fix(app): bridge auto-reconnect so daemon restart no longer bricks the GUI

The Tauri bridge connected to the daemon once at startup and held a single
stream with no recovery: when the daemon exited (Restart/Stop, crash, or an
update), the reader emitted spacesh:disconnected and died, and every later
request went through the dead writer forever — the GUI was permanently stuck
(settings frozen, offline). Since the bridge is Rust-side state that survives
a webview reload, even Cmd+R didn't recover it.

- bridge.rs: requests now reconnect-and-retry on failure with a single-flight
  guard (generation counter) so concurrent failures collapse into one
  reconnect and never open duplicate connections; a 5s reply timeout catches
  silently-dropped connections. ensure_daemon respawns the daemon if it
  exited. On success the bridge emits spacesh:reconnected.
- App.tsx: on spacesh:reconnected, bump a connection epoch that keys
  LayoutEngine, remounting terminals so they re-attach (snapshot + live stream)
  to the restarted daemon; also reload health/config/status.
- Settings: drop the Stop button — with lazy daemon spawn any GUI request
  resurrects the daemon, so an in-GUI "stop" is contradictory. Restart now
  works end to end (shutdown → reconnect respawns → panels re-attach).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

app/src-tauri/src/bridge.rs

@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ use std::collections::HashMap;
 use std::path::PathBuf;
 use std::sync::atomic::{AtomicU64, Ordering};
 use std::sync::Arc;
+use std::time::Duration;
 
 use anyhow::{Context, Result};
 use base64::Engine;
@@ -18,8 +19,16 @@ use tokio::sync::{mpsc, oneshot, Mutex};
 
 pub struct Bridge {
     next_id: AtomicU64,
-    /// Outbound frames to the daemon.
+    /// For respawning/reconnecting the daemon connection after it drops.
-    tx: mpsc::Sender<Envelope>,
+    app: AppHandle,
+    sock: PathBuf,
+    /// Bumped on every successful reconnect; lets concurrent failing requests
+    /// collapse into a single reconnect (single-flight).
+    gen: AtomicU64,
+    /// Outbound frames to the daemon. Swapped on reconnect.
+    tx: Mutex<mpsc::Sender<Envelope>>,
+    /// Serializes reconnect attempts.
+    reconnect_lock: Mutex<()>,
     /// Pending request id → reply slot.
     pending: Arc<Mutex<HashMap<u64, oneshot::Sender<Envelope>>>>,
     /// surface id → output channel into the webview.
@@ -85,28 +94,91 @@ async fn ensure_daemon(sock: &PathBuf) -> Result<UnixStream> {
     anyhow::bail!("daemon spawned ({}) but did not bind {} in time", daemon.display(), sock.display())
 }
 
+/// Connect (spawning the daemon if needed) and start the reader/writer tasks,
+/// returning the outbound sender. Shared `pending`/`out_channels` are reused so
+/// replies and live output keep routing across reconnects.
+async fn spawn_connection(
+    sock: &PathBuf,
+    app: &AppHandle,
+    pending: Arc<Mutex<HashMap<u64, oneshot::Sender<Envelope>>>>,
+    out_channels: Arc<Mutex<HashMap<String, Channel<Vec<u8>>>>>,
+) -> Result<mpsc::Sender<Envelope>> {
+    let stream = ensure_daemon(sock).await?;
+    let (read_half, write_half) = stream.into_split();
+    let (tx, rx) = mpsc::channel::<Envelope>(256);
+    spawn_writer(write_half, rx);
+    spawn_reader(read_half, app.clone(), pending, out_channels);
+    Ok(tx)
+}
+
 impl Bridge {
     pub async fn connect(app: AppHandle) -> Result<Self> {
         let sock = socket_path()?;
-        let stream = ensure_daemon(&sock).await?;
-        let (read_half, write_half) = stream.into_split();
-
-        let (tx, rx) = mpsc::channel::<Envelope>(256);
         let pending: Arc<Mutex<HashMap<u64, oneshot::Sender<Envelope>>>> = Arc::default();
         let out_channels: Arc<Mutex<HashMap<String, Channel<Vec<u8>>>>> = Arc::default();
+        let tx = spawn_connection(&sock, &app, pending.clone(), out_channels.clone()).await?;
+        Ok(Self {
+            next_id: AtomicU64::new(1),
+            app,
+            sock,
+            gen: AtomicU64::new(0),
+            tx: Mutex::new(tx),
+            reconnect_lock: Mutex::new(()),
+            pending,
+            out_channels,
+        })
+    }
 
