Read a timeout in units, share one usage answer, and let a tilde mean home

The composer's settings row is outlined bubbles opening round menus, and
the message box is a TextFieldValue so anything put into it without being
typed -- a draft, a share, a slash command -- leaves the cursor at the end.

A tap that puts a text selection away no longer also collapses the card the
text was drawn in: every open and close on the session screen goes through
one guard that spends such a press on the selection.

The usage bar and the usage dialog were two polls of one measurement and
disagreed for up to a minute at a time; they are one feed now, and the
countdown rounds up to the minute in the one place both read.

A working directory typed as ~/repos/ai-app was four literal characters on
the local transport and as an argument on both, so the existence check
refused every home-relative path. It is checked by entering the directory
now, expanded for a local spawn the way the remote shell expands it, and
stored short so the phone draws what somebody would write.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

TODO.md

@@ -3,19 +3,12 @@
 Working list from Iris, 2026-09-03. Remove an entry when it lands; annotate
 one in place when it turns out to need a decision.
 
-## App — composer and input
-
-- [ ] Make the file-add button and the ones beside it "bubble" buttons with a
-      visible outline. The popups they open should be round.
-- [ ] Returning to the app must not open the keyboard if it was closed when
-      the app was left.
-- [ ] Tapping a slash-command suggestion should move the cursor to the end of
-      the inserted suggestion.
-
 ## App — transcript
 
-- [ ] Tapping an expanded agent message card should close it.
+- [ ] Tapping an expanded agent message card should close it. — a tap that
-- [ ] Tapping to deselect text should not toggle card expansion.
+      clears a selection now spends itself on that and nothing else
+      (`SessionScreen.expanding`); still to check on the emulator whether a tap
+      with *no* selection reaches an opened peer card at all.
 - [ ] Text inside code blocks does not highlight when selected (selection
       itself works — only the highlight is missing).
 - [ ] Bash logs should apply colour and the other basic text escape sequences,
@@ -37,22 +30,12 @@ one in place when it turns out to need a decision.
       stacking them all in a row.
 - [ ] Submit stays greyed out until every question is answered.
 
-## Formatting
-
-- [ ] Show a timeout in the largest possible unit: 480000ms = 8m. Under a
-      minute show only the largest unit (2.5s, 30ms); at or over a minute show
-      all units (5d 12h 4m).
-- [ ] Use tilde notation when moving the working directory.
-
 ## Session settings
 
 - [ ] Autocompact belongs in session settings; empty disables it, which is the
       default.
 - [ ] Changing the model on a stopped provider should be possible, stored, and
       applied the next time it starts.
+- [ ] Switching models must not warn when there is no context for the warning to
+      matter — e.g. straight after a clear.
 
-## Usage
-
-- [ ] Add one minute to Claude's "time left".
-- [ ] The transcript header and the usage menu should share one usage value —
-      they have been seen disagreeing.

app/androidApp/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml

@@ -37,12 +37,20 @@
         <profileable android:shell="true" tools:targetApi="q" />
         <!-- adjustResize (not the system's default pan): the layout handles
              the keyboard itself via imePadding(), so the window must resize
-             rather than slide the top bar off screen. -->
+             rather than slide the top bar off screen.
+
+             stateUnchanged: coming back to the app leaves the keyboard as it
+             was left. The default, stateUnspecified, lets the system decide,
+             and what it decides with a focused message field is to open the
+             keyboard -- so switching away and back covered half the transcript
+             somebody had switched away to compare against. Unchanged rather
+             than hidden, because a keyboard that was up when the app was left
+             is one somebody was in the middle of typing into. -->
         <activity
             android:name=".MainActivity"
             android:exported="true"
             android:launchMode="singleTop"
-            android:windowSoftInputMode="adjustResize"
+            android:windowSoftInputMode="adjustResize|stateUnchanged"
             android:theme="@android:style/Theme.Material.Light.NoActionBar">
             <intent-filter>
                 <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

app/androidApp/src/main/kotlin/com/example/aiapp/Bubble.kt

@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+package com.example.aiapp
+
+import androidx.compose.foundation.shape.RoundedCornerShape
+import androidx.compose.material3.ButtonDefaults
+import androidx.compose.material3.OutlinedButton
+import androidx.compose.runtime.Composable
+import androidx.compose.ui.Modifier
+import androidx.compose.ui.graphics.Shape
+import androidx.compose.ui.unit.dp
+
+// The composer's row of settings and pickers, and the menus they open. One file because the
+// outline and the corner are one appearance: a control shaped like this opens a surface shaped
+// like this, and a reader learns the pair once.
+
+/**
+ * A bordered pill: a control that can be seen without being pressed.
+ *
+ * The composer's row -- attach, model, permission mode -- was text buttons, which draw nothing at
+ * all until they are touched. Three bare words sitting under the message field read as a caption
+ * about the field rather than as three things to press, and the only way to find out otherwise was
+ * to press one. The outline says "control" without the weight of a filled button, which is reserved
+ * here for the two that act on the session (send, and start/stop).
+ */
+@Composable
+fun BubbleButton(
+    onClick: () -> Unit,
+    modifier: Modifier = Modifier,
+    enabled: Boolean = true,
+    content: @Composable () -> Unit,
+) {
+    OutlinedButton(
+        onClick = onClick,
+        enabled = enabled,
+        shape = BubbleShape,
+        // A text button's padding rather than a filled button's 24dp: these sit three across
+        // under the message field, and the wider padding is what decides whether the row fits.
+        contentPadding = ButtonDefaults.TextButtonContentPadding,
+        modifier = modifier,
+    ) {
+        content()
+    }
+}
+
+/** Fully round ends, so the control reads as a bubble rather than as a box. */
+val BubbleShape: Shape = RoundedCornerShape(percent = 50)
+
+/**
+ * The corner on a menu one of these opens.
+ *
+ * A radius rather than [BubbleShape]'s half-height: a menu is as tall as its options, and rounding
+ * ends that tall would bow its sides. This is the roundest corner that still leaves a straight edge
+ * beside a one-line option, which is the shortest menu here.
+ */
+val BubbleMenuShape: Shape = RoundedCornerShape(20.dp)

