From 7cceead27373ac7381190dea3ca966d8b6d79322 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Brooklyn Nicholson <brooklyn.bb.nicholson@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 5 Jun 2026 21:03:05 -0500
Subject: [PATCH] fix(desktop): render steer note as a codicon, not an emoji
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The inline steer note used a ⏩ emoji. Emit a structured `steer:<text>`
system note and render it in SystemMessage as a codicon (compass) row —
same style as slash-status output. No emoji in the transcript.
---
 .../app/session/hooks/use-prompt-actions.ts    |  5 +++--
 .../src/components/assistant-ui/thread.tsx     | 18 ++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 21 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/app/session/hooks/use-prompt-actions.ts b/apps/desktop/src/app/session/hooks/use-prompt-actions.ts
index 744f3f47df06..b96684134454 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/app/session/hooks/use-prompt-actions.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/app/session/hooks/use-prompt-actions.ts
@@ -768,8 +768,9 @@ export function usePromptActions({
         if (result?.status === 'queued') {
           triggerHaptic('submit')
           // Inline note (not a toast) so the nudge lives in the transcript next
-          // to the turn it steered — same centered system-note style as slash output.
-          appendSessionTextMessage(sessionId, 'system', `⏩ steered · ${text}`)
+          // to the turn it steered. The `steer:` prefix is rendered as a codicon
+          // row by SystemMessage (see STEER_NOTE_RE), same style as slash output.
+          appendSessionTextMessage(sessionId, 'system', `steer:${text}`)
 
           return true
         }
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/components/assistant-ui/thread.tsx b/apps/desktop/src/components/assistant-ui/thread.tsx
index c34c345b361d..a38ebce4f341 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/components/assistant-ui/thread.tsx
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/components/assistant-ui/thread.tsx
@@ -820,6 +820,7 @@ const UserMessage: FC<{
 }
 
 const SLASH_STATUS_RE = /^slash:(?<command>\/[^\n]+)\n(?<output>[\s\S]*)$/
+const STEER_NOTE_RE = /^steer:(?<text>[\s\S]+)$/
 
 const SystemMessage: FC = () => {
   const text = useAuiState(s => messageContentText(s.message.content))
@@ -828,6 +829,23 @@ const SystemMessage: FC = () => {
     return null
   }
 
+  const steerNote = text.match(STEER_NOTE_RE)
+
+  if (steerNote?.groups) {
+    return (
+      <MessagePrimitive.Root
+        className="flex max-w-[min(86%,44rem)] items-center gap-1.5 self-center px-2 py-0.5 text-[0.6875rem] leading-5 text-muted-foreground/60"
+        data-role="system"
+        data-slot="aui_system-message-root"
+      >
+        <Codicon className="text-muted-foreground/55" name="compass" size="0.75rem" />
+        <span className="text-muted-foreground/55">steered</span>
+        <span className="text-muted-foreground/35">·</span>
+        <span className="whitespace-pre-wrap">{steerNote.groups.text.trim()}</span>
+      </MessagePrimitive.Root>
+    )
+  }
+
   const slashStatus = text.match(SLASH_STATUS_RE)
 
   if (slashStatus?.groups) {