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feat(mecatui): move the session activity line above the input box - #2044

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@blkt

@blkt blkt commented Oct 1, 2026 •

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Summary

  • Move the session activity line ("ready", "thinking…", "Running X…", approval, connecting) out of the footer to its own row directly above the input box, framed by blank spacers that short terminals drop first.
  • Footer usage/custom footer is now left-justified across the full row; the input box shrinks to one text row with a padding row above and below that typing never consumes.
  • ADR 0373 supersedes ADR 0289, consolidating ADRs 0247/0289 with the new placement.

Development stage

  • Spike / Routine / Cleanup — acceptance-plan spine exempt

Contract linkage

Issue relationship

Closes #1325

Type of change

  • New feature
  • Documentation/process

Test plan

  • Linting (task lint) — clean with GOOS=linux; darwin reports pre-existing SA4023 in internal/executionexecutor
  • Pre-review race suite (task test:race) — all mecatui packages pass; local failures are in packages that don't import mecatui (microvm/executor/placement environment issues)
  • Offline demo (go run ./cmd/mecademo)
  • task docs
  • task site:build

User-facing change

The activity status now appears directly above the prompt instead of below it.

Special notes for reviewers

The activity line is one row; long text (e.g. the gateway notice at 100 cols) is truncated with ….

Render the activity line (ready, thinking, tool progress, approval,
connecting) on its own row directly above the input, framed by blank
spacers that short terminals drop first. Footer usage and custom footer
surfaces are now left-justified across the full row, and the input box
shrinks to one text row framed by a padding row above and below.

ADR 0373 supersedes ADR 0289, consolidating the status-surface decisions
of ADRs 0247 and 0289 with the new placement.

Closes #1325

Co-authored-by: Mecatl <noreply@mecatl.dev>

@jbeda jbeda left a comment

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Glanced at the code but didn't review it closely. One thing I have been watching closely is the main markdown changes - both tui.md and user-docs.

Not sure what happened with the ADR. That is crazy how huge it is. Which model were you using?

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It is crazy that it rewrote this entire ADR instead of just talking about the small delta. If you feel like it, you might want to ask it to slim this down.




connected

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Looking at the layout in the goldens, it appears that there is a line between the status line and the input box. Should we eliminate that line and make things more compact? Vertical lines are precious in a TUI and we should be thoughtful when we have blank lines.

Comment thread docs/tui.md
prompt, and footer. `cmd/mecatui/ui/layout.go` derives that stack for rendering,
viewport sizing, and mouse hit testing. Add regions there so a transient shrinks
activity line, prompt, and footer
([ADR 0373](adr/0373-mecatui-status-surfaces-and-activity-line.md)).

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Not sure if this pointer to the ADR really helps. I just shortened this file and so we should try and keep it minimal.

posture/scroll/changed-file indicators, and the footer activity lane remain part
of the client interface; customization cannot remove them.
posture/scroll/changed-file indicators, and the activity line above the input
box remain part of the client interface; customization cannot remove them. The

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The activity line is different from the status line and I'm not sure this addition adds value. Keep these docs tight.

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feat(mecatui): move the session status line above the input box

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