Overhaul the agentic Kanban task-board UX (Intelligence → Tasks)

[graycyrus]

Summary

The agentic task-board flow (Intelligence → Tasks tab) now works end-to-end — boards, an "assign to agent" path, a background dispatcher that auto-runs approved/assigned cards, update_task so runs drive their own card, and a run queue with steering modes (PRs #3326, #3317). But the UX is not production-ready: status information is hidden, refresh is poll-only and laggy, the source→board approval flow is confusing, there's no drag-and-drop, and the queue/steering controls aren't exposed at all. This issue tracks a focused UX overhaul.

Problem (grounded in current code)

1. Refresh is poll-only and laggy — background work looks frozen.

• IntelligenceTasksTab.tsx:227 polls the two boards every POLL_MS = 4000; background dispatcher runs (60s tick, task_dispatcher.rs:552) update cards via write_back/update_task but emit no socket push to this tab (task_board_updated only fires inside an interactive turn — channels/providers/web.rs:~1700). Result: up to 4s staleness, no live progress, no "working" indicator, and TaskPlanAwaitingApproval (core/event_bus/events.rs:880) has no subscriber so approval prompts appear 0–4s late.

2. The board hides most of its own state.

• TaskKanbanBoard.tsx columnFor (line 73) collapses 7 statuses into 3 columns — awaiting_approval/ready fold into "Pending", blocked/rejected fold into "Done". A user can't tell an approved card from a pending one, or why a "Done" column holds blocked/rejected cards.
• blocker text renders only when status === 'blocked'; evidence is only visible inside the Brief modal with no on-card indicator that evidence exists.

3. No drag-and-drop.

• Cards move via small, low-contrast left/right arrow buttons (onMove(card, -1|1), lines 281–300). Moving multiple columns = multiple clicks; weak affordance; not what a Kanban implies.

4. Source→board approval flow is non-obvious.

• task-sources is a flat list, not a board, while user-tasks is a 3-column Kanban — two mental models for one "task" concept. "Work on task" opens a refinement modal; on Approve the card silently vanishes from the inbox and reappears on the personal board with no transition/confirmation. There's no way to reject/ignore a source task.

5. Queue & steering controls exist but are invisible.

• run_queue defines Interrupt/Steer/Followup/Collect (agent/harness/run_queue/types.rs) and emits RunQueueMessageQueued/Delivered/... events, but a grep of app/src/components + app/src/pages finds zero usage of QueueMode/queueMode. Users get default interrupt only, with no queue-depth feedback when a message is queued vs. interrupts a run.

6. "Assign to agent" is under-communicated.

• UserTaskComposer.tsx toggle (lines 184–200) is explained in small text and disabled when attaching to a thread; users create tasks and don't understand why they do/don't auto-run.

7. Run liveness / blocked-needs-you is weak.

• No heartbeat/idle indicator; a wedged run only resurfaces after the 60s stale-reclaim. A run that self-blocks for a user decision surfaces the blocker only on the next poll, with no prominent "needs your input" affordance or one-click unblock.

8. Smaller gaps: tiny touch targets (arrows h-5 w-5, approve/deny text-[10px]), no per-mutation loading states, agent boards with 0 cards disappear entirely, no empty/error states in places, i18n coverage for new strings.

Proposed solution (scope: app-heavy, small core for events)

• Event-driven freshness: add a socket push for background board mutations (subscribe TaskPlanAwaitingApproval/TaskRunReclaimed, emit task_board_updated from the dispatcher write path) so the board updates live; keep poll as fallback. Show a subtle "working…" / last-updated indicator.
• Show real status: surface all statuses (dedicated treatment for awaiting_approval, ready, blocked, rejected) instead of bucketing into 3 columns; on-card badges for evidence/blocker; prominent "Needs your input" state for blocked cards with a one-click unblock/answer.
• Drag-and-drop column moves (keep arrows as an a11y fallback), larger touch targets.
• Coherent source→board flow: clearer approve/refine with a visible transition, plus a reject/ignore action; consider rendering the inbox consistently with the board.
• Expose queue/steering: surface Steer / Follow-up / Collect / Interrupt in the run UI with a queue-depth indicator (wire the existing QueueMode + RunQueue* events).
• Clarify "assign to agent" with stronger affordance/copy and a visible "will auto-run" state.
• Polish: loading/empty/error states, keep zero-card live boards visible while running, full i18n across all locales.

Acceptance criteria (high level — likely split into sub-issues)

• Board reflects background-run changes within ~1s via push (poll remains a fallback); a live "working/last-updated" indicator is shown.
• All card statuses are distinguishable on the board; evidence and blocker are discoverable without opening the modal; blocked cards show a clear "needs your input" affordance.
• Cards can be moved by drag-and-drop; arrow controls remain for accessibility; touch targets meet size guidance.
• Source tasks can be approved and rejected/ignored, with a clear transition into the personal board.
• Queue/steering modes (Interrupt/Steer/Follow-up/Collect) are usable from the run UI with a queue-depth indicator.
• "Assign to agent" clearly communicates auto-run behavior.
• Loading/empty/error states present; all new strings via useT() in every locale (pnpm i18n:check + pnpm i18n:english:check pass).
• Diff coverage ≥ 80% — the implementing PR(s) meet the changed-lines coverage gate.

Related

• Builds on feat(tasks): autonomously execute approved/assigned task-board work (poller + update_task + repetition fix) #3326 (autonomous task-board execution), feat(agent): add active-run steering and queue controls #3317 (run-queue / steering), update_task (feat(agent): add update_task tool — move/update a task card by id from any thread #3315).
• Key files — app: app/src/components/intelligence/IntelligenceTasksTab.tsx, UserTaskComposer.tsx, app/src/pages/conversations/components/TaskKanbanBoard.tsx, app/src/services/api/todosApi.ts; core: src/openhuman/agent/task_dispatcher.rs, agent/tools/update_task.rs, agent/harness/run_queue/, todos/ops.rs, core/event_bus/events.rs, channels/providers/web.rs.

Note: deliberately broad ("fix the whole UX"). May be split into focused sub-issues (event-driven freshness · board status visibility · drag-and-drop · source-inbox flow · queue/steering UI) under this as a tracking issue.