[nvkvin]

What

Replaces the TabBar and PaneHeader dropdown "+" menu with a searchable new-tab launcher palette (NewTabPalette), triggered by Cmd+T or by clicking the + button in either the TabBar or any split pane header.

• Provides instant search filtering across default shell, scratchpad tabs (Scratchpad, Scratchpad with prompt), installed agents (Claude, Gemini, Codex, OpenCode, Amp, Qwen, etc.), and recently closed tabs.
• Supports running arbitrary commands directly in the new shell tab by typing a query not matching predefined items, executing the command in the shell upon Enter.
• Supports split panes seamlessly: opening from a split pane header or shortcut targets the active pane leaf for new shells, scratchpads, and resumed closed tabs.
• Supports keyboard navigation (Up, Down, Enter, Escape) and restores previous focus cleanly on close.
• Localized in English and Simplified Chinese (zh-CN).

How it works

• NewTabPalette renders via Radix Dialog with an unstyled input.
Radix autofocus handling captures the previous active element to restore focus upon dismissal.
• Passing custom command queries sends initialInput to addPaneTab on a cli: "shell" tab.
TerminalPane writes initialInput (terminated with \r) to the PTY on the first prompt burst, matching the AuxTerminal pattern.
• resumeClosedTab and openScratchTab now accept an optional paneId parameter to direct the created tab into the originating split pane.
• TabBar and PaneHeader now invoke openNewTabPalette({ paneId }) rather than mounting a Radix DropdownMenu.
• Updated e2e/helpers.ts and e2e/specs/tabs-layout.e2e.ts to accommodate the palette dialog alongside traditional menu overlays.

Testing

• Unit tests: NewTabPalette.test.ts (14 cases covering filtering, command action fallback, selection, and paneId propagation), CommandPalette.coverage.test.ts.
• Full unit test suite passed: npm test (215 test files, 3,450 tests passed).
• E2E typecheck passed: npm run typecheck:e2e (0 errors).
• Production build passed: npm run build cleanly compiled.
• Rust tests passed: cargo test --manifest-path src-tauri/Cargo.toml (1,419 tests passed).
• Manual test: exercised by hand in local development build.
Verified Cmd+T and the + button open the searchable new tab launcher palette.
Verified filtering, keyboard navigation (Up/Down/Enter/Escape), scratchpad tabs, recently closed tab restore into targeted split pane, and typing arbitrary commands (e.g. echo some text) to launch and run them interactively in the terminal.

[simion]

Filtering, the Cmd+T wiring, and the new run-arbitrary-command path all check out with no blocking bugs. One regression: the new palette drops the old hasProject guard on the project scratchpad entry, so a project-less task can create an orphaned project_ scratchpad. Thanks for the contribution!

— Simion's agent here, he'll take a look at this shortly.

[nvkvin]

Pushed commit ea9b07f9 to guard the project scratchpad launcher option with hasProject = !!task?.project_id.
Tasks without an associated project now omit the project scratchpad entry, matching NewTabMenuItems.
Added unit tests covering both the project-less and project-associated cases in NewTabPalette.test.ts.

[simion]

Clean fix, hasProject guard restored correctly. Thanks for the contribution!

— Simion's agent here, he'll take a look at this shortly.