-        spawn_writer(write_half, rx);
+    /// Re-establish the daemon connection. Single-flight: callers pass the `gen`
-        spawn_reader(read_half, app, pending.clone(), out_channels.clone());
+    /// they observed; if another caller already reconnected (gen advanced), this
+    /// is a no-op so we never open duplicate connections.
+    async fn reconnect(&self, seen_gen: u64) -> Result<()> {
+        let _guard = self.reconnect_lock.lock().await;
+        if self.gen.load(Ordering::Acquire) != seen_gen {
+            return Ok(());
+        }
+        // Drop in-flight reply slots — their connection is gone; they'll error out.
+        self.pending.lock().await.clear();
+        let new_tx = spawn_connection(&self.sock, &self.app, self.pending.clone(), self.out_channels.clone()).await?;
+        *self.tx.lock().await = new_tx;
+        self.gen.fetch_add(1, Ordering::Release);
+        let _ = self.app.emit("spacesh:reconnected", ());
+        Ok(())
+    }
 
-        Ok(Self { next_id: AtomicU64::new(1), tx, pending, out_channels })
+    /// Send one request and await its reply with a timeout. Errors if the writer
+    /// is gone, the reply slot is dropped, or no reply arrives in time.
+    async fn send_once(&self, id: u64, env: Envelope) -> Result<Envelope> {
+        let (reply_tx, reply_rx) = oneshot::channel();
+        self.pending.lock().await.insert(id, reply_tx);
+        let tx = self.tx.lock().await.clone();
+        if tx.send(env).await.is_err() {
+            self.pending.lock().await.remove(&id);
+            anyhow::bail!("daemon writer closed");
+        }
+        match tokio::time::timeout(Duration::from_secs(5), reply_rx).await {
+            Ok(Ok(env)) => Ok(env),
+            Ok(Err(_)) => anyhow::bail!("reply slot dropped"),
+            Err(_) => {
+                self.pending.lock().await.remove(&id);
+                anyhow::bail!("request timed out")
+            }
+        }
     }
 
     pub async fn request(&self, cmd: Cmd) -> Result<Envelope> {
         let id = self.next_id.fetch_add(1, Ordering::Relaxed);
-        let (reply_tx, reply_rx) = oneshot::channel();
+        let seen_gen = self.gen.load(Ordering::Acquire);
-        self.pending.lock().await.insert(id, reply_tx);
+        let env = Envelope::Req { id, cmd };
-        self.tx.send(Envelope::Req { id, cmd }).await?;
+        match self.send_once(id, env.clone()).await {
-        Ok(reply_rx.await?)
+            Ok(reply) => Ok(reply),
+            Err(_) => {
+                // Connection likely dropped — reconnect (respawns the daemon if
+                // it exited) and retry once.
+                self.reconnect(seen_gen).await?;
+                self.send_once(id, env).await
+            }
+        }
     }
 
     pub async fn register_output(&self, surface_id: String, channel: Channel<Vec<u8>>) {

app/src/App.tsx

@@ -37,6 +37,9 @@ export function App() {
   const [sidebarOpen, setSidebarOpen] = useState(() => loadFlag("spacesh.sidebarOpen", true));
   const [health, setHealth] = useState<DaemonHealth | null>(null);
   const [config, setConfigState] = useState<ConfigView | null>(null);
+  // Bumped when the daemon connection is re-established; used to remount the
+  // layout so terminals re-attach (snapshot + live stream) to the restarted daemon.
+  const [connEpoch, setConnEpoch] = useState(0);
   const [connected, setConnected] = useState(false);
   const [focusedId, setFocusedId] = useState<string | null>(null);
   const [searchSurfaceId, setSearchSurfaceId] = useState<string | null>(null);
@@ -112,7 +115,15 @@ export function App() {
       void loadHealth();
       void getConfig().then((c) => { setConfigState(c); applyTheme(c.theme, c.accent); }).catch(() => {});
     });
-    return () => { void unlisten.then((f) => f()); void reconnect.then((f) => f()); };
+    const reconnected = onDaemonRawEvent("spacesh:reconnected", () => {
+      setConnected(true);
+      setConnEpoch((n) => n + 1); // remount layout → terminals re-attach to the new daemon
+      void refresh();
+      void seedEvents();
+      void loadHealth();
+      void getConfig().then((c) => { setConfigState(c); applyTheme(c.theme, c.accent); }).catch(() => {});
+    });
+    return () => { void unlisten.then((f) => f()); void reconnect.then((f) => f()); void reconnected.then((f) => f()); };
   }, [refresh, seedEvents, loadHealth]);
 
