Release v0.50.290 — 5-PR batch (login cache + sidebar UX + workspace dropdown polish)

5 PRs. 4 from @Michaelyklam (login SW cache, compact hot-apply, first-turn visibility, turn duration display) + 1 maintainer-pickup of @JKJameson's workspace dropdown PR. Closes the auth-stuck-in-cache class, three real UX gaps, and the workspace-chip-stale-on-chat-switch race.

What ships

#1586 by @Michaelyklam — Login asset SW cache exemption

Service worker now bypasses /login and /static/login.js (network-only); navigation requests are network-first; cache-first scoped to explicit SHELL_ASSETS allowlist (drops ./ from precache). static/login.js versioned via ?v=<WEBUI_VERSION>. Closes the auth-stuck-in-cache class — a stale cached login.js was making valid passwords fail until manual cache clear (especially confusing for PWA installs).

#1590 by @Michaelyklam — Hot-apply compact tool activity (6 LOC)

_autosavePreferencesSettings now captures the POST response. When simplified_tool_calling is in the autosaved payload, hot-apply: update window._simplifiedToolCalling, clear render cache, re-render messages. Settings checkboxes that silently waited for a refresh felt broken — fixed.

#1591 by @Michaelyklam — First-turn sidebar visibility

Three pieces fix the race between local first-message render and /api/sessions polling: new upsertActiveSessionForLocalTurn() helper writes the cached sidebar list directly, three optimistic-upsert passes in send() (before /api/chat/start, after rename, after stream_id known), and Session.compact() exposes has_pending_user_message: bool so the empty-Untitled filter respects pending sessions. Users can now switch into a just-started conversation and inspect live tool calls before the agent has even responded.

#1592 by @Michaelyklam — Turn duration display ("Done in 1m 12s")

Backend captures pending_started_at in _run, calculates duration at completion, persists as _turnDuration on the assistant message dict (so reloads keep the display), includes in streaming done SSE payload. Frontend renders as compact Activity row chip and expanded-mode footer chip. Opus follow-up applied (≤2 LOC, defensive): truthy-check on _pending_started_at so 0/None/missing all fall back to time.time() rather than yielding wall-clock-since-epoch.

#1464 by @JKJameson — Workspace dropdown sort+search+chip-sync (MAINTAINER-AUGMENTED)

• Workspace chip syncs immediately on chat switch via syncTopbar() after S.session = data.session (mirrors model-chip handling).
• Search input filters dropdown by name or path in real-time. Alphabetical sort frontend-only via localeCompare — backend load_workspaces() preserves user-defined order so drag-to-reorder feat(workspace): drag-to-reorder workspaces in the workspace list #492 keeps working.
• Class-based CSS, 9-locale i18n parity for ws_search_placeholder and ws_no_results.
• Maintainer in-stage actions:
  • Rebased onto current master (was 124 commits behind v0.50.275).
  • Flipped inverted ternary on panels.js:1683 (visible?'':'none' → visible?'none':'') — the contributor's own PR-thread screenshot demonstrated the bug live (rendered "No workspaces found" alongside valid filtered results).
  • Added tests/test_issue1464_workspace_dropdown_filter.py to lock the visibility relationship as mirror-image opt/noResults ternaries.
  • Co-authored-by: Josh Jameson preserved.

Maintainer-side test fixes in stage (auto-rebase + auto-fix policy)

Two stale source-string assertions broken by #1591's structural changes — both real test-side fixes:

• tests/test_465_session_branching.py::test_session_compact_includes_parent — widened search window 1500→3000 chars after def compact(self, because fix: show first-turn chats in sidebar immediately #1591 inserted a has_pending_user_message block at the top.
• tests/test_regressions.py::test_send_uses_session_model_as_authoritative_source — anchored on api('/api/chat/start' instead of /api/chat/start because fix: show first-turn chats in sidebar immediately #1591 introduced earlier comment occurrences.

Tests

4094 → 4111 passing (+17 net). 0 regressions. Full suite in 107s.

Pre-release verification

• All 5 PRs' regression tests pass standalone.
• Browser API sanity: 11/11 endpoints verified.
• All modified JS files pass node -c.
• Stage diff scanned for merge-conflict markers: none.
• Live UX verification on test server (fix: sync workspace chip immediately on chat switch + searchable sorted dropdown #1464): seeded 10-workspace test environment, drove the composer workspace chip → dropdown opens with search input, alphabetical sort, filtering "alp" narrows to single alpha row with no spurious noResults message, filtering "zzznomatch" shows clean "No workspaces found" empty-state. Vision-confirmed.
• Opus advisor: SHIP AS-IS — no MUST-FIX. All 5 verification questions check out. One ≤2-LOC defensive SHOULD-FIX absorbed in-release per the reviewer-flagged-fix-in-release-not-followup policy.

Known follow-up (deferred, non-blocking)

• fix: sync workspace chip immediately on chat switch + searchable sorted dropdown #1464 mobile (390px) screenshot review — couldn't capture true 390px viewport via CDP origin-policy block during this session. Desktop UX gate verified live; mobile responsive verification deferred to maintainer @aronprins's hands-on review.

Thanks to @Michaelyklam for the 4-PR contributor burst (all well-considered, with structural regression tests, addressing real UX gaps), and to @JKJameson for the workspace dropdown design + diagnosis.