Polish main TUI surface (#168)

* Polish main TUI surface

Simplify the empty chat surface, replace starter prompt chips with a cleaner brand state, move model and permission state into the composer frame, quiet the footer status, and improve composer word-editing keybindings.

Tested: GOCACHE=/tmp/zero-go-cache go test ./internal/tui

Tested: GOCACHE=/tmp/zero-go-cache go test ./...

Tested: git diff --check

* Polish autocomplete command palette

* Polish TUI file mention picker

* Address TUI review feedback

* Keep autocomplete anchored above composer

* Center autocomplete over chat viewport

* Layer autocomplete overlays over transcript

* Prefill argument commands from palette

* Show argument hints for command completions

* Polish TUI provider setup

* Polish TUI picker and composer metadata

* Add two-step mouse selection in TUI

* Polish TUI mouse selection flows

* Make provider wizard navigation test hermetic

* Fix TUI review edge cases

Author: anandh8x

go.mod

@@ -8,14 +8,14 @@ require (
 	github.com/charmbracelet/bubbles v1.0.0
 	github.com/charmbracelet/bubbletea v1.3.10
 	github.com/charmbracelet/lipgloss v1.1.1-0.20250404203927-76690c660834
+	github.com/charmbracelet/x/ansi v0.11.6
 	golang.org/x/sys v0.38.0
 )
 
 require (
 	github.com/atotto/clipboard v0.1.4 // indirect
 	github.com/aymanbagabas/go-osc52/v2 v2.0.1 // indirect
 	github.com/charmbracelet/colorprofile v0.4.1 // indirect
-	github.com/charmbracelet/x/ansi v0.11.6 // indirect
 	github.com/charmbracelet/x/cellbuf v0.0.15 // indirect
 	github.com/charmbracelet/x/term v0.2.2 // indirect
 	github.com/clipperhouse/displaywidth v0.9.0 // indirect

internal/cli/app.go

@@ -436,6 +436,7 @@ func runInteractiveTUIWithSetup(stderr io.Writer, deps appDeps, permissionMode a
 		ProviderName:    resolved.Provider.Name,
 		ModelName:       resolved.Provider.Model,
 		ProviderProfile: resolved.Provider,
+		FavoriteModels:  resolved.Preferences.FavoriteModels,
 		Provider:        provider,
 		NewProvider:     deps.newProvider,
 		Registry:        registry,

internal/cli/app_test.go

@@ -145,7 +145,8 @@ func TestRunNoArgsLaunchesTUIWithResolvedProviderMetadata(t *testing.T) {
 					APIKey:       "sk-test",
 					Model:        "gpt-test",
 				},
-				MaxTurns: 5,
+				Preferences: config.PreferencesConfig{FavoriteModels: []string{"qwen3-coder:480b"}},
+				MaxTurns:    5,
 			}, nil
 		},
 		newProvider: func(profile config.ProviderProfile) (zeroruntime.Provider, error) {
@@ -179,6 +180,9 @@ func TestRunNoArgsLaunchesTUIWithResolvedProviderMetadata(t *testing.T) {
 	if launchedOptions.ModelName != "gpt-test" {
 		t.Fatalf("ModelName = %q, want gpt-test", launchedOptions.ModelName)
 	}
+	if len(launchedOptions.FavoriteModels) != 1 || launchedOptions.FavoriteModels[0] != "qwen3-coder:480b" {
+		t.Fatalf("FavoriteModels = %#v, want qwen3-coder:480b", launchedOptions.FavoriteModels)
+	}
 	if launchedOptions.Setup.Visible {
 		t.Fatalf("Setup.Visible = true, want false for credentialed provider")
 	}

internal/config/resolver.go

@@ -103,6 +103,7 @@ func Resolve(options ResolveOptions) (ResolvedConfig, error) {
 		Sandbox:        cfg.Sandbox,
 		Notify:         cfg.Notify,
 		Tools:          cfg.Tools,
+		Preferences:    cfg.Preferences,
 	}, nil
 }
 
