feat(nomos): chat working-visibility, message queue, generation-aware timeline

Make background/long/desynced turns visible and queueable, fixing the four
symptoms that survived the v0.15.0 chat reliability pass.

F1 - status-driven working signal (workspace.ts taskWorking/currentWorking =
streaming OR status in {planning,executing}). Drives the chat trace, indicator,
and activity spinner so a turn with no live stream (background resume, a dropped
SSE, an idle-close mid long turn) still looks alive.

F2 - operator messages sent during an in-flight turn are now QUEUED and
auto-run when the gate frees, replacing the "still finishing a previous step...
send it again" rejection. Per-session in-memory FIFO (messagequeue.go, capped at
20) drained one-at-a-time under the turn gate; a `queued` SSE event drives a
"Queued" hint. drainQueued releases via a per-iteration deferred closure so a
runChatTurn panic can't deadlock the session's gate.

F3 - SSE keepalive (12s `:keepalive` comment) in handleChat so 20-40s
inter-iteration gaps no longer trip a proxy/browser idle close (the desync root
cause). All SSE writes serialized through one mutex.

F4 - generation-aware activity timeline (only the last propose_plan renders;
superseded ones collapse to one "Earlier plan revised" marker; step-attribution
follows only the current generation) + debounced plan refetch on lifecycle
events so a missed plan.proposed self-heals.

Verified against the last session (23da10db: 6m33s turn, operator "status"
deferred at 19:48:05). go test ./cmd/nomos/ green (new messagequeue tests);
web vitest 72/72 (new F4 generation tests); vite build clean.

VERSION: 0.16.0 -> 0.17.0

web/src/lib/components/ChatThread.svelte

@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
     messages,
     streaming,
     connectionState,
+    working = false,
     error = null,
     chatErrors = [],
     onSend,
@@ -39,6 +40,12 @@
     messages: ChatMessage[]
     streaming: boolean
     connectionState: 'connected' | 'disconnected' | 'reconnecting'
+    /** True while a turn is running for this session — a live stream OR the
+     *  server-side status says planning/executing. Drives the "working"
+     *  indicator so a background/long/desynced turn still looks alive. The
+     *  literal `streaming` (live deltas) is still used for the cursor + input
+     *  lock. See plan 2026-08-03 F1. */
+    working?: boolean
     error?: string | null
     chatErrors?: { id: string; message: string; action?: string }[]
     onSend: (text: string) => void
@@ -63,18 +70,18 @@
   let container = $state<HTMLDivElement | null>(null)
 
   let indicatorDone = $state(false)
-  let wasStreaming = $state(false)
+  let wasWorking = $state(false)
 
   $effect(() => {
-    if (streaming) {
+    if (working) {
       indicatorDone = false
-      wasStreaming = true
+      wasWorking = true
     }
-    if (!streaming && wasStreaming) {
+    if (!working && wasWorking) {
       indicatorDone = true
       const t = setTimeout(() => {
         indicatorDone = false
-        wasStreaming = false
+        wasWorking = false
       }, 3000)
       return () => clearTimeout(t)
     }
@@ -82,7 +89,7 @@
 
   const indicatorLabel = $derived.by(() => {
     if (error) return error
-    if (!streaming && indicatorDone) return 'Done'
+    if (!working && indicatorDone) return 'Done'
     // Prefer the running PLAN STEP as the headline — it's stable across the
     // step's many tool calls, so the line stops rewriting itself on every
     // command (the "thinking overwrites itself" complaint, F6). Falls back to
@@ -282,13 +289,22 @@
                 >
                   {msg.text}
                 </div>
+                {#if idx === messages.length - 1 && working && !streaming}
+                  <!-- The last message is this user bubble and the agent is
+                       working but not live-streaming → the message was queued
+                       behind an in-flight turn (plan 2026-08-03 F2). It'll run
+                       when the current step finishes. -->
+                  <span class="px-1 text-[10px] text-muted-foreground"
+                    >Queued — Nomos will run this when it finishes the current step.</span
+                  >
+                {/if}
               {:else}
                 {@const isLast = idx === messages.length - 1}
                 {@const traceStatus = !isLast
                   ? 'idle'
                   : error
                     ? 'error'
-                    : streaming
+                    : working
                       ? 'running'
                       : indicatorDone
                         ? 'done'
@@ -399,6 +415,14 @@
         class="flex h-full min-h-0 flex-col border-t bg-card/50 p-3 input-ornament relative"
         bind:this={inputWrapperRef}
       >
+        {#if working && !streaming}
+          <!-- Background/autonomous turn in progress (no live stream to watch):
+               keep the composer open so the operator can queue a follow-up
+               (plan 2026-08-03 F1/F2). -->
+          <div class="mb-1 px-1 text-[10px] text-muted-foreground">
+            Nomos is working in the background — your message will queue and run when it's free.
+          </div>
+        {/if}
         <form
           class="relative mx-auto flex h-full w-full max-w-3xl"
           onsubmit={(e) => {