app/androidApp/src/main/kotlin/com/example/aiapp/Durations.kt

@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+package com.example.aiapp
+
+/**
+ * A span of milliseconds, written the way somebody reads it.
+ *
+ * A tool's timeout arrives as `480000`, which nobody reads as eight minutes. The rule has two
+ * halves, because a short span and a long one are read for different things. Under a minute the
+ * question is "roughly how long", so only the largest unit is shown and a fraction of it carries
+ * the rest -- `2.5s`, `30ms`. At a minute or more the question is "how long exactly", so every unit
+ * that has something in it is written out -- `5d 12h 4m`. Units that are empty are left out rather
+ * than written as zero, since the labels say which is which and `5d 0h 4m` is only longer.
+ *
+ * Sub-second precision is dropped past a minute: nothing that takes days is measured in
+ * milliseconds, and carrying them would make the common case the widest one.
+ */
+fun formatMillis(ms: Long): String {
+    if (ms < 0) return "-" + formatMillis(-ms)
+    if (ms < 1000) return "${ms}ms"
+    if (ms < 60_000) {
+        val tenths = (ms + 50) / 100
+        val whole = tenths / 10
+        val rest = tenths % 10
+        return if (rest == 0L) "${whole}s" else "$whole.${rest}s"
+    }
+    val seconds = ms / 1000
+    val parts =
+        listOf(
+            "d" to seconds / 86_400,
+            "h" to seconds / 3600 % 24,
+            "m" to seconds / 60 % 60,
+            "s" to seconds % 60,
+        )
+    return parts.filter { it.second > 0 }.joinToString(" ") { "${it.second}${it.first}" }
+}
+
+/** [text] as a span when it is a whole number of milliseconds, and unchanged when it is not. */
+fun formatMillisText(text: String): String =
+    text.trim().toLongOrNull()?.let { formatMillis(it) } ?: text

app/androidApp/src/main/kotlin/com/example/aiapp/Markdown.kt

@@ -225,7 +225,7 @@ private class LiveParse(
         val parse = parseMarkdown(tailText)
         val all = pieces(parse)
         val open = (parse as? State.Success)?.let { openPiece(it, all) }
-        if (open == null || parse !is State.Success) {
+        if (open == null) {
             return LiveParse(
                 next,
                 frozen,

app/androidApp/src/main/kotlin/com/example/aiapp/NerdIcons.kt

@@ -1,10 +1,13 @@
 package com.example.aiapp
 
+import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.Box
 import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.size
+import androidx.compose.material3.CircularProgressIndicator
 import androidx.compose.material3.IconButton
 import androidx.compose.material3.MaterialTheme
 import androidx.compose.material3.Text
 import androidx.compose.runtime.Composable
+import androidx.compose.ui.Alignment
 import androidx.compose.ui.Modifier
 import androidx.compose.ui.graphics.Color
 import androidx.compose.ui.semantics.contentDescription
@@ -190,6 +193,24 @@ fun GlyphButton(
     }
 }
 
+/**
+ * The square a glyph button occupies, with a spinner in it instead of a mark.
+ *
+ * For a button whose work is under way. It takes the button's whole box rather than the mark's, so
+ * swapping one for the other leaves everything in the row exactly where it was -- a control that
+ * changed the width of its header while it worked would move its neighbours at the moment somebody
+ * was pressing them.
+ */
+@Composable
+fun GlyphSpinner(label: String, modifier: Modifier = Modifier) {
+    Box(
+        contentAlignment = Alignment.Center,
+        modifier = modifier.size(GLYPH_BUTTON_SIZE).semantics { contentDescription = label },
+    ) {
+        CircularProgressIndicator(Modifier.size(GLYPH_EXTENT), strokeWidth = 2.dp)
+    }
+}
+
 /**
  * One icon, drawn as text.
  *

app/androidApp/src/main/kotlin/com/example/aiapp/ResetCountdown.kt

@@ -7,13 +7,23 @@ import java.time.OffsetDateTime
 // arithmetic is the same in both and only the sentence around it differs, so everything here
 // returns the span or the state on its own and leaves the wording to the caller.
 
