fix(pi-agents-tmux): Monitor times are run-times and local wall time (VST-316)

[Brad (bmethod)]

Fixes the two Agents-popup time-display bugs (VST-316).

Left Monitor tree: task rows showed a local HH:MM clock sourced from completedAt ?? updatedAt ?? createdAt — ambiguous (reads as a duration) and jumpy, because registry polls refresh updatedAt every cycle. Rows now show run-time only: elapsed (createdAt → now, minute-granular, <1m under a minute) while active, total (createdAt → completedAt) once terminal, — when a terminal record has no completedAt. updatedAt is no longer a time source anywhere in the tree.

Detail panes: Session Start/Latest and Task Summary Created/Done printed raw UTC ISO; they now render local human time (Mar 24, 16:59, year added when not current). The Task Summary gains a Duration line once the task is terminal — only then, because that text is cached until status changes and a live elapsed would freeze at load time.

Live refresh: with spinner animation disabled and no lifecycle changes the popup never re-rendered, freezing running elapsed. The popup timer now re-renders on a slow (20s) cadence while any task is live — matching the minute granularity of the running display.

Tests: new tests/monitor-times.test.ts (8 pins: elapsed vs clock, updatedAt immunity, terminal stability, no-completedAt dash, <1m granularity, terminal-only Duration, duration shapes, local-time format); two existing dashboard-ux pins updated from the old HH:MM contract. 355 green.

Closes VST-316.

https://claude.ai/code/session_012epxJEzGqT7q3qcFhdZUt5

[linear-code]

VST-316

[qodo-code-review]

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[macroscopeapp]

Approvability

Verdict: Approved f747ed8

This PR improves time display formatting in the monitor UI - switching from ambiguous clock-of-day times to clearer elapsed run-times. Changes are self-contained presentation logic with comprehensive test coverage, no business logic impact.

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[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Note

Copilot was unable to run its full agentic suite in this review.

This PR updates the tmux agents “Monitor” UI to display human-friendly timing: elapsed/total run-time for tasks (instead of a clock-of-day that jumped on polls) and local wall-time timestamps in detail panes.

Changes:

• Replace clock-of-day task timestamps with elapsed/total run-time (createdAt → now while running, createdAt → completedAt when terminal).
• Render local, human-readable date/time strings in session/task detail panes and add a “Duration” line for terminal tasks.
• Add/adjust tests and bump @vanillagreen/pi-agents-tmux version + changelogs.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 9 out of 9 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
pi-extensions/pi-agents-tmux/extensions/subagent/browser/monitor-tree.ts	Adds run-duration + local datetime formatting; switches task row labels to elapsed/total run-time.
pi-extensions/pi-agents-tmux/extensions/subagent/browser/monitor-task-detail.ts	Uses local datetime formatting and adds terminal-only Duration line in summary.
pi-extensions/pi-agents-tmux/extensions/subagent/browser/monitor-session-detail.ts	Uses shared local datetime formatter for Start/Latest timestamps.
pi-extensions/pi-agents-tmux/extensions/subagent/browser.ts	Forces periodic re-render so elapsed run-times tick even without spinner animation.
pi-extensions/pi-agents-tmux/tests/monitor-times.test.ts	Adds focused tests for duration/date formatting and “updatedAt not a time source”.
pi-extensions/pi-agents-tmux/tests/dashboard-ux.test.ts	Updates UX assertions to match the new elapsed/total timing display.
pi-extensions/pi-agents-tmux/package.json	Version bump to 2.8.3.
pi-extensions/pi-agents-tmux/CHANGELOG.md	Documents the timing display change in the extension changelog.
CHANGELOG.md	Notes the extension change in the repo-level Unreleased changelog.

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[github-actions]

Merge queue ejected this PR (removed_from_merge_queue, reason: CI_FAILURE). The auto-merge arm is now DROPPED — nothing will merge this PR until someone re-arms it.

