Create-agent form resets provider config_schema fields to defaults on every keystroke #3216

Summary

In the create-agent flow, any provider that advertises a config_schema has its config fields reset to their schema defaults (or wiped to empty) on every keystroke. Typing into a field like Inference auth snaps the value back almost immediately, making it effectively impossible to enter a non-default value through the UI.

Against a fast local provider binary the reset appears instantaneous, so it looks like the field refuses to accept input.

Impact

• Any backend provider advertising config_schema fields is unconfigurable from Buzz Desktop.
• Fields with a default snap back to that default; fields without one get wiped to empty.
• Concrete case: I hit this while building a backend provider that runs agents on a Databricks sandbox / Lakebox. It advertises profile, inference_auth (default env), and idle_timeout. Its opt-in inference_auth: "sandbox" path cannot be selected from the UI at all — inference_auth always resets to env. (Details in feat(zero-token): opt-in inference_auth: "sandbox" — zero-Databricks-token inference via the baked per-user cfg IceRhymers/buzz-lakebox#11.)
• There is no provider-side workaround: dropping the default from the schema only changes the reset target from env to empty.

Root cause

desktop/src/features/agents/ui/WhereToRunSection.tsx

1. The probe useEffect (line 29) lists the entire draft in its dependency array:

   }, [draft, isProviderMode, onDraftChange, selectedBackendProvider]);  // line 64

2. Every keystroke in ProviderConfigFields calls onDraftChange({ ...draft, providerConfig }) (lines 116–117), producing a new draft object — which re-triggers the effect and re-runs probeBackendProvider(...).

3. When the probe resolves, it rebuilds defaults from config_schema and calls (lines 50–54):

   onDraftChange({
     ...draft,
     probedProvider: result,
     providerConfig: defaults,   // clobbers whatever the user just typed
   });

   So each keystroke fires a fresh probe, and each resolved probe overwrites providerConfig back to the schema defaults. This is both a correctness bug (typed values lost) and a churn bug (one provider probe per keystroke).

Proposed fix

Don't re-probe once the provider has already been probed:

React.useEffect(() => {
  if (!isProviderMode || !selectedBackendProvider) {
    setProbeError(null);
    return;
  }
  if (draft.probedProvider) return; // already probed; don't clobber user edits
  // ... existing probe logic
}, [draft, isProviderMode, onDraftChange, selectedBackendProvider]);

This stays correct on provider switches: the "Run on" <select> resets the draft to emptyWhereToRunDraft (probedProvider: null, lines 78–83), so a fresh probe still fires when the user picks a different provider.

Belt-and-suspenders — seed defaults without overwriting typed values, so a late-resolving probe can never erase user input:

providerConfig: { ...defaults, ...draft.providerConfig },

The early-return guard alone fixes both the reset and the probe-per-keystroke churn; the merge is defense-in-depth.

Repro

1. Have any backend provider installed that advertises a config_schema with at least one property that has a default.
2. Open the create-agent form, set Run on to that provider.
3. Try to type a value into one of the config fields that differs from its default.
4. Observed: the field snaps back to its default almost immediately (near-instant against a fast local provider binary).
5. Expected: the typed value persists.

Discovered while building a backend provider that launches agents on a Databricks sandbox / Lakebox. Its inference_auth field (default env) could not be switched to sandbox from the UI. Details in IceRhymers/buzz-lakebox#11.

Environment

• Verified in block/buzz at main (component unchanged from 8bb43d51 through 3faea98).
• File: desktop/src/features/agents/ui/WhereToRunSection.tsx