refactor(examples-chat): URL is the sole source of truth for active thread (#518)

* refactor(examples-chat): URL is the sole source of truth for active thread

PR #500 introduced URL-based thread routing with the intent that the URL
would replace localStorage as the persistence layer. PR #514 partly
walked that back by re-introducing a localStorage `threadId` fallback to
fix mode-switch sync — but that fallback conflates URL state with
browser-local state and silently teleports users to old threads when
they navigate to bare-mode URLs (paste link, back button).

This finishes the URL-as-truth migration:

- Drops `threadId` from `PaletteState`.
- Removes the persistence write effect + persistence-read fallback in
  the URL→signal sync and `threadIdSignal` initialiser.
- Removes the persistence clear in `validateUrlThreadId`'s 404 handler.
- Keeps PR #514's `untracked` guard on the URL→signal effect — that
  guard prevents the stamp-in-progress signal from being cleared during
  the async URL navigation gap. It works without the persistence layer.
- Keeps PR #504's `UrlMatcher` collapse (the stream-survival fix).
- Keeps PR #500's `getThread()` validator + 404 redirect.

Mode-switch UI continues to preserve the active thread across mode
boundaries via `onModeChange` (URL navigation to `/<next-mode>/<id>`),
which was the bug PR #514 was trying to fix. That path didn't need
localStorage — it just needed the URL navigation to carry the id.

Tests:
- "does not write the active thread id to localStorage (URL is the
  source of truth)" — new
- "ignores any legacy persisted threadId — bare mode URLs start fresh"
  — new (covers users who upgrade with legacy localStorage state)
- "hydrates the active thread id from /<mode>/<threadId> URLs" — new
- "does not clear an agent-created thread id while URL navigation is
  still pending" — retained from PR #514

Spec at `docs/superpowers/specs/2026-05-20-url-thread-routing-design.md`
rewritten to match the simplified architecture; was describing the
pre-#504 6-route world and the pre-#514 sync flow.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* test(examples-chat): update e2e specs for URL-as-truth

Four specs were reading the active thread id from
\`localStorage['ngaf-chat-demo:palette'].threadId\` — which no longer
exists after the persistence layer was dropped. One spec asserted
cross-mode persistence via bare /<mode> navigation, which now lands
on the welcome state by design (URL is the sole source of truth).

Changes:
- New helper \`activeThreadIdFromUrl(page)\` in test-helpers.ts —
  parses \`/<mode>/<threadId>\` URL shape.
- lifecycle.spec.ts:27 — "New chat (sidenav)…" now asserts URL flips
  to bare /embed on welcome state, then sends again to verify a
  fresh thread id replaces the prior one (reads from URL, not
  localStorage).
- mode-routing.spec.ts:39 — "cross-mode persistence…" captures the
  thread id after first send, then navigates to /<other-mode>/<id>
  explicitly. Bare /<mode> would clear the thread by design.
- model-picker.spec.ts:12 — reads threadId from URL via the helper.
- regenerate.spec.ts:5 — same.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* test(examples-chat): correct lifecycle 'New chat' URL expectation

The sidenav 'New chat' button calls \`onNewThread\` which creates a
new thread server-side and sets \`threadIdSignal\` to the new id —
the signal→URL effect then navigates to /embed/<new-thread-id>. The
URL does NOT go back to bare /embed; the welcome state renders
because the new thread is empty, not because the URL is bare.

Drops the incorrect \`expect(page).toHaveURL(/\\/embed\$/)\` assertion
and removes the redundant second send.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

---------

Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

Author: blove

docs/superpowers/specs/2026-05-20-url-thread-routing-design.md

@@ -5,60 +5,105 @@
 Make the active LangGraph thread part of the URL so links to specific
 conversations on the canonical demo are shareable and survive reload.
 
