Implement the backend for the desktop feature for agents.
- Adds a new `/api/experimental/chats/$id/desktop` endpoint to coderd
which exposes a VNC stream from a
[portabledesktop](https://github.com/coder/portabledesktop) process
running inside the workspace
- Adds a new `spawn_computer_use_agent` tool to chatd, which spawns a
subagent that has access to the `computer` tool which lets it interact
with the `portabledesktop` process running inside the workspace
- Adds the plumbing to make the above possible
There's a follow up frontend PR here:
https://github.com/coder/coder/pull/23006
Migration 000434 converts chat_messages.role from text to a Postgres
enum, rebuilds the partial index, and adds content_version smallint.
The column is backfilled with DEFAULT 0, then the default is dropped
so future inserts must set it explicitly.
Version 0 uses the role-aware heuristic from #22958. Version 1 (all
new inserts) stores []ChatMessagePart JSON for all roles, including
system messages. ParseContent takes database.ChatMessage directly
and dispatches on version internally. Unknown versions error.
All string(codersdk.ChatMessageRole*) casts at DB write sites are
replaced with database.ChatMessageRole* constants from sqlc.
Refs #22958
File-reference parts in user messages were flattened to `TextContent` at
write time because fantasy has no file-reference content type. The
frontend never saw them as structured parts.
This moves all write paths (user, assistant, tool) from fantasy envelope
format to `codersdk.ChatMessagePart`. The streaming layer (`chatloop`)
is untouched, the conversion happens at the serialization boundary in
`persistStep`.
Old rows are still readable. `ParseContent` uses a structural heuristic
(`isFantasyEnvelopeFormat`) to distinguish legacy envelopes from SDK
parts. We chose this over try/fallback because fantasy envelopes
partially unmarshal into `ChatMessagePart` (the `type` field matches)
while silently losing content. A guard test enforces that no SDK part
can produce the envelope shape.
This is forward-only: new rows are unreadable by old code. Chat is
behind a feature flag so rollback risk is contained.
Also adds a typed `ChatMessageRole` to replace raw strings and
`fantasy.MessageRole*` casts at the persistence boundary. The type
covers `ChatMessage.Role`, `ChatStreamMessagePart.Role`, the
`PublishMessagePart` callback chain, and all DB write sites.
`fantasy.MessageRole*` remains only where we build `fantasy.Message`
structs for LLM dispatch.
Separately, `ProviderMetadata` was leaking to SSE clients via
`publishMessagePart`. `StripInternal` now runs on both the SSE and REST
paths, covering this.
Other cleanup:
- Old `db2sdk.contentBlockToPart` silently dropped metadata on
text/reasoning/tool-call content. New code preserves it.
- `providerMetadataToOptions` now logs warnings instead of silently
returning nil.
- `db2sdk` shrinks from ~250 lines of parallel conversion to ~15 lines
delegating to `chatprompt.ParseContent()`, removing the `fantasy` import
entirely.
Refs #22821
## Summary
Scale-tested the `chatd` package with mock-based benchmarks to identify
performance bottlenecks. This PR fixes 6 of the 8 identified issues,
ranked by severity.
## Changes
### 1. Parallel tool execution (HIGH) — `chatloop.go`
`executeTools` ran tool calls sequentially. Now dispatches all calls
concurrently via goroutines with `sync.WaitGroup`. Results are
pre-allocated by index (no mutex needed). `onResult` callbacks fire as
each tool completes.
### 2. Pubsub-backed subagent await (HIGH) — `subagent.go`
`awaitSubagentCompletion` polled the DB every 200ms. Now subscribes to
the child chat's `ChatStreamNotifyChannel` via pubsub for near-instant
notifications. Fallback poll reduced to 5s. Falls back to 200ms only
when `pubsub == nil` (single-instance / in-memory).
### 3. Per-chat stream locking (MEDIUM) — `chatd.go`
Replaced single global `streamMu` + `map[uuid.UUID]*chatStreamState`
with `sync.Map` where each `chatStreamState` has its own `sync.Mutex`.
Zero cross-chat contention.
### 4. Batch chat acquisition (MEDIUM) — `chatd.go`
`processOnce` acquired 1 chat per tick. Now loops up to
`maxChatsPerAcquire = 10` per tick, avoiding idle time when many chats
are pending.
### 5. Reduced heartbeat frequency (LOW-MEDIUM) — `chatd.go`
`chatHeartbeatInterval` changed from 30s to 60s. Safe given the 5-minute
`DefaultInFlightChatStaleAfter`.
