From 1fb919c22a2839c4388aa48840e244b6fdd1b709 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Harry Bayliss <harry@hjb.dev>
Date: Fri, 15 May 2026 15:26:06 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] Keep parent tab highlighted when focus is on a sub-agent
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The top tab bar compared against focusedID, so stepping into a
sub-agent dropped the parent tab's highlight even though the user
was still inside that thread. activeAgentID already walks the
parent chain to the top-level root for the sidebar's agent tree
— reuse it for the tab strip too.
---
 CHANGELOG.md           | 7 +++++++
 internal/app/tabbar.go | 6 +++++-
 2 files changed, 12 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 4133093..99c19c4 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -6,6 +6,13 @@ loosely follows [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+### Fixed
+- Top tab bar now keeps the top-level agent's tab highlighted
+  when focus is on one of its sub-agents (or on a Processes pane
+  entry, matching the existing agent-tree behavior). Previously
+  the tab would lose its highlight as soon as you stepped into a
+  child agent, even though you were still within that thread.
+
 ## [0.0.2] - 2026-05-15
 
 ### Added
diff --git a/internal/app/tabbar.go b/internal/app/tabbar.go
index 1294254..7eec361 100644
--- a/internal/app/tabbar.go
+++ b/internal/app/tabbar.go
@@ -24,7 +24,11 @@ func (st *uiState) drawTabBar() {
 	}
 	st.mu.Lock()
 	palOpen := st.palette != nil
-	focus := st.focusedID
+	// Highlight the top-level agent tab even when focus has stepped
+	// into a sub-agent (or a Processes pane entry). activeAgentID walks
+	// the parent chain to the root, so the user always sees which tab
+	// their current thread belongs to.
+	focus := st.activeAgentID
 	st.mu.Unlock()
 	if palOpen {
 		return