-## Current state
+## URL is the source of truth
 
-`DemoShell.threadIdSignal = signal<string | null>(persistence.read('threadId') ?? null)`.
-The agent watches the signal; `onThreadId` callbacks write it back +
-persist to localStorage. Routes are `/embed`, `/popup`, `/sidebar` —
-all stateless paths; the active thread lives only in localStorage.
-Sharing `/embed` always lands on whichever thread that browser last
-used (or a fresh one).
+The URL is the **sole** source of truth for the active thread. The
+shell does not persist the active thread to localStorage:
 
-## URL shape
+- `/embed`, `/popup`, `/sidebar` — bare mode paths mean "no active
+  thread" (welcome state).
+- `/embed/<id>`, `/popup/<id>`, `/sidebar/<id>` — that thread, in that
+  presentation mode.
 
-```
-/<mode>/:threadId?
-```
+Sharing `/embed/abc` lands on thread `abc`. Sharing `/embed` always
+lands on the welcome state, regardless of what the recipient's browser
+last used. There is no localStorage fallback to "last active thread"
+— that conflates user intent with browser-local state and breaks
+shareability.
 
-`:threadId` is optional. Angular doesn't support `?` syntax for
-optional params, so each mode gets two route entries:
+## Route shape
+
+Each mode gets a single route entry via `UrlMatcher` that accepts both
+`<mode>` and `<mode>/<threadId>` shapes under one entry. This is
+critical: a per-shape pair (two entries) causes Angular to destroy and
+remount the mode component when navigating `/embed` → `/embed/<id>`,
+which kills any in-flight agent stream (see PR #500/#504 history).
 
 ```ts
-{ path: 'embed',              component: EmbedMode },
-{ path: 'embed/:threadId',    component: EmbedMode },
-{ path: 'popup',              component: PopupMode },
-{ path: 'popup/:threadId',    component: PopupMode },
-{ path: 'sidebar',            component: SidebarMode },
-{ path: 'sidebar/:threadId',  component: SidebarMode },
+function modeMatcher(modeName: string): UrlMatcher {
+  return (segments) => {
+    if (segments.length === 0 || segments[0].path !== modeName) return null;
+    if (segments.length === 1) return { consumed: segments, posParams: {} };
+    if (segments.length === 2) {
+      return { consumed: segments, posParams: { threadId: segments[1] } };
+    }
+    return null;
+  };
+}
+
+export const routes: Routes = [
+  { path: '', pathMatch: 'full', redirectTo: 'embed' },
+  {
+    path: '',
+    loadComponent: () => import('./shell/demo-shell.component').then((m) => m.DemoShell),
+    children: [
+      { matcher: modeMatcher('embed'),   loadComponent: () => import('./modes/embed-mode.component').then((m) => m.EmbedMode) },
+      { matcher: modeMatcher('popup'),   loadComponent: () => import('./modes/popup-mode.component').then((m) => m.PopupMode) },
+      { matcher: modeMatcher('sidebar'), loadComponent: () => import('./modes/sidebar-mode.component').then((m) => m.SidebarMode) },
+    ],
+  },
+  { path: '**', redirectTo: 'embed' },
+];
 ```
 
-## URL ↔ signal sync (in DemoShell)
+DemoShell parses the URL itself (via `router.url` + a NavigationEnd
+`toSignal`) rather than reading param maps from `route.firstChild`,
+because the param data lives on the matched route under `posParams`
+and is more reliably read this way.
 
-URL is the source of truth when present; localStorage falls back when
-the URL has no id.
+## URL ↔ signal sync (in DemoShell)
 
 Two reactive flows in DemoShell, with guards against render loops:
 
