fix(server): opening the branch menu no longer wipes PR status#33263

10 historical turns, 5 command tools per turn, 878.9 KiB retained MCP result per historical turn, and a 1.05 MiB retained result in the measured turn.

• Codex decoded thread snapshot: 108.5 KiB
• Claude decoded thread snapshot: 108.8 KiB

refreshStatus now refreshes local status before handling local-only requests. Those requests return merged cached status without invalidating or writing remote status. Tests cover overlapping remote polls, later PR refreshes, and branch switches.

Changes: Local-only status refresh

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Refresh behavior and validation apps/server/src/vcs/VcsStatusBroadcaster.ts, apps/server/src/vcs/VcsStatusBroadcaster.test.ts	Local-only refreshes return merged cached status without invalidating or writing remote status. Tests check PR preservation during overlapping remote reads and verify later remote reads after local-only refreshes and branch switches.

Estimated code review effort: 2 (Simple) | ~10 minutes

Change: Bug fix · Severity of issue fixed: Low

Possibly related PRs

• pingdotgg/t3code#22807: Introduced the localOnly option and the branch-change behavior that this refresh path uses.
• pingdotgg/t3code#32054: Changes the same localOnly handling and local-refresh ordering in refreshStatus.

Suggested labels: bugfix

Suggested reviewers: justyannicc, macroscopeapp

Local-only refreshes preserve cached remote status, and an initially empty remote result is accepted by the response contract. No merge-blocking issue was identified.

Check name	Status	Explanation
Title check	Passed	The title states the main change: opening the branch menu no longer clears PR status. It follows the conventional commit format and matches the raw summary, which removes the remote-entry write for lo…
Linked Issues check	Passed	Linked issue #33256 is the only direct target. Its coding requirements are: (1) a local-only refresh must not write a { value: null } remote entry; (2) it must not remove a remote status cached by a…
Out of Scope Changes check	Passed	The whole-PR diff (merge base c73b38b3 to head 0b756033) changes two files. In VcsStatusBroadcaster.ts, the diff removes the local-only remote write, invalidation, and lock, which is the fix for #33…
Description check	Passed	The description covers the problem, change, linked issue, and focused verification results. It also states what was not checked. The required sections are present and mostly complete.

Full details: Title check

Explanation

The title states the main change: opening the branch menu no longer clears PR status. It follows the conventional commit format and matches the raw summary, which removes the remote-entry write for local-only refreshes. The title is specific and does not use vague terms.

Full details: Linked Issues check

Explanation

Linked issue #33256 is the only direct target. Its coding requirements are: (1) a local-only refresh must not write a { value: null } remote entry; (2) it must not remove a remote status cached by an overlapping first remote read; (3) refreshPullRequestStatus must still read after a local-only refresh, both before any remote read and after a branch switch; (4) regression tests in VcsStatusBroadcaster.test.ts.

Evidence at head 0b756033:

• Req 1 and 2: The local-only branch of refreshStatus now calls refreshLocalStatusCore, then returns mergeGitStatusParts of getStatusParts. It no longer writes a remote entry, calls invalidateRemoteStatus, or takes withRemoteWriteLock. An in-flight read keeps its cached PR and upstream.
• Req 3, branch switch: updateCachedLocalStatus drops a remote whose branch differs from the new local.refName, and publishes remoteUpdated: null when publish is set. getStatusParts returns remote: null when no remote is cached, so getStatus and the PR refresh path read the remote for the new branch.
• Req 3, before any remote read: with no cached remote, the cache holds no { value: null } entry, so the skip condition described in the issue (cached.remote?.value === null) does not hold. The read proceeds.
• Req 4: Three new tests cover overlap, before-first-read, and branch-switch cases, matching the issue's cases. Existing fakes that ignored the branch were adjusted, and their call counts now include the read for the new branch.

Unresolved uncertainty: the truncated read of VcsStatusBroadcaster.ts did not show readRemoteStatus or the refreshPullRequestStatus body. The invalidation-before-read behavior and the skip condition rest on the issue text and the test changes (remoteInvalidationCalls drops from 2 to 1 only because the removed local-only invalidation was redundant). The PR's reported test run was not re-executed here.

No poller readNow is added. An already-open subscription after a branch switch still waits for its normal poll interval. This matches main for that case and is not a requirement stated for open subscriptions in #33256. The issue's requirement for subscriptions opened after the switch is met by getStatus reading when no remote is cached.

Full details: Out of Scope Changes check

Explanation

The whole-PR diff (merge base c73b38b3 to head 0b756033) changes two files. In VcsStatusBroadcaster.ts, the diff removes the local-only remote write, invalidation, and lock, which is the fix for #33256. In VcsStatusBroadcaster.test.ts, it adds three regression tests for #33256 and adjusts call-count assertions and two fakes. The fake and count adjustments follow directly from removing the null entry: the removed local-only invalidation accounts for the change from 2 to 1 invalidations, and the added getStatus read accounts for the extra remote read. The non-local-only path is unchanged. No unrelated code, configuration, or dependency change appears in the diff. The PR description's runtime transcript, driver script, and verification notes are not code changes in the diff.

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