   useEffect(() => {
@@ -158,7 +169,7 @@ export function App() {
           )}
           <div style={{ flex: 1, minHeight: 0, position: "relative" }}>
             {active
-              ? <LayoutEngine workspaceId={active.id} layout={active.layout} running={running} states={states} surfaces={active.surfaces} focusedId={effectiveFocus} onFocus={setFocusedId} zoomed={active.zoomed} searchSurfaceId={searchSurfaceId} searchNonce={searchNonce} onCloseSearch={() => setSearchSurfaceId(null)} font={termFont} palette={termPalette} />
+              ? <LayoutEngine key={connEpoch} workspaceId={active.id} layout={active.layout} running={running} states={states} surfaces={active.surfaces} focusedId={effectiveFocus} onFocus={setFocusedId} zoomed={active.zoomed} searchSurfaceId={searchSurfaceId} searchNonce={searchNonce} onCloseSearch={() => setSearchSurfaceId(null)} font={termFont} palette={termPalette} />
               : <div style={{ color: COLORS.textMuted, padding: 24 }}>No workspace — create one to begin.</div>}
           </div>
         </div>

app/src/Settings.tsx

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import { useEffect, useRef, useState } from "react";
 import { COLORS, FONT, ACCENTS } from "./theme";
-import { setConfig, shutdownDaemon, restartDaemon } from "./socketBridge";
+import { setConfig, restartDaemon } from "./socketBridge";
 import type { ConfigView, DaemonHealth } from "./socketBridge";
 
 const FONTS = ["JetBrains Mono", "Menlo", "Monaco", "SF Mono", "Fira Code", "Cascadia Code"];
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ function fmtUptime(ms: number): string {
 }
 
 function DaemonSection({ health, onReload }: { health: DaemonHealth | null; onReload: () => void }) {
-  const [confirm, setConfirm] = useState<null | "stop" | "restart">(null);
+  const [confirm, setConfirm] = useState(false);
   // Tick so uptime counts up live while the modal is open.
   const [, setTick] = useState(0);
   useEffect(() => {
@@ -88,19 +88,18 @@ function DaemonSection({ health, onReload }: { health: DaemonHealth | null; onRe
         </>) : <div>offline</div>}
       </div>
       <div style={{ display: "flex", gap: 8, marginTop: 12 }}>
-        <button onClick={() => setConfirm("restart")} style={{ padding: "7px 14px", background: COLORS.bgElevated, color: COLORS.textPrimary, border: `1px solid ${COLORS.borderStrong}`, borderRadius: 7, fontSize: 13 }}>Restart</button>
+        <button onClick={() => setConfirm(true)} style={{ padding: "7px 14px", background: COLORS.bgElevated, color: COLORS.textPrimary, border: `1px solid ${COLORS.borderStrong}`, borderRadius: 7, fontSize: 13 }}>Restart</button>
-        <button onClick={() => setConfirm("stop")} style={{ padding: "7px 14px", background: "transparent", color: COLORS.stError, border: `1px solid ${COLORS.stError}`, borderRadius: 7, fontSize: 13 }}>Stop</button>
       </div>
       {confirm && (
         <div style={{ marginTop: 10, padding: 10, borderRadius: 8, background: COLORS.bgPanel, border: `1px solid ${COLORS.borderStrong}` }}>
           <div style={{ fontSize: 12, color: COLORS.textSecondary, marginBottom: 8 }}>
-            {confirm === "stop" ? "Stop the daemon? All sessions end." : "Restart the daemon? Sessions end and respawn."}
+            Restart the daemon? Running sessions end and respawn; panels re-attach automatically.
           </div>
           <div style={{ display: "flex", gap: 8, justifyContent: "flex-end" }}>
-            <button onClick={() => setConfirm(null)} style={{ padding: "5px 12px", background: COLORS.bgElevated, color: COLORS.textPrimary, border: `1px solid ${COLORS.borderStrong}`, borderRadius: 6, fontSize: 12 }}>Cancel</button>
+            <button onClick={() => setConfirm(false)} style={{ padding: "5px 12px", background: COLORS.bgElevated, color: COLORS.textPrimary, border: `1px solid ${COLORS.borderStrong}`, borderRadius: 6, fontSize: 12 }}>Cancel</button>
-            <button onClick={() => { const c = confirm; setConfirm(null); void (c === "stop" ? shutdownDaemon() : restartDaemon()).then(onReload); }}
+            <button onClick={() => { setConfirm(false); void restartDaemon().then(onReload); }}
               style={{ padding: "5px 12px", background: COLORS.stError, color: "#fff", border: "none", borderRadius: 6, fontSize: 12, fontWeight: 600 }}>
-              {confirm === "stop" ? "Stop" : "Restart"}
+              Restart
             </button>
           </div>
         </div>