web/src/lib/components/SessionChatWindow.svelte

@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
     chatErrors
   } from '$lib/stores/chat'
   import { activityLogFor } from '$lib/stores/activity'
-  import { workspaceFor, startSessionWorkspace } from '$lib/stores/workspace'
+  import { workspaceFor, startSessionWorkspace, taskWorking } from '$lib/stores/workspace'
   import ChatThread from '$lib/components/ChatThread.svelte'
   import TaskContextPanel from '$lib/components/TaskContextPanel.svelte'
 
@@ -30,6 +30,8 @@
   const chat = chatFor(sessionId)
   const chatMessages = chat.messages
   const chatStreaming = chat.streaming
+  // eslint-disable-next-line svelte/valid-compile
+  const chatWorking = taskWorking(sessionId)
   const chatConnectionState = chat.connectionState
   const chatError = chat.error
   const chatNotFound = chat.notFound
@@ -90,6 +92,7 @@
         <ChatThread
           messages={$chatMessages}
           streaming={$chatStreaming}
+          working={$chatWorking}
           connectionState={$chatConnectionState}
           error={$chatError}
           chatErrors={$chatErrors}

web/src/lib/components/TaskContextPanel.svelte

@@ -5,12 +5,14 @@
     startWorkspace,
     planSteps,
     currentTask,
+    currentWorking,
     touched,
     healthDiffs,
     workspaceFor,
-    taskFor
+    taskFor,
+    taskWorking
   } from '$lib/stores/workspace'
-  import { streaming, messages, chatFor } from '$lib/stores/chat'
+  import { messages, chatFor } from '$lib/stores/chat'
   import { activityLog, activityLogFor } from '$lib/stores/activity'
   import SessionGraph from './SessionGraph.svelte'
   import UnifiedTimeline from './UnifiedTimeline.svelte'
@@ -37,7 +39,7 @@
   const healthDiffsStore = $derived(ws ? ws.healthDiffs : healthDiffs)
   const taskStore = $derived(sessionId ? taskFor(sessionId) : currentTask)
   const chat = $derived(sessionId ? chatFor(sessionId) : null)
-  const streamingStore = $derived(chat ? chat.streaming : streaming)
+  const workingStore = $derived(sessionId ? taskWorking(sessionId) : currentWorking)
   const messagesStore = $derived(chat ? chat.messages : messages)
   const activityLogStore = $derived(sessionId ? activityLogFor(sessionId) : activityLog)
 
@@ -134,7 +136,7 @@
             class="size-3"
           />{/if}
         <span>Activity</span>
-        {#if $streamingStore && activityRunning > 0}
+        {#if $workingStore && activityRunning > 0}
           <Spinner class="size-3 text-primary" />
         {/if}
         {#if planTotal > 0}
@@ -161,7 +163,7 @@
           <UnifiedTimeline
             entries={$activityLogStore}
             planSteps={$planStepsStore}
-            streaming={$streamingStore}
+            streaming={$workingStore}
           />
         </div>
       {/if}

web/src/lib/components/desktop-shell/NewTaskChat.svelte

@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
   {initialDraft}
   messages={[]}
   streaming={false}
+  working={false}
   connectionState="connected"
   {onSend}
   onCancel={() => {}}