-1. **URL → signal.** `toSignal(route.firstChild.paramMap)` (the active
-   mode component owns the param). An `effect` reads the URL's
-   `threadId` and writes it into `threadIdSignal` if-and-only-if it
-   differs from the current value.
+1. **URL → signal.** A `toSignal(NavigationEnd)` pipes the current URL
+   through `parseUrl()` to extract `{mode, threadId}`. An `effect`
+   reads the URL's `threadId` and writes it into `threadIdSignal` iff
+   it differs from the current value. The signal read is `untracked`
+   so the effect only fires on URL changes, not on imperative signal
+   writes (critical for the stamp-in-progress async gap — see below).
+
 2. **signal → URL.** A second `effect` reads `threadIdSignal` + the
    current `mode()` and `router.navigate(['/', mode, id])` if the URL
-   doesn't already match. Uses `replaceUrl: false` so the back button
-   walks through visited threads.
+   doesn't already match. Uses default `replaceUrl: false` so the
+   back button walks through visited threads.
+
+The compare-and-set guard in flow 1 prevents the obvious
+URL→signal→URL loop: by the time the signal→URL effect fires, the
+values match and `router.navigate` is skipped.
+
+### Stamp-in-progress invariant
+
+When the agent auto-creates a thread mid-send, the `onThreadId`
+callback fires immediately and sets `threadIdSignal`. The signal→URL
+effect then navigates asynchronously. During the gap, the URL is
+still bare. The URL→signal effect MUST NOT clear the just-set signal
+back to `null` during this window — that would lose the agent's
+allocation. This is enforced by:
 
-The "if it differs" guard is the only thing preventing the obvious
-URL→signal→URL→signal loop. Both effects already short-circuit
-because Angular signal writes are no-ops when the value is unchanged,
-but `router.navigate` doesn't short-circuit, so the explicit URL
-comparison in flow #2 is required.
+- The URL→signal effect tracks only `urlThreadId()`, not the signal.
+  Imperative signal writes don't refire it.
+- The signal read inside the effect is `untracked`.
+
+There is no test covering the no-nav-loop invariant directly; the
+"does not clear an agent-created thread id while URL navigation is
+still pending" test (`demo-shell.component.spec.ts`) covers the
+stamp-in-progress case.
 
 ## Invalid id handling
 
 When a route loads with a `:threadId` the user has never seen (typo,
-deleted thread, link from another browser), we silently redirect to
-the bare mode path:
+deleted thread, link from another browser), silently redirect to the
+bare mode path:
 
 ```ts
 const thread = await threadsSvc.getThread(id);
@@ -67,20 +112,25 @@ if (!thread) router.navigate(['/', mode()], { replaceUrl: true });
 
 `replaceUrl: true` so the back button doesn't reload the broken URL.
 
-This requires a new method on `LangGraphThreadsAdapter`:
+Validation runs as a separate `effect` from the URL→signal sync, with
+a `lastValidated` closure variable to dedupe — `getThread` is async
+and we don't want to re-hit the server on every signal flip that
+round-trips the same id.
+
+Requires `LangGraphThreadsAdapter.getThread()`:
 
 ```ts
 async getThread(threadId: string): Promise<Thread | null>
 ```
 
-Wraps `client.threads.get(id)`. Returns `null` on 404 (caught from
-the SDK's thrown error); rethrows on other failures so genuine
+Wraps `client.threads.get(id)`. Returns `null` on 404 and 422 (the
+latter for malformed UUIDs); rethrows on other failures so genuine
 network errors don't get masked as "thread missing."
 
 ## Mode switching preserves thread
 
 `/embed/abc` → click "Popup" tab → `/popup/abc`. The `onModeChange`
-handler already exists; updates to include the current thread id:
+handler navigates with the current id:
 
