Phase 4B: Chat Integration in Studio

[mikewolfd]

Motivation

Consolidate the separate chat entry point into an integrated studio panel. Chat becomes a thin conversation orchestrator that connects to studio's MCP server instead of owning its own Project and McpBridge.

Parent epic: #9 — Unified Authoring Architecture

Scope

Pass 4b-A: ChatSession Refactor

• Remove McpBridge dependency from ChatSession
• Accept extended ToolContext with getProjectSnapshot() for state inspection
• ToolContext connected to host's MCP server via InMemoryTransport
• Delete ChatSession.replaceBridge() method
• Conversation state management retained (history, system prompts)

Pass 4b-B: Adapter Interface Update

• Retain AIAdapter.generateScaffold() as optimized fast-path for initial creation
• Add scaffold-to-changeset bridge in host (scaffold loaded via project.setDefinition(), recorded by middleware)
• McpBridge class deleted entirely

Pass 4b-C: Studio Chat Panel + Canvas Layout

• Consolidate main-chat.tsx, chat/, chat-v2/ into integrated panel within studio shell
• Chat panel as persistent side panel (like Copilot in VS Code)
• Visual emphasis transitions: chat-first (no form) vs canvas-first (form exists)
• Delete separate chat entry points

Pass 4b-D: Inline Canvas AI Actions

• Context menu integration for AI-powered actions
• Right-click field: "Add validation...", "Make conditional...", "Add help text..."
• Multi-select actions: "Group these", "Add shared validation"
• Context composition from selected items (properties, surrounding structure)
• Routed through same MCP/changeset path as chat

Pass 4b-E: Interview -> Scaffold Flow

• ChatSession states: INTERVIEW -> SCAFFOLDING -> REFINING
• Scaffold via generateScaffold() loaded as first changeset
• Alternative: MCP tool-driven creation (formspec_create -> tools)
• Lazy MCP server bootstrapping (tools return "no project" until create)

Acceptance Criteria

• McpBridge class deleted, chat connects via ToolContext to studio's MCP server
• Single workspace: canvas and chat panel share one Project instance
• Scaffold delivered as a changeset with accept/reject review
• Inline canvas AI actions route through MCP and produce changesets
• All separate chat entry points consolidated
• No regressions in chat conversation quality

Layer

SaaS Platform (Layers 5-6)

Dependencies

• Phase 2 (Phase 2: Studio-Core + MCP Tools (S1-S18) + Theme/Component Coverage #11) — MCP full coverage needed before chat can rely solely on MCP tools
• Independent of Phase 4A (ProposalManager) for basic integration — changeset semantics layered on later in Phase 4C

Spec Reference

thoughts/specs/2026-03-24-unified-authoring-architecture.md — Section 4 (Chat Integration)