Investigate: server ungroups session data that client immediately re-groups by project

[danshapiro]

Opportunity

The server's session directory API flattens its internal ProjectGroup[] structure into flat SessionDirectoryItem[] for the read-model response. The client immediately re-groups them back into ProjectGroup[] via groupDirectoryItemsAsProjects() in api.ts and searchResultsToProjects() in sessionsThunks.ts.

This is unnecessary round-trip work — the server ungroups what the client immediately re-nests.

Analysis

Low-medium impact, low complexity. The server could return items already grouped by project, or include a grouped: true response variant. The main consideration is that the flat-item format was likely chosen for pagination simplicity (cursor-based paging over flat items). A grouped response would need a different cursor strategy, or the server could return both flat items and a project grouping index.

Action

Investigate and validate this opportunity. Determine the right implementation approach following TDD.