fix(assistant): keep state across reloads, refusals and long replies

From review. A shell reload reconnected with lastActive at 0, so the next
SUPER+Home started a new conversation thirty seconds into one; hello with
turns now counts as activity. show() could send new under a reply still
running, which stops it unsaved; it waits while busy. ask() cleared the
chips before the daemon accepted them, so a refused file (unreadable, too
big, a model without vision) dropped them and collapsed the card to the
entry line; the user event clears them now, and chatting holds the layout
while a PDF is read.

In the picker, folders ignore name filters and sorted first, so filter
then Enter opened a folder; folders hide while filtering. Folder URLs are
encoded, so a '#' in a name no longer cuts the path, and glob characters
typed in the filter are taken literally. The card says the assistant is
not running in every state, panels sit under the chat header instead of
over it, and History and the picker no longer open together. Dropped
file://localhost/ URLs are accepted, other hosts refused, and the island
receptor keeps the sliver's width at rest so it takes no clicks beside it.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

6 files changed, 41 insertions, 14 deletions

diff --git a/desktop/assistant/Assistant.qml b/desktop/assistant/Assistant.qml
index b038dd6..977b4dd 100644
--- a/desktop/assistant/Assistant.qml
+++ b/desktop/assistant/Assistant.qml
@@ -78,7 +78,9 @@ Scope {
     // A conversation idle for 10 minutes is over: opening starts a new one,
     // the old one staying in History. ponytail: a constant, not a setting.
     function show() {
-        if (turns.count && Date.now() - root.lastActive > 10 * 60 * 1000) root.fresh();
+        // Never while a reply runs: new would stop it, and a stopped turn is
+        // not saved.
+        if (turns.count && !root.busy && Date.now() - root.lastActive > 10 * 60 * 1000) root.fresh();
         root.open = true;
     }
 
@@ -120,15 +122,20 @@ Scope {
         link.item.flush();
     }
 
+    // The chips stay until the daemon's user event takes them: a refused
+    // file (unreadable, too big, a model without vision) comes back as an
+    // error, and the chips must still be there to fix it. chatting keeps the
+    // chat layout meanwhile, so the card does not shrink while a PDF is read.
     function ask(text) {
         if (!root.connected || root.blocked || (text.trim() === "" && !root.staged.length)) return false;
         root.notice = "";
+        root.chatting = true;
         root.send({ type: "ask", text: text, files: root.staged.map(f => f.path) });
-        root.staged = [];
         return true;
     }
 
     function showHistory() {
+        root.pickerOpen = false;
         root.historyOpen = true;
         root.send({ type: "list" });
     }
@@ -172,15 +179,21 @@ Scope {
             root.ctxUsed = e.ctx_used;
             root.ctxMax = e.ctx_max;
             root.load(e.id, e.turns, e.pending);
-            if (e.pending) root.lastActive = Date.now();
+            // A restart or reload counts as active: the conversation it
+            // reconnects to is not stale just because this process is new.
+            if (e.pending || e.turns.length) root.lastActive = Date.now();
             break;
         case "conversation":
             root.load(e.id, e.turns, null);
             // Opened from History on purpose: it counts as active now.
             if (e.turns.length) root.lastActive = Date.now();
+            // Emptied (New, or the current one deleted) with nothing staged:
+            // back to the entry line.
+            else if (!root.staged.length) root.chatting = false;
             break;
         case "user":
             turns.append(root.row({ user: e.text, files: e.files }, true));
+            root.staged = [];
             root.lastActive = Date.now();
             break;
         case "think": root.bufThink += e.delta; break;
diff --git a/desktop/assistant/Card.qml b/desktop/assistant/Card.qml
index 477f430..228cfdb 100644
--- a/desktop/assistant/Card.qml
+++ b/desktop/assistant/Card.qml
@@ -244,7 +244,10 @@ Rectangle {
             height: box.height
             text: ""
             font.family: Theme.iconFamily
-            onClicked: card.canvas.pickerOpen = !card.canvas.pickerOpen
+            onClicked: {
+                card.canvas.historyOpen = false;
+                card.canvas.pickerOpen = !card.canvas.pickerOpen;
+            }
         }
 
         Rectangle {
@@ -298,7 +301,8 @@ Rectangle {
                 anchors { left: parent.left; right: parent.right; top: parent.top; margins: 8 }
                 visible: input.text === ""
                 elide: Text.ElideRight
-                text: card.mode === "entry" ? "How can I help you?"
+                text: !card.canvas.connected ? "assistant not running"
+                    : card.mode === "entry" ? "How can I help you?"
                     : card.canvas.staged.length ? `Ask about ${card.canvas.staged[0].name}…`
                     : "Message the assistant"
                 color: Theme.overlay
@@ -332,12 +336,13 @@ Rectangle {
         }
     }
 