### 6. O(depth) descendant check (LOW) — `subagent.go`
Replaced top-down BFS (`O(total_descendants)` queries) with bottom-up
parent-chain walk (`O(depth)` queries). Includes cycle protection.
## Not addressed (intentionally)
- Message serialization overhead
- Buffer eviction (`buffer[1:]` pattern)
Adds a `created_by` column (nullable UUID) to the `chat_messages` table
to track which user created each message. Only user-sent messages
populate this field; assistant, tool, system, and summary messages leave
it null.
The column is threaded through the full stack: SQL migration, query
updates, generated Go/TypeScript types, db2sdk conversion, chatd
(including subagent paths), and API handlers. All API handlers that
insert user messages now pass the authenticated user's ID as
`created_by`.
No foreign key constraint was added, matching the existing pattern used
by `chat_model_configs.created_by`.
I keep running into the same couple of issues with subagents:
- when I request code analysis, the main agent tends to spawn subagents
to read files and output them verbatim to the main chat
- when I request to implement a feature, the main agent often spawns
subagents that edit the same files and conflict with one another,
reverting each other's changes.
This PR updates the `spawn_agent` tool description to mitigate those
issues.
## Problem
The pubsub notification handler in `chatd` re-fetched **all** messages
from the DB on every new message notification, then filtered in Go with
`msg.ID > lastMessageID`. This grows linearly with conversation length —
every new message triggers a full table scan of that chat's history.
The `AfterMessageID` field in the pubsub notification payload was
clearly designed for cursor-based fetching, but no matching query
existed.
## Fix
- Add `GetChatMessagesByChatIDAfter` SQL query with `WHERE id >
@after_id`, so the database does the filtering instead of Go.
- Use it in the pubsub notification handler in `chatd.go`, passing
`lastMessageID` as the cursor.
- Implement the dbauthz wrapper (was a `panic("not implemented")` stub
from codegen) with the same read-check-on-parent-chat pattern as
adjacent methods.
- Add dbauthz test coverage for the new method.
**Not changed:** The initial snapshot in `Subscribe()` still loads all
messages — that's correct, since a newly-connecting client needs the
full conversation state. The waste was only in the ongoing notification
path.
## Summary
Remove the `workspace_agent_id` column from the `chats` table and
dynamically look up the first workspace agent instead.
## Problem
When a workspace is stopped and restarted, the workspace agent gets a
new ID. The `workspace_agent_id` stored on the chat at creation time
becomes stale, making the agent unreachable. This caused chats to break
after workspace restarts.
## Solution
Instead of persisting the agent ID, dynamically look up the first agent
from the workspace's latest build via
`GetWorkspaceAgentsInLatestBuildByWorkspaceID` whenever an agent
connection is needed. The `workspace_id` on the chat remains stable
across restarts.
This behavior may be refined later (e.g., agent selection heuristics),
but picking the first agent resolves the immediate breakage.
## Changes
- **Migration 000425**: Drop `workspace_agent_id` column from `chats`
- **SQL queries**: Remove `workspace_agent_id` from `InsertChat` and
`UpdateChatWorkspace`
- **chatd.go**: `getWorkspaceConn` and `resolveInstructions` now look up
agents dynamically from workspace ID
- **chatd.go**: Remove `refreshChatWorkspaceSnapshot` (no longer needed)
- **createworkspace.go**: Stop persisting agent ID when associating
workspace with chat
- **subagent.go**: Stop passing agent ID to child chats
- **SDK/frontend**: Remove `WorkspaceAgentID` / `workspace_agent_id`
from Chat type
---------
Co-authored-by: Kyle Carberry <kylecarbs@gmail.com>
Two changes:
1. **Gate subagent tools behind `!chat.ParentChatID.Valid`** so child
agents never receive `spawn_agent`, `wait_agent`, `message_agent`, or
`close_agent`. Previously all 4 tools were given to every chat.
`spawn_agent` would fail at runtime ("delegated chats cannot create
child subagents") but the other 3 had no guard at all — meaning a child
could theoretically operate on sibling chats. Removing the tools
entirely is cleaner and saves context window.
2. **Rewrite tool descriptions to explain *when* to use them**, not just
what they do. `spawn_agent` now says to use it for clearly scoped,
independent, self-contained tasks (e.g. fixing a specific bug, writing a
single module, running a migration) and explicitly says *not* to use it
for simple operations you can handle with
`execute`/`read_file`/`write_file`. It also states that child agents
cannot spawn their own subagents. The other 3 tools get similar
guidance-oriented descriptions.
Co-authored-by: Coder <coder@users.noreply.github.com>
Hugo Dutka