-/** "1d 4h", "3h 12m", "12m" -- the span alone, with no leading or trailing words. */
+/**
-fun formatSpan(until: Duration): String =
+ * "1d 4h", "3h 12m", "12m" -- the span alone, with no leading or trailing words.
-    when {
+ *
-        until.toHours() >= 24 -> "${until.toDays()}d ${until.toHours() % 24}h"
+ * Rounded **up** to the whole minute, rather than truncated as it was. A window with 3h 12m 50s
-        until.toHours() > 0 -> "${until.toHours()}h ${until.toMinutes() % 60}m"
+ * left is nearer four minutes past the twelve than it is to twelve, and truncating also parks the
-        else -> "${until.toMinutes()}m"
+ * figure on a minute it has already spent -- so the reader watching the number decide whether to
+ * start something was consistently told less headroom than they had. One rule, so the session bar
+ * and the usage dialog cannot round a shared measurement two different ways.
+ */
+fun formatSpan(until: Duration): String {
+    val up = if (until.seconds % 60 == 0L && until.nano == 0) until else until.plusMinutes(1)
+    return when {
+        up.toHours() >= 24 -> "${up.toDays()}d ${up.toHours() % 24}h"
+        up.toHours() > 0 -> "${up.toHours()}h ${up.toMinutes() % 60}m"
+        else -> "${up.toMinutes()}m"
     }
+}
 
 /**
  * What is known about when a usage window ends.

app/androidApp/src/main/kotlin/com/example/aiapp/SessionScreen.kt

@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.size
 import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.width
 import androidx.compose.foundation.lazy.LazyListState
 import androidx.compose.foundation.shape.CircleShape
+import androidx.compose.foundation.text.selection.rememberSelectionState
 import androidx.compose.material3.AlertDialog
 import androidx.compose.material3.Button
 import androidx.compose.material3.Card
@@ -71,6 +72,8 @@ import androidx.compose.ui.platform.LocalContext
 import androidx.compose.ui.platform.LocalDensity
 import androidx.compose.ui.semantics.contentDescription
 import androidx.compose.ui.semantics.semantics
+import androidx.compose.ui.text.TextRange
+import androidx.compose.ui.text.input.TextFieldValue
 import androidx.compose.ui.text.style.TextOverflow
 import androidx.compose.ui.unit.dp
 import androidx.compose.ui.window.PopupProperties
@@ -267,13 +270,17 @@ fun SessionScreen(
     // leaving the screen -- or the system reclaiming the app -- does not throw away a half-typed
     // message. See `Drafts.kt` for why this one piece of state is the device's rather than the
     // server's.
-    var input by remember(summary.id) { mutableStateOf(loadDraft(context, summary.id)) }
+    var input by remember(summary.id) { mutableStateOf(atEnd(loadDraft(context, summary.id))) }
     // A model the reader has chosen and not yet confirmed. See [ModelSwitchWarning]: switching
     // makes the session re-read the whole conversation, which is worth asking about first.
     var pendingModel by remember { mutableStateOf<String?>(null) }
     // What was last taken from the command suggestions, so the list closes behind it; see
     // [CommandSuggestions] at its call site.
     var picked by remember { mutableStateOf<String?>(null) }
+    // The transcript's selection, held here rather than inside [TranscriptList] because the rows
+    // have to ask whether anything is selected before they treat a tap as their own -- see
+    // [expanding].
+    val selection = rememberSelectionState()
     var expandedTools by remember { mutableStateOf(setOf<String>()) }
     // Which runs of adjacent tool calls are open. Keyed by the first call's
     // id, so a group survives more calls arriving after it.
@@ -485,6 +492,30 @@ fun SessionScreen(
         }
     }
 
+    /**
+     * A press on the transcript that would open or close something, and the one thing every such
+     * press has to check first.
+     *
+     * The transcript is one [SelectionContainer], so a reader who has selected some text puts that
+     * selection away by tapping -- and the tap that does it lands on whatever card the text is
+     * drawn in. Left alone, that card takes it as a press of its own: the reader clears a selection
+     * and the tool call under their finger collapses, which is a second thing happening for a
+     * gesture that meant one. So a press with a selection outstanding spends itself clearing it and
+     * does nothing else, and the press after that -- with nothing selected -- opens or closes as
+     * usual.
+     *
+     * Every open and close on this screen goes through here rather than each writing the check,
+     * since which card the finger lands on is not something the reader chose and the rule cannot
+     * hold for only some of them.
+     */
+    fun expanding(toggle: () -> Unit) {
+        if (selection.selectedTexts.isNotEmpty()) {
+            selection.clear()
+            return
+        }
+        toggle()
+    }
+
     /**
      * Changes a row's height while the end the reader touched stays where it is.
      *
@@ -505,7 +536,7 @@ fun SessionScreen(
      * comes from the row's own detector ([LastTouch]), written by the gesture that is about to run
      * [toggle].
      */
-    fun toggleAnchored(row: TranscriptRow, toggle: () -> Unit) {
+    fun toggleAnchored(row: TranscriptRow, toggle: () -> Unit) = expanding {
         if (lastTouch.key == row.key && lastTouch.high) topEdgeHeld.key = row.key
         toggle()
     }
@@ -1027,7 +1058,7 @@ fun SessionScreen(
     }
 
