1.47.1: close a background session when Claude Code's background service is off

README.md

@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ See what needs attention, resume the right conversation, and work on a paired PC
 
 </div>
 
-> **1.47.0** moves to Electron 44 (Chromium 152, Node.js 24); macOS 13 or later is now required, and screenshot paste / image copy use Electron's new clipboard API ([release notes](docs/releases/1.47.0.md)). 1.46.0 lets you close Claude Code's background sessions from the sidebar — the row's ⋯ menu or the group's bulk close runs `claude stop` and `claude rm` for you, so a finished or failed session no longer sits in the Background group forever; its conversation is kept ([release notes](docs/releases/1.46.0.md)). 1.45.2 stops an update from doubling the sessions on a paired PC — the relaunch no longer restores remote tiles itself, it adopts them from that PC, and no restore starts a second conversation for one that is already open here ([release notes](docs/releases/1.45.2.md)). 1.45.1 stops offering Claude background sessions whose folder was deleted, and says so plainly when a session's folder is gone ([release notes](docs/releases/1.45.1.md)). 1.45.0 sends any file to a session on another PC — any kind, up to 4 GB, in pieces with its progress shown ([release notes](docs/releases/1.45.0.md)). 1.44.1 fixes the "Assertion failed: remove_pty_baton" dialog (and the occasional hang or crash) when quitting or running Update all with several sessions open ([release notes](docs/releases/1.44.1.md)). 1.44.0 lists Claude Code's own background sessions (`claude --bg`, the agent view) in the sidebar, marks the ones waiting for you, and opens one in a tile by attaching to it ([release notes](docs/releases/1.44.0.md)). 1.43.0 runs parallel sessions in separate workspaces — each in its own git worktree and branch, so two agents never edit the same files — with its changes in the header and a clean-up that warns before unmerged work is lost ([release notes](docs/releases/1.43.0.md)). 1.42.0 shows what changed — a What's new window after each update, with Show me, and NEW dots on new buttons until you try them — and, as an experimental setting on Windows, lets Claude Code report its own state (working, needs approval, asking, done) instead of DevDeck reading the screen ([release notes](docs/releases/1.42.0.md)). 1.41.0 adds quick replies (one click or Ctrl+Shift+1…9 for the phrases you keep typing), a session timeline of your prompts with their times, replies and images, red boxes and arrows drawn on a screenshot and sent straight back to the session, and text, log and PDF attachments for sessions on another PC ([release notes](docs/releases/1.41.0.md)). 1.40.0 ties each screenshot to the terminal row it appeared on — hover a highlighted `[Image]` for a thumbnail, click for the full view, and jump from the viewer back to the row — says what led to each image, previews new screenshots, copies images, and adds Ctrl+↑/↓ between your prompts ([release notes](docs/releases/1.40.0.md)). 1.39.0 shows the screenshots and images a Claude session worked with — Claude Desktop shows them inline; DevDeck puts them in a strip beside the terminal, also for sessions on another PC — adds 📎 / drag-and-drop attachments (images travel to a remote PC), **Update all** for Claude Code on Windows, staggered session restores that no longer stall a PC, and ends the daily false "Login expired" ([release notes](docs/releases/1.39.0.md)). 1.38.0 made closing a session reliable across paired PCs ([notes](docs/releases/1.38.0.md)). See [the maintenance review](docs/quality-review-2026-09-08.md) and [session synchronization review](docs/session-sync-review-2026-09-08.md).
+> **1.47.1** makes closing a Claude Code background session from the sidebar work when Claude Code's background service is not running — DevDeck starts it as Claude Code does and tries again, and a failure names the PC the command has to run on ([release notes](docs/releases/1.47.1.md)). 1.47.0 moves to Electron 44 (Chromium 152, Node.js 24); macOS 13 or later is now required, and screenshot paste / image copy use Electron's new clipboard API ([release notes](docs/releases/1.47.0.md)). 1.46.0 lets you close Claude Code's background sessions from the sidebar — the row's ⋯ menu or the group's bulk close runs `claude stop` and `claude rm` for you, so a finished or failed session no longer sits in the Background group forever; its conversation is kept ([release notes](docs/releases/1.46.0.md)). 1.45.2 stops an update from doubling the sessions on a paired PC — the relaunch no longer restores remote tiles itself, it adopts them from that PC, and no restore starts a second conversation for one that is already open here ([release notes](docs/releases/1.45.2.md)). 1.45.1 stops offering Claude background sessions whose folder was deleted, and says so plainly when a session's folder is gone ([release notes](docs/releases/1.45.1.md)). 1.45.0 sends any file to a session on another PC — any kind, up to 4 GB, in pieces with its progress shown ([release notes](docs/releases/1.45.0.md)). 1.44.1 fixes the "Assertion failed: remove_pty_baton" dialog (and the occasional hang or crash) when quitting or running Update all with several sessions open ([release notes](docs/releases/1.44.1.md)). 1.44.0 lists Claude Code's own background sessions (`claude --bg`, the agent view) in the sidebar, marks the ones waiting for you, and opens one in a tile by attaching to it ([release notes](docs/releases/1.44.0.md)). 1.43.0 runs parallel sessions in separate workspaces — each in its own git worktree and branch, so two agents never edit the same files — with its changes in the header and a clean-up that warns before unmerged work is lost ([release notes](docs/releases/1.43.0.md)). 1.42.0 shows what changed — a What's new window after each update, with Show me, and NEW dots on new buttons until you try them — and, as an experimental setting on Windows, lets Claude Code report its own state (working, needs approval, asking, done) instead of DevDeck reading the screen ([release notes](docs/releases/1.42.0.md)). 1.41.0 adds quick replies (one click or Ctrl+Shift+1…9 for the phrases you keep typing), a session timeline of your prompts with their times, replies and images, red boxes and arrows drawn on a screenshot and sent straight back to the session, and text, log and PDF attachments for sessions on another PC ([release notes](docs/releases/1.41.0.md)). 1.40.0 ties each screenshot to the terminal row it appeared on — hover a highlighted `[Image]` for a thumbnail, click for the full view, and jump from the viewer back to the row — says what led to each image, previews new screenshots, copies images, and adds Ctrl+↑/↓ between your prompts ([release notes](docs/releases/1.40.0.md)). 1.39.0 shows the screenshots and images a Claude session worked with — Claude Desktop shows them inline; DevDeck puts them in a strip beside the terminal, also for sessions on another PC — adds 📎 / drag-and-drop attachments (images travel to a remote PC), **Update all** for Claude Code on Windows, staggered session restores that no longer stall a PC, and ends the daily false "Login expired" ([release notes](docs/releases/1.39.0.md)). 1.38.0 made closing a session reliable across paired PCs ([notes](docs/releases/1.38.0.md)). See [the maintenance review](docs/quality-review-2026-09-08.md) and [session synchronization review](docs/session-sync-review-2026-09-08.md).
 
