Reset branch from header commit picker

[friuns2]

Summary

• change header commit selection from detached checkout to guarded branch reset
• save pre-reset branch tips under internal reset-history refs
• include reset-history refs when loading branch commits so previous commits remain visible after one or more resets
• allow reset/switch when the only dirty worktree entries are untracked files, while still blocking tracked/staged changes
• disable reset actions for remote branch commit rows
• reuse worktree-lock checkout recovery before reset and cap reset-history refs per branch
• update manual test docs for reset, untracked-file, remote-row, and repeated-reset behavior

Tests

• pnpm run build:frontend
• pnpm run build:cli
• git diff --check
• temp repo smoke: reset branch to older commit and confirmed old tip still appears via saved ref
• temp repo smoke: reset succeeds with an untracked file present and tracked modifications are still detected
• temp repo smoke: reset-history ref pruning keeps 25 refs

[qodo-free-for-open-source-projects]

Review Summary by Qodo

Replace detached commit checkout with branch reset and reset-history tracking

✨ Enhancement 🐞 Bug fix

Walkthroughs

Description

• Replace detached HEAD checkout with guarded branch reset operation
• Save pre-reset branch tips under internal reset-history refs
• Include reset-history refs when loading commits for visibility
• Update API and UI to support branch-aware reset operations

Diagram

flowchart LR
  A["User selects commit<br/>in branch dropdown"] -->|emit resetBranchToCommit| B["API: resetGitBranchToCommit"]
  B -->|checkout branch if needed| C["Ensure on target branch"]
  C -->|save current HEAD| D["Create reset-history ref"]
  D -->|git reset --hard| E["Reset branch to commit"]
  E -->|load commits with refs| F["Include reset-history refs<br/>in git log"]
  F -->|display commits| G["UI shows previous commits<br/>after reset"]

Loading

File Changes

1. src/api/codexGateway.ts ✨ Enhancement +4/-3

Rename checkout to reset with branch parameter

• Rename checkoutGitCommit to resetGitBranchToCommit with new branch parameter
• Update API endpoint from /codex-api/git/checkout-commit to /codex-api/git/reset-to-commit
• Include branch name in request body for reset operation
• Update error messages to reflect reset operation instead of checkout

src/api/codexGateway.ts

---

2. src/server/codexAppServerBridge.ts ✨ Enhancement +37/-5

Implement branch reset with reset-history ref tracking

• Add toHeaderGitResetHistoryRef helper to generate reset-history ref paths
• Add assertLocalGitBranch helper to verify branch exists locally
• Update error message in assertCleanGitWorktree to mention branch reset
• Modify /codex-api/git/branch-commits endpoint to include reset-history refs in git log query
• Replace detached checkout with branch checkout, reset-history ref creation, and hard reset
• Add branch validation and checkout logic before performing reset

src/server/codexAppServerBridge.ts

---

3. src/App.vue ✨ Enhancement +8/-7

Update event handlers for branch reset operation

• Update event binding from @checkout-commit to @reset-branch-to-commit
• Rename handler from onCheckoutContentHeaderCommit to onResetContentHeaderBranchToCommit
• Update handler to accept payload object with branch and sha instead of just sha
• Replace checkoutGitCommit import with resetGitBranchToCommit
• Update error message handling to reflect reset operation

src/App.vue

---

View more (2)

4. src/components/content/HeaderGitBranchDropdown.vue ✨ Enhancement +4/-3

Update commit selection to emit reset event with branch

• Rename emitted event from checkoutCommit to resetBranchToCommit
• Update event payload to include both branch name and commit sha
• Add tooltip showing reset action description
• Update trigger label from "Git checkout" to "Git branch"
• Update event emit definition in defineEmits

src/components/content/HeaderGitBranchDropdown.vue

---

5. tests.md 📝 Documentation +16/-13

Update manual test documentation for reset workflow

• Rename test section from "commit checkout" to "commit reset"
• Update feature description to emphasize branch reset instead of detached HEAD
• Revise prerequisites to use disposable local branch for testing
• Update test steps to verify branch remains checked out after reset
• Add verification steps for reset-history ref preservation
• Update expected results to document reset-history commit visibility
• Simplify cleanup instructions for reset-based workflow

tests.md

---

[qodo-free-for-open-source-projects]

Code Review by Qodo

🐞 Bugs (0) 📘 Rule violations (0) 📎 Requirement gaps (0)

1. Remote reset button breaks ☑ 🐞 Bug ≡ Correctness

Description

The dropdown emits resetBranchToCommit for commits under remote branches (e.g. origin/main), but
the server reset endpoint requires a local branch (refs/heads/), so the action will always fail
for remote entries.

