaryWindow } from '@/store/windows'
 
 import { MessageRenderBoundary } from './message-render-boundary'
 
@@ -132,6 +134,13 @@ const ThreadMessageListInner: FC<ThreadMessageListProps> = ({
   const hiddenCount = firstVisible
   const visibleGroups = hiddenCount > 0 ? groups.slice(hiddenCount) : groups
   const restoreFromBottomRef = useRef<number | null>(null)
+  const newSessionWindow = isNewSessionWindow()
+  const newSessionTitlebarGap = 'calc(var(--titlebar-height)+0.75rem)'
+  const threadContentTopPad = newSessionWindow
+    ? 'pt-[calc(var(--titlebar-height)+0.75rem)]'
+    : isSecondaryWindow()
+      ? 'pt-6'
+      : 'pt-[calc(var(--titlebar-height)+1.5rem)]'
 
   useEffect(() => setThreadAtBottom(isAtBottom), [isAtBottom])
   useEffect(() => () => resetThreadScroll(), [])
@@ -235,7 +244,12 @@ const ThreadMessageListInner: FC<ThreadMessageListProps> = ({
   return (
     <div
       className="relative min-h-0 max-w-full overflow-hidden contain-[layout_paint]"
-      style={{ height: clampToComposer ? 'var(--thread-viewport-height)' : '100%' }}
+      style={
+        {
+          height: clampToComposer ? 'var(--thread-viewport-height)' : '100%',
+          ...(newSessionWindow ? { '--sticky-human-top': newSessionTitlebarGap } : {})
+        } as CSSProperties
+      }
     >
       <div
         className="size-full overflow-x-hidden overflow-y-auto overscroll-contain"
@@ -252,9 +266,7 @@ const ThreadMessageListInner: FC<ThreadMessageListProps> = ({
           </div>
         ) : (
           <div
-            className={cn(
-              'mx-auto flex w-full max-w-(--composer-width) min-w-0 flex-col px-6 pt-[calc(var(--titlebar-height)+1.5rem)]'
-            )}
+            className={cn('mx-auto flex w-full max-w-(--composer-width) min-w-0 flex-col px-6', threadContentTopPad)}
             data-slot="aui_thread-content"
             ref={contentRef as React.RefCallback<HTMLDivElement>}
           >

apps/desktop/src/global.d.ts

@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ declare global {
       // a spectator window (lazy resume — no agent build) for live-streaming
       // a running subagent's session.
       openSessionWindow: (sessionId: string, opts?: { watch?: boolean }) => Promise<{ ok: boolean; error?: string }>
+      // Open (or focus) a compact secondary window on the new-session draft.
+      openNewSessionWindow: () => Promise<{ ok: boolean; error?: string }>
       getBootProgress: () => Promise<DesktopBootProgress>
       getConnectionConfig: (profile?: null | string) => Promise<DesktopConnectionConfig>
       saveConnectionConfig: (payload: DesktopConnectionConfigInput) => Promise<DesktopConnectionConfig>

apps/desktop/src/i18n/en.ts

@@ -189,6 +189,7 @@ export const en: Translations = {
       'nav.cron': 'Open scheduled jobs',
       'nav.agents': 'Open agents',
       'session.new': 'New session',
+      'session.newWindow': 'New session in window',
       'session.next': 'Next session',
       'session.prev': 'Previous session',
       'session.slot.1': 'Switch to recent session 1',

apps/desktop/src/i18n/zh.ts

@@ -185,6 +185,7 @@ export const zh: Translations = {
       'nav.cron': '打开定时任务',
       'nav.agents': '打开智能体',
       'session.new': '新建会话',
+      'session.newWindow': '在新窗口中新建会话',
       'session.next': '下一个会话',
       'session.prev': '上一个会话',
       'session.slot.1': '切换到最近会话 1',

apps/desktop/src/lib/keybinds/actions.ts

@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ export const KEYBIND_ACTIONS: readonly KeybindActionMeta[] = [
 
   // ── Session ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
   { id: 'session.new', category: 'session', defaults: ['mod+n', 'shift+n'] },
+  { id: 'session.newWindow', category: 'session', defaults: ['mod+shift+n'] },
   // ⌃Tab / ⌃⇧Tab — the universal tab-cycle chord. Literally Control, not Cmd
   // (macOS reserves Cmd+Tab for app switching); see `ctrl` in combo.ts.
   { id: 'session.next', category: 'session', defaults: ['ctrl+tab'] },

apps/desktop/src/store/session-sync.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+// Cross-window session-list sync. Each desktop window is its own renderer
+// process with its own gateway socket and session store, so a mutation in one
+// (e.g. a new chat started in the compact pop-out) never reaches another
+// window. This bus pings every window to re-pull the shared session list; the
+// data already lives in the backend, the other window just doesn't know to look.
+const CHANNEL = 'hermes:sessions'
+
+const channel = typeof BroadcastChannel === 'undefined' ? null : new BroadcastChannel(CHANNEL)
+
+// A window that mutated the session list (created / titled a chat) tells the
+// others to refresh. A BroadcastChannel never delivers to its own poster, so the
+// caller refreshes locally as it already does.
+export function broadcastSessionsChanged(): void {
+  channel?.postMessage(1)
+}
+
+export function onSessionsChanged(handler: () => void): () => void {
+  if (!channel) {
+    return () => {}
+  }
+
+  channel.addEventListener('message', handler)
+
+  return () => channel.removeEventListener('message', handler)
+}

apps/desktop/src/store/windows.test.ts

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest'
 