 <div align="center">
 <img src="docs/screenshots/projects.png" width="820" alt="DevDeck project overview with repository and session navigation" />

docs/releases/1.47.1.md

@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+# DevDeck 1.47.1
+
+## Closing a background session works when Claude Code's background service is off
+
+Closing a Claude Code background session from the sidebar (1.46.0) could fail with "Could not close the background session '…' — try claude rm <id> in a terminal", on this PC and on a paired one alike.
+
+- **Cause:** `claude stop` and `claude rm` talk to Claude Code's background service, an on-demand daemon that exits 50 s after its last client — and a Claude Code update leaves none behind. With no service running, Claude Code 2.1.312 answers `couldn't remove <id> — the background service may be restarting. Try again in a moment.` and does not start one. Trying again in a moment does not help; opening `claude agents` once does, because that starts the service. DevDeck's log only said `failed`; the reason was on stderr, which it did not read.
+- **Fix:** when `rm` refuses, DevDeck starts the service the way Claude Code itself does (`claude daemon run --origin transient` — it ends itself once idle, so nothing is left running), waits for `claude daemon status` to see it, and runs `stop` and `rm` once more. A session that is already gone counts as closed. What `rm` said is now in the diagnostics log.
+- **The message names the right PC.** The failure toast told you to run `claude rm <id>` "in a terminal" even when the session was on another PC, where the command has to run; on this PC it answered `No job matching`. It now names that PC, and says that opening `claude agents` there once starts the service.
+
+Verified on Windows with Claude Code 2.1.312: with the service stopped, `stop` and `rm` on a session waiting for input both refused with the message above; after `claude daemon run` they answered `stopped <id>` and `removed <id>`; the transient service exited on its own 50 s later. A paired PC gets the fix when its DevDeck updates.

package.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "devdeck",
-  "version": "1.47.0",
+  "version": "1.47.1",
   "description": "Project command deck — at-a-glance state + Claude Code, Codex, and Antigravity resume",
   "main": "dist/main/main.js",
   "type": "commonjs",

src/main/api/deckApi.ts

@@ -1137,7 +1137,8 @@ export function createDeckApi(cfg: DeckApiConfig): DeckApiBundle {
     const folders = effFolders();
     const listed = (await listBackgroundAgents()).filter((b) => isAllowedFilePath(folders, b.cwd));
     const result = await closeBackgroundAgent(id, listed);
-    cfg.diagnostics?.write(result.ok ? 'info' : 'warn', 'agents', `close background ${String(id).slice(0, 16)}: ${result.ok ? 'removed' : result.error}`);
+    const how = result.ok ? `removed${result.serviceStarted ? ' (after starting the background service)' : ''}` : `${result.error}${result.detail ? ` (${result.detail})` : ''}`;
+    cfg.diagnostics?.write(result.ok ? 'info' : 'warn', 'agents', `close background ${String(id).slice(0, 16)}: ${how}`);
     return result;
   });
 

src/main/backgroundAgents.test.ts

@@ -1,7 +1,29 @@
+import { EventEmitter } from 'node:events';
 import { afterEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest';
 