 ```ts
 protected onModeChange(next: DemoMode | string): void {
@@ -89,22 +139,33 @@ protected onModeChange(next: DemoMode | string): void {
 }
 ```
 
+This is the **only** mechanism that preserves the active thread
+across mode boundaries. There is no localStorage backstop — direct
+URL navigation to `/popup` (e.g. paste link, back button) clears the
+active thread.
+
 ## Out of scope
 
 - Server-side render of `<title>`/og:* tags for richer link previews
 - Restoring scroll position to the last-read message on reload
 - Authentication / private threads — these URLs are already public on
   the demo and that's fine
+- Round-tripping agent knobs (model, effort, theme, ...) via query
+  params — see follow-up #494
 
 ## Test plan
 
 - `LangGraphThreadsAdapter.getThread()` — returns `Thread` for an
-  existing id, returns `null` for a missing id, rethrows on other
-  errors
+  existing id, returns `null` for a missing id (404 or 422), rethrows
+  on other errors
 - Demo route loads `/embed/<existing-id>` → `threadIdSignal()` ===
   that id, messages from that thread render
 - Demo route loads `/embed/<bogus-id>` → silently redirects to
   `/embed`, fresh chat
+- Bare-mode route loads → `threadIdSignal()` is `null` regardless of
+  any legacy localStorage state
+- Agent-allocated thread id survives the URL navigation async gap
+  (stamp-in-progress invariant)
 - Click a thread in the sidenav → URL updates to `/<mode>/<id>`
 - Click mode toggle while a thread is active → URL switches mode but
   keeps the id

examples/chat/angular/e2e/lifecycle.spec.ts

@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
 import { test, expect } from '@playwright/test';
 import {
+  activeThreadIdFromUrl,
   messageInput,
   openDemo,
   sendButton,
@@ -32,28 +33,25 @@ test('lifecycle: New chat (sidenav) starts a fresh thread and restores welcome s
   await sendButton(page).click();
   await waitForFinalAssistant(page);
 
-  const threadIdBefore = await page.evaluate(() => {
-    const raw = localStorage.getItem('ngaf-chat-demo:palette');
-    return raw ? (JSON.parse(raw) as { threadId?: string | null }).threadId ?? null : null;
-  });
+  // After the first send the agent allocates a thread id and stamps
+  // it into the URL via the signal→URL effect: /embed/<thread-id>.
+  await expect(page).toHaveURL(/\/embed\/[A-Za-z0-9-]+$/);
+  const threadIdBefore = await activeThreadIdFromUrl(page);
 
   // The toolbar "New conversation" button was removed; the sidenav's
   // "New chat" pill is now the only affordance for starting a fresh
-  // thread. It creates a new thread server-side (rather than clearing
-  // local state) and routes the UI back to the welcome surface.
+  // thread. It creates a new thread server-side and navigates to
+  // /embed/<new-thread-id>; the empty thread renders the welcome state.
   await page.getByRole('button', { name: 'New chat' }).first().click();
 
   await expect(
     page.getByRole('heading', { name: 'How can I help?' })
   ).toBeVisible();
   await expect(page.locator('chat-message')).toHaveCount(0);
 
-  const threadIdAfter = await page.evaluate(() => {
-    const raw = localStorage.getItem('ngaf-chat-demo:palette');
-    return raw ? (JSON.parse(raw) as { threadId?: string | null }).threadId ?? null : null;
-  });
-  // A fresh thread id was persisted, and it's different from the one we
-  // had before clicking New chat.
+  // URL holds a fresh thread id, different from the one we had before.
+  await expect(page).toHaveURL(/\/embed\/[A-Za-z0-9-]+$/);
+  const threadIdAfter = await activeThreadIdFromUrl(page);
   expect(threadIdAfter).toBeTruthy();
   expect(threadIdAfter).not.toBe(threadIdBefore);
 });

examples/chat/angular/e2e/mode-routing.spec.ts

@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
 import { test, expect } from '@playwright/test';
 import {
+  activeThreadIdFromUrl,
   closeChatDevtools,
   messageInput,
   openDemo,
@@ -44,22 +45,31 @@ test('cross-mode persistence: conversation follows embed, popup, and sidebar', a
   await sendButton(page).click();
   await waitForFinalAssistant(page);
 
