[BUG] [v0.0.7] `/agents` footer omits the `n` new agent shortcut and shows a generic `Esc` action

[jony376]

Project

cortex

Description

On the native Cortex TUI /agents panel, the footer renders the generic interactive hint row:

[↑↓] navigate  [Enter] select  [Type] search  [Esc] cancel

This is misleading for this screen.

When there are no custom agents, the panel body itself says:

No custom agents found (Press 'n' to create one)

The /agents builder defines panel-specific hints including n new agent and Esc close, but the rendered footer does not use them. As a result, the panel hides its primary creation shortcut and labels Esc as cancel even though this view behaves like a browser/manager screen.

Error Message

Debug Logs

System Information

OS: macOS 26.3.1

Screenshots

Screen.Recording.2026-03-30.at.05.24.58.mov

Steps to Reproduce

1. From the Cortex repo root, create a clean temporary home:

   export HOME="$(mktemp -d)"
   mkdir -p "$HOME/.cortex"

2. Mark the current repo as trusted so Cortex opens directly into the main TUI:

   cat > "$HOME/.cortex/trusted_workspaces.json" <<EOF
   {
     "version": 1,
     "trusted": [
       "$(pwd)"
     ]
   }
   EOF

3. Set a dummy API key so the TUI can open the main session UI:

   export CORTEX_API_KEY=dummy

4. Launch the native TUI:

   ./target/debug/Cortex

5. At the prompt, run:

   /agents
   

6. Observe the footer at the bottom of the panel.
7. Compare it to the empty-state line in the body (Press 'n' to create one).

Expected Behavior

The /agents footer should reflect actions that are actually available on this panel:

• Include n new agent.
• Show Esc close (or equivalent dismiss wording) for this manager view.
• Render panel-specific hints instead of a generic fallback hint row.

Actual Behavior

The /agents panel footer stays generic:

[↑↓] navigate  [Enter] select  [Type] search  [Esc] cancel

So the footer omits the n shortcut for Create New Agent and shows Esc cancel instead of the panel-specific Esc close.

Additional Context

Relevant code paths:

• src/cortex-tui/src/interactive/builders/agents.rs builds the Agents interactive state and sets custom hints including ("n", "new agent") and ("Esc", "close").
• src/cortex-tui/src/interactive/renderer.rs currently renders a generic hint row in render_hints() (↑↓ navigate, Enter select, optional Type search, Esc cancel) and does not consume per-panel custom hints.

[atlas-cortex]

🔁 Validation Summary — Issue #51339

Issue is a duplicate of #50745 (similarity: 0.59)

Duplicate of #50745 — the original issue takes precedence.

Confidence Score: 5/5

• High confidence — this issue substantially overlaps with [BUG] [v0.0.7] Interactive panel render_hints() ignores custom hints from .with_hints() — configured "Esc: close" renders as "Esc: cancel", "/" as "Type", etc. #50745.

Validation Checks

Check	Status	Detail
Media Evidence	✅ Pass	Evidence found and accessible
Spam Detection	✅ Pass	Score: 20% — no spam signals
Duplicate Detection	❌ Duplicate	Matches existing issue #50745
Code Verification	✅ Pass	Bug confirmed in source code (confidence: 100%) — The code in src/cortex-tui/src/interactive/renderer.rs hardcodes the hints in
Edit History	✅ Pass	No suspicious edits
LLM Evaluation	❌ Fail	Issue is a duplicate of #50745 (similarity: 0.59)

Validation Pipeline

%%{init: {'theme': 'neutral'}}%%
flowchart TD
    A["Issue #51339"] --> B{"Media Check"}
    B -->|"✅ Found"| C{"Spam Check"}
    C -->|"✅ Clean"| D{"Duplicate Check"}
    D -->|"Matches #50745"| Z["🔁 Duplicate"]
    style Z fill:#ffa94d,color:#fff

Loading

Raw Evidence

{
  "media": {
    "hasMedia": true,
    "accessible": true,
    "urls": [
      "https://private-user-images.githubusercontent.com/271091581/571100188-92582455-547b-4fa3-aa0f-4b427c0d67e0.mov?jwt=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpc3MiOiJnaXRodWIuY29tIiwiYXVkIjoicmF3LmdpdGh1YnVzZXJjb250ZW50LmNvbSIsImtleSI6ImtleTUiLCJleHAiOjE3NzY3NDQ2OTYsIm5iZiI6MTc3Njc0NDM5NiwicGF0aCI6Ii8yNzEwOTE1ODEvNTcxMTAwMTg4LTkyNTgyNDU1LTU0N2ItNGZhMy1hYTBmLTRiNDI3YzBkNjdlMC5tb3Y_WC1BbXotQWxnb3JpdGhtPUFXUzQtSE1BQy1TSEEyNTYmWC1BbXotQ3JlZGVudGlhbD1BS0lBVkNPRFlMU0E1M1BRSzRaQSUyRjIwMjYwNDIxJTJGdXMtZWFzdC0xJTJGczMlMkZhd3M0X3JlcXVlc3QmWC1BbXotRGF0ZT0yMDI2MDQyMVQwNDA2MzZaJlgtQW16LUV4cGlyZXM9MzAwJlgtQW16LVNpZ25hdHVyZT1iZWYzZmQwMDE5Y2QxNzk3MDRkMzllNTc2OTE3MDYxMmJlOGRiZWM3YjZjMzYyNGRmZTdkNDdiOTYwNjdlZGM2JlgtQW16LVNpZ25lZEhlYWRlcnM9aG9zdCZyZXNwb25zZS1jb250ZW50LXR5cGU9dmlkZW8lMkZxdWlja3RpbWUifQ.B4ZKhXCwq75yR-TL5ZqOF3yXS8pLORpZpmTks43UqYo"
    ],
    "evidence": [
      "Found 1 media URL(s) via GitHub rendered HTML",
      "1 URL(s) accessible"
    ]
  },
  "spam": {
    "overallScore": 0.20487364620938628,
    "details": "template=0.27 (89 recent issues compared); burst=1.00 (90 issues in 2h window); parity=0.00; overall=0.41 (threshold=0.7); llm_spam=0.00 (The issue provides a highly specific and descriptive title. The description clearly outlines the problem with the TUI footer not displaying panel-specific hints. The steps to reproduce are exceptionally detailed, providing exact bash commands to set up a clean environment and trigger the bug. Both expected and actual behaviors are clearly defined. A video link is provided as visual evidence. There are no indicators of spam or template farming, as the report includes specific code paths and context relevant to the project. No duplicate issues were flagged.)"
  },
  "duplicate": {
    "isDuplicate": true,
    "originalIssue": 50745,
    "similarity": 0.5852054072682911,
    "topSimilar": [
      {
        "issueNumber": 50745,
        "title": "[BUG] [v0.0.7] Interactive panel render_hints() ignores custom hints from .with_hints() — configured \"Esc: close\" renders as \"Esc: cancel\", \"/\" as \"Type\", etc.",
        "similarity": 0.5852054072682911
      },
      {
        "issueNumber": 51088,
        "title": "[BUG][v0.0.7] /agents panel: insufficient spacing between “No custom agents found” and footer controls",
        "similarity": 0.5633594922458999
      },
      {
        "issueNumber": 51108,
        "title": "[BUG] [v0.0.7] Subagent view renders duplicate “Esc / back to main” hints from two paths",
        "similarity": 0.5536303165506751
      },
      {
        "issueNumber": 51091,
        "title": "[BUG] [v0.0.7] Device-auth waiting screen supports c (copy URL) but footer omits this active shortcut",
        "similarity": 0.5251430201810494
      },
      {
        "issueNumber": 50912,
        "title": "[BUG] [v0.0.7][UI] Question prompt footer: Esc labeled dismiss and ↑↓ labeled select — inconsistent with cancel / navigate elsewhere",
        "similarity": 0.523968403623428
      }
    ]
  },
  "editHistory": {
    "fraudScore": 0,
    "editCount": 0,
    "details": "No edits detected"
  },
  "codeVerification": {
    "plausible": true,
    "confidence": 1,
    "reasoning": "The code in `src/cortex-tui/src/interactive/renderer.rs` hardcodes the hints in `render_hints` and ignores `self.state.hints`. The `build_agents_selector` function in `src/cortex-tui/src/interactive/builders/agents.rs` sets custom hints including `(\"n\", \"new agent\")` and `(\"Esc\", \"close\")`, but these are never rendered.",
    "codeEvidence": "src/cortex-tui/src/interactive/renderer.rs hardcodes the hints in render_hints and ignores self.state.hints. src/cortex-tui/src/interactive/builders/agents.rs sets custom hints including (\"n\", \"new agent\") and (\"Esc\", \"close\").",
    "screenshotValid": true,
    "screenshotReasoning": "The screenshot is a video showing the TUI and the missing hints."
  }
}

_{Validated by Atlas • 2026-04-21}