feat(ui): disable Sync during a background sync, and blank the pane on Esc

Items 29 and 32.

29 was a constraint item 27 specified and that shipped unbuilt: while a
cron sync held the lock the Sync button stayed clickable, and pressing it
could only produce the EX_TEMPFAIL skip. The progress bar and the button
are now written by one updateSyncControls() taking both sync sources,
which the item asked for by name: two independent assignments, one per
path, means whichever finishes second wins, so a background sync ending
would re-enable the button in the middle of a local run.

Unknown re-enables the button, deliberately. It means /proc/locks could
not be read and nothing was observed, so leaving the button disabled
would strand it permanently wherever the lock cannot be seen.

32 adds a clear_pane action on Esc. It clears m_currentThreadId with the
pane, not merely alongside it, or a threadLoaded still in flight would
paint the thread straight back; and it cancels any pending mark-read,
since a thread blanked from view must not be marked read two seconds
later. The selection, the query and the undo stack are untouched.

The one real risk in 32 was Escape being stolen from the query
completer, the way Return was once lost to a window shortcut. Probed
rather than reasoned about: a popup consumes the key before a
window-level shortcut sees it, so the completer still dismisses.

Every test here was verified by reverting the code it covers.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

3 files changed, 71 insertions, 7 deletions

diff --git a/src/keymap.cpp b/src/keymap.cpp
index dcb63a8..f27f9a9 100644
--- a/src/keymap.cpp
+++ b/src/keymap.cpp
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ QStringList KeyMap::knownActions()
         QStringLiteral("focus_query"),
         QStringLiteral("complete_query"),
         QStringLiteral("select_all"),
+        QStringLiteral("clear_pane"),
         QStringLiteral("toggle_html"),
         QStringLiteral("load_remote"),
         QStringLiteral("message_details"),
@@ -76,6 +77,10 @@ QList<QPair<QString, QString>> KeyMap::defaultBindings()
         // The conventional select-all key, and free here: the thread list is a
         // read-only view, so nothing else in the window wants it.
         { QStringLiteral("Ctrl+A"),       QStringLiteral("select_all") },
+        // Escape is not claimed by anything else at window level. The query
+        // completer handles its own Escape while its popup is up, and a popup
+        // consumes the key before a window shortcut sees it.
+        { QStringLiteral("Esc"),          QStringLiteral("clear_pane") },
         { QStringLiteral("Ctrl+H"),       QStringLiteral("toggle_html") },
         { QStringLiteral("Ctrl+M"),       QStringLiteral("load_remote") },
         // Shifted because Ctrl+D is delete. Both are "D for details/delete"
diff --git a/src/mainwindow.cpp b/src/mainwindow.cpp
index 792ba3f..e546af5 100644
--- a/src/mainwindow.cpp
+++ b/src/mainwindow.cpp
@@ -410,6 +410,7 @@ void MainWindow::buildUi()
     m_syncLogPane->hide();
 
     m_syncButton = new QPushButton(tr("Sync"), central);
+    m_syncButton->setObjectName(QStringLiteral("syncButton"));
     m_sync = new MailSync(m_config.syncCommand(), this);
     m_syncButton->setEnabled(m_sync->isAvailable());
     if (!m_sync->isAvailable()) {
@@ -679,6 +680,21 @@ void MainWindow::registerActions()
         m_queryEdit->setFocus();
         m_queryCompleter->triggerCompletion();
     });
+    addAction(QStringLiteral("clear_pane"), tr("Clear &message pane"),
+              tr("Blank the message pane without changing the selection"),
+              [this]() {
+        // A view change, not a mail change: the selection, the query and the
+        // undo stack are all left alone.
+        //
+        // m_currentThreadId is cleared with the pane, not merely alongside it.
+        // A threadLoaded still in flight for that id would otherwise paint the
+        // thread straight back, which is the queued-reply race documented in
+        // CLAUDE.md.
+        m_currentThreadId.clear();
+        m_messageView->clear();
+        m_markReadTimer->stop();
+        m_markReadThreadId.clear();
+    });
     addAction(QStringLiteral("select_all"), tr("Select &all threads"),
               tr("Select every thread in the current result list"), [this]() {
         // A registered action rather than the view's built-in SelectAll key, so
@@ -1318,7 +1334,8 @@ void MainWindow::onExternalSyncStateChanged(SyncMonitor::State state)
         if (m_localSyncHoldsLock)
             return;
 
