feat(ui): reconnecting spinner while the daemon reinits on profile switch / refresh

After a profile switch or Refresh state, the extension re-supplies the vault
passphrase and hot-reloads the daemon — a headed reinit that takes ~30s. The
daemon badge previously kept showing the stale 'anonymous' message during that
window, so it looked stuck. Add a transient 'reconnecting' store flag set when
profile:switch / dashboard:refresh is sent and cleared when the daemon next
reports authenticated (or a 60s safety timeout); the badge shows a spinning
'Reconnecting the daemon to this profile… ~30s' instead of the stale status.

Author: A.R.

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -6,6 +6,14 @@ All notable changes to this project are documented here. Format follows
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+## [0.8.51] — 2026-06-04 — "Reconnecting…" spinner during daemon reinit
+
+> Follow-up UX for the 0.8.49 passphrase fix. After a profile switch or "Refresh state" the extension re-supplies the vault passphrase and hot-reloads the daemon — a headed reinit that takes ~30s. The daemon badge kept showing the stale "anonymous" message during that window, so it looked stuck even though it was working (confirmed in the field: the daemon goes green ~30s after a switch).
+
+### Added
+
+- **Reconnecting spinner on the daemon badge** ([`views.tsx`](packages/webview/src/views.tsx), [`store.ts`](packages/webview/src/store.ts), [`App.tsx`](packages/webview/src/App.tsx)). A transient `reconnecting` store flag is set when `profile:switch` / `dashboard:refresh` is sent and cleared when the daemon next reports `authenticated` (or a 60s safety timeout). While active and the daemon is not yet authenticated, the badge shows a spinning **"Reconnecting the daemon to this profile… this can take ~30s."** instead of the stale anonymous/vault-locked status — so the wait reads as progress, not a hang.
+
 ## [0.8.49] — 2026-06-04 — Daemon unlocks passphrase-protected profiles on switch/refresh
 
 > Reported via a diagnostics bundle: after switching to a **passphrase-protected** profile, the dashboard showed "Session active and ready" while the daemon showed "Daemon sees anonymous session — use Refresh state to reconnect", and Refresh did not help. Root cause: the long-lived daemon is spawned with `PERPLEXITY_VAULT_PASSPHRASE` read from SecretStorage **once at spawn**; a profile switch only touched `.reinit`, which re-ran `init()` with the *stale/absent* passphrase, so the daemon could not unseal the new profile's vault (`Vault locked: no keychain, no env var, no TTY`). The vault unseal cache also pinned the first profile's material (`Vault decrypt failed: wrong passphrase`). The extension could read the vault (the user had typed the passphrase) — hence the two badges disagreed.

packages/extension/package.json

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "name": "perplexity-vscode",
   "displayName": "Perplexity MCP",
-  "version": "0.8.50",
+  "version": "0.8.51",
   "publisher": "Nskha",
   "private": true,
   "description": "Perplexity AI search, reasoning, research, and compute — MCP server, dashboard, and multi-IDE auto-config for VS Code.",

packages/mcp-server/package.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "perplexity-user-mcp",
-  "version": "0.8.50",
+  "version": "0.8.51",
   "mcpName": "io.github.Automations-Project/perplexity-user-mcp",
   "type": "module",
   "description": "Perplexity AI MCP server — browser automation for search, reasoning, research, and compute. Not affiliated with Perplexity AI, Inc.",

packages/webview/src/App.tsx

@@ -42,6 +42,12 @@ function nextActionId(prefix: string): string {
  * auto-generated and the action is registered as pending in the store.
  */
 function send(message: WebviewMessage | Omit<Extract<WebviewMessage, { id: string }>, "id">): void {
+  // Profile switch + "Refresh state" both re-supply the vault passphrase and
+  // hot-reload the daemon (a headed reinit that takes ~30s). Flag it so the
+  // daemon badge shows a "Reconnecting…" spinner instead of looking stuck.
+  if (message.type === "profile:switch" || message.type === "dashboard:refresh") {
+    useDashboardStore.getState().startReconnecting();
+  }
   if (ACTION_TYPES.has(message.type) && !("id" in message && message.id)) {
     const id = nextActionId(message.type);
     const full = { ...message, id } as WebviewMessage;

packages/webview/src/store.ts

@@ -54,6 +54,16 @@ interface DashboardStore {
   daemonStatus: DaemonStatusState | null;
   daemonAuditTail: DaemonAuditEntry[];
   daemonTokenRotatedAt: string | null;
+  /**
+   * Transient "the daemon is reinitializing" flag. Set when the user triggers a
+   * profile switch or "Refresh state" — both re-supply the vault passphrase and
+   * hot-reload the daemon, a headed reinit that takes ~30s. Cleared when the
+   * daemon next reports `authenticated`, or by a timeout in DashboardView. Lets
+   * the UI show a "Reconnecting…" spinner instead of a stale "anonymous" badge.
+   */
+  reconnecting: { active: boolean; since: number };
+  startReconnecting: () => void;
+  stopReconnecting: () => void;
   /**
    * Live revealed bearer. Populated ONLY by the `daemon:bearer:reveal:response`
    * ExtensionMessage (which itself requires a modal-confirmed
@@ -178,6 +188,9 @@ export const useDashboardStore = create<DashboardStore>((set) => ({
   daemonStatus: null,
   daemonAuditTail: [],
   daemonTokenRotatedAt: null,
+  reconnecting: { active: false, since: 0 },
+  startReconnecting: () => set({ reconnecting: { active: true, since: Date.now() } }),
+  stopReconnecting: () => set({ reconnecting: { active: false, since: 0 } }),
   revealedBearer: null,
   setRevealedBearer: (r) => set({ revealedBearer: r }),
   clearRevealedBearer: () => set({ revealedBearer: null }),
@@ -198,7 +211,13 @@ export const useDashboardStore = create<DashboardStore>((set) => ({
   setDoctorReportingOptOut: (v) => set((s) => ({ doctor: { ...s.doctor, reportingOptOut: v } })),
   hydrate: (message) => {
     if (message.type === "dashboard:state") {
-      set({ state: message.payload });
+      set((store) => {
+        const authed = !!message.payload?.snapshot?.daemonAuth?.authenticated;
+        // Clear the "reconnecting" spinner once the daemon reports it's back.
+        return authed && store.reconnecting.active
+          ? { state: message.payload, reconnecting: { active: false, since: 0 } }
+          : { state: message.payload };
+      });
       return;
     }
 

packages/webview/src/views.tsx

@@ -219,6 +219,16 @@ export function DashboardView({
 }) {
   const snapshot = state.snapshot;
   const activeProfile = useDashboardStore((store) => store.activeProfile);
+  const reconnecting = useDashboardStore((store) => store.reconnecting);
+  const stopReconnecting = useDashboardStore((store) => store.stopReconnecting);
+  // Safety net: never spin forever. If the daemon hasn't reported back in 60s
+  // (reinit failed / vault still locked), drop the spinner so the real status
+  // message shows again.
+  useEffect(() => {
+    if (!reconnecting.active) return;
+    const t = setTimeout(() => stopReconnecting(), 60_000);
+    return () => clearTimeout(t);
+  }, [reconnecting.active, reconnecting.since, stopReconnecting]);
   const authAction = activeProfile ? { type: "auth:login" as const, label: "Login", title: "Use the active profile's saved login mode." } : { type: "profile:add-prompt" as const, label: "Add account", title: "Create a profile and start sign-in." };
   const recentQueries = state.history.slice(0, 3);
   const rateLimitEntries = Object.entries(snapshot.rateLimits?.modes ?? {}) as Array<
@@ -244,6 +254,17 @@ export function DashboardView({
         {snapshot.daemonAuth && (() => {
           const da = snapshot.daemonAuth;
           if (!da) return null;
+          // While a switch/refresh-triggered reinit is in flight and the daemon
+          // is not yet authenticated, show a spinner so the ~30s headed reinit
+          // reads as "working", not "stuck".
+          if (reconnecting.active && !da.authenticated) {
+            return (
+              <div className="flex items-center gap-2">
+                <RefreshCcw size={13} className="animate-spin" />
+                <div className="dashboard-status-text">Reconnecting the daemon to this profile… this can take ~30s.</div>
+              </div>
+            );
+          }
           let text: string;
           if (da.authenticated) {
             text = `Daemon: ${da.tier}`;