Code

src/components/content/HeaderGitBranchDropdown.vue[R79-80]

+                :title="`Reset ${branch.value} to ${commit.shortSha}`"
+                @click="emit('resetBranchToCommit', { branch: branch.value, sha: commit.sha })"

Evidence

Backend branch options include both local heads and remotes, and the UI displays remote branches as
selectable/expandable. The reset endpoint verifies only refs/heads/ via assertLocalGitBranch, so
remote branch names cannot pass validation, making the reset action non-functional for those UI
entries.

src/server/codexAppServerBridge.ts[5900-5927]
src/components/content/HeaderGitBranchDropdown.vue[45-90]
src/server/codexAppServerBridge.ts[2505-2507]
src/server/codexAppServerBridge.ts[6103-6106]

Agent prompt

The issue below was found during a code review. Follow the provided context and guidance below and implement a solution

## Issue description
The UI offers a "reset branch to commit" action for commit rows under remote branches, but the server endpoint only supports resetting *local* branches. This creates a guaranteed failure path when users click commits under `isRemote` branches.
### Issue Context
- Branch list includes `refs/remotes` entries and marks them with `isRemote`.
- Reset endpoint validates with `refs/heads/<branch>` only.
### Fix Focus Areas
- src/components/content/HeaderGitBranchDropdown.vue[45-90]
- src/server/codexAppServerBridge.ts[5900-5927]
- src/server/codexAppServerBridge.ts[6079-6115]

ⓘ Copy this prompt and use it to remediate the issue with your preferred AI generation tools

---

2. Worktree-locked reset fails ☑ 🐞 Bug ☼ Reliability

Description

The new /codex-api/git/reset-to-commit endpoint does a plain git checkout  without the existing
"branch is already checked out at <path>" recovery used by the checkout endpoint, so resets will
fail when the branch is locked by another worktree.

Code

src/server/codexAppServerBridge.ts[R6105-6111]

+          await assertLocalGitBranch(gitRoot, branch)
+          const currentBranch = (await runCommandCapture('git', ['branch', '--show-current'], { cwd: gitRoot })).trim()
+          if (currentBranch && currentBranch !== branch) {
+            await runCommand('git', ['checkout', branch], { cwd: gitRoot })
+          } else if (!currentBranch) {
+            await runCommand('git', ['checkout', branch], { cwd: gitRoot })
+          }

Evidence

The existing checkout endpoint explicitly handles the "branch already checked out" case by parsing
the error, detaching the other worktree, and retrying checkout; the new reset endpoint performs
checkout without that recovery, so the same scenario will now surface as a 500 error instead of
being handled.

src/server/codexAppServerBridge.ts[2543-2550]
src/server/codexAppServerBridge.ts[5987-6027]
src/server/codexAppServerBridge.ts[6079-6111]

Agent prompt

The issue below was found during a code review. Follow the provided context and guidance below and implement a solution

## Issue description
`POST /codex-api/git/reset-to-commit` checks out the requested branch before resetting, but it doesn't handle the case where Git refuses because the branch is already checked out in another worktree. The existing `/codex-api/git/checkout` endpoint has explicit recovery logic for this scenario; `reset-to-commit` should have equivalent handling (or an alternative approach that avoids checkout failures).
### Issue Context
- The repo already has logic to detect the locked-worktree checkout error (`extractBranchLockedWorktreePath`) and recover by detaching the blocking worktree then retrying.
- The new reset endpoint currently does an unconditional checkout (when needed) and will throw if the branch is locked.
### Fix Focus Areas
- src/server/codexAppServerBridge.ts[5987-6027]
- src/server/codexAppServerBridge.ts[6079-6111]
- src/server/codexAppServerBridge.ts[2543-2550]

ⓘ Copy this prompt and use it to remediate the issue with your preferred AI generation tools

---

3. Unbounded reset-history growth ☑ 🐞 Bug ➹ Performance

Description

Each reset writes a new reset-history ref and branch commit loading expands all of them into `git
log` arguments with no cap, which can grow unbounded over time and eventually cause slowdowns or
argument-length failures.

Code

src/server/codexAppServerBridge.ts[R6050-6063]

+          const resetHistoryRefPrefix = `refs/codex/header-git-reset-history/${branch}/`
+          const resetHistoryRefsRaw = await runCommandCapture(
+            'git',
+            ['for-each-ref', '--format=%(refname)', resetHistoryRefPrefix],
+            { cwd: gitRoot },
+          ).catch(() => '')
+          const resetHistoryRefs = resetHistoryRefsRaw
+            .split('\n')
+            .map((entry) => entry.trim())
+            .filter(Boolean)
        const output = await runCommandCapture(
          'git',
-            ['log', '-n', '12', '--date=short', '--format=%H%x09%h%x09%cd%x09%s', branch],
+            ['log', '-n', '12', '--date=short', '--format=%H%x09%h%x09%cd%x09%s', branch, ...resetHistoryRefs],
          { cwd: gitRoot },

Evidence

The reset endpoint persists the previous tip under a unique ref per reset. The branch-commits
endpoint then enumerates all such refs for a branch and spreads them into a single git log call;
without pruning/limiting, the number of refs and command arguments increases monotonically with each
reset.

src/server/codexAppServerBridge.ts[2501-2503]
src/server/codexAppServerBridge.ts[6046-6064]
src/server/codexAppServerBridge.ts[6112-6115]

Agent prompt

The issue below was found during a code review. Follow the provided context and guidance below and implement a solution

## Issue description
Reset-history refs are created on every reset and never pruned. Commit loading enumerates *all* matching refs and passes them as positional arguments to `git log`, which can grow without bound.
### Issue Context
- `update-ref` creates `refs/codex/header-git-reset-history/<branch>/<sha>` on every reset.
- `branch-commits` does `for-each-ref` then `git log ... branch, ...resetHistoryRefs` with no limit.
### Fix Focus Areas
- src/server/codexAppServerBridge.ts[6046-6064]
- src/server/codexAppServerBridge.ts[6112-6115]
- src/server/codexAppServerBridge.ts[2501-2503]

ⓘ Copy this prompt and use it to remediate the issue with your preferred AI generation tools

---