     /** Opens or closes one memory note, wherever it is drawn; see [MemoryNote]. */
-    fun toggleMemory(text: String) {
+    fun toggleMemory(text: String) = expanding {
         openMemories = if (text in openMemories) openMemories - text else openMemories + text
     }
 
@@ -1043,7 +1074,7 @@ fun SessionScreen(
      * the reader tapped keeps its place because the list keeps it, not because a measurement
      * corrected it afterwards.
      */
-    fun togglePeer(seq: Long) {
+    fun togglePeer(seq: Long) = expanding {
         expandedNotes = if (seq in expandedNotes) expandedNotes - seq else expandedNotes + seq
     }
 
@@ -1064,7 +1095,7 @@ fun SessionScreen(
     }
 
     fun send() {
-        val text = input.trim()
+        val text = input.text.trim()
         val attachments = pendingAttachments
         if (text.isEmpty() && attachments.isEmpty()) return
         // A command is not a message: it is an instruction to the session about itself, and one
@@ -1072,7 +1103,7 @@ fun SessionScreen(
         // turn ends and says so, which is where its waiting bubble comes from -- so nothing is
         // held here, and there is no local guess to correct when the answer arrives.
         if (text.startsWith("/") && attachments.isEmpty()) {
-            input = ""
+            input = atEnd("")
             saveDraft(context, summary.id, "")
             // The one command with a visible effect outside the transcript, applied when the
             // server has accepted it rather than when it was typed: the name is this app's own
@@ -1087,7 +1118,7 @@ fun SessionScreen(
             }
             return
         }
-        input = ""
+        input = atEnd("")
         saveDraft(context, summary.id, "")
         pendingAttachments = emptyList()
         // Nothing is added here. The server says what is waiting -- it emits `messageQueued`
@@ -1132,14 +1163,15 @@ fun SessionScreen(
         onShareTaken()
         incoming.uris.forEach(::attach)
         incoming.text?.let { shared ->
-            input = if (input.isBlank()) shared else input + "\n" + shared
+            input = atEnd(if (input.text.isBlank()) shared else input.text + "\n" + shared)
-            saveDraft(context, summary.id, input)
+            saveDraft(context, summary.id, input.text)
         }
     }
 
-    // One poll for this machine's limits, read by the two things that show them: the bar under
+    // One poll for the machines' limits, read by everything on this screen that reports them:
-    // the header, and the colour of the button that opens the dialog.
+    // the bar under the header, the colour of the button that opens the dialog, and the dialog.
-    val usage = rememberSessionUsage(settings, summary.setup)
+    val usageFeed = rememberUsageFeed(settings)
+    val usage = usageFeed.forSetup(summary.setup)
     RecordFrames()
     var usageOpen by remember { mutableStateOf(false) }
     var settingsOpen by remember { mutableStateOf(false) }
@@ -1341,6 +1373,7 @@ fun SessionScreen(
                         units = units,
                         state = listState,
                         moreHistory = moreHistory,
+                        selection = selection,
                         modifier =
                             Modifier.fillMaxSize().drawWithContent { if (settled) drawContent() },
                         below = {
@@ -1720,9 +1753,13 @@ fun SessionScreen(
                 // has nothing left to offer, in front of the box they are about to send from.
                 // Held by what was picked rather than by a flag, so typing anything else brings
                 // the list back without needing a second thing to reset.
-                commands = if (input == picked) emptyList() else suggestedCommands(input),
+                commands = if (input.text == picked) emptyList() else suggestedCommands(input.text),
                 onPick = { command ->
-                    input = command.typed()
+                    // At the end of what was inserted, which is where the reader carries on
+                    // typing: a command with an argument is put in the box half-written, and a
+                    // cursor left at the front makes the next keystroke the first character of
+                    // "/rename" rather than of the name.
+                    input = atEnd(command.typed())
                     picked = command.typed()
                 },
             )
@@ -1747,7 +1784,7 @@ fun SessionScreen(
                     value = input,
                     onValueChange = {
                         input = it
-                        saveDraft(context, summary.id, it)
+                        saveDraft(context, summary.id, it.text)
                     },
                     modifier = Modifier.fillMaxWidth(),
                     // No longer "(+image)": the images are on screen above this, and a placeholder
@@ -1764,13 +1801,14 @@ fun SessionScreen(
                     var attaching by remember { mutableStateOf(false) }
                     Box {
                         // Just "+". The count it used to carry was standing in for showing them.
-                        TextButton(onClick = { attaching = true }) { Text("+") }
+                        BubbleButton(onClick = { attaching = true }) { Text("+") }
                         DropdownMenu(
                             expanded = attaching,
                             onDismissRequest = { attaching = false },
                             // See PickerButton: without this the menu opens a status bar's
                             // height away from the button in an edge-to-edge activity.
                             properties = PopupProperties(clippingEnabled = false),
+                            shape = BubbleMenuShape,
                         ) {
                             DropdownMenuItem(
                                 text = { Text("Photo") },
@@ -1883,7 +1921,7 @@ fun SessionScreen(
                     // not hidden, for the reason the button beside it is always here.
                     Button(
                         onClick = { send() },
-                        enabled = input.isNotBlank() || pendingAttachments.isNotEmpty(),
+                        enabled = input.text.isNotBlank() || pendingAttachments.isNotEmpty(),
                         colors = actionButtonColors(if (running) queueColor else sendColor),
                     ) {
                         Glyph(
@@ -1902,7 +1940,7 @@ fun SessionScreen(
     // open is the screen's business rather than any row's. See [SessionImageViewer].
     fullImage?.let { ref -> SessionImageViewer(settings, summary.id, ref) { fullImage = null } }
     if (usageOpen) {
-        UsageDialog(settings = settings, onDismiss = { usageOpen = false })
+        UsageDialog(feed = usageFeed, onDismiss = { usageOpen = false })
     }
     if (settingsOpen) {
         SessionSettingsDialog(
@@ -2283,6 +2321,17 @@ private fun QuestionRow(
     }
 }
 
