Improve mobile terminal typing and selection

[boudra]

Linked issue

None.

Type of change

• Bug fix
• New feature (with prior issue + design alignment)
• Refactor / code improvement
• Docs

What does this PR do

This improves the mobile terminal so native app users can type, scroll, select, copy, and paste inside terminal sessions more reliably.

It adds a native terminal renderer backed by headless xterm state, wires native text input and terminal key dispatch through the same mode-aware encoding path, and updates the mobile terminal controls so Paste stays in the virtual keyboard while Copy appears only for an active selection. It also adds Maestro flows and a daemon byte-stream parity test to cover the mobile terminal behaviors this path depends on.

How did you verify it

• npm run format
• npm run typecheck
• npm run lint
• npx vitest run packages/protocol/src/terminal-input-mode.test.ts packages/protocol/src/terminal-key-input.test.ts --bail=1
• npx vitest run packages/app/src/terminal/runtime/terminal-emulator-runtime.test.ts packages/app/src/terminal/runtime/terminal-key-dispatch.test.ts packages/app/src/terminal/runtime/terminal-paste.test.ts packages/app/src/terminal/runtime/terminal-virtual-keyboard.test.ts packages/app/src/terminal/native-renderer/headless-terminal-output-drain.test.ts packages/app/src/terminal/native-renderer/headless-terminal-state.test.ts packages/app/src/terminal/native-renderer/terminal-grid-metrics.test.ts packages/app/src/terminal/native-renderer/terminal-grid-projection.test.ts packages/app/src/terminal/native-renderer/terminal-input.native.test.ts packages/app/src/terminal/native-renderer/terminal-renderer.bench.test.ts packages/app/src/terminal/native-renderer/terminal-resize-policy.test.ts packages/app/src/terminal/native-renderer/terminal-row-model.test.ts packages/app/src/terminal/native-renderer/terminal-screen-model.test.ts packages/app/src/terminal/native-renderer/terminal-scrollback.test.ts packages/app/src/terminal/native-renderer/terminal-selection-gesture.test.ts packages/app/src/terminal/native-renderer/terminal-selection.test.ts packages/app/src/terminal/native-renderer/terminal-size-measurement.test.ts --bail=1
• npx vitest run packages/server/src/server/daemon-e2e/terminal-byte-headless-parity.e2e.test.ts --bail=1

Risk surface

This touches native iOS/Android terminal rendering, keyboard focus, clipboard, gestures, and terminal resize claiming. CI covers the pure renderer/runtime behavior and daemon byte-stream parity, but the affected native UI still needs a simulator or device smoke pass with screenshots/video before merge.

Checklist

• One focused change. Unrelated cleanups split out.
• npm run typecheck passes
• npm run lint passes
• npm run format ran (Biome)
• UI changes include screenshots or video for every affected platform
• Tests added or updated where it made sense

[greptile-apps]

Greptile Summary

This PR replaces the WebView-based native terminal renderer with a fully native implementation backed by @xterm/headless state, and wires up a mode-aware key dispatch path so that bracketed paste and application cursor keys now work correctly on both native and web-mobile paths. It also restructures the virtual keyboard bar (adding Paste and a keyboard toggle, removing Backspace and Space), adds copy/paste selection controls, and ships a daemon byte-stream parity E2E test plus several Maestro flows.

• Native renderer: New native-renderer/ directory owns a headless xterm drain, selection model, gesture recogniser, grid projection, resize policy, and font measurement — all tested in isolation with adjacent unit tests.
• Protocol fixes: TerminalInputModeTracker now tracks applicationCursorKeys (mode 1) and bracketedPaste (mode 2004), emits both in getPreamble(), and encodeTerminalKeyInput switches arrow sequences between CSI and SS3 based on the tracked state.
• Virtual keyboard: Backspace and Space buttons are removed in favour of a Paste action and a keyboard-visibility toggle; Copy appears as a floating overlay only when there is an active selection.

Confidence Score: 5/5

Safe to merge with low risk; the previous reconnect and bracketed-paste encoding bugs are fully resolved, and the new native renderer is well-covered by unit and E2E tests.

The two protocol-level fixes (applicationCursorKeys emitted in getState/getPreamble, bracketedPaste emitted in getPreamble) close the bugs flagged in earlier rounds. The native renderer, selection model, output drain, resize policy, and key-dispatch modules all have adjacent tests and a daemon byte-stream parity E2E. The remaining observations are a performance nit on clipboard polling frequency and two dead-code/interface questions; none affect correctness.

terminal-pane.tsx (clipboard polling on every animation frame) and terminal-emulator.native.tsx (swipeGesturesEnabled prop declared but unused)

