fix(mobile): greet a just-started terminal Claude with "Start a chat" (#35219)

Claude reports its session at startup but writes no transcript until the
first prompt, so the host answers pending and the phone said "Can't find
this conversation yet". A session the running agent reported live is new;
only remembered sessions keep the not-found copy.

mobile/src/session/MobileNativeChatEmptyStateView.tsx

@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+import { Text, View } from 'react-native'
+import type { NativeChatEmptyStateCopy } from '../../../src/shared/native-chat/native-chat-empty-state'
+import { styles } from './mobile-native-chat-view-styles'
+
+export function MobileNativeChatEmptyStateView({ copy }: { copy: NativeChatEmptyStateCopy }) {
+  return (
+    <View style={styles.center}>
+      <Text style={styles.emptyTitle}>{copy.title}</Text>
+      <Text style={styles.emptySubtitle}>{copy.subtitle}</Text>
+    </View>
+  )
+}

mobile/src/session/MobileNativeChatOverlay.tsx

@@ -177,6 +177,7 @@ export function MobileNativeChatOverlay({
                     error={session.error}
                     readFailedFinally={session.readFailedFinally === true}
                     agent={controller.nativeChatAgent}
+                    sessionLive={controller.nativeChatSessionLive}
                     agentWorking={controller.nativeChatTurnActive}
                     awaitingInput={controller.nativeChatAwaitingInput}
                     canStop={controller.nativeChatCanStop}

mobile/src/session/MobileNativeChatView.tsx

@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import type { NativeChatResolvedPrompt } from '../../../src/shared/native-chat-r
 import { colors } from '../theme/mobile-theme'
 import { useMobileColorScheme } from '../theme/use-mobile-color-scheme'
 import { styles } from './mobile-native-chat-view-styles'
+import { MobileNativeChatEmptyStateView } from './MobileNativeChatEmptyStateView'
 import { mobileNativeChatListFooter } from './mobile-native-chat-list-footer'
 import { mobileNativeChatListHeader } from './mobile-native-chat-list-header'
 import {
@@ -75,6 +76,7 @@ type Props = ComposerTrayProps & {
   // Permanent read failure replaces the pane because further chat actions cannot succeed.
   readFailedFinally?: boolean
   agent?: string | null
+  sessionLive?: boolean
   /** The turn is live: working, or waiting on the reader. */
   agentWorking?: boolean
   canStop?: boolean
@@ -150,6 +152,7 @@ export function MobileNativeChatView({
   error,
   readFailedFinally = false,
   agent,
+  sessionLive,
   agentWorking,
   canStop = agentWorking,
   awaitingInput = null,
@@ -310,7 +313,7 @@ export function MobileNativeChatView({
   // Changing text scale relays out every row, so preserve the page’s reading anchor.
   const layoutKey = `${fontScale}`
   const footer = mobileNativeChatListFooter(liveStatus, turns.waitingRows, renderItem)
-  const emptyState = mobileNativeChatEmptyState(status, agent ?? null, error)
+  const emptyState = mobileNativeChatEmptyState(status, agent ?? null, error, sessionLive)
 
   const lockReason = useSettledMobileNativeChatInputLock(inputLockReason)
   const composerPlaceholder = mobileNativeChatComposerPlaceholder(
@@ -320,12 +323,7 @@ export function MobileNativeChatView({
   // Lock only terminal-backed Send: it can answer an agent prompt, while drafting is harmless and structured sends queue.
   const expandedPromptOwnsSend =
     !structuredActivityUi && !collapsedPrompt && (ask ?? permission ?? question) != null
-  const emptyStateView = emptyState ? (
-    <View style={styles.center}>
-      <Text style={styles.emptyTitle}>{emptyState.title}</Text>
-      <Text style={styles.emptySubtitle}>{emptyState.subtitle}</Text>
-    </View>
-  ) : null
+  const emptyStateView = emptyState ? <MobileNativeChatEmptyStateView copy={emptyState} /> : null
 
   if (readFailedFinally && emptyStateView) {
     return <View style={[styles.root, { paddingBottom: bottomPad }]}>{emptyStateView}</View>

mobile/src/session/mobile-native-chat-controller-contract.ts

@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ export type MobileNativeChatController = {
   showNativeChat: boolean
   showNativeChatRef: MutableRefObject<boolean>
   nativeChatAgent: string | null
+  nativeChatSessionLive: boolean
   chatComposerScopeKey?: string | null
   reportQueuedEditError?: (message: string) => void
   chatDraftKey: string | null

mobile/src/session/mobile-native-chat-render-data.test.ts

@@ -41,6 +41,13 @@ describe('mobileNativeChatEmptyState', () => {
     }
   )
 
+  it('invites a first message when the running agent reported a session with no transcript yet', () => {
+    expect(mobileNativeChatEmptyState('awaiting-transcript', 'claude', undefined, true)).toEqual({
+      title: 'Start a chat with Claude',
+      subtitle: 'Ask Claude to inspect code, explain output, or make a change.'
+    })
+  })
+
   it('falls back to "the agent" when the agent is unknown', () => {
     expect(mobileNativeChatEmptyState('ready', null)?.title).toBe('Start a chat with the agent')
   })

mobile/src/session/mobile-native-chat-render-data.ts

@@ -24,14 +24,17 @@ import type { MobileNativeChatStatus } from './use-mobile-native-chat-session'
 export function mobileNativeChatEmptyState(
   status: MobileNativeChatStatus,
   agent: string | null,
-  error?: string
+  error?: string,
+  sessionLive = false
 ): NativeChatEmptyStateCopy | null {
   const agentLabel = agent ? formatAgentTypeLabel(agent) : 'the agent'
   switch (status) {
     // Missing history may mean new or unreadable; promise neither in the waiting copy.
     case 'waiting-session':
-    case 'awaiting-transcript':
       return formatNativeChatEmptyStateCopy('notFound', agentLabel)
+    // A session the running agent just reported has no file until its first prompt.
+    case 'awaiting-transcript':
+      return formatNativeChatEmptyStateCopy(sessionLive ? 'empty' : 'notFound', agentLabel)
     case 'ready':
       return formatNativeChatEmptyStateCopy('empty', agentLabel)
     case 'error': {