+/**
+ * [text] in the message box, with the cursor after it.
+ *
+ * Everything that puts words in the box without the reader typing them goes through here: a
+ * restored draft, a share arriving from another app, a slash command taken from the suggestions.
+ * All three leave the reader mid-sentence, and all three used to leave the cursor at whatever
+ * offset it happened to hold -- which for a box that has never been focused is the very start, so
+ * picking `/rename` and typing put the name in front of the command.
+ */
+private fun atEnd(text: String) = TextFieldValue(text, TextRange(text.length))
+
 /**
  * How long after a menu closes a press on its own button still counts as the press that closed it.
  *
@@ -2314,7 +2363,7 @@ private fun PickerButton(current: String, options: List<String>, onPick: (String
     // as a new one.
     var closedAt by remember { mutableLongStateOf(0L) }
     Box {
-        TextButton(
+        BubbleButton(
             onClick = { if (SystemClock.uptimeMillis() - closedAt > ONE_TAP_MS) open = true }
         ) {
             // One line, truncated rather than wrapped: this sits in a row
@@ -2353,6 +2402,7 @@ private fun PickerButton(current: String, options: List<String>, onPick: (String
                 closedAt = SystemClock.uptimeMillis()
             },
             properties = PopupProperties(focusable = false, clippingEnabled = false),
+            shape = BubbleMenuShape,
         ) {
             options.forEach { option ->
                 DropdownMenuItem(

app/androidApp/src/main/kotlin/com/example/aiapp/SessionUsageBar.kt

@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import androidx.compose.material3.Text
 import androidx.compose.runtime.Composable
 import androidx.compose.runtime.LaunchedEffect
 import androidx.compose.runtime.getValue
+import androidx.compose.runtime.mutableIntStateOf
 import androidx.compose.runtime.mutableStateOf
 import androidx.compose.runtime.remember
 import androidx.compose.runtime.setValue
@@ -55,28 +56,63 @@ sealed class SessionUsage {
 private const val REFRESH_MS = 60_000L
 
 /**
- * One machine's rate limits, polled.
+ * One poll of every machine's limits, and the handle to ask again.
  *
- * Hoisted out of [SessionUsageBar] because two things on a session's screen show this same answer
+ * A screen shows this answer in more than one place -- the bar under the session header, the colour
- * -- the bar, and the colour of the button that opens the usage dialog. Fetching it twice would
+ * of the button beside it, and the dialog that button opens -- and each of those used to fetch for
- * cost two round trips to say one thing, and the two copies would disagree for up to a minute at a
+ * itself. Two fetches say one thing twice and then disagree about it: the bar's copy can be a whole
- * time, which is the interface contradicting itself about a number somebody is deciding on.
+ * refresh interval old when the dialog opens with a fresh one, so the header read 42% while the
+ * screen over it read 47%, about a number somebody is deciding on. One feed per screen, and
+ * [refresh] moves both.
+ */
+class UsageFeed(
+    val snapshots: LoadState<List<UsageSnapshot>>,
+    /**
+     * A fetch is outstanding. Only ever true over an answer already shown; see [rememberUsageFeed].
+     */
+    val refreshing: Boolean,
+    /** Ask the backend again now. The dialog's refresh button; the poll does it on its own. */
+    val refresh: () -> Unit,
+) {
+    /** What [setup]'s own limits came back as. See [usageFor] for why the states are these. */
+    fun forSetup(setup: String): SessionUsage =
+        when (val state = snapshots) {
+            is LoadState.Loading -> SessionUsage.Waiting
+            is LoadState.Error -> SessionUsage.Unavailable(state.message)
+            is LoadState.Loaded -> usageFor(state.value, setup)
+        }
+}
+
+/**
+ * The one poll of the machines' rate limits, polled and refreshable.
+ *
+ * Hoisted out of [SessionUsageBar] because everything on a session's screen that reports on usage
+ * has to be reporting the same measurement; see [UsageFeed].
  */
 @Composable
-fun rememberSessionUsage(settings: ServerSettings, setup: String): SessionUsage {
+fun rememberUsageFeed(settings: ServerSettings): UsageFeed {
-    var usage by remember(setup) { mutableStateOf<SessionUsage>(SessionUsage.Waiting) }
+    var snapshots by remember { mutableStateOf<LoadState<List<UsageSnapshot>>>(LoadState.Loading) }
-    LaunchedEffect(setup) {
+    var refreshing by remember { mutableStateOf(true) }
+    // Bumped to ask again now. The poll below restarts from the new value, so a manual refresh
+    // also resets the countdown to the next one rather than leaving one due immediately after.
+    var asked by remember { mutableIntStateOf(0) }
+    LaunchedEffect(asked) {
         while (true) {
-            usage =
+            refreshing = true
+            // Replaces the answer only once the next one is in hand: dropping back to Loading
+            // would blank a bar somebody is reading for the length of a round trip, and what was
+            // on screen is still the last thing the machine actually said.
+            snapshots =
                 try {
-                    usageFor(withContext(Dispatchers.IO) { fetchUsage(settings) }, setup)
+                    LoadState.Loaded(withContext(Dispatchers.IO) { fetchUsage(settings) })
                 } catch (e: ApiException) {
-                    SessionUsage.Unavailable(e.message ?: "couldn't reach the backend")
+                    LoadState.failed(e)
                 }
+            refreshing = false
             delay(REFRESH_MS)
         }
     }
-    return usage
+    return remember(snapshots, refreshing) { UsageFeed(snapshots, refreshing) { asked++ } }
 }
 
