Project-first dashboard IA: obvious creation, Connections cleanup, Armonia sidebar merge #202

Important

Problem

Creating a project is buried (a small folder-add affordance that only registers an existing directory — there is no true "create"), and the surrounding chrome misnames what it holds: "Sessions" presents a global flat list of what are really per-project children, "Connections" now holds only execution targets, the defaults capsule claims "Session defaults" for global choices, and the native sidebar shows two placeholder trees ("Vault", "Armonia") for the same concept. Aaron's live-demo feedback: creation must be obvious, the sidebar redundancy must go, and there is no direct way to launch the chat from the sidebar.

Approach

Make Project the organizing noun. The dashboard grows a first-class New project flow (true creation: name + location → directory created, git-initialized, registered, first session opened). The chrome renames the surfaces whose names are wrong — Projects (creation + project list with sessions nested inside) and Defaults (honest copy for the global model + solver pair) — and trims the Connections surface (drop its Vaults tab; the name is already glossary-correct). The native sidebar collapses the two placeholder trees into one Armonia panel (mounted Vaults as its roots, product empty-state copy) and gains an always-visible Open Amico Chat launch action. Key reason: every surface gets exactly one job, and creation lands where a first-time user is already looking.

Approaches Considered

• Register-only creation surfaced bigger — rejected: "create" stays a lie for users who arrive without a folder (hackathon persona).
• Full scaffold at creation (Julia env, vault wiring) — rejected: onboarding commands own environment setup; keeps the dialog light.
• Keep "Sessions" flat with project group headers — rejected: the top-level noun stays wrong; switching is by project.
• Coin "Workspace" as a new term — rejected: collides with VSCode's own term in the same window; Project suffices.
• Name the merged sidebar panel "Vaults" — rejected: Armonia is the system, a Vault is one tier in it; the panel is the system, its roots are the Vaults.
• Rename Connections → Devices — rejected (review panel + glossary): the surface lists Connections, not Devices; the rename would put the wrong noun on it. A surface that actually lists devices is a possible follow-up.
• Project-first chrome + true creation + sidebar merge under Armonia (chosen) — one job per surface, creation at point of attention, brand on the panel and plain words in its empty state.
• Per-session solver/model overrides — rejected (YAGNI): global Defaults + per-solve Routing confirm already give two honest levels.

Scope

In (slice 1 — chrome, fork): Projects menu (top action: New project; project list, current marked; each project's recent sessions nested, overflow to all; orphan sessions grouped under their raw directory path so nothing becomes unreachable) · New-project hero action in the dashboard body's project area · creation dialog (Name → slugified folder preview; Location with remembered parent; "Open existing folder instead…" secondary; mkdir → git init → register → open first session; inline errors for name collision / unwritable location) · Connections popover: Vaults tab removed (name unchanged; Pasqal card unchanged) · defaults capsule copy → "Defaults — model & solver, apply everywhere".
In (slice 2 — sidebar, extension): merge the two placeholder trees into one Armonia panel (mounted Vaults as root nodes; empty-state copy "Your vaults collect here" plus a set-up-a-vault action, until ArmoniaService lands) · an always-visible Open Amico Chat action on the amicode sidebar container (a view/title action, not empty-only welcome content) · CONTEXT.md gains Project, Session, Armonia, Vault entries.
Out: per-session solver/model overrides — Routing covers per-solve choice. · Vault surface redesign beyond the merge (real mount rendering awaits ArmoniaService) — separate design. · Session-view left rail — different view, works as is. · Light-mode code-block contrast — already fixed (inline-code chip, merged this morning). · Creation-time scaffolding beyond git init — onboarding commands own it. · Catalog view — unchanged, stays its own tree.

Assumptions / Open Qs

• Sidebar panel keeps the brand name Armonia; the empty state names what collects there ("Your vaults collect here"). Resolved with Kate; Aaron may refine the exact copy in review.
• Assumes the existing directory-picker and edit-project dialogs are reused as-is for "Open existing" and per-project actions.
• Open: default parent directory for a first-ever creation (proposal: ~/AmicodeProjects, remembered thereafter).