Chat title generation used free-form text completion, which let models
respond conversationally instead of producing a title. Review chats
started with GitHub URLs were especially affected — models would say "I
don't have the ability to browse external links" and that string became
the persisted title.
Replace the raw-text `generateShortText` path with structured output via
`object.Generate[generatedTitle]`. Both auto-title and manual retitle
now go through the same typed contract: the model must return a JSON
object with a `title` field, validated and normalized before
persistence. Invalid outputs (empty, too long) are rejected and retried
through the existing candidate-model fallback loop.
Short prompts were producing title-generation meta responses such as "I
am a title generator" and prompt-echo titles. This rewrites the
automatic and manual title prompts to be shorter, less self-referential,
and more focused on returning only the title text.
The change also removes the broader post-generation guard layer, updates
manual regeneration to send real conversation text instead of a meta
instruction, and keeps regression coverage focused on the slimmer prompt
contract.
## Summary
Adds a "Generate new title" action that lets users manually regenerate a
chat's title using richer conversation context than the automatic
first-message title path.
## Changes
### Backend
- **New endpoint:** `POST
/api/experimental/chats/{chatID}/title/regenerate` returns the updated
Chat with a regenerated title
- **Manual title algorithm:** Extracts useful user/assistant text turns
→ selects first user turn + last 3 turns → builds context with gap
markers → renders prompt with anti-recency guidance → calls lightweight
model → normalizes output
- **Helpers:** `extractManualTitleTurns`,
`selectManualTitleTurnIndexes`, `buildManualTitleContext`,
`renderManualTitlePrompt`, `generateManualTitle` — all private, with the
public `Server.RegenerateChatTitle` method
- **SDK:** `ExperimentalClient.RegenerateChatTitle(ctx, chatID) (Chat,
error)`
- Persists title via existing `UpdateChatByID` and broadcasts
`ChatEventKindTitleChange`
### Frontend
- API client method + React Query mutation with cache invalidation
- "Generate new title" menu item (with wand icon) in both TopBar and
Sidebar dropdown menus
- Loading/disabled state while regeneration is in-flight
- Error toast on failure
- Stories updated for both menus
### Tests
- `quickgen_test.go`: Table-driven tests for all 4 helper functions
(turn extraction, index selection, context building, prompt rendering)
- `exp_chats_test.go`: Handler tests (ChatNotFound,
NotFoundForDifferentUser, NoDaemon)
## Design notes
- The existing auto-title path (`maybeGenerateChatTitle`, `titleInput`)
is completely unchanged
- Manual regeneration uses richer context (first user turn + last 3
turns + gap markers) vs the auto path's single first message
- Endpoint is experimental and marked with `@x-apidocgen {"skip": true}`
Thomas Kosiewski