 /**

app/androidApp/src/main/kotlin/com/example/aiapp/ToolInput.kt

@@ -31,8 +31,8 @@ data class ToolInput(
     /** The tool's own one-line summary, when it wrote one. */
     val description: String?,
     /**
-     * How long the call may take, as the tool expressed it. Shown apart because it is a limit on
+     * How long the call may take, in the largest units it fits ([formatMillis]). Shown apart
-     * the call rather than part of what the call does.
+     * because it is a limit on the call rather than part of what the call does.
      */
     val timeout: String?,
     /** Everything else, as `name: value` lines. Never dropped. */
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ fun parseToolInput(tool: String, input: String): ToolInput {
     val description = DESCRIPTIONS.firstNotNullOfOrNull {
         json.optString(it).takeIf { v -> v.isNotBlank() }
     }
-    val timeout = json.optString("timeout").takeIf { it.isNotBlank() }
+    val timeout = json.optString("timeout").takeIf { it.isNotBlank() }?.let { formatMillisText(it) }
     val rest =
         json
             .keys()

app/androidApp/src/main/kotlin/com/example/aiapp/TranscriptList.kt

@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.size
 import androidx.compose.foundation.lazy.LazyColumn
 import androidx.compose.foundation.lazy.LazyListState
 import androidx.compose.foundation.text.selection.SelectionContainer
+import androidx.compose.foundation.text.selection.SelectionState
 import androidx.compose.material3.CircularProgressIndicator
 import androidx.compose.runtime.Composable
 import androidx.compose.ui.Alignment
@@ -44,17 +45,23 @@ import androidx.compose.ui.unit.dp
  * drawn without one silently unselectable, which is a state nothing on screen reports. Rows keep
  * their tap handlers: selection is a long press, and the container passes an ordinary click through
  * to the card under it.
+ *
+ * [selection] is the container's own state, held by the caller rather than made here, because the
+ * rows have to be able to ask whether anything is selected before they act on a tap -- a tap whose
+ * job is to put a selection away is not also a tap on the card under it. See the caller's
+ * `expanding`.
  */
 @Composable
 fun TranscriptList(
     units: List<TranscriptUnit>,
     state: LazyListState,
     moreHistory: Boolean,
+    selection: SelectionState,
     modifier: Modifier = Modifier,
     below: @Composable () -> Unit,
     unit: @Composable (TranscriptUnit) -> Unit,
 ) {
-    SelectionContainer {
+    SelectionContainer(selection) {
         LazyColumn(
             state = state,
             reverseLayout = true,

app/androidApp/src/main/kotlin/com/example/aiapp/UsageDialog.kt

@@ -15,20 +15,11 @@ import androidx.compose.material3.Surface
 import androidx.compose.material3.Text
 import androidx.compose.material3.TextButton
 import androidx.compose.runtime.Composable
-import androidx.compose.runtime.LaunchedEffect
-import androidx.compose.runtime.getValue
-import androidx.compose.runtime.mutableStateOf
-import androidx.compose.runtime.remember
-import androidx.compose.runtime.rememberCoroutineScope
-import androidx.compose.runtime.setValue
 import androidx.compose.ui.Alignment
 import androidx.compose.ui.Modifier
 import androidx.compose.ui.unit.dp
 import androidx.compose.ui.window.Dialog
 import java.time.OffsetDateTime
-import kotlinx.coroutines.Dispatchers
-import kotlinx.coroutines.launch
-import kotlinx.coroutines.withContext
 