@@ -164,6 +165,9 @@ func mergeConfig(dst *FileConfig, src FileConfig) {
 		dst.Tools.DeferThreshold = src.Tools.DeferThreshold
 		dst.Tools.deferThresholdSet = true
 	}
+	if src.Preferences.FavoriteModels != nil {
+		dst.Preferences.FavoriteModels = normalizeFavoriteModels(src.Preferences.FavoriteModels)
+	}
 }
 
 func mergeProjectConfig(dst *FileConfig, src FileConfig) error {

internal/config/resolver_test.go

@@ -92,6 +92,40 @@ func TestResolveSelectsActiveProviderProfile(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestResolveLoadsFavoriteModelsFromUserConfigOnly(t *testing.T) {
+	userPath := writeConfig(t, `{
+		"activeProvider": "user",
+		"providers": [{
+			"name": "user",
+			"provider": "openai",
+			"apiKey": "sk-user",
+			"model": "gpt-user"
+		}],
+		"preferences": {
+			"favoriteModels": [" rnj-1:8b ", "qwen3-coder:480b", "rnj-1:8b"]
+		}
+	}`)
+	projectPath := writeConfig(t, `{
+		"preferences": {
+			"favoriteModels": ["project-model"]
+		}
+	}`)
+
+	resolved, err := Resolve(ResolveOptions{
+		UserConfigPath:    userPath,
+		ProjectConfigPath: projectPath,
+		Env:               map[string]string{},
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Resolve() error = %v", err)
+	}
+
+	want := []string{"qwen3-coder:480b", "rnj-1:8b"}
+	if !reflect.DeepEqual(resolved.Preferences.FavoriteModels, want) {
+		t.Fatalf("FavoriteModels = %#v, want %#v", resolved.Preferences.FavoriteModels, want)
+	}
+}
+
 func TestResolveLoadsProviderCatalogSnakeAndCamelJSONFields(t *testing.T) {
 	path := writeConfig(t, `{
 		"activeProvider": "snake",

internal/config/types.go

@@ -80,6 +80,10 @@ type ToolsConfig struct {
 	deferThresholdSet bool
 }
 
+type PreferencesConfig struct {
+	FavoriteModels []string `json:"favoriteModels,omitempty"`
+}
+
 // ToolsOverride builds a ToolsConfig that explicitly overrides the deferred-tool
 // threshold (including to 0, which disables deferral). Use this for programmatic
 // Overrides — a bare ToolsConfig{DeferThreshold: 0} is indistinguishable from
@@ -113,6 +117,7 @@ type FileConfig struct {
 	Sandbox        SandboxConfig     `json:"sandbox,omitempty"`
 	Notify         NotifyConfig      `json:"notify,omitempty"`
 	Tools          ToolsConfig       `json:"tools,omitempty"`
+	Preferences    PreferencesConfig `json:"preferences,omitempty"`
 }
 
 type ResolveOptions struct {
@@ -143,6 +148,7 @@ type ResolvedConfig struct {
 	Sandbox        SandboxConfig
 	Notify         NotifyConfig
 	Tools          ToolsConfig
+	Preferences    PreferencesConfig
 }
 
 type MCPConfig struct {
@@ -169,6 +175,7 @@ func (cfg *FileConfig) UnmarshalJSON(data []byte) error {
 		Sandbox         SandboxConfig              `json:"sandbox"`
 		Notify          NotifyConfig               `json:"notify"`
 		Tools           ToolsConfig                `json:"tools"`
+		Preferences     PreferencesConfig          `json:"preferences"`
 		MCPServers      map[string]MCPServerConfig `json:"mcpServers"`
 		MCPServersSnake map[string]MCPServerConfig `json:"mcp_servers"`
 	}
@@ -184,6 +191,7 @@ func (cfg *FileConfig) UnmarshalJSON(data []byte) error {
 	cfg.Sandbox = raw.Sandbox
 	cfg.Notify = raw.Notify
 	cfg.Tools = raw.Tools
+	cfg.Preferences = raw.Preferences
 	if cfg.MCP.Servers == nil && (len(raw.MCPServers) > 0 || len(raw.MCPServersSnake) > 0) {
 		cfg.MCP.Servers = map[string]MCPServerConfig{}
 	}

internal/config/writer.go

@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"sort"
 	"strings"
 )
 