Ejecting merge-group run: https://github.com/vanillagreencom/vstack/actions/runs/32031167093 (Skill Tests)

Failing job(s):

• Skill suites shard (shell) (failure): https://github.com/vanillagreencom/vstack/actions/runs/32031167093/job/95391282224
• Skill suites (shell + node) (failure): https://github.com/vanillagreencom/vstack/actions/runs/32031167093/job/95392708551

No usable same-named comparison on the PR head (checks absent, skipped, or still running) — no flake-vs-genuine call is available; inspect the failing run before re-arming.

Automated by merge-queue-ejection-alert (VST-196). This alert never re-arms auto-merge.

Dismissing prior approval to re-evaluate f747ed8

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 10 out of 10 changed files in this pull request and generated no new comments.

Suppressed comments (3)

pi-extensions/pi-agents-tmux/extensions/subagent/browser/monitor-session-detail.ts:28

• formatDurationBetween now sits alongside the new formatRunDuration/monitorTaskRunTime formatting, but it produces a different shape (e.g., 1h 1m vs 1h 01m, and it includes seconds for minute durations while run-time rows do not). This can lead to inconsistent UI output across monitor panes. Consider consolidating duration formatting so session and task durations share a single formatter (or share the same padding/seconds rules) to keep output consistent and reduce future drift.

function formatDurationBetween(start: string | undefined, end: string | undefined): string {
	const startMs = Date.parse(start ?? "");
	const endMs = Date.parse(end ?? "");
	if (!Number.isFinite(startMs) || !Number.isFinite(endMs) || endMs < startMs) return "—";
	const totalSeconds = Math.floor((endMs - startMs) / 1000);
	const hours = Math.floor(totalSeconds / 3600);
	const minutes = Math.floor((totalSeconds % 3600) / 60);
	const seconds = totalSeconds % 60;
	if (hours > 0) return `${hours}h ${minutes}m`;
	if (minutes > 0) return `${minutes}m ${seconds}s`;
	return `${seconds}s`;
}

pi-extensions/pi-agents-tmux/extensions/subagent/browser/monitor-tree.ts:115

• Passing \"\" as a sentinel for missing completedAt relies on Date.parse(\"\") yielding NaN to produce \"—\". That works, but it’s indirect and makes the terminal-path behavior less explicit. Consider handling the missing-completedAt case directly (e.g., early-return \"—\" when terminal and completedAt is absent) and only calling formatRunDuration(createdAt, completedAt) with a real timestamp.

export function monitorTaskRunTime(record: PaneTaskRecord): string {
	if (monitorStatusIsTerminal(record.status)) return formatRunDuration(record.createdAt, record.completedAt ?? "");
	// Minute granularity while running: the popup refreshes elapsed times on a
	// slow cadence, so a seconds display would visibly lag between renders.
	const elapsed = formatRunDuration(record.createdAt);
	return /^\d+s$/.test(elapsed) ? "<1m" : elapsed;
}

pi-extensions/pi-agents-tmux/extensions/subagent/browser.ts:226

• The new elapsed-time refresh behavior introduces additional timing constants (20_000, 120) that control render cadence. To make the intent easier to maintain (and to avoid accidental mismatches with the minute-granularity requirement), consider extracting these into named constants (e.g., LIVE_TIMER_INTERVAL_MS, ELAPSED_REFRESH_INTERVAL_MS) and documenting why 20s is the chosen threshold.

	let lastElapsedRender = Date.now();
	const liveTimer = setInterval(() => {
		if (closed) return;
		if (refreshMonitorView()) {
			lastElapsedRender = Date.now();
			requestRender();
			return;
		}
		const hasLiveItems = getActiveItems().some((item) => isDashboardAnimatingStatus(item.status));
		if (spinnersAnimated() && hasLiveItems) {
			lastElapsedRender = Date.now();
			requestRender();
			return;
		}
		// Elapsed run-times tick at minute granularity; keep them moving even
		// with spinner animation off and no lifecycle changes.
		if (hasLiveItems && Date.now() - lastElapsedRender >= 20_000) {
			lastElapsedRender = Date.now();
			requestRender();
		}
	}, 120);