Sort sidebar projects and threads by recency

[juliusmarminge]

Summary

• Added configurable sidebar sort orders for projects and threads, with new app settings defaults.
• Implemented shared sidebar sorting logic that ranks projects and threads by recency, falling back to creation time or manual order where appropriate.
• Updated the sidebar UI to use the new ordering, disable drag reordering outside manual mode, and add a sort menu for changing project/thread sort behavior.
• Added tests covering the new settings defaults and sidebar sorting behavior.

Testing

• Not run (PR content only).
• Added unit coverage for sidebar project/thread sorting logic in apps/web/src/components/Sidebar.logic.test.ts.
• Added settings schema/default coverage in apps/web/src/appSettings.test.ts and store coverage in apps/web/src/store.test.ts.

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Note

Medium Risk
Changes sidebar ordering behavior and gates drag-and-drop reordering behind a new setting, which could affect navigation expectations and any code relying on previous stable ordering.

Overview
Adds configurable sidebar sorting for projects and threads. New app settings sidebarProjectSortOrder and sidebarThreadSortOrder (default updated_at) are introduced and covered by tests.

Sidebar rendering now uses shared helpers (sortProjectsForSidebar, sortThreadsForSidebar) to order by latest user message recency with fallbacks to updatedAt/createdAt (or manual order for projects), and ensures the active thread stays visible in the collapsed preview.

Projects/threads now carry createdAt/updatedAt from the server read model into local Project/Thread state, the sidebar UI adds a sort menu, disables drag reordering unless in manual mode, and animates list changes via @formkit/auto-animate.

^{Written by Cursor Bugbot for commit a3bb36c. This will update automatically on new commits. Configure here.}

Note

Sort sidebar projects and threads by recency with configurable sort order

• Adds sortProjectsForSidebar and sortThreadsForSidebar functions in Sidebar.logic.ts that order items by latest user message timestamp, falling back to updatedAt/createdAt.
• Introduces sidebarProjectSortOrder and sidebarThreadSortOrder app settings (default updated_at) with a new ProjectSortMenu UI in the sidebar header to change them.
• Propagates createdAt/updatedAt from the server read model into Project and Thread state objects so sort timestamps are available.
• Adds @formkit/auto-animate to animate list reordering; drag-and-drop manual reordering is disabled unless the sort order is set to Manual.
• Collapsed thread lists now always include the active thread even if it falls beyond the preview limit.

^{Macroscope summarized a3bb36c.}

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[cursor]

Cursor Bugbot has reviewed your changes and found 1 potential issue.

There are 2 total unresolved issues (including 1 from previous review).

Autofix Details

Bugbot Autofix prepared a fix for the issue found in the latest run.

• ✅ Fixed: NaN comparator skips tiebreaker in project sorting
  • Added a !Number.isNaN(byTimestamp) guard to the comparator condition so that when both projects resolve to NEGATIVE_INFINITY the NaN result falls through to the name/id tiebreaker.

Or push these changes by commenting:

@cursor push 659ca5e71b

Preview (659ca5e71b)

diff --git a/apps/web/src/components/Sidebar.logic.ts b/apps/web/src/components/Sidebar.logic.ts
--- a/apps/web/src/components/Sidebar.logic.ts
+++ b/apps/web/src/components/Sidebar.logic.ts
@@ -270,7 +270,7 @@
     const byTimestamp =
       getProjectSortTimestamp(right, threadsByProjectId.get(right.id) ?? [], sortOrder) -
       getProjectSortTimestamp(left, threadsByProjectId.get(left.id) ?? [], sortOrder);
-    if (byTimestamp !== 0) return byTimestamp;
+    if (byTimestamp !== 0 && !Number.isNaN(byTimestamp)) return byTimestamp;
     return left.name.localeCompare(right.name) || left.id.localeCompare(right.id);
   });
 }

[cursor]

Cursor Bugbot has reviewed your changes and found 1 potential issue.

Bugbot Autofix prepared a fix for the issue found in the latest run.

• ✅ Fixed: NaN from NEGATIVE_INFINITY subtraction breaks sort tiebreaker
  • Replaced subtraction-based comparison with explicit equality/greater-than checks (matching sortProjectsForSidebar), so two NEGATIVE_INFINITY values correctly produce 0 and fall through to the ID tiebreaker.

Or push these changes by commenting:

@cursor push e09809f495

Preview (e09809f495)

diff --git a/apps/web/src/components/Sidebar.logic.ts b/apps/web/src/components/Sidebar.logic.ts
--- a/apps/web/src/components/Sidebar.logic.ts
+++ b/apps/web/src/components/Sidebar.logic.ts
@@ -270,8 +270,10 @@
   T extends Pick<Thread, "id" | "createdAt" | "updatedAt" | "messages">,
 >(threads: readonly T[], sortOrder: SidebarThreadSortOrder): T[] {
   return threads.toSorted((left, right) => {
+    const rightTimestamp = getThreadSortTimestamp(right, sortOrder);
+    const leftTimestamp = getThreadSortTimestamp(left, sortOrder);
     const byTimestamp =
-      getThreadSortTimestamp(right, sortOrder) - getThreadSortTimestamp(left, sortOrder);
+      rightTimestamp === leftTimestamp ? 0 : rightTimestamp > leftTimestamp ? 1 : -1;
     if (byTimestamp !== 0) return byTimestamp;
     return right.id.localeCompare(left.id);
   });