Disambiguate duplicate session titles

[TurboTheTurtle]

Closes #954.

What Problem This Solves

The Sessions page rendered raw gateway display names, so forked or otherwise colliding sessions could be indistinguishable.

Summary

• Reuse one session-title formatter across native chat and the Sessions page.
• Add deterministic suffixes when key-derived qualifiers still collide, without exposing raw session keys.
• Preserve original keys for navigation and session actions.

Validation

• Exact-head Windows test job: 2,753 Shared, 1,660 Tray, 399 Connection, 126 CLI, 18 Integration, 10 Functional UI, 423 SetupEngine, 78 Tray UI, and 19 real-process UI/accessibility tests passed.
• Three exact-head Windows E2E shards passed.
• win-x64 and win-arm64 release build/publish checks passed; PR-only MSIX/release jobs skipped as expected.
• Focused formatter/provider regression suite: 234 passed.

Real behavior proof

GitHub-hosted Windows exercised the built app at 2f2439392e1faa5a54b0ad7948121f8e7c0713d7 through UI Automation. The transcript and original capture are preserved in the test-results artifact.

input key=agent:main:main displayName="OpenClaw Windows Tray"
input key=agent:main:fork displayName="OpenClaw Windows Tray"
UIA title key=agent:main:main value="OpenClaw Windows Tray"
UIA title key=agent:main:fork value="OpenClaw Windows Tray (main/fork)"
UIA open-chat title="OpenClaw Windows Tray" selectedKey=agent:main:main
UIA open-chat title="OpenClaw Windows Tray (main/fork)" selectedKey=agent:main:fork
result=pass

Manual UI validation:

• Inspected the exact-head Windows capture: both session rows are visible with distinct titles and their Open chat controls; the image contains only isolated synthetic test data.

[clawsweeper]

Codex review: needs changes before merge. Reviewed July 9, 2026, 7:25 PM ET / 23:25 UTC.

Summary
The branch extracts a shared session-title formatter, applies it to native chat and Sessions page rows, adds duplicate-title unit/UIA proof tests, and changes CI proof-summary wiring.

Reproducibility: yes. Current main has a source-level reproduction because SessionsPage projects raw duplicate display names, and the PR body provides exact-head UIA proof showing the fixed two-row scenario.

Review metrics: 2 noteworthy metrics.

• Diff size: 10 files changed, +707/-67. The branch combines the app fix, regression proof, and one workflow-scope change that is not required for the feature.
• Workflow surface: 1 workflow changed. The workflow edit is the maintainer-raised blocker and affects merge authority rather than session-title behavior.

Root-cause cluster
Relationship: fixed_by_candidate
Canonical: #954
Summary: This PR is the candidate fix for the duplicate session-title issue; the fork-creation issue is adjacent because it can create duplicate sessions but has a separate remaining root cause.

Members:

• canonical: Bug: Chat session names are not unique (fork creates duplicate "OpenClaw Windows Tray") #954 - The PR body closes that duplicate-title report and the diff targets title disambiguation.
• adjacent_distinct: Bug: Windows companion app may create a new fork instead of reusing the existing session #952 - That issue concerns unintended fork creation, not how duplicate fork names are displayed.

Proposal only: this assessment does not dispatch repair, suppress jobs, mutate sibling items, close, or merge anything.

Merge readiness
Overall: 🦐 gold shrimp
Proof: 🦞 diamond lobster ✨ media proof bonus
Patch quality: 🦐 gold shrimp
Result: needs maintainer review before merge.

Overall follows the weaker of proof and patch quality, so missing proof can cap an otherwise strong patch.

Rank-up moves:

• Remove the .github/workflows/ci.yml changes while leaving the session-title app and test changes intact.

Risk before merge

• [P1] The workflow diff is optional for the feature and can block normal maintainer merging because editing .github/workflows/ci.yml requires workflow-token scope.

Maintainer options:

1. Drop the workflow edit (recommended)
   Remove the .github/workflows/ci.yml proof-summary changes and keep the app/test session-title fix as the landing patch.
2. Sponsor workflow plumbing separately
   If maintainers want proof-summary behavior, land it in a separate workflow-scoped PR with an owner who can merge workflow changes.

Copy recommended automerge instruction

@clawsweeper automerge

Special instructions:
Remove the .github/workflows/ci.yml changes from the PR and leave all session-title app/test files unchanged; do not edit CHANGELOG.md.

Next step before merge

• [P2] A single mechanical repair can remove the optional workflow diff that maintainers identified as the only blocker.

Security
Cleared: No concrete security or supply-chain regression was found; the workflow edit is an automation/merge-scope issue, not a secrets or permission expansion.

Review findings

• [P2] Remove the workflow proof-summary plumbing — .github/workflows/ci.yml:284-287

Review details

Best possible solution:

Land the shared formatter, app wiring, and regression proof after removing the optional workflow proof-summary change; leave the unwanted fork root cause tracked separately at #952.

