[feature]: Chat V2 — Phase 1 (Chat UX overhaul) — tracking

[jackmusick]

Tracking issue for Phase 1 of the Chat V2 program — the Chat UX overhaul. This issue stays open until all milestones (M1-M7) ship.

Background

Chat V2 is a multi-phase program to bring Bifrost chat to parity with Claude.ai / ChatGPT / Copilot. The program-level spec, master plan, and detailed Phase 1 design landed in #138.

Read first:

• `docs/superpowers/specs/2026-04-27-chat-v2-program-design.md` (program spec)
• `docs/superpowers/specs/2026-04-27-chat-ux-design.md` (Phase 1 design)
• `docs/superpowers/plans/2026-04-27-chat-v2-master-plan.md` (master plan, status board)

Phase 1 milestones

Each milestone is a separate issue + worktree + PR. Estimated total: 6-7 weeks of focused work.

• M1 — Workspaces foundations. ORM + API + migration. Synthetic Personal workspace per user. Sidebar shows workspaces. Conversations always live in a workspace.
• M2 — Model resolver + curation. `api/shared/model_resolver.py` shared utility. Org/role/workspace allowlists. Platform model registry with cost tiers. Picker UI with provenance tooltips.
• M3 — Edit + retry + per-conversation instructions. Inline edit user message. Retry assistant with optional model override. Per-conversation `instructions` field.
• M4 — Attachments. Drag/drop, paperclip, paste-from-clipboard. S3 storage. Server-side text extraction for PDFs. Vision content blocks for image-capable models.
• M5 — Compaction. Lossless summarization replacing today's pruning. Per-model-aware threshold. Manual compact button. New chunk types in wire format.
• M6 — Multi-agent delegation in chat. Wire `delegated_agent_ids` into agent_executor as a callable from within a turn. New `delegation_started` / `delegation_complete` chunk types. Inline "✓ consulted" badge.
• M7 — Polish. Sidebar search. Conversation rename / soft-delete / export. Context budget indicator (real-time, model-aware). Cost tier badges per message. Floating composer.

Out of scope for Phase 1

Sub-projects 2-5 (Code Execution, Skills, Artifacts, Web Search) — each gets its own tracking issue when its phase begins.

Success criteria

When all 7 milestones merge, a Bifrost user can:

• Group chats into workspaces with shared instructions, knowledge, tools, and a baseline cost preview
• Pick from a curated set of models per chat (org → role → workspace allowlist chain)
• See real-time context-budget and per-message cost-tier feedback
• Edit + retry messages, attach files, get lossless compaction
• Delegate to specialist agents within a turn

🤖 Generated with Claude Code