Mixed versions are the normal state of the remote-server feature: users update clients and servers independently. Until now nothing tested that. Every cross-version claim was made by code reading plus unit tests with hand-written old/new shapes — enough to catch design problems, not enough to catch a real skew regression. This runs the REAL protocol implementations from two builds against each other in one process: the actual host methods and RPC dispatcher on one side, the actual renderer multiplexer on the other, with a transport that reproduces the production asymmetry — each side decodes with its OWN codec and drops frames whose opcode it does not know. A frame survives only if the RECEIVING build understands it, which is what makes this level sufficient without launching two apps. The old side is a genuine checkout extracted from the release tag; the extracted client was confirmed to lack a symbol that exists only on main. Journey: subscribe, first snapshot, input reaching the process, live output, hide/reveal snapshot, transport drop, resubscribe, input landing again — across old->new, new->old, and a current/current control. Every step ends on an observed-state barrier; no sleeps. The oracle asserts the recorded step list, the exact 16-frame named sequence, negotiated capabilities, the exact input the host wrote to the PTY, rendered content, and zero decoder-rejected frames. A host method the stub lacks is recorded by name and asserted empty, so a harness gap cannot masquerade as a wire break. Detection is proven per violation shape, and it attributes each to the correct side: an unnegotiated opcode goes red only where a decoder would reject it, a removed published field goes red only where an old client consumes it, and a legal additive field stays green in all three pairings so the harness will not cry wolf on safe changes. It also documents the three compatibility rules in docs/reference/remote-wire-compatibility.md, linked from AGENTS.md, since they previously existed only as folklore — notably that "decoders reject unknown opcodes" is true for the desktop decoder but NOT for mobile, which silently drops them. Deliberately scoped: terminal stream only. The session-tab sync channel is not covered, nor agent-session publications, file/Git RPCs, mobile E2EE framing, or the relay transport. Two version points, so a regression introduced and reverted between them is invisible. CI selection was verified rather than assumed — `vitest list` confirms 0 matches under the shard's exclude and 4 under the dedicated job — because a lane silently running zero tests is precisely how a host-side defect escaped CI earlier in this series. Closes STA-3469.
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Design System
All UI work — layout, color, typography, spacing, component selection, UX behavior — must follow docs/STYLEGUIDE.md. Use the tokens defined in src/renderer/src/assets/main.css (the canonical source) and the shadcn primitives in src/renderer/src/components/ui/. Don't invent new color values, font sizes, or shadow tiers when a documented one already covers the role. When STYLEGUIDE.md is silent, follow the resolution order in its final section.
Style
Concise/Brief Non-obviosu comments ONLY
- DO NOT: be verbose, explain the obvious, walk through the code ("WHY not HOW")
- BE CONCISE. 1 LINE if possible
Lint Rules: Do Not Disable Max Lines
NEVER add a max-lines disable (eslint-disable max-lines, oxlint-disable max-lines, or line-specific variants), and never add a per-file max-lines bump in mobile/.oxlintrc.json.
File and Module Naming
Never use vague names like helpers, utils, common, misc, or shared-stuff for files, folders, or modules. They carry zero info and tend to become dumping grounds. Name files after what they actually contain — prefer the concrete domain concept (e.g. tab-group-state.ts, terminal-orphan-cleanup.ts) over the generic role (tabs-helpers.ts, terminal-utils.ts). If you find yourself reaching for helpers, the file probably has more than one responsibility and should be split, or there's a better name hiding in the code that describes what the functions operate on.
Type Declarations: Prefer .ts Over .d.ts
Considerations
Worktree Safety
Always use the primary working directory (the worktree) for all file reads and edits. Never follow absolute paths from subagent results that point to the main repo.
Cross-Platform Support
Orca targets macOS, Linux, and Windows. Keep all platform-dependent behavior behind runtime checks:
- Keyboard shortcuts: Never hardcode
e.metaKey. Use a platform check (navigator.userAgent.includes('Mac')) to pickmetaKeyon Mac andctrlKeyon Linux/Windows. Electron menu accelerators should useCmdOrCtrl. - Shortcut labels in UI: Display
⌘/⇧on Mac andCtrl+/Shift+on other platforms. - File paths: Use
path.joinor Electron/Node path utilities — never assume/or\. - Windows setup scripts: the setup/issue-command runner is a
.cmdbatch file unless the script starts with a#!line — never derive that from the user's terminal-shell preference, and never launch a.cmdrunner with a barecmd.exe /cfrom a Git Bash pane (MSYS rewrites the/c). Seedocs/reference/windows-setup-shell.md. - Linux native modules: keep the glibc floor at Ubuntu 20.04 / glibc 2.31. A module compiled from source on a newer runner can reference symbol versions absent on the floor and crash the app on startup. See
docs/reference/linux-glibc-compatibility.md; packaging fails if a bundled native binary needs newer glibc.
SSH Use Case
All changes must consider the SSH use case. Don't assume local-only execution.
Folder Workspace Use Case
All changes must consider folder workspaces as well as git worktrees. Don't assume every workspace is a git worktree.
Remote Wire Compatibility
Clients and remote Orca servers update independently, so mixed versions are the normal state. Before changing anything a paired client and host exchange — RPC params, stream frames, or the content either side publishes over them — follow docs/reference/remote-wire-compatibility.md. A new optional field is safe; a new stream opcode must be capability-negotiated because decoders drop unknown opcodes silently; and changing what the host publishes reaches old clients even with no wire change.
Git Binary Compatibility
Orca runs the user's Git binary on native, WSL, and SSH hosts, which may all have different versions. Treat Git 2.25 as the core-workflow baseline and follow docs/reference/git-compatibility.md.
When adding or changing a Git command:
- Check when every subcommand and option was introduced. For newer behavior, keep a baseline-compatible fallback or degrade safely.
- Use
GitCapabilityCachewith a narrow unsupported-error predicate so recurring operations do not retry a known-invalid command. Do not rely only ongit --version; wrappers such assimple-gitdo not remove host-version differences. - Scope capability state to the host that executes Git: native, WSL distro, SSH provider, or relay connection. Cover the first fallback, later cached calls, concurrent probes, and relevant host isolation in tests.
- Keep the real-binary compatibility contract in PR CI current. When adopting a newer Git feature, add its version boundary so the preferred command and fallback both run against representative Git releases.
- Preserve commands that begin with global Git options such as
-cbefore the subcommand, including auto-maintenance suppression used by worktree-create fetches.
Git Provider Compatibility
Source-control and review changes must consider GitLab and other supported git providers, not only GitHub. Keep provider-specific behavior behind explicit checks, and avoid GitHub-only naming for generic review concepts.
GitHub CLI Usage
Be mindful of the user's gh CLI API rate limit — batch requests where possible and avoid unnecessary calls. All code, commands, and scripts must be compatible with macOS, Linux, and Windows.