 /**
  * Window bars for the account's rate limits, with reset times.
@@ -41,23 +32,7 @@ import kotlinx.coroutines.withContext
  * handles that itself.
  */
 @Composable
-fun UsageDialog(settings: ServerSettings, onDismiss: () -> Unit) {
+fun UsageDialog(feed: UsageFeed, onDismiss: () -> Unit) {
-    val scope = rememberCoroutineScope()
-    var state by remember { mutableStateOf<LoadState<List<UsageSnapshot>>>(LoadState.Loading) }
-
-    fun refresh() {
-        state = LoadState.Loading
-        scope.launch {
-            state =
-                try {
-                    withContext(Dispatchers.IO) { LoadState.Loaded(fetchUsage(settings)) }
-                } catch (e: ApiException) {
-                    LoadState.failed(e)
-                }
-        }
-    }
-    LaunchedEffect(Unit) { refresh() }
-
     // A plain Dialog rather than an AlertDialog, for the spacing alone. AlertDialog fixes the
     // gaps between its title, its content and its buttons at sizes meant for a sentence of prose
     // and a decision; this is a dense read-out, and those gaps left a band of empty dialog above
@@ -84,7 +59,14 @@ fun UsageDialog(settings: ServerSettings, onDismiss: () -> Unit) {
                         style = MaterialTheme.typography.headlineSmall,
                         modifier = Modifier.weight(1f),
                     )
-                    GlyphButton(REFRESH_GLYPH, "Refresh usage", { refresh() })
+                    // A spinner in the button's place while the answer is on its way, since the
+                    // numbers under it stay put during a refresh -- without it, pressing refresh
+                    // over an unchanged read-out looks like a button that does nothing.
+                    if (feed.refreshing) {
+                        GlyphSpinner("Refreshing usage")
+                    } else {
+                        GlyphButton(REFRESH_GLYPH, "Refresh usage", feed.refresh)
+                    }
                 }
                 Spacer(Modifier.height(8.dp))
                 // Scrolls rather than being trimmed: a machine can report any number of windows
@@ -92,7 +74,7 @@ fun UsageDialog(settings: ServerSettings, onDismiss: () -> Unit) {
                 // running out of room is silent. `fill = false` so a short read-out keeps a short
                 // dialog instead of stretching to the window.
                 Column(Modifier.weight(1f, fill = false).verticalScroll(rememberScrollState())) {
-                    UsageBody(state)
+                    UsageBody(feed.snapshots)
                 }
                 TextButton(onClick = onDismiss, modifier = Modifier.align(Alignment.End)) {
                     Text("Close")

server/src/routes.rs

@@ -1177,8 +1177,18 @@ async fn set_cwd(
             setup.name
         )));
     }
+    // Stored in the short form, so the one path that is kept is the one
+    // the phone will draw -- rather than storing `/home/bob/…` and
+    // abbreviating it again at each place it is shown, which is two
+    // representations of one directory and a second rule to keep in step.
+    // Only where the setup runs here; see `setups::shorten_home`.
+    let stored = if setup.ssh.is_none() {
+        crate::setups::shorten_home(&cwd)
+    } else {
+        cwd.clone()
+    };
     manager
-        .set_session_cwd(&id, PathBuf::from(&cwd))
+        .set_session_cwd(&id, PathBuf::from(&stored))
         .map_err(bad_request)?;
     Ok(StatusCode::NO_CONTENT)
 }

server/src/session/import.rs

@@ -441,7 +441,14 @@ pub async fn directory_exists(transport: &Transport, path: &str) -> bool {
     if path.is_empty() {
         return false;
     }
-    let launch = Launch::new("test", vec!["-d".to_string(), path.to_string()], None);
+    // Asked by *entering* it rather than by `test -d <path>`, because the
+    // question this is standing in for is "can a session start here" and
+    // because a path is only expanded where it is a working directory --
+    // `~/repos/ai-app` as an argument stays four literal characters on
+    // both transports (`ssh::quote_path`, `ssh::expand_home`), so the old
+    // form answered "no such directory" about every home-relative path
+    // somebody typed.
+    let launch = Launch::new("true", Vec::new(), Some(std::path::Path::new(path)));
     transport.capture(&launch).await.is_ok()
 }
 

