galaxy/specs/tab-context-copy-metadata/TECH.md

Tab Context Menu Copy Metadata — Tech Spec

Product spec: specs/tab-context-copy-metadata/PRODUCT.md

Problem

TabData::menu_items_with_pane_name_target builds the tab right-click menu in app/src/tab.rs. It currently groups session sharing, tab modification, close actions, tab-config saving, and color options. The metadata needed for copy actions already exists on PaneGroup, pane configuration, and TerminalView, but the menu does not expose it with layout-aware behavior.

Relevant Code

• app/src/tab.rs — tab context menu construction.
• app/src/workspace/action.rs — WorkspaceAction::CopyTextToClipboard(String) already exists.
• app/src/workspace/view.rs — CopyTextToClipboard writes plain text to the clipboard.
• app/src/terminal/view/tab_metadata.rs — TerminalView helpers for display working directory, terminal title, branch, pull request URL, and diff stats.
• app/src/pane_group/mod.rs — PaneGroup::display_title, custom_title, focused_session_view, focused_pane_id, and terminal_view_from_pane_id.
• app/src/workspace/view/vertical_tabs.rs — current vertical-tabs metadata rendering, including pane-targeted context menu behavior.

Current State

The tab context menu is assembled from section methods that return Vec<MenuItem<WorkspaceAction>>. Separators are inserted between non-empty sections by menu_items_with_pane_name_target. WorkspaceAction::CopyTextToClipboard(String) is already handled in Workspace::handle_action and writes text to the system clipboard. Using this existing action avoids adding new workspace actions for each metadata type. Vertical-tabs pane context menus pass a PaneNameMenuTarget with a PaneViewLocator. Regular horizontal tab context menus have no visible terminal metadata, so they only expose the tab title.

Changes

1. Add a copy metadata menu section

Add a new copy_metadata_menu_items section to TabData. Insert it after session-sharing items and before tab-modification items so copy actions are grouped near other share/copy actions. The section appends:

• Copy branch when vertical tabs are enabled and TerminalView::current_git_branch(ctx) is non-empty.
• Copy tab title when the current layout is horizontal tabs or vertical tabs grouped by tabs and PaneGroup::display_title(ctx) is non-empty.
• Copy pane title when vertical tabs are grouped by panes and the active pane has a non-empty title.
• Copy working directory when vertical tabs are enabled and the selected terminal has a non-empty pwd(), falling back to display_working_directory(ctx) if needed.
• Copy pull request link when vertical tabs are enabled and TerminalView::current_pull_request_url(ctx) is non-empty. Each item dispatches WorkspaceAction::CopyTextToClipboard(value).

2. Resolve terminal metadata from the correct target

For horizontal tabs, only use PaneGroup::display_title(ctx). For vertical tabs grouped by panes, use PaneGroup::focused_pane_id(ctx) to resolve the active pane title and terminal metadata. For vertical tabs grouped by tabs, when pane_name_target is present and belongs to this tab's PaneGroup, use PaneGroup::terminal_view_from_pane_id(target.locator.pane_id, ctx). Otherwise, use PaneGroup::focused_session_view(ctx). If no terminal view is available, omit terminal-specific items but still show the appropriate title copy item when the title exists.

3. Keep metadata values clean

Filter all values through a small helper that trims whitespace for availability checks and stores the original non-empty string for copying. This prevents blank menu rows while preserving the copied value.

Risks and Mitigations

Menu noise: Horizontal tabs only expose Copy tab title, so metadata that is not visible in that layout does not add noise. Stale metadata: Branch, working directory, and pull request link are copied from already-known TerminalView state. The change does not perform new synchronous GitHub or filesystem lookups, so it preserves menu responsiveness. Pane targeting: In vertical-tabs pane mode, terminal metadata should come from the active pane. The locator check for tab mode avoids accidentally reading metadata from a pane in a different tab.

Testing and Validation

• Run cargo fmt.
• Run targeted integration tests for horizontal tab, vertical-tab grouping, and vertical-pane grouping context menus.
• Manual checks:
  • Horizontal tab context menu only shows Copy tab title.
  • Vertical tab with branch metadata shows Copy branch.
  • Vertical pane mode shows Copy pane title and copies active-pane metadata.
  • Terminal without git metadata omits branch and pull request items.