Fix Conductor deep link URL: it is conductor://prompt=… not conductor://new?prompt=…

The previous default URL template was a best-guess derived from the
Conductor changelog (v0.36.4 mentions "prompt and path parameters" for
the Linear integration). It turns out the actual working format is
structurally unusual:

  conductor://prompt=<percent-encoded text>

No host, no `?` — the `prompt=…` sits directly after `://`. This was
discovered the hard way in slack-flow: an earlier Claude session there
tested ~25 candidate formats (conductor://new?prompt=,
conductor://open?prompt=, conductor://workspace?prompt=, etc.) before
landing on this one. The committed slack-flow ConductorBridge.swift
uses exactly this format.

Changes:
- DEFAULT_SETTINGS.urlConfig.template flipped to conductor://prompt={prompt}
- mergeWithDefaults() migrates any stored URL on a known-broken list to
  the new default, so users who already saved settings with the
  previous bad default get auto-fixed on next load (no manual reset).
- conductor-url tests updated to assert the new format.
- Two new storage tests covering migration + preservation of custom
  templates.
- README documents the unusual shape with an explicit "don't be fooled"
  note.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 <noreply@anthropic.com>

Author: sarth6

README.md

@@ -51,15 +51,17 @@ Right-click the toolbar icon → **Options** (or use the gear in the popup).
 Sets the `conductor://` URL opened on click. The default is:
 
 ```
-conductor://new?prompt={prompt}
+conductor://prompt={prompt}
 ```
 
-`{prompt}` is replaced with the URL-encoded rendered prompt. You can also use
-PR metadata placeholders directly in the URL (e.g. to set the workspace path):
+> **Note on Conductor's unusual URL shape**: the working format has the
+> prompt sitting directly after `://` — no host, no `?`. It is not
+> `conductor://new?prompt=…` or `conductor://?prompt=…`. The Conductor app
+> looks for `prompt=` at the start of the URL body. This format was
+> empirically verified across ~25 candidate URLs.
 
-```
-conductor://new?prompt={prompt}&path=/Users/me/code/{repoName}
-```
+`{prompt}` is replaced with the URL-encoded rendered prompt. You can also use
+PR metadata placeholders directly in the URL template.
 
 ### Prompt presets
 

src/conductor-url.ts

@@ -13,9 +13,15 @@ import { renderTemplate } from './template';
  *      URL-encoded prompt. Other PR metadata placeholders in the URL template
  *      are also URL-encoded.
  *
- * This keeps the URL template authorable (`conductor://new?prompt={prompt}`)
+ * This keeps the URL template authorable (`conductor://prompt={prompt}`)
  * while preventing malformed URLs when the PR title contains `&`, `=`, `#`,
  * spaces, newlines, etc.
+ *
+ * Note on Conductor's unusual URL shape: the working format is
+ *   `conductor://prompt=<encoded text>`
+ * — no host, no `?`, the `prompt=…` sits directly after `://`. We still URL-
+ * encode the text the same way, but the structural template differs from a
+ * conventional `scheme://host?key=value` URL.
  */
 export function buildConductorUrl(
   urlConfig: ConductorUrlConfig,

src/storage.ts

@@ -37,9 +37,12 @@ export const DEFAULT_SETTINGS: Settings = {
   ],
   defaultPresetId: 'review',
   urlConfig: {
-    // Default to the format Conductor's Linear integration uses (changelog v0.36.4).
-    // The full prompt is passed in the `prompt` query param.
-    template: 'conductor://new?prompt={prompt}',
+    // Conductor's deep link is structurally unusual: the prompt sits directly
+    // after `://` with no host or query string — `conductor://prompt=<text>`,
+    // NOT `conductor://new?prompt=…` or `conductor://?prompt=…`.
+    // Empirically verified across ~25 candidate formats; this is the only one
+    // that triggers the workspace creation flow.
+    template: 'conductor://prompt={prompt}',
   },
 };
 
@@ -103,18 +106,36 @@ class MemoryStorageAdapter implements StorageAdapter {
   }
 }
 
+/**
+ * URL templates we shipped in older versions that turned out to be broken
+ * (Conductor's actual deep link is `conductor://prompt=…`, not any
+ * `conductor://…?prompt=…` form). When we see one of these stored, we
+ * silently migrate to the current default. Listed exactly so we never
+ * touch a user's intentional customization that happens to look similar.
+ */
+const KNOWN_BROKEN_URL_TEMPLATES = new Set<string>([
+  'conductor://new?prompt={prompt}',
+  'conductor://?prompt={prompt}',
+  'conductor://open?prompt={prompt}',
+  'conductor://workspace?prompt={prompt}',
+]);
+
 /**
  * Merge any partial stored settings with defaults so new fields added in
- * future versions are populated without wiping user data.
+ * future versions are populated without wiping user data. Also migrates
+ * known-broken URL templates to the current default.
  */
 export function mergeWithDefaults(stored: Partial<Settings> | undefined): Settings {
   if (!stored) return structuredClone(DEFAULT_SETTINGS);
+  const storedTemplate = stored.urlConfig?.template;
+  const template =
+    storedTemplate && !KNOWN_BROKEN_URL_TEMPLATES.has(storedTemplate)
+      ? storedTemplate
+      : DEFAULT_SETTINGS.urlConfig.template;
   return {
     presets: stored.presets ?? DEFAULT_SETTINGS.presets,
     defaultPresetId: stored.defaultPresetId ?? DEFAULT_SETTINGS.defaultPresetId,
-    urlConfig: {
-      template: stored.urlConfig?.template ?? DEFAULT_SETTINGS.urlConfig.template,
-    },
+    urlConfig: { template },
   };
 }
 

tests/conductor-url.test.ts

@@ -18,20 +18,18 @@ const fixture: PRMetadata = {
 };
 
 describe('buildConductorUrl', () => {
-  it('builds the default conductor://new?prompt=... URL', () => {
+  it('builds the default conductor://prompt=… URL (no host, no ?)', () => {
     const url = buildConductorUrl(
-      { template: 'conductor://new?prompt={prompt}' },
+      { template: 'conductor://prompt={prompt}' },
       'Review PR: {prTitle}',
       fixture,
     );
-    expect(url).toBe(
-      `conductor://new?prompt=${encodeURIComponent('Review PR: Fix bug & add tests')}`,
-    );
+    expect(url).toBe(`conductor://prompt=${encodeURIComponent('Review PR: Fix bug & add tests')}`);
   });
 
   it('URL-encodes special characters in the rendered prompt', () => {
     const url = buildConductorUrl(
-      { template: 'conductor://new?prompt={prompt}' },
+      { template: 'conductor://prompt={prompt}' },
       '{prTitle} & {prAuthor}',
       fixture,
     );
@@ -40,24 +38,13 @@ describe('buildConductorUrl', () => {
   });
 
   it('encodes PR metadata placeholders used directly in the URL template', () => {
+    // Legacy ?prompt=…&path=… style still supported for users who want it.
     const url = buildConductorUrl(
-      { template: 'conductor://new?prompt={prompt}&path={repo}' },
+      { template: 'conductor://prompt={prompt}&path={repo}' },
       'go',
       fixture,
     );
-    expect(url).toBe('conductor://new?prompt=go&path=octocat%2Fhello');
-  });
-
-  it('preserves the path query param example from the Conductor changelog', () => {
-    // Conductor v0.36.4: "handle prompt and path parameters"
-    const url = buildConductorUrl(
-      { template: 'conductor://new?prompt={prompt}&path=/Users/me/code/{repoName}' },
-      'Look at #{prNumber}',
-      fixture,
-    );
-    expect(url).toBe(
-      `conductor://new?prompt=${encodeURIComponent('Look at #42')}&path=/Users/me/code/hello`,
-    );
+    expect(url).toBe('conductor://prompt=go&path=octocat%2Fhello');
   });
 });
 

tests/storage.test.ts

@@ -21,6 +21,24 @@ describe('mergeWithDefaults', () => {
     expect(merged.urlConfig.template).toBe(DEFAULT_SETTINGS.urlConfig.template);
   });
 
+  it('migrates known-broken URL templates to the working default', () => {
+    for (const broken of [
+      'conductor://new?prompt={prompt}',
+      'conductor://?prompt={prompt}',
+      'conductor://open?prompt={prompt}',
+      'conductor://workspace?prompt={prompt}',
+    ]) {
+      const merged = mergeWithDefaults({ urlConfig: { template: broken } });
+      expect(merged.urlConfig.template).toBe('conductor://prompt={prompt}');
+    }
+  });
+
+  it('preserves a custom URL template that is not on the known-broken list', () => {
+    const custom = 'conductor://prompt={prompt}&path=/Users/me/code/{repoName}';
+    const merged = mergeWithDefaults({ urlConfig: { template: custom } });
+    expect(merged.urlConfig.template).toBe(custom);
+  });
+
   it('returns a deep clone so callers cannot mutate defaults', () => {
     const a = mergeWithDefaults(undefined);
     const b = mergeWithDefaults(undefined);