Default diffs to working changes

[jakeleventhal]

Summary

• default the diff sidebar to Working tree when the repository has working changes
• fall back to Branch changes for a clean working tree
• preserve an explicit per-thread diff scope selection

Why

Opening the diff sidebar previously defaulted to Branch changes even when staged, unstaged, or untracked work existed. Using the existing VCS status result makes the initial scope reflect the changes a user is most likely trying to inspect without overriding a scope they selected themselves.

Validation

• pnpm exec vp test apps/web/src/diffPanelStore.test.ts
• pnpm exec vp check
• pnpm exec vp run typecheck

Note

Default the diff panel to unstaged changes when the working tree is dirty

• The diff panel now initializes to unstaged scope when the working tree has changes, and branch scope otherwise, instead of always defaulting to branch.
• selectThreadDiffPanelSelection in diffPanelStore.ts accepts a new optional hasWorkingTreeChanges boolean to drive this defaulting logic.
• ChatView.tsx queries git status using the thread's worktree path (falling back to project cwd) and passes the resolved scope as initialGitScope to DiffPanel.
• The diff panel remounts when git status resolves so the correct initial scope is applied rather than the pre-resolution default.

^{Macroscope summarized 9b87512.}

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Note

Low Risk
UI-only defaulting on existing VCS status with tests; explicit per-thread scope and persisted selections are unchanged.

Overview
The diff sidebar now opens on Working tree when VCS status reports local changes, and on Branch when the working tree is clean—only for threads without a saved scope in diffPanelStore.

ChatView derives initialGitScope from gitStatusQuery.data?.hasWorkingTreeChanges, prefers the thread worktree for git status (gitStatusCwd), and remounts DiffPanel when the thread or status finishes loading so the default applies once status is known.

DiffPanel takes initialGitScope and freezes it on mount; selectThreadDiffPanelSelection uses a dirty-tree default when there is no per-thread persisted selection, without overriding an explicit branch/unstaged choice.

^{Reviewed by Cursor Bugbot for commit 9b87512. Bugbot is set up for automated code reviews on this repo. Configure here.}

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[cursor]

Cursor Bugbot has reviewed your changes using high effort and found 1 potential issue.

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^{Reviewed by Cursor Bugbot for commit ed774d7. Configure here.}

[macroscopeapp]

Approvability

Verdict: Approved

Minor UI default change - diff panel now defaults to showing working (unstaged) changes when uncommitted changes exist, instead of always defaulting to branch changes. The logic is simple, well-tested, and users can still manually switch views.

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