ADR 0028 — Tab strip width and terminal key ownership

• Status: accepted; native acceptance open
• Date: 2026-10-07
• Spike: none

Decision

Vertical tab strips use compact aligned rows and a shared Add/More footer. Their content-facing edge can be dragged independently of split dividers. Each StackNode stores an optional width, clamped to 96–480 DIP, serialized as tab_width with its existing node. Older sessions retain the default metrics. Layout reserves the strip inside the group bounds and shrinks the displayed width in small windows without discarding the saved preference. Core contains no platform types. Retained strip controls keep pointer capture and scroll position through resize refreshes.

Converting an explicitly named tab to a group or split preserves its name on the wrapper; renaming the inner pane thereafter cannot change that parent label. Automatic titles remain derived. Cancelling a rename never clears the previous explicit label.

Saved connections filters immediately by case-insensitive words across names, folder paths, resolved host/user/domain/protocol fields and source names. Matching ancestors stay visible; clearing restores the full tree. No matches disables actions and shows an empty-state message. Search reads no credentials. Ctrl+F focuses the search field.

The user requested Ctrl+C always mean interrupt. Terminal panes therefore reserve clipboard actions for exact Ctrl+Shift+C/V and Ctrl+Insert/Shift+Insert chords. Plain Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V and Escape reach the application, even with a selection or clipboard text. Escape may also clear the visual selection. Alt+V stays application input. History shortcuts use exact modifier sets, so adding Ctrl/Alt does not accidentally invoke a different shell action. Custom shell keymaps remain explicit overrides; the default shell command prefix remains Ctrl+Shift+P. The clipboard chords follow the documented alternate bindings in Windows Terminal actions. Windows Terminal also supports Ctrl+V for paste; WinMux deliberately leaves it to applications under this user’s request to preserve application controls.

Validation and limits

Regression checks cover persisted independent widths, older files, invalid bounds, left/right layout, group name roundtrips, inner Rename targeting, resolved search fields and real terminal control input with a selection and clipboard text. Skia captures at 150% show compact aligned rows; real headless pointer drags verify both resize edges, pointer capture, retained scroller and release behavior. A missing detachment when wrapping the scroller was caught and fixed by these integration tests before publication. The filtered connections capture uses an in-memory fixture. Native Windows pointer/DPI feel and live CLI application acceptance remain open; captures use in-memory sources and do not inspect the user’s credentials.

What failed

The fixed vertical width wasted pane space; generic Fluent button padding made rows oversized and Add/More occupied separate rows. A newly wrapped named pane had an unnamed parent, causing its parent label to track the first child. Cancelled rename could clear an inherited label. Plain Ctrl+C copied selected text, Ctrl+V depended on clipboard contents, and Escape was swallowed by a selection. Broad modifier checks intercepted chords containing additional modifiers.