Git identity in the dashboard

The dashboard is a first-class client for the workspace's git state: it detects whether the project is a git repository, displays the identity that commits would use, lets the user edit local user.name / user.email, and can run git init from the UI when the workspace is not yet a repo.

Capability boundary

• Local scope only. --global is never written from the dashboard. Users who want a fallback identity set it once outside the app.
• No commit creation. git init does not make an initial commit — branch name, gitignore, and first content are user decisions.
• Read-only identity display for effective values. The chip and modal show the resolved chain (local > global > system) but can only mutate the local scope.

Endpoints

Method	Path	Purpose	Auth
GET	/api/git/status	{ isRepo, root?, headBranch?, hasCommits?, reason? }	local
GET	/api/git/config	{ effective, local } — requires isRepo	local
POST	/api/git/config	Write --local user.name / user.email; empty string → unset	local + CSRF
POST	/api/git/init	Idempotent git init in project root	local + CSRF

hasCommits is true iff git rev-parse --verify HEAD succeeds; the modal uses it to warn before a would-fail worktree Start (which needs a HEAD to branch from).

WebSocket: { type: "git-status-updated", gitStatus } fires after any successful mutation.

Shell scope

The header chip and identity modal mount only in the local-server and Electron shells. The VS Code extension shell delegates to VS Code's own Source Control panel — mounting our chip there would compete with a first-class native affordance. Detection combines typeof window.acquireVsCodeApi === "function" (top-level webview) with a ?vscode=1 URL flag (nested iframe, where the React app actually runs and acquireVsCodeApi is not injected) in web/src/runtime/shell.ts.

Interaction with agent-runner (worktrees)

git worktree add requires a git repository. The Start flow itself no longer gates on gitStatus.isRepo — the dispatcher skill runs git worktree add in the embedded terminal and surfaces any failure there. The UI's pre-flight signals today are:

• The chip's warning dot when !isRepo.
• The modal's warning banner when !hasCommits ("Worktree-mode Start needs a HEAD to branch from") — see web/src/components/GitIdentityModal.tsx.
• The modal's one-click git init to unblock a non-repo workspace.

Source layout

Path	Role
server/git/status.ts	.git fast-path + git rev-parse detection
server/git/config.ts	--show-scope --get parsing + serialized local writes
server/git/init.ts	Idempotent git init, re-reads status after
server/index.ts	Four endpoints + WS git-status-updated
web/src/runtime/shell.ts	isVsCodeShell() — the one shell branch
web/src/components/GitIdentityChip.tsx	Header chip
web/src/components/GitIdentityModal.tsx	Modal (two states)