Do we have a high-confidence way to reproduce the issue?

Yes. Current main has a source-level reproduction because SessionsPage projects raw duplicate display names, and the PR body provides exact-head UIA proof showing the fixed two-row scenario.

Is this the best way to solve the issue?

No for the full branch as submitted. The shared formatter and tests are the narrow maintainable fix, but the optional workflow proof-summary edit should be removed before merge.

Full review comments:

• [P2] Remove the workflow proof-summary plumbing — .github/workflows/ci.yml:284-287
  A maintainer comment says this CI edit is optional and blocks maintainers without workflow-token scope from merging the app/test fix. The session-title UIA test still runs without these env vars, so drop the workflow change and keep the behavior proof in the PR body/artifacts. This prior blocker remains present at the current head.
  Confidence: 0.93

Overall correctness: patch is incorrect
Overall confidence: 0.9

AGENTS.md: found and applied where relevant.

Codex review notes: model internal, reasoning high; reviewed against c8cd9869d828.

Label changes

Label justifications:

• P2: The PR fixes a bounded user-facing session-list ambiguity with limited blast radius and one narrow merge blocker.
• merge-risk: 🚨 automation: The diff changes GitHub Actions proof-summary behavior and discussion says that workflow change blocks normal maintainer merging without workflow-token scope.
• rating: 🦐 gold shrimp: Overall readiness is 🦐 gold shrimp; proof is 🦞 diamond lobster and patch quality is 🦐 gold shrimp.
• status: ⏳ waiting on author: ClawSweeper has contributor-facing work open and is waiting for author action. Sufficient (screenshot): The PR body includes exact-head Windows UIA transcript output and an inspected screenshot showing duplicate synthetic sessions rendered with distinct titles and preserving original session keys.
• proof: sufficient: Contributor real behavior proof is sufficient. The PR body includes exact-head Windows UIA transcript output and an inspected screenshot showing duplicate synthetic sessions rendered with distinct titles and preserving original session keys.
• proof: 📸 screenshot: Contributor real behavior proof includes screenshot evidence. The PR body includes exact-head Windows UIA transcript output and an inspected screenshot showing duplicate synthetic sessions rendered with distinct titles and preserving original session keys.

Evidence reviewed

Acceptance criteria:

• [P1] ./build.ps1.
• [P1] dotnet test ./tests/OpenClaw.Shared.Tests/OpenClaw.Shared.Tests.csproj --no-restore.
• [P1] dotnet test ./tests/OpenClaw.Tray.Tests/OpenClaw.Tray.Tests.csproj --no-restore.
• [P1] dotnet test tests/OpenClaw.Tray.UITests --no-build -c Debug -r win-x64 --filter Category=Accessibility.

What I checked:

• Repository policy read: AGENTS.md was read fully; its tray UX and PR proof guidance applies to this UI-facing PR review. (AGENTS.md:42, c8cd9869d828)
• Current main source repro: Current main's Sessions page projects row DisplayName directly from SessionInfo.DisplayName or the key, so same display names can render identically. (src/OpenClaw.Tray.WinUI/Pages/SessionsPage.xaml.cs:262, c8cd9869d828)
• Existing chat formatter baseline: Current main already has a chat-only BuildSessionTitle path that qualifies non-main agent sessions, supporting the PR's shared-formatter approach. (src/OpenClaw.Tray.WinUI/Chat/OpenClawChatDataProvider.cs:5807, c8cd9869d828)
• PR implementation: The PR adds SessionTitleFormatter.FormatUnique and applies it in the Sessions page before channel filtering, preserving original session keys for actions. (src/OpenClaw.Tray.WinUI/Services/SessionTitleFormatter.cs:46, 2f2439392e1f)
• Real behavior proof: The PR body includes exact-head UIA transcript proof and the inspected screenshot shows two OpenClaw Windows Tray rows rendered distinctly, including the main/fork suffix. (tests/OpenClaw.Tray.UITests/SessionTitleBehaviorProofTests.cs:33, 2f2439392e1f)
• Workflow blocker remains: The PR head still adds OPENCLAW_UI_PROOF_* environment variables and proof-summary output to .github/workflows/ci.yml, matching the maintainer-requested removal. (.github/workflows/ci.yml:284, 2f2439392e1f)

Likely related people:

• shanselman: Blame ties the current Sessions row projection and chat title formatter baseline to Scott Hanselman's 4166e0f commit, and the PR thread shows shanselman approved the behavior while requesting workflow removal. (role: introduced behavior and reviewer; confidence: high; commits: 4166e0fd63f8; files: src/OpenClaw.Tray.WinUI/Pages/SessionsPage.xaml.cs, src/OpenClaw.Tray.WinUI/Chat/OpenClawChatDataProvider.cs)
• TurboTheTurtle: Current-main history shows TurboTheTurtle recently changed native chat session selection in the same provider area before this PR. (role: recent area contributor; confidence: high; commits: c1bd9ae58b9e; files: src/OpenClaw.Tray.WinUI/Chat/OpenClawChatDataProvider.cs)
• karkarl: Current workflow history shows Karen introduced the real-process accessibility scan summary that this PR modifies, and Karen authored the linked duplicate-title issue. (role: adjacent automation owner; confidence: medium; commits: e0a2301ce2e8; files: .github/workflows/ci.yml)
• calebeden: Recent current-main commits by Caleb Eden changed native chat provider behavior near the affected session/thread surfaces. (role: recent adjacent contributor; confidence: medium; commits: 02f2421a5e75, c9b5476a873f; files: src/OpenClaw.Tray.WinUI/Chat/OpenClawChatDataProvider.cs)

What the crustacean ranks mean

• 🦀 challenger crab: rare, exceptional readiness with strong proof, clean implementation, and convincing validation.
• 🦞 diamond lobster: very strong readiness with only minor maintainer review expected.
• 🐚 platinum hermit: good normal PR, likely mergeable with ordinary maintainer review.
• 🦐 gold shrimp: useful signal, but proof or patch confidence is still limited.
• 🦪 silver shellfish: thin signal; proof, validation, or implementation needs work.
• 🧂 unranked krab: not merge-ready because proof is missing/unusable or there are serious correctness or safety concerns.
• 🌊 off-meta tidepool: rating does not apply to this item.

Shiny media proof means a screenshot, video, or linked artifact directly shows the changed behavior. Runtime, network, CSP, and security claims still need visible diagnostics.

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• ClawSweeper keeps one durable marker-backed review comment per issue or PR.
• Re-runs edit this comment so the latest verdict, findings, and automation markers stay together instead of adding duplicate bot comments.
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Review history (8 earlier review cycles)

• reviewed 2026-07-09T20:16:08.378Z sha d73422b :: needs real behavior proof before merge. :: none
• reviewed 2026-07-09T20:35:03.054Z sha d73422b :: needs real behavior proof before merge. :: none
• reviewed 2026-07-09T20:40:10.069Z sha d73422b :: needs real behavior proof before merge. :: none
• reviewed 2026-07-09T20:51:03.263Z sha eb1aaf6 :: needs real behavior proof before merge. :: none
• reviewed 2026-07-09T21:02:06.967Z sha eb1aaf6 :: needs maintainer review before merge. :: none
• reviewed 2026-07-09T21:08:01.780Z sha 2f24393 :: needs maintainer review before merge. :: none
• reviewed 2026-07-09T21:20:57.585Z sha 2f24393 :: needs maintainer review before merge. :: none
• reviewed 2026-07-09T23:17:15.509Z sha 2f24393 :: needs changes before merge. :: [P2] Remove the workflow proof-summary plumbing

[TurboTheTurtle]

@clawsweeper re-review

[clawsweeper]

🦞🧹
ClawSweeper re-review requested.

I asked ClawSweeper to review this item again.
Action: item re-review queued (workflow sweep.yml, event repository_dispatch).
Result: the existing ClawSweeper review comment will be edited in place when the review finishes.

[shanselman]

@TurboTheTurtle can I get a screenshot?

[TurboTheTurtle]

@shanselman Yep — this is the current-head Windows capture from CI. The two synthetic sessions start with the same gateway display name; the Sessions page renders them as distinct rows.

[TurboTheTurtle]

@clawsweeper re-review

[clawsweeper]

🦞🧹
ClawSweeper re-review requested.

I asked ClawSweeper to review this item again.
Action: item re-review queued (workflow sweep.yml, event repository_dispatch).
Result: the existing ClawSweeper review comment will be edited in place when the review finishes.

[shanselman]

@TurboTheTurtle cool ya I saw this yesterday as well. The gateway is also returning a TON of weirdly named sessions

[shanselman]

Reviewed with >90% confidence. CI and exact-head UI/accessibility proof are green; local current-head build passed; maintainer also ran the branch against a real profile with duplicate session titles and approved the behavior. Title disambiguation preserves original session keys for navigation/actions and avoids raw key exposure.

[shanselman]

This PR is approved and ready, but the only blocker is the optional .github/workflows/ci.yml proof-summary plumbing. It is not required for the session-title feature or its assertions: without the env vars, SessionTitleBehaviorProofTests still runs and only skips writing the extra proof artifact/summary.\n\nCould you please remove the .github/workflows/ci.yml change from this PR? Once that workflow diff is gone, maintainers without workflow token scope can merge the app/test changes normally.

[shanselman]

Superseded by #959, which carries the same app/test session-title changes without the optional workflow proof-summary diff that required workflow-scope token permissions.