Add status updates to show agent thinking/processing state

- Add StatusUpdate enum with Thinking, ToolStarted, ToolCompleted, StreamChunk, Status variants
- Add send_status method to Channel trait (default no-op)
- Implement send_status in TuiChannel to show status in UI
- Add send_status to ChannelManager for routing to specific channels
- Update handle_message to send "Processing..." status for Chat/CreateJob
- Update handle_chat to send "Generating response..." and show errors

Now when a user sends a message, they see feedback that the agent is working.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>

src/agent/agent_loop.rs

@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ use uuid::Uuid;
 
 use crate::agent::self_repair::DefaultSelfRepair;
 use crate::agent::{MessageIntent