NianToB/refactor.md

Refactor Summary

Scope

This branch captures local refactors focused on frontend UX polish, IPC call consolidation, transport abstraction, and channel page responsiveness.

Key Changes

1. Frontend IPC consolidation

• Replaced scattered direct window.electron.ipcRenderer.invoke(...) calls with unified invokeIpc(...) usage.
• Added lint guard to prevent new direct renderer IPC invokes outside the API layer.
• Introduced a centralized API client with:
  • error normalization (AppError)
  • unified app:request support + compatibility fallback
  • retry helper for timeout/network errors

2. Transport abstraction (extensible protocol layer)

• Added transport routing abstraction inside src/lib/api-client.ts:
  • ipc, ws, http
  • rule-based channel routing
  • transport registration/unregistration
  • failure backoff and fallback behavior
• Added default transport initialization in app entry.
• Added gateway-specific transport adapters for WS/HTTP.

3. HTTP path moved to Electron main-process proxy

• Added gateway:httpProxy IPC handler in main process to avoid renderer-side CORS issues.
• Preload allowlist updated for gateway:httpProxy.
• Gateway HTTP transport now uses IPC proxy instead of browser fetch direct-to-gateway.

4. Settings improvements (Developer-focused transport control)

• Added persisted setting gatewayTransportPreference.
• Added runtime application of transport preference in app bootstrap.
• Added UI option (Developer section) to choose routing strategy:
  • WS First / HTTP First / WS Only / HTTP Only / IPC Only
• Added i18n strings for EN/ZH/JA.

5. Channel page performance optimization

• fetchChannels now supports options:
  • probe (manual refresh can force probe)
  • silent (background refresh without full-page loading lock)
• Channel status event refresh now debounced (300ms) to reduce refresh storms.
• Initial loading spinner only shown when no existing data.
• Manual refresh uses local spinner state and non-blocking update.

6. UX and component enhancements

• Added shared feedback state component for consistent empty/loading/error states.
• Added telemetry helpers and quick-action/dashboard refinements.
• Setup/settings/providers/chat/skills/cron pages received targeted UX and reliability fixes.

7. IPC main handler compatibility improvements

• Expanded app:request coverage for provider/update/settings/cron/usage actions.
• Unsupported app requests now return structured error response instead of throwing, reducing noisy handler exceptions.

8. Tests

• Added unit tests for API client behavior and feedback state rendering.
• Added transport fallback/backoff coverage in API client tests.

Files Added

• src/lib/api-client.ts
• src/lib/telemetry.ts
• src/components/common/FeedbackState.tsx
• tests/unit/api-client.test.ts
• tests/unit/feedback-state.test.tsx
• refactor.md

Notes

• Navigation order in sidebar is kept aligned with main ordering.
• This commit snapshots current local refactor state for follow-up cleanup/cherry-pick work.

Incremental Updates (2026-03-08)

9. Channel i18n fixes

• Added missing channels locale keys in EN/ZH/JA to prevent raw key fallback:
  • configured, configuredDesc, configuredBadge, deleteConfirm
• Fixed confirm dialog namespace usage on Channels page:
  • common:actions.confirm, common:actions.delete, common:actions.cancel

10. Channel save/delete behavior aligned to reload-first strategy

• Added Gateway reload capability in GatewayManager:
  • reload() (SIGUSR1 on macOS/Linux, restart fallback on failure/unsupported platforms)
  • debouncedReload() for coalesced config-change reloads
• Wired channel config operations to reload pipeline:
  • channel:saveConfig
  • channel:deleteConfig
  • channel:setEnabled
• Removed redundant renderer-side forced restart call after WhatsApp configuration.

11. OpenClaw config compatibility for graceful reload

• Ensured commands.restart = true is persisted in OpenClaw config write paths:
  • electron/utils/channel-config.ts
  • electron/utils/openclaw-auth.ts
• Added sanitize fallback that auto-enables commands.restart before Gateway start.

12. Channels page data consistency fixes

• Unified configured state derivation so the following sections share one source:
  • stats cards
  • configured channels list
  • available channel configured badge
• Fixed post-delete refresh by explicitly refetching both:
  • configured channel types
  • channel status list

13. Channels UX resilience during Gateway restart/reconnect

• Added delayed gateway warning display to reduce transient false alarms.
• Added "running snapshot" rendering strategy:
  • keep previous channels/configured view during starting/reconnecting when live response is temporarily empty
  • avoids UI flashing to zero counts / empty configured state
• Added automatic refresh once Gateway transitions back to running.

14. Configure-but-disable support

• Added enable toggle in channel setup dialog (Enable Channel).
• Save flow now persists enabled with configuration payload.
• Existing config load now reads enabled state and pre-fills toggle accordingly.