kandev/docs/specs/ui/sidebar-view-creation.md

status, created, owner

status	created	owner
shipped	2026-07-17	kandev

Direct Sidebar View Creation

Why

Creating a sidebar view currently requires changing an existing view before Save as… becomes available. This makes a basic organizational action feel hidden and risks teaching users that editing an existing view is part of creating a new one.

What

• The desktop Tasks view picker ends with a separated New view action. The label has no ellipsis because selection creates the view immediately rather than opening a pre-creation dialog.
• The mobile task-switcher sheet exposes a fixed New view action beside the horizontally scrolling saved-view chips and filter control. It remains reachable without hover or horizontal page scrolling and has at least a 40×40 px hit area.
• Selecting New view immediately appends and activates a saved view with canonical defaults: no filters, state ascending sort, repository grouping, and no collapsed groups.
• Canonical defaults do not inherit from the active view, an active draft, or a user-modified All tasks view.
• The automatic name is the lowest exact name not already present: New view, then New view 2, New view 3, and so on. Existing manually duplicated names remain valid.
• After creation, the existing filter popover opens with its rename input focused and prefilled with the automatic name. Saving a rename keeps the popover open so the user can configure filters, sort, and grouping next.
• Rename is optional. Canceling rename, pressing Escape, or closing the popover keeps the already-created view under its automatic name.
• Save as… remains available for deriving a view from unsaved changes; direct creation does not replace or change that workflow.
• When the active view has unsaved changes, direct creation is disabled and explains that the user must save or discard those changes first. No draft is silently cleared.
• A user may save at most 50 sidebar views. At 50 views, direct creation is disabled with a clear limit reason; backend validation remains authoritative.
• The filter popover fits narrow viewports without document-level horizontal overflow.

Persistence and failure behavior

• Creation persists the new view and active-view selection immediately through existing backend-owned user settings. A successful create survives reload and is available on the user's other clients.
• A failed create restores the previous saved views, active view, and draft, then surfaces the existing sidebar-view sync error. It never leaves a selected view that is absent from persisted settings.
• Each new view owns independent filter, sort, and collapsed-group data; later changes to it cannot mutate the canonical default or another view by shared reference.

See ADR 0041 for backend ownership of portable user settings.

Scenarios

• GIVEN fewer than 50 saved views and no unsaved draft, WHEN the user selects New view, THEN a canonical default view is appended, activated immediately, and offered for focused rename.
• GIVEN the active saved view has custom filters, sort, grouping, or collapsed groups, WHEN the user creates a new view, THEN the new view still uses the canonical defaults rather than cloning the active state.
• GIVEN saved views named New view and New view 3, WHEN the user creates a new view, THEN its automatic name is New view 2.
• GIVEN a newly created view is in rename mode, WHEN the user cancels or closes the popover, THEN the view remains saved and active under its automatic name.
• GIVEN a newly created view is in rename mode, WHEN the user saves a nonblank name, THEN the name persists and the filter popover remains open for customization.
• GIVEN an unsaved sidebar-view draft, WHEN the user inspects direct creation on desktop or mobile, THEN New view is disabled and communicates that the draft must be saved or discarded first.
• GIVEN 50 saved sidebar views, WHEN the user inspects direct creation on desktop or mobile, THEN New view is disabled and communicates the saved-view limit.
• GIVEN the create settings write fails, WHEN retry handling finishes, THEN the prior sidebar-view state is restored and the sidebar-view error is shown.
• GIVEN a narrow mobile viewport, WHEN the task-switcher sheet opens, THEN New view is touch-reachable, the chip row still scrolls, and neither the bar nor popover causes horizontal page overflow.

Out of scope

• Changing Save as…, duplicate-view, rename, delete, or saved-view ordering semantics.
• A pre-creation naming dialog, cancel-to-delete behavior, or delayed persistence until rename.
• Cloning the active view from the direct-create action.
• Backend schemas, new endpoints, or a new cross-tab conflict model for full-array user-settings writes.
• Broad sidebar visual redesign or animation dependencies.