 const spawn = vi.fn();
 vi.mock('node:child_process', () => ({ spawn: (...a: unknown[]) => spawn(...a) }));
+// A bare `claude` keeps cliInvocation from wrapping the arguments in cmd.exe on Windows, so the
+// tests can read the argv as written.
+vi.mock('./cliExecutable', () => ({ resolveAgentCliPath: () => 'claude' }));
+
+type Answer = { code: number; stderr?: string };
+/** A `claude` that answers each invocation by its first words, like the real one on the PC. */
+function fakeClaude(answer: (args: string[]) => Answer): void {
+  spawn.mockImplementation((_file: string, args: string[]) => {
+    const child = Object.assign(new EventEmitter(), { stdout: new EventEmitter(), stderr: new EventEmitter(), pid: 4242, kill: () => true, unref: () => undefined });
+    const a = answer(args);
+    setTimeout(() => {
+      if (a.stderr) child.stderr.emit('data', Buffer.from(a.stderr));
+      child.emit('close', a.code);
+    }, 0);
+    return child;
+  });
+}
+const calls = (): string[] => spawn.mock.calls.map((c) => (c[1] as string[]).join(' '));
+
+const LISTED = [{ id: '8e64da40', cwd: 'C:\\g\\shipwright', sessionId: '8e64da40-4c50-4e80-ae72-bddba02e6bcb', name: 'triage', state: 'blocked' as const, startedAt: 1 }];
+const SERVICE_DOWN = "couldn't remove 8e64da40 — the background service may be restarting. Try again in a moment.";
 
 describe('listing background sessions while Claude Code is being updated', () => {
   afterEach(async () => { const m = await import('./backgroundAgents.js'); await m.pauseBackgroundAgents(false); m._clearBackgroundAgentCache(); spawn.mockReset(); });
@@ -13,3 +35,54 @@ describe('listing background sessions while Claude Code is being updated', () =>
     expect(spawn).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
   });
 });
+
+describe('closing a background session when the background service is not running', () => {
+  afterEach(() => { spawn.mockReset(); });
+
+  it('stops and removes in one go while the service is up — nothing else is started', async () => {
+    fakeClaude(() => ({ code: 0 }));
+    const m = await import('./backgroundAgents.js');
+    expect(await m.closeBackgroundAgent('8e64da40', LISTED)).toEqual({ ok: true });
+    expect(calls()).toEqual(['stop 8e64da40', 'rm 8e64da40']);
+  });
+
+  it('starts the service the way Claude Code does and tries again when rm says it may be restarting', async () => {
+    let serviceUp = false;
+    fakeClaude((args) => {
+      if (args[0] === 'daemon' && args[1] === 'run') { serviceUp = true; return { code: 0 }; }
+      if (args[0] === 'daemon' && args[1] === 'status') return { code: serviceUp ? 0 : 1 };
+      if (!serviceUp) return { code: 1, stderr: SERVICE_DOWN };
+      return { code: 0 };
+    });
+    const m = await import('./backgroundAgents.js');
+    expect(await m.closeBackgroundAgent('8e64da40', LISTED, { serviceWaitMs: 200 })).toEqual({ ok: true, serviceStarted: true });
+    expect(calls()).toEqual(['stop 8e64da40', 'rm 8e64da40', 'daemon run --origin transient', 'daemon status', 'stop 8e64da40', 'rm 8e64da40']);
+    // The service runs on after DevDeck, and on its own: detached, with no pipes to this process.
+    const run = spawn.mock.calls.find((c) => (c[1] as string[])[1] === 'run')!;
+    expect(run[2]).toMatchObject({ detached: true, stdio: 'ignore' });
+  });
+
+  it('reports what rm said when the service never comes up — the message goes to the log, not away', async () => {
+    fakeClaude((args) => (args[0] === 'daemon' && args[1] === 'run' ? { code: 0 } : { code: 1, stderr: SERVICE_DOWN }));
+    const m = await import('./backgroundAgents.js');
+    const result = await m.closeBackgroundAgent('8e64da40', LISTED, { serviceWaitMs: 50 });
+    expect(result).toMatchObject({ ok: false, error: 'failed' });
+    expect((result as { detail?: string }).detail).toContain('may be restarting');
+    expect(calls().filter((c) => c === 'rm 8e64da40')).toHaveLength(1); // no second try without a service
+  });
+
+  it('counts a session that is already gone as closed', async () => {
+    fakeClaude((args) => (args[0] === 'rm' ? { code: 1, stderr: "No job matching '8e64da40'" } : { code: 1 }));
+    const m = await import('./backgroundAgents.js');
+    expect(await m.closeBackgroundAgent('8e64da40', LISTED)).toEqual({ ok: true });
+    expect(calls()).toEqual(['stop 8e64da40', 'rm 8e64da40']);
+  });
+
+  it('acts only on an id the listing shows, and only on a short hex one', async () => {
+    fakeClaude(() => ({ code: 0 }));
+    const m = await import('./backgroundAgents.js');
+    expect(await m.closeBackgroundAgent('00cf1408', LISTED)).toEqual({ ok: false, error: 'not-listed' });
+    expect(await m.closeBackgroundAgent('8e64da40; rm -rf /', LISTED)).toEqual({ ok: false, error: 'bad-id' });
+    expect(spawn).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+});