@@ -71,6 +72,43 @@ func SetActiveProvider(path string, name string) (FileConfig, error) {
 	return FileConfig{}, fmt.Errorf("provider %q not found", name)
 }
 
+func SetFavoriteModels(path string, models []string) (FileConfig, error) {
+	path = strings.TrimSpace(path)
+	if path == "" {
+		return FileConfig{}, fmt.Errorf("config path is required")
+	}
+
+	cfg := FileConfig{}
+	if data, err := os.ReadFile(path); err == nil {
+		if err := json.Unmarshal(data, &cfg); err != nil {
+			return FileConfig{}, fmt.Errorf("invalid config JSON %s: %w", path, err)
+		}
+	} else if !os.IsNotExist(err) {
+		return FileConfig{}, fmt.Errorf("read config %s: %w", path, err)
+	}
+
+	cfg.Preferences.FavoriteModels = normalizeFavoriteModels(models)
+	if err := writeConfigFile(path, cfg); err != nil {
+		return FileConfig{}, err
+	}
+	return cfg, nil
+}
+
+func normalizeFavoriteModels(models []string) []string {
+	seen := map[string]bool{}
+	favorites := make([]string, 0, len(models))
+	for _, model := range models {
+		model = strings.TrimSpace(model)
+		if model == "" || seen[model] {
+			continue
+		}
+		seen[model] = true
+		favorites = append(favorites, model)
+	}
+	sort.Strings(favorites)
+	return favorites
+}
+
 func writeConfigFile(path string, cfg FileConfig) error {
 	dir := filepath.Dir(path)
 	if dir != "." && dir != "" {

internal/config/writer_test.go

@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import (
 	"io/fs"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"reflect"
 	"runtime"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
@@ -178,6 +179,49 @@ func TestUpsertProviderTightensExistingConfigFilePermissions(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestSetFavoriteModelsPersistsUserPreferences(t *testing.T) {
+	path := filepath.Join(t.TempDir(), "zero.json")
+	writeConfigFixture(t, path, FileConfig{
+		ActiveProvider: "openai",
+		Providers: []ProviderProfile{
+			{Name: "openai", ProviderKind: ProviderKindOpenAI, Model: "gpt-4.1"},
+		},
+	}, 0o600)
+
+	cfg, err := SetFavoriteModels(path, []string{" qwen3-coder:480b ", "", "rnj-1:8b", "qwen3-coder:480b"})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("SetFavoriteModels() error = %v", err)
+	}
+
+	want := []string{"qwen3-coder:480b", "rnj-1:8b"}
+	if !reflect.DeepEqual(cfg.Preferences.FavoriteModels, want) {
+		t.Fatalf("FavoriteModels = %#v, want %#v", cfg.Preferences.FavoriteModels, want)
+	}
+	persisted := readConfigFixture(t, path)
+	if !reflect.DeepEqual(persisted.Preferences.FavoriteModels, want) {
+		t.Fatalf("persisted FavoriteModels = %#v, want %#v", persisted.Preferences.FavoriteModels, want)
+	}
+	if persisted.ActiveProvider != "openai" || len(persisted.Providers) != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("provider config was not preserved: %#v", persisted)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestSetFavoriteModelsCreatesMissingConfig(t *testing.T) {
+	path := filepath.Join(t.TempDir(), "zero", "config.json")
+
+	cfg, err := SetFavoriteModels(path, []string{"glm-5.1"})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("SetFavoriteModels() error = %v", err)
+	}
+
+	if !reflect.DeepEqual(cfg.Preferences.FavoriteModels, []string{"glm-5.1"}) {
+		t.Fatalf("FavoriteModels = %#v, want glm-5.1", cfg.Preferences.FavoriteModels)
+	}
+	if _, err := os.Stat(path); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("expected config file to be created: %v", err)
+	}
+}
+
 func writeConfigFixture(t *testing.T, path string, cfg FileConfig, mode fs.FileMode) []byte {
 	t.Helper()