mobile/src/session/native-chat/mobile-native-chat-eligibility.test.ts

@@ -64,7 +64,8 @@ describe('resolveMobileNativeChat', () => {
       agent: 'claude',
       sessionId: 'sess-1',
       transcriptPath: '/tmp/claude-real-transcript.jsonl',
-      agentConfirmed: true
+      agentConfirmed: true,
+      sessionLive: true
     })
   })
 
@@ -74,7 +75,13 @@ describe('resolveMobileNativeChat', () => {
         type: 'terminal',
         agentStatus: status({ agentType: 'codex' })
       })
-    ).toEqual({ agent: 'codex', sessionId: null, transcriptPath: null, agentConfirmed: true })
+    ).toEqual({
+      agent: 'codex',
+      sessionId: null,
+      transcriptPath: null,
+      agentConfirmed: true,
+      sessionLive: false
+    })
   })
 
   it('admits OpenClaude with its distinct agent identity', () => {
@@ -82,7 +89,8 @@ describe('resolveMobileNativeChat', () => {
       agent: 'openclaude',
       sessionId: null,
       transcriptPath: null,
-      agentConfirmed: true
+      agentConfirmed: true,
+      sessionLive: false
     })
   })
 
@@ -98,7 +106,8 @@ describe('resolveMobileNativeChat', () => {
       agent,
       sessionId: 'real-session',
       transcriptPath: null,
-      agentConfirmed: true
+      agentConfirmed: true,
+      sessionLive: true
     })
     expect(resolveMobileNativeChat(tab, false)).toBeNull()
   })
@@ -155,7 +164,8 @@ describe('resolveMobileNativeChat', () => {
       agent: 'codex',
       sessionId: 'structured-1',
       transcriptPath: null,
-      agentConfirmed: true
+      agentConfirmed: true,
+      sessionLive: true
     })
   })
 
@@ -170,7 +180,8 @@ describe('resolveMobileNativeChat', () => {
       agent: 'claude',
       sessionId: 'structured-1',
       transcriptPath: null,
-      agentConfirmed: true
+      agentConfirmed: true,
+      sessionLive: true
     })
   })
 
@@ -179,7 +190,13 @@ describe('resolveMobileNativeChat', () => {
     (agent) => {
       expect(
         resolveMobileNativeChat({ type: 'agent-session', sessionId: 'structured-1', agent })
-      ).toEqual({ agent, sessionId: 'structured-1', transcriptPath: null, agentConfirmed: true })
+      ).toEqual({
+        agent,
+        sessionId: 'structured-1',
+        transcriptPath: null,
+        agentConfirmed: true,
+        sessionLive: true
+      })
     }
   )
 
@@ -236,7 +253,8 @@ describe('withRememberedNativeChatIdentity', () => {
       agent: 'claude',
       sessionId: 'sess-1',
       transcriptPath: '/t/sess-1.jsonl',
-      agentConfirmed: false
+      agentConfirmed: false,
+      sessionLive: false
     })
     expect(resolveMobileNativeChatSessionId(next)).toBe('sess-1')
   })
@@ -258,7 +276,8 @@ describe('withRememberedNativeChatIdentity', () => {
       agent: 'codex',
       sessionId: null,
       transcriptPath: null,
-      agentConfirmed: true
+      agentConfirmed: true,
+      sessionLive: false
     })
   })
 

mobile/src/session/native-chat/mobile-native-chat-eligibility.ts

@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ export type MobileNativeChatResolution = {
   transcriptPath: string | null
   // Remembered identity alone permits reads only; typing could otherwise reach a bare shell.
   agentConfirmed: boolean
+  // The running agent reported this session, so a missing transcript means no prompt yet.
+  sessionLive: boolean
 }
 
 export type MobileNativeChatIdentity = {
@@ -43,7 +45,13 @@ export function resolveMobileNativeChat(
   if (tab.type === 'agent-session') {
     // Structured tabs use journals, so no per-agent transcript layout is needed.
     return tab.sessionId && isStructuredAgentId(tab.agent)
-      ? { agent: tab.agent, sessionId: tab.sessionId, transcriptPath: null, agentConfirmed: true }
+      ? {
+          agent: tab.agent,
+          sessionId: tab.sessionId,
+          transcriptPath: null,
+          agentConfirmed: true,
+          sessionLive: true
+        }
       : null
   }
   if (tab.type !== 'terminal') {
@@ -70,7 +78,8 @@ export function resolveMobileNativeChat(
     transcriptPath: liveSession
       ? (liveSession.transcriptPath ?? null)
       : (rememberedSession?.transcriptPath ?? null),
-    agentConfirmed: evidenceAgent !== null
+    agentConfirmed: evidenceAgent !== null,
+    sessionLive: liveSession?.id != null
   }
 }
 

mobile/src/session/use-mobile-native-chat-controller.ts

@@ -225,6 +225,7 @@ export function useMobileNativeChatController(args: {
     showNativeChat,
     showNativeChatRef,
     nativeChatAgent: activeChatResolution?.agent ?? null,
+    nativeChatSessionLive: activeChatResolution?.sessionLive === true,
     chatDraftKey,
     setChatComposerText,
     getChatComposerEditGeneration,