-import { canOpenSessionWindow, openSessionInNewWindow } from './windows'
+import { canOpenSessionWindow, openNewSessionInNewWindow, openSessionInNewWindow } from './windows'
 
 const desktopWindow = window as unknown as { hermesDesktop?: Window['hermesDesktop'] }
 const initialHermesDesktop = desktopWindow.hermesDesktop
@@ -11,9 +11,13 @@ vi.mock('./notifications', () => ({
   notifyError: (...args: unknown[]) => notifyError(...args)
 }))
 
-function installBridge(openSessionWindow?: Window['hermesDesktop']['openSessionWindow']) {
+function installBridge(
+  openSessionWindow?: Window['hermesDesktop']['openSessionWindow'],
+  openNewSessionWindow?: Window['hermesDesktop']['openNewSessionWindow']
+) {
   desktopWindow.hermesDesktop = {
-    ...(openSessionWindow ? { openSessionWindow } : {})
+    ...(openSessionWindow ? { openSessionWindow } : {}),
+    ...(openNewSessionWindow ? { openNewSessionWindow } : {})
   } as unknown as Window['hermesDesktop']
 }
 
@@ -101,3 +105,39 @@ describe('openSessionInNewWindow', () => {
     expect(notifyError).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1)
   })
 })
+
+describe('openNewSessionInNewWindow', () => {
+  it('no-ops gracefully when the bridge is absent (web fallback)', async () => {
+    delete desktopWindow.hermesDesktop
+
+    await openNewSessionInNewWindow()
+
+    expect(notifyError).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
+  })
+
+  it('no-ops when openNewSessionWindow is missing', async () => {
+    installBridge(vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({ ok: true }))
+
+    await openNewSessionInNewWindow()
+
+    expect(notifyError).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
+  })
+
+  it('invokes the bridge', async () => {
+    const openNew = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({ ok: true })
+    installBridge(vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({ ok: true }), openNew)
+
+    await openNewSessionInNewWindow()
+
+    expect(openNew).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1)
+    expect(notifyError).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
+  })
+
+  it('notifies on an ok:false result', async () => {
+    installBridge(vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({ ok: true }), vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({ ok: false, error: 'nope' }))
+
+    await openNewSessionInNewWindow()
+
+    expect(notifyError).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1)
+  })
+})

apps/desktop/src/store/windows.ts

@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import { notifyError } from './notifications'
 // never from the router. A "secondary" window renders a single chat without the
 // global session sidebar or the install / onboarding overlays.
 const SECONDARY_WINDOW_FLAG = 'secondary'
+const NEW_SESSION_WINDOW_FLAG = '1'
 
 let secondaryWindowCache: boolean | null = null
 
@@ -27,6 +28,26 @@ export function isSecondaryWindow(): boolean {
   return result
 }
 
+let newSessionWindowCache: boolean | null = null
+
+export function isNewSessionWindow(): boolean {
+  if (newSessionWindowCache !== null) {
+    return newSessionWindowCache
+  }
+
+  let result = false
+
+  try {
+    result = new URLSearchParams(window.location.search).get('new') === NEW_SESSION_WINDOW_FLAG
+  } catch {
+    result = false
+  }
+
+  newSessionWindowCache = result
+
+  return result
+}
+
 let watchWindowCache: boolean | null = null
 
 // A "watch" window spectates a session that is being driven elsewhere (a
@@ -57,6 +78,22 @@ export function canOpenSessionWindow(): boolean {
   return typeof window !== 'undefined' && typeof window.hermesDesktop?.openSessionWindow === 'function'
 }
 
+type WindowOpenResult = { ok: boolean; error?: string } | undefined
+
+// Run a window-open bridge call, surfacing any failure as a toast. Shared by the
+// session pop-out and the new-session pop-out.
+async function openWindow(call: () => Promise<WindowOpenResult>, failMessage: string): Promise<void> {
+  try {
+    const result = await call()
+
+    if (!result?.ok) {
+      notifyError(new Error(result?.error || 'unknown error'), failMessage)
+    }
+  } catch (err) {
+    notifyError(err, failMessage)
+  }
+}
+
 // Open (or focus) a standalone OS window for a single chat session. No-ops
 // gracefully outside Electron so callers can wire it unconditionally.
 // `watch: true` opens a spectator window (lazy resume, live-mirror stream).
@@ -65,13 +102,14 @@ export async function openSessionInNewWindow(sessionId: string, opts?: { watch?:
     return
   }
 
-  try {
-    const result = await window.hermesDesktop.openSessionWindow(sessionId, opts)
-
-    if (!result?.ok) {
-      notifyError(new Error(result?.error || 'unknown error'), 'Could not open chat in a new window')
-    }
-  } catch (err) {
-    notifyError(err, 'Could not open chat in a new window')
-  }
+  await openWindow(() => window.hermesDesktop.openSessionWindow(sessionId, opts), 'Could not open chat in a new window')
+}
+
+// Open a fresh compact window on the new-session draft.
+export async function openNewSessionInNewWindow(): Promise<void> {
+  if (!canOpenSessionWindow() || typeof window.hermesDesktop.openNewSessionWindow !== 'function') {
+    return
+  }
+
+  await openWindow(() => window.hermesDesktop.openNewSessionWindow(), 'Could not open new session window')
 }