-    // --- panels, over everything above the input ---
+    // --- panels, over the transcript (under the header in chat) ---
 
     Item {
         id: panelArea
         anchors {
-            top: parent.top; topMargin: 14; bottom: chips.visible ? chips.top : footer.top
+            top: header.visible ? header.bottom : parent.top; topMargin: header.visible ? 8 : 14
+            bottom: chips.visible ? chips.top : footer.top
             bottomMargin: 8; left: parent.left; right: parent.right; leftMargin: 14; rightMargin: 14
         }
 
diff --git a/desktop/assistant/Files.js b/desktop/assistant/Files.js
index b7f8c2b..bcfe1f0 100644
--- a/desktop/assistant/Files.js
+++ b/desktop/assistant/Files.js
@@ -45,11 +45,12 @@ function kind(path) {
 
 function chats(k) { return CHAT.includes(k); }
 
-// A dropped URL to a local path, or "" for anything that is not a file.
+// A dropped URL to a local path, or "" for anything that is not a local
+// file: file:///path, or file://localhost/path; any other host is remote.
 function fromUrl(url) {
-    const s = String(url);
-    if (!s.startsWith("file://")) return "";
-    try { return decodeURIComponent(s.slice(7)); } catch (e) { return ""; }
+    const m = /^file:\/\/(localhost)?(\/.*)$/.exec(String(url));
+    if (!m) return "";
+    try { return decodeURIComponent(m[2]); } catch (e) { return ""; }
 }
 
 function file(path) { return { path: path, name: name(path), kind: kind(path) }; }
diff --git a/desktop/assistant/Picker.qml b/desktop/assistant/Picker.qml
index 1465d1b..6d7b8ad 100644
--- a/desktop/assistant/Picker.qml
+++ b/desktop/assistant/Picker.qml
@@ -49,13 +49,18 @@ Rectangle {
 
     FolderListModel {
         id: files
-        folder: "file://" + picker.dir
+        // Encoded: a raw "#" or "?" in a folder name would end the path.
+        folder: "file://" + picker.dir.split("/").map(encodeURIComponent).join("/")
         showDirsFirst: true
+        // Name filters never apply to folders, so while filtering they would
+        // sit first and catch Enter. ponytail: no filtering to a folder.
+        showDirs: field.text === ""
         showDotAndDotDot: false
         // Hidden entries only on asking for them.
         showHidden: field.text.startsWith(".")
         caseSensitive: false
-        nameFilters: field.text ? ["*" + field.text + "*"] : ["*"]
+        // Glob characters are taken out: typed, they are meant literally.
+        nameFilters: field.text ? ["*" + field.text.replace(/[*?\[\]]/g, "") + "*"] : ["*"]
         sortCaseSensitive: false
     }
 
diff --git a/desktop/assistant/test_files.js b/desktop/assistant/test_files.js
index a15495b..5ece64f 100644
--- a/desktop/assistant/test_files.js
+++ b/desktop/assistant/test_files.js
@@ -34,6 +34,8 @@ assert.ok(!F.chats("video") && !F.chats("archive") && !F.chats("other"));
 assert.strictEqual(F.fromUrl("file:///home/you/My%20Docs/caf%C3%A9.pdf"), "/home/you/My Docs/café.pdf");
 assert.strictEqual(F.fromUrl("file:///tmp/a.txt"), "/tmp/a.txt");
 assert.strictEqual(F.fromUrl("https://example.org/a.pdf"), "");
+assert.strictEqual(F.fromUrl("file://localhost/tmp/a.pdf"), "/tmp/a.pdf");
+assert.strictEqual(F.fromUrl("file://otherhost/tmp/a.pdf"), "");
 assert.strictEqual(F.fromUrl("file:///bad%E0%A4%A"), "");   // malformed escape
 assert.deepStrictEqual(F.file("/x/y/a b.pdf"), { path: "/x/y/a b.pdf", name: "a b.pdf", kind: "pdf" });
 
diff --git a/desktop/island/Island.qml b/desktop/island/Island.qml
index 4fba033..412cc58 100644
--- a/desktop/island/Island.qml
+++ b/desktop/island/Island.qml
@@ -203,7 +203,8 @@ PanelWindow {
         x: win.cx - width / 2
         y: 0
         z: 10
-        width: 260
+        // The sliver's hit width at rest, so it takes no clicks beside it.
+        width: win.dropHold ? 260 : 220
         height: win.dropHold ? 100 : 10
 
         DropArea {