Investigate Coding Agents search inconsistencies and stalled states #197
Description
Problem
Coding Agents search appears to have multiple overlapping bugs or regressions. We do not have isolated repros yet, but the behavior is inconsistent enough that it should be tracked as a dedicated investigation issue.
Observed symptoms
- Search often appears to keep showing the currently open tabs instead of clearly showing query-driven results.
- It is not obvious enough when the sidebar is in a filtered "search results" mode rather than the normal browse/open-tab view.
- Search sometimes appears to stay in a loading/searching state indefinitely.
- Search sometimes does not start at all after entering a query.
Expected behavior
- Search results should be query-driven and should not be visually or logically confused with the set of currently open tabs.
- The UI should make active search mode obvious, including that the list is filtered and not showing the normal browse state.
- Search should either complete, show clear progress, or fail with an explicit error state. It should not spin forever.
- Search initiation should be reliable and deterministic for the same query/tier input.
Notes
- This is likely more than one underlying bug.
- First work should focus on isolating repros and instrumenting the search state machine rather than assuming a single root cause.
- Related to, but broader than, Show search settings persistently in terminal sidebar view #25. That issue is about persistent search controls; this issue covers correctness, mode clarity, and request lifecycle failures in Coding Agents search.