-  await page.goto('/popup');
+  // Capture the active thread id from the URL — post-URL-as-truth the
+  // path is /embed/<thread-id>. Cross-mode persistence works by
+  // navigating to /<other-mode>/<thread-id> directly (bare-mode URLs
+  // intentionally do NOT restore the last thread — that would conflate
+  // user intent with browser-local state).
+  await expect(page).toHaveURL(/\/embed\/[A-Za-z0-9-]+$/);
+  const threadId = await activeThreadIdFromUrl(page);
+  expect(threadId).toBeTruthy();
+
+  await page.goto(`/popup/${threadId}`);
   await closeChatDevtools(page);
   await page.locator('.chat-popup__launcher button.chat-launcher-button').click();
   await expect(
     page.getByRole('dialog').locator('chat-message[data-role="assistant"]'),
   ).toContainText(/hi/i, { timeout: 30_000 });
 
-  await page.goto('/sidebar');
+  await page.goto(`/sidebar/${threadId}`);
   await closeChatDevtools(page);
   // Sidebar mode auto-opens the panel; assert the existing conversation
   // is visible without a launcher click.
   await expect(
     page.getByRole('complementary').locator('chat-message[data-role="assistant"]'),
   ).toContainText(/hi/i, { timeout: 30_000 });
 
-  await page.goto('/embed');
+  await page.goto(`/embed/${threadId}`);
   await expect(page.locator('embed-mode chat-message[data-role="assistant"]')).toContainText(/hi/i, {
     timeout: 30_000,
   });

examples/chat/angular/e2e/model-picker.spec.ts

@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
 import { test, expect } from '@playwright/test';
 import {
+  activeThreadIdFromUrl,
   messageInput,
   openDemo,
   sendButton,
@@ -45,12 +46,7 @@ test('model picker: configured models render, persist, and reach backend state',
   await sendButton(page).click();
   await waitForFinalAssistant(page);
 
-  const threadId = await page.evaluate(() => {
-    const raw = localStorage.getItem('ngaf-chat-demo:palette');
-    return raw
-      ? (JSON.parse(raw) as { threadId?: string }).threadId
-      : undefined;
-  });
+  const threadId = await activeThreadIdFromUrl(page);
   expect(threadId).toBeTruthy();
   const state = await fetch(
     `http://localhost:2024/threads/${threadId}/state`

examples/chat/angular/e2e/regenerate.spec.ts

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
 import { test, expect } from '@playwright/test';
-import { sendPromptAndWait } from './test-helpers';
+import { activeThreadIdFromUrl, sendPromptAndWait } from './test-helpers';
 
 test('regenerate: re-running keeps 1 user / 1 assistant in the conversation', async ({
   page,
@@ -36,10 +36,7 @@ test('regenerate: re-running keeps 1 user / 1 assistant in the conversation', as
   await expect(userMessages).toHaveCount(1);
   await expect(assistantMessages).toHaveCount(1);
 
-  const threadId = await page.evaluate(() => {
-    const raw = localStorage.getItem('ngaf-chat-demo:palette');
-    return raw ? (JSON.parse(raw) as { threadId?: string }).threadId : undefined;
-  });
+  const threadId = await activeThreadIdFromUrl(page);
   expect(threadId).toBeTruthy();
   const state = await fetch(`http://localhost:2024/threads/${threadId}/state`).then((r) =>
     r.json() as Promise<{ values?: { messages?: unknown[] }; next?: unknown[] }>,

examples/chat/angular/e2e/test-helpers.ts

@@ -44,6 +44,20 @@ export function sendButton(page: Page): Locator {
   return page.getByRole('button', { name: 'Send message' });
 }
 
+/**
+ * Read the active thread id from the URL. URL is the source of truth
+ * for the active thread post-URL-as-truth migration; bare-mode paths
+ * (`/embed`, `/popup`, `/sidebar`) return `null`.
+ *
+ * Use this in place of `JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem(...)).threadId`,
+ * which no longer exists.
+ */
+export async function activeThreadIdFromUrl(page: Page): Promise<string | null> {
+  const url = new URL(page.url());
+  const segments = url.pathname.split('/').filter(Boolean);
+  return segments.length >= 2 ? segments[1] : null;
+}
+
 /**
  * Locate the chat-select trigger inside a toolbar field by its label.
  *