server/src/setups.rs

@@ -160,6 +160,32 @@ pub fn tidy(value: &str) -> Option<String> {
     })
 }
 
+/// The inverse of [`tidy`]'s expansion: an absolute path under this
+/// machine's home, written back as `~/…`.
+///
+/// So that a working directory reads on a phone the way it is written by
+/// hand. `/home/bob/repos/ai-app-2` is most of a line on that screen and
+/// almost all of it is the part nobody is reading.
+///
+/// Applied only to paths on **this** machine. `$HOME` here says nothing
+/// about the home directory of a machine reached over ssh, so a remote
+/// path is stored exactly as it was typed -- where a `~` somebody wrote
+/// stays a `~`, and the remote shell is what expands it
+/// (`ssh::quote_path`).
+pub fn shorten_home(path: &str) -> String {
+    let Some(home) = std::env::home_dir() else {
+        return path.to_string();
+    };
+    let home = home.to_string_lossy();
+    // The separator has to be part of the match, or `/home/bobby` would be
+    // read as a path inside `/home/bob`.
+    match path.strip_prefix(home.as_ref()) {
+        Some("") => "~".to_string(),
+        Some(rest) if rest.starts_with('/') => format!("~{rest}"),
+        _ => path.to_string(),
+    }
+}
+
 /// Runs a launch to completion and returns its stdout.
 impl Transport {
     pub async fn capture(&self, launch: &Launch) -> Result<String> {
@@ -182,3 +208,29 @@ impl Transport {
         Ok(String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stdout).into_owned())
     }
 }
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::*;
+
+    /// The two halves of a home-relative path, which have to be inverses:
+    /// what is stored is what the phone draws, and what the phone sends
+    /// back is what a process is started in.
+    #[test]
+    fn a_home_path_shortens_and_expands_back() {
+        let Some(home) = std::env::home_dir() else {
+            return;
+        };
+        let full = home.join("repos/ai-app-2");
+        let full = full.to_string_lossy();
+        assert_eq!(shorten_home(&full), "~/repos/ai-app-2");
+        assert_eq!(shorten_home(&home.to_string_lossy()), "~");
+        assert_eq!(tidy("~/repos/ai-app-2").as_deref(), Some(full.as_ref()));
+
+        // Not a prefix match on the characters: a sibling directory whose
+        // name merely starts with the home directory's is not inside it.
+        let sibling = format!("{}-backup/notes", home.to_string_lossy());
+        assert_eq!(shorten_home(&sibling), sibling);
+        assert_eq!(shorten_home("/etc/hosts"), "/etc/hosts");
+    }
+}

server/src/ssh.rs

@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 //! `~/.ssh/config`, agents, and jump hosts all keep working and there is
 //! only one place to configure connections (PLAN.md, rule 23).
 
-use std::path::Path;
+use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
 use std::process::Command;
 
 use crate::config::SshConfig;
@@ -50,7 +50,15 @@ pub fn command(
         let mut command = Command::new(program);
         command.args(args);
         if let Some(cwd) = cwd {
-            command.current_dir(cwd);
+            // Expanded here for the same reason `quote_path` expands it on
+            // the far side: a working directory typed as `~/repos/ai-app`
+            // has to mean the same thing whichever machine runs it. There
+            // is no shell in this branch, so nothing else would --
+            // `current_dir` would be handed the literal one-character
+            // directory `~`, and the session would fail to start with an
+            // error naming a path nobody typed. Only the cwd, matching
+            // the remote side, where arguments stay literal.
+            command.current_dir(expand_home(cwd));
         }
         return command;
     };
@@ -101,6 +109,30 @@ fn remote_script(program: &str, args: &[String], cwd: Option<&Path>) -> String {
     script
 }
 
+/// A path with a leading `~` replaced by this machine's home directory.
+///
+/// The local half of the rule [`quote_path`] states for the remote one, and
+/// the two are deliberately the same shape: the tilde is expanded, `~user`
+/// is not (there is no portable expansion for another account's home), and
+/// nothing else in the path gains a meaning. A machine with no home
+/// directory at all leaves the path alone, which fails with the operating
+/// system's own message rather than with a guess.
+pub(crate) fn expand_home(path: &Path) -> PathBuf {
+    let Some(rest) = path.to_str().and_then(|p| {
+        if p == "~" {
+            Some("")
+        } else {
+            p.strip_prefix("~/")
+        }
+    }) else {
+        return path.to_path_buf();
+    };
+    match std::env::home_dir() {
+        Some(home) => home.join(rest),
+        None => path.to_path_buf(),
+    }
+}
+
 /// Quotes a path, expanding a leading `~` and nothing else.
 ///
 /// [`quote`] is right for every other word crossing to the remote side and
@@ -247,6 +279,31 @@ mod tests {
         );
     }
 
+    /// The same character, on the transport with no shell to expand it.
+    ///
+    /// The local branch runs the program directly, so a working directory
+    /// of `~/repos/ai-app` would reach `current_dir` as the literal
+    /// one-character directory `~` -- a session that fails to start,
+    /// naming a path nobody typed. The two transports have to agree about
+    /// what a tilde means or a path is only portable by accident.
+    #[test]
+    fn a_local_cwd_expands_its_tilde_the_same_way() {
+        let Some(home) = std::env::home_dir() else {
+            return;
+        };
+        assert_eq!(
+            expand_home(Path::new("~/repos/ai-app")),
+            home.join("repos/ai-app")
+        );
+        assert_eq!(expand_home(Path::new("~")), home);
+        // Leading only, and its own segment only -- `quote_path`'s rule.
+        assert_eq!(expand_home(Path::new("/tmp/~/x")), Path::new("/tmp/~/x"));
+        assert_eq!(expand_home(Path::new("~user/x")), Path::new("~user/x"));
+
+        let local = command(None, "claude", &args(["-p"]), Some(Path::new("~/work")));
+        assert_eq!(local.get_current_dir(), Some(home.join("work").as_path()));
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn shell_metacharacters_cross_as_data_not_syntax() {
         // Expanding $HOME must not open a door for anything else: the rest