Important Files Changed

Filename	Overview
packages/app/src/components/terminal-emulator.native.tsx	Replaces WebView bridge with NativeTerminalEmulator; swipeGesturesEnabled prop is declared in the interface but not destructured or used — swipe callbacks fire unconditionally from the PanResponder based on velocity.
packages/app/src/components/terminal-pane.tsx	Wires the new native keyboard, paste, copy, and selection-change handlers; swipeGesturesEnabled broadened from mobileView==="agent" to isMobile; clipboard availability refreshes on every keyboard-animation frame via the keyboardInset effect.
packages/protocol/src/terminal-input-mode.ts	Adds applicationCursorKeys (mode 1) and bracketedPaste (mode 2004) tracking to TerminalInputModeTracker; both are now returned by getState() and emitted by getPreamble(), closing two previously flagged reconnect/encoding bugs.
packages/protocol/src/terminal-key-input.ts	Arrow-key encoding now branches between CSI and SS3 sequences based on applicationCursorKeys mode, correctly handling application cursor mode for vim/readline navigation.
packages/app/src/terminal/runtime/terminal-paste.ts	Clean two-function module: encodeTerminalPaste wraps text with bracketed-paste markers and neutralises embedded end-markers; pasteTerminalClipboard delegates encoding to the terminal adapter.
packages/app/src/terminal/runtime/terminal-virtual-keyboard.ts	Restructured virtual keyboard rows replace Backspace (row 1) and Space (row 2) with a KeyboardToggle and a Paste action; both keys remain defined in TERMINAL_VIRTUAL_KEY_BUTTONS but are no longer reachable from the virtual bar.
packages/app/src/terminal/native-renderer/headless-terminal-state.ts	Wraps @xterm/headless to expose write, resize, getViewportState, getBufferWindow, and getInputModeState; reads bracketedPasteMode and applicationCursorKeysMode directly from xterm internals.
packages/app/src/terminal/native-renderer/headless-terminal-output-drain.ts	Chunked async drain with configurable scheduler hooks; correctly gates paint callbacks on non-disposed state and resolves idle waiters after queue drains.
packages/server/src/server/daemon-e2e/terminal-byte-headless-parity.e2e.test.ts	End-to-end byte-stream parity test that attaches a headless xterm client alongside a real daemon, generates high-volume output, and asserts that live, snapshot, and restore views all agree.

Flowchart

%%{init: {'theme': 'neutral'}}%%
flowchart TD
    A[User taps Paste] --> B[handleTerminalPaste]
    B --> C[pasteTerminalClipboard]
    C --> D[Clipboard.getStringAsync]
    D --> E{text.length > 0?}
    E -- No --> F[skip]
    E -- Yes --> G[emulatorRef.current.paste]

    G -- Native path --> H[NativeTerminalEmulator.paste]
    H --> I[inputModeTrackerRef.getState.bracketedPaste]
    I --> J[encodeTerminalPaste]
    J --> K[callbacksRef.onInput]
    K --> L[client.sendTerminalInput]

    G -- Web path --> M[TerminalEmulator.paste / pasteText]
    M --> N[runtimeRef.getInputModeState.bracketedPaste]
    N --> O[encodeTerminalPaste]
    O --> P[mountCallbacksRef.onInput]
    P --> L

    L --> Q[PTY receives encoded paste]

Loading

%%{init: {'theme': 'base', 'themeVariables': {"darkMode": true, "background": "#0d1117", "primaryColor": "#21262d", "primaryTextColor": "#e6edf3", "primaryBorderColor": "#8b949e", "lineColor": "#8b949e", "textColor": "#e6edf3", "edgeLabelBackground": "#161b22", "actorBkg": "#21262d", "actorBorder": "#8b949e", "actorTextColor": "#e6edf3", "actorLineColor": "#8b949e", "signalColor": "#8b949e", "signalTextColor": "#e6edf3", "noteBkgColor": "#373320", "noteBorderColor": "#d4a72c", "noteTextColor": "#f0e6c0", "labelBoxBkgColor": "#21262d", "labelBoxBorderColor": "#8b949e", "labelTextColor": "#e6edf3", "loopTextColor": "#e6edf3", "activationBkgColor": "#30363d", "activationBorderColor": "#8b949e"}}}%%
flowchart TD
    A[User taps Paste] --> B[handleTerminalPaste]
    B --> C[pasteTerminalClipboard]
    C --> D[Clipboard.getStringAsync]
    D --> E{text.length > 0?}
    E -- No --> F[skip]
    E -- Yes --> G[emulatorRef.current.paste]

    G -- Native path --> H[NativeTerminalEmulator.paste]
    H --> I[inputModeTrackerRef.getState.bracketedPaste]
    I --> J[encodeTerminalPaste]
    J --> K[callbacksRef.onInput]
    K --> L[client.sendTerminalInput]

    G -- Web path --> M[TerminalEmulator.paste / pasteText]
    M --> N[runtimeRef.getInputModeState.bracketedPaste]
    N --> O[encodeTerminalPaste]
    O --> P[mountCallbacksRef.onInput]
    P --> L

    L --> Q[PTY receives encoded paste]

Loading

_{Reviews (7): Last reviewed commit: "Restore terminal toolbar focus handling" | Re-trigger Greptile}