Store persistent chat sessions in the workspace by default #16847

cdamus · 2026-01-19T23:32:10Z

What it does

Implements storage of chat session persistence — initially implemented with #16486 — in the workspace by default.

A new complex preference settings is added with three details:

Session Storage: Scope — enum of values 'workspace' and 'global', workspace being the default, determining whether chat session storage is per-workspace (and so in the workspace root directory) or global (shared by all workspaces, as previously). It has two sub-preferences:
- Workspace Path — a workspace-relative path in which to store chat sessions when storage scope is 'workspace'. The default is .theia/chatSessions. If set empty, then there is no persistence of chat sessions (this does not mean to use the workspace root folder itself as the store; I suppose a user could set . if they want to annoy themselves)
- Global Path — an absolute path in the filesystem in which to store chat sessions when storage scope is 'global'. When set empty, which it is by default, then the implied location is $HOME/.theia/chatSessions.

The object-valued preference setting is edited in a new custom preference renderer that organizes the path inputs behind a disclosure triangle. Each of these inputs has its own revert button to restore the default setting. The preference object persists only those of its properties that do not have their default value. This ensures that if a workspace overrides the preference, user-specific default paths are not persisted in version control repositories.

How to test

Play with the new preferences for chat session storage and see how they interact with the "Show Chats" command. You should be able to store a different set of chats in global storage versus workspace storage, and set up multiple stores of each kind via the path preferences. Whatever the preference settings, the Show Chats command should show what actually is in that store and it should not be available when there are no chats, neither in the in-memory history nor the store.

Follow-ups

should there be general interest in it, the complex setting with a master preference and disclosable details could be extracted into a reusable renderer. It would probably only be useful though if it could itself reuse the rest of the renderer library for rendering its details, which would imply a considerable refactoring of the leaf renderer framework to support this sub-preference use case (prop of a preference object value) in addition to actual preferences

Breaking changes

I suppose that, technically, changing the default storage location of chat sessions breaks the behaviour previously established and will appear at first to be a case of data loss for users, although reversion to the global scope is available. It does not seem worth the effort to provide a tool to import the chat session store into the current workspace.

There is no meaningful API breaking change.

This PR introduces breaking changes and requires careful review. If yes, the breaking changes section in the changelog has been updated.

Attribution

Review checklist

As an author, I have thoroughly tested my changes and carefully followed the review guidelines
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Reminder for reviewers

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Implement an optional visibleWhen property on preference schema that provides for a very simple condition to show a preference in the UI when some other preference does or does not have some value. In support of eclipse-theia#16565. Signed-off-by: Christian W. Damus <cdamus@eclipsesource.com>

Add a preference for workspace-local versus global storage of chat sessions. Workspace storage is now the default and global storage is as before. The global storage location is now configurable, defaulting to $HOME/.theia/chatSessions as before. Use the new capability for simple preference visibility conditions to show either an optional global storage path or the workspace-relative storage preference according to the current storage scope. Finally, update the Show Chats command to not require the AI Chat view to be open. It will be opened on selection of a chat. This is now consistent with the New Chat command. Fixes eclipse-theia#16565 Signed-off-by: Christian W. Damus <cdamus@eclipsesource.com>

colin-grant-work · 2026-01-20T15:59:26Z

General comments before I take a look at the code:

This PR includes a very minimal implementation of an optional visibleWhen property on a preference schema that allows the preference to condition its visibility in the UI upon the value of another preference.

I'm likely not that keen on this feature. I understand that it has some value for avoiding confusion - you see the path setting for the storage scope you're using, and not the other one that would have no effect - but it introduces complexity into the preferences UI that isn't completely transparent to the user. I can very easily imagine some user seeing mention of one of the scope preferences, then opening up the preferences only to find that they don't see that particular scope's path preference, then reaching out to their IDE team (this used to be me, whence the vividness of this scenario in my mind) and then having them explain that to see that setting, you first have to change another setting. Of course the other scenario is likely as well - they reach out because they changed the wrong scope and didn't see the behavior they expected - but we could probably avoid that with some path validation: insist on absolute paths for the global one and relative for the workspace one.

This is a tiny subset of the VS Code when-clause specification for preference settings (config.) supporting only equal-to or not-equal-to some value.

But if my arguments above aren't persuasive, I'd probably prefer just supporting any when clause, rather than restricting it to config. prefixed values. That will make it possibly even more opaque - that would be the responsibility of whoever chooses the when clause - but it will be easier to document and the code will be simpler and anticipate a likely feature request.

cdamus · 2026-01-20T16:23:37Z

This PR includes a very minimal implementation of an optional visibleWhen property on a preference schema that allows the preference to condition its visibility in the UI upon the value of another preference.

I'm likely not that keen on this feature.

What I would prefer TBH would be possibly an even further departure from what is currently supported. I would like to see:

both path settings at the same time
but they are clearly subordinate to the scope setting, so actually nested under it. By indentation and preferably with a disclosure triangle to reveal them
(optionally) only the one pertinent to the current scope value is enabled, though both are visible

If we'd rather not make any changes to the preferences UI for this feature, then I would suggest an alternative:

a single path setting
it is always a relative path
for global scope it is relative to $HOME/
for workspace scope it is relative to the (first) workspace root
the default is .theia/chatSessions

Overriding the path setting itself at workspace scope should give users all the flexibility they need.

colin-grant-work · 2026-01-20T16:31:50Z

What I would prefer TBH would be possibly an even further departure from what is currently supported. I would like to see

This would be possible in principle: the preference rendering system is extensible so that if we had a base preference ai-features.chat.sessionStorage with an object schema specifying the others, we could then assign a PreferenceRenderer to it that would look like what you're describing. That would be a bit ad-hoc, but I actually think it would be pretty useful, because the general idea of 'packaged' preferences that in some way relate to one another should be displayed as such isn't such a crazy idea.

The main entry point into that system is preference-node-renderer-creator.ts, if you're interested in going down that path.

cdamus · 2026-01-20T16:41:05Z

The main entry point into that system is preference-node-renderer-creator.ts, if you're interested in going down that path.

Cool, thanks for that! I'll give it a try. So hold off on review if you'd like 😀

This reverts commit 84167b0. Signed-off-by: Christian W. Damus <cdamus@eclipsesource.com> # Conflicts: # packages/ai-chat/src/browser/chat-session-store-impl.spec.ts

cdamus · 2026-01-20T20:22:53Z

Thanks @colin-grant-work for the pointers to custom preference renderers. I'm very much happier with the result of refactoring the UI in commit c672104 for a complex preference setting. And I've reverted the changes in the preference framework for visible-when conditions.

Instead of having several separate preferences for chat session storage, model it as a complex object with a custom renderer that groups the path settings under a disclosure triangle. Signed-off-by: Christian W. Damus <cdamus@eclipsesource.com>

Signed-off-by: Christian W. Damus <cdamus@eclipsesource.com>

packages/ai-chat-ui/src/browser/style/index.css

colin-grant-work · 2026-01-22T17:01:02Z

package-lock.json

      "version": "12.2.3",
      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/@types/markdown-it/-/markdown-it-12.2.3.tgz",
      "integrity": "sha512-GKMHFfv3458yYy+v/N8gjufHO6MSZKCOXpZc5GXIWWy8uldwfmPn98vp81gZ5f9SVw8YYBctgfJ22a2d7AOMeQ==",
-      "dev": true,


@ndoschek, these are the kinds of changes I also see if I run npm install locally. The deletion of these lines is likely unintentional, but their addition was also recent and likely unintentional. Do we have a policy / desired target for this kind of metadata in the package-lock.json?

The lock file only changed because I had to add a dependency from the ai-chat package to the preferences package. I'm loath to manually edit a lock file.

packages/ai-chat-ui/src/browser/session-storage-preference-renderer.ts

packages/ai-chat/src/common/ai-chat-preferences.ts

colin-grant-work · 2026-01-22T17:28:16Z

packages/ai-chat/src/browser/chat-session-store-impl.ts

+                if (!storageConfig.workspacePath.trim()) {
+                    this.logger.debug('Workspace storage path is empty: session persistence disabled.');
+                    return undefined;
+                }


This could be moved up to before we try to retrieve the workspaceRoot. (If we retain this behavior)

colin-grant-work · 2026-01-22T17:28:49Z

packages/ai-chat/src/browser/chat-session-store-impl.ts

+        const roots = await this.workspaceService.roots;
+        if (roots.length > 0) {
+            return roots[0].resource;
+        }
+        return undefined;


If we're watching for workspace changes (and it looks like we are), this doesn't really need to be the async version; you can use this.workspaceService.tryGetRoots to get the current list, and if the list changes, we'll update anyway.

packages/ai-chat/src/browser/chat-session-store-impl.ts

packages/ai-chat/src/common/ai-chat-preferences.ts

packages/ai-chat/src/browser/chat-session-store-impl.ts

- import the CSS where it's needed - freeze the SessionStorageValue::DEFAULT and spread as required - show the focus border on the disclosure triangle when focused Signed-off-by: Christian W. Damus <cdamus@eclipsesource.com>

Signed-off-by: Christian W. Damus <cdamus@eclipsesource.com>

Do not hard-code the .theia/ directory name nor reference it in user facing text. Signed-off-by: Christian W. Damus <cdamus@eclipsesource.com>

- use explicit default values for both paths - do not allow empty inputs - validate global path for being absolute - validate workspace path for being relative and not escapting the workspace directory Signed-off-by: Christian W. Damus <cdamus@eclipsesource.com>

Instead show an info label explaining that a path is not used. Signed-off-by: Christian W. Damus <cdamus@eclipsesource.com>

Listen for workspace changes generally to determine when it happens that what formerly was the first root of the workspace no longer is, and in that case invalidate the storage. Don't listen for workspace changes in global scope. Signed-off-by: Christian W. Damus <cdamus@eclipsesource.com>

cdamus · 2026-01-23T01:41:05Z

Thanks @colin-grant-work for your thorough review and excellent comments. I've pushed changes that I think, overall, address all of your feedback and make this solution so much better.

Address small review comments (ff335ea)
- Moves CSS import to where it's actually needed
- Freezes SessionStorageValue::DEFAULT and uses spread operator when modification is needed
- Adds focus border styling on the disclosure triangle when focused
Seed a new workspace storage from global storage (f12145d)
- When initializing workspace storage for the first time, copies existing chat sessions from global storage to the new workspace storage location
Use application's configuration directory name (75f1869)
- Removes hard-coded .theia/ directory name
- Dynamically uses the application's actual configuration directory name
- Removes references to .theia in user-facing text
Rationalize default path settings (70a7e81)
- Sets explicit default values for both workspace and global paths
- Prevents empty inputs
- Adds validation: global path must be absolute, workspace path must be relative and cannot escape the workspace directory
Do not disable any input fields (16f44d6)
- Changed the preference UI to no longer disable input fields based on scope
- Instead shows an informational label explaining when a path is not being used
Fix handling of workspace root changes (2c65300)
- Listens for general workspace changes to detect when the first workspace root changes
- Invalidates the storage cache when this happens
- Does not set up the workspace listener at all when storage scope is global

…ssion-storage

Signed-off-by: Christian W. Damus <cdamus@eclipsesource.com>

cdamus · 2026-01-23T01:54:42Z

Oh somebody changed the API of preference node renderers today. Clever 😉 must be coincidence. I've rescued my renderer in commit 26e8928.

cdamus added 2 commits January 19, 2026 18:10

github-project-automation bot added this to PR Backlog Jan 19, 2026

github-project-automation bot moved this to Waiting on reviewers in PR Backlog Jan 19, 2026

cdamus mentioned this pull request Jan 19, 2026

AI Persistence: Show Persisted Sessions in Chat View #16562

Open

ndoschek requested a review from colin-grant-work January 20, 2026 15:11

ndoschek linked an issue Jan 20, 2026 that may be closed by this pull request

AI Persistence: Workspace-Specific Session Storage #16565

Open

Revert "Optional visibility conditions on preferences"

e2dfaca

This reverts commit 84167b0. Signed-off-by: Christian W. Damus <cdamus@eclipsesource.com> # Conflicts: # packages/ai-chat/src/browser/chat-session-store-impl.spec.ts

cdamus force-pushed the feature/16565-ws-session-storage branch from 0c79d3c to c672104 Compare January 20, 2026 20:28

Fix lint problems

84f2966

Signed-off-by: Christian W. Damus <cdamus@eclipsesource.com>

colin-grant-work reviewed Jan 22, 2026

View reviewed changes

cdamus added 6 commits January 22, 2026 14:29

Address small review comments

ff335ea

- import the CSS where it's needed - freeze the SessionStorageValue::DEFAULT and spread as required - show the focus border on the disclosure triangle when focused Signed-off-by: Christian W. Damus <cdamus@eclipsesource.com>

Seed a new workspace storage from global storage

f12145d

Signed-off-by: Christian W. Damus <cdamus@eclipsesource.com>

Use application's configuration directory name

75f1869

Do not hard-code the .theia/ directory name nor reference it in user facing text. Signed-off-by: Christian W. Damus <cdamus@eclipsesource.com>

Do not disable any input fields

16f44d6

Instead show an info label explaining that a path is not used. Signed-off-by: Christian W. Damus <cdamus@eclipsesource.com>

cdamus added 2 commits January 22, 2026 20:46

Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/master' into feature/16565-ws-se…

7ad5324

…ssion-storage

Adapt to API breaking change in preference node renderer

26e8928

Signed-off-by: Christian W. Damus <cdamus@eclipsesource.com>

Store persistent chat sessions in the workspace by default #16847

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Store persistent chat sessions in the workspace by default #16847

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