Fix chat persistence and streamed response reconciliation

backend/migrations/20260717_01_chat_message_workflow.sql

@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+-- User chat messages always include the optional workflow payload. Fresh and
+-- upgraded databases must expose the same nullable column so a missing
+-- workflow does not prevent the prompt itself from being persisted.
+
+alter table public.chat_messages
+  add column if not exists workflow jsonb;

backend/schema.sql

@@ -534,6 +534,7 @@ create table if not exists public.chat_messages (
   role text not null,
   content jsonb,
   files jsonb,
+  workflow jsonb,
   citations jsonb,
   created_at timestamptz not null default now()
 );

backend/src/routes/chat.ts

@@ -608,13 +608,24 @@ chatRouter.post("/", requireAuth, async (req, res) => {
             askInputsResponse,
         );
     } else if (lastUser) {
-        await db.from("chat_messages").insert({
-            chat_id: chatId,
-            role: "user",
-            content: lastUser.content,
-            files: lastUser.files ?? null,
-            workflow: lastUser.workflow ?? null,
-        });
+        const { error: userMessageError } = await db
+            .from("chat_messages")
+            .insert({
+                chat_id: chatId,
+                role: "user",
+                content: lastUser.content,
+                files: lastUser.files ?? null,
+                workflow: lastUser.workflow ?? null,
+            });
+        if (userMessageError) {
+            console.error(
+                "[chat/stream] failed to save user message",
+                safeErrorLog(userMessageError),
+            );
+            return void res
+                .status(500)
+                .json({ detail: "Failed to save user message" });
+        }
     }
 
     const { docIndex, docStore } = await buildDocContext(

backend/src/routes/projectChat.ts

@@ -169,13 +169,24 @@ projectChatRouter.post("/", requireAuth, async (req, res) => {
             askInputsResponse,
         );
     } else if (lastUser) {
-        await db.from("chat_messages").insert({
-            chat_id: chatId,
-            role: "user",
-            content: lastUser.content,
-            files: lastUser.files ?? null,
-            workflow: lastUser.workflow ?? null,
-        });
+        const { error: userMessageError } = await db
+            .from("chat_messages")
+            .insert({
+                chat_id: chatId,
+                role: "user",
+                content: lastUser.content,
+                files: lastUser.files ?? null,
+                workflow: lastUser.workflow ?? null,
+            });
+        if (userMessageError) {
+            console.error(
+                "[project-chat/stream] failed to save user message",
+                safeErrorLog(userMessageError),
+            );
+            return void res
+                .status(500)
+                .json({ detail: "Failed to save user message" });
+        }
     }
 
     const { docIndex, docStore, folderPaths } = await buildProjectDocContext(

frontend/src/app/hooks/useAssistantChat.ts

@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 import { useRef, useState } from "react";
 import { useRouter } from "next/navigation";
 import {
+  getChat,
   streamChat,
   streamProjectChat,
 } from "@/app/lib/mikeApi";
@@ -1245,11 +1246,34 @@ export function useAssistantChat({
         }
       }
 
+      finalizeStreamingContent();
       finalizeStreamingReasoning();
+
+      // The persisted chat is the source of truth once the stream closes.
+      // Reconcile it before clearing the loading state so a final proxy/browser
+      // chunk cannot leave the live UI showing less text than a refresh does.
+      const finalChatId = streamedChatId || chatId || null;
+      if (finalChatId) {
+        try {
+          const { messages: persistedMessages } = await getChat(finalChatId);
+          if (persistedMessages.length > 0) {
+            setMessages(persistedMessages);
+            eventsRef.current =
+              [...persistedMessages]
+                .reverse()
+                .find((item) => item.role === "assistant")?.events ?? [];
+          }
+        } catch (error) {
+          console.warn(
+            "[useAssistantChat] failed to reconcile persisted chat:",
+            error,
+          );
+        }
+      }
+
       setIsResponseLoading(false);
       setIsLoadingCitations(false);
 
-      const finalChatId = streamedChatId || chatId || null;
       if (finalChatId && finalChatId !== chatId) {
         if (chatId) {
           replaceChatId(

reports/release-manifest-v1.json

@@ -7,8 +7,8 @@
   "artifacts": [
     {
       "path": "backend/schema.sql",
-      "sha256": "75dc087ae4081b23e6e6f75778678fbc6d41d69a02bac8cfb569fd9d7c43690c",
-      "sizeBytes": 31393
+      "sha256": "f21d9fc9517cab0bbbbdb1c0980a77404effe0d117d25d1ef18f3422054bf9cf",
+      "sizeBytes": 31411
     },
     {
       "path": "backend/src/config/runtime.ts",

tests/baseline/ross-chat-persistence.test.mjs

@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import { dirname, resolve } from "node:path";
+import test from "node:test";
+import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url";
+
+const root = resolve(dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)), "../..");
+const read = (path) => readFileSync(resolve(root, path), "utf8");
+
+test("fresh and upgraded databases persist optional workflow metadata", () => {
+  const schema = read("backend/schema.sql");
+  const migration = read(
+    "backend/migrations/20260717_01_chat_message_workflow.sql",
+  );
+
+  assert.match(
+    schema,
+    /create table if not exists public\.chat_messages[\s\S]*?workflow jsonb,/,
+  );
+  assert.match(
+    migration,
+    /alter table public\.chat_messages[\s\S]*?add column if not exists workflow jsonb;/,
+  );
+});
+
+test("chat requests stop when the user prompt cannot be saved", () => {
+  const routes = [
+    read("backend/src/routes/chat.ts"),
+    read("backend/src/routes/projectChat.ts"),
+  ];
+
+  for (const route of routes) {
+    assert.match(route, /error: userMessageError/);
+    assert.match(route, /if \(userMessageError\)/);
+    assert.match(route, /Failed to save user message/);
+  }
+});
+
+test("the live assistant view reconciles with persisted messages", () => {
+  const hook = read("frontend/src/app/hooks/useAssistantChat.ts");
+
+  assert.match(hook, /const \{ messages: persistedMessages \} = await getChat\(finalChatId\)/);
+  assert.match(hook, /setMessages\(persistedMessages\)/);
+  assert.match(hook, /finalizeStreamingContent\(\);[\s\S]*?getChat\(finalChatId\)/);
+});