-        m_syncProgress->setVisible(true);
+        m_externalSyncBusy = true;
+        updateSyncControls();
         m_statusLabel->setText(tr("Background sync running..."));
         return;
     }
@@ -1327,10 +1344,16 @@ void MainWindow::onExternalSyncStateChanged(SyncMonitor::State state)
     // said what happened, including for a failure, so there is nothing to add.
     if (m_localSyncHoldsLock) {
         m_localSyncHoldsLock = false;
+        m_externalSyncBusy = false;
+        updateSyncControls();
         return;
     }
 
-    m_syncProgress->setVisible(false);
+    // Cleared for Idle AND for Unknown. Unknown means /proc/locks could not be
+    // read, so nothing is observed; leaving the button disabled there would
+    // strand it permanently on a platform that cannot see the lock at all.
+    m_externalSyncBusy = false;
+    updateSyncControls();
 
     // Deliberately reports rather than refreshes. runCurrentQuery() clears the
     // undo stack, the selection and the message pane, which is right for a
@@ -1350,16 +1373,35 @@ void MainWindow::onExternalSyncStateChanged(SyncMonitor::State state)
 
 void MainWindow::setSyncBusy(bool busy)
 {
-    m_syncProgress->setVisible(busy);
-    // Disabled rather than left clickable: MailSync::start() already refuses a
-    // second run, but a button that looks live and does nothing is worse than
-    // one that shows it is unavailable.
-    m_syncButton->setEnabled(!busy && m_sync && m_sync->isAvailable());
+    m_localSyncBusy = busy;
+    updateSyncControls();
 
     if (busy)
         m_statusLabel->setText(tr("Syncing..."));
 }
 
+void MainWindow::updateSyncControls()
+{
+    // ONE function of both states, deliberately. Two independent assignments,
+    // one per sync path, means whichever fires second wins: a background sync
+    // ending would re-enable the button in the middle of a local run, and a
+    // local run ending would re-enable it while cron still holds the lock.
+    const bool busy = m_localSyncBusy || m_externalSyncBusy;
+
+    m_syncProgress->setVisible(busy);
+
+    // Disabled rather than left clickable: MailSync::start() already refuses a
+    // second run and the script exits 75 when another holds the lock, but a
+    // button that looks live and does nothing is worse than one that shows it
+    // is unavailable.
+    //
+    // Note this reads Running specifically, not "not Idle". Unknown means
+    // /proc/locks could not be read and nothing was observed, so the button
+    // stays usable: permanently disabling it where the lock cannot be seen is
+    // worse than occasionally offering a run that gets skipped.
+    m_syncButton->setEnabled(!busy && m_sync && m_sync->isAvailable());
+}
+
 void MainWindow::updatePendingIndicator()
 {
     if (m_pendingEdits <= 0) {
diff --git a/src/mainwindow.h b/src/mainwindow.h
index 66044dc..61722aa 100644
--- a/src/mainwindow.h
+++ b/src/mainwindow.h
@@ -175,6 +175,14 @@ private:
     /// says "working, duration unknown", which is the truth.
     void setSyncBusy(bool busy);
 
+    /// Applies the sync progress bar and button state from BOTH sync sources.
+    ///
+    /// One function of both, never two assignments: with a local and a
+    /// background sync each writing the widgets independently, whichever
+    /// finished second would win and re-enable the button while the other was
+    /// still running.
+    void updateSyncControls();
+
 
     /// Opens the tag dialog on the current selection and applies its result.
     ///
@@ -223,6 +231,15 @@ private:
     /// MailSync::isRunning() is already false and can no longer answer "was
     /// that ours?".
     bool m_localSyncHoldsLock = false;
+
+    /// True while a sync this window started is running. Half of the input to
+    /// updateSyncControls().
+    bool m_localSyncBusy = false;
+
+    /// True while a sync this window did NOT start holds the lock. The other
+    /// half. Tracked here rather than read back from SyncMonitor so the state
+    /// the UI acted on is the state it was told about.
+    bool m_externalSyncBusy = false;
     QUndoStack m_undoStack;
 
     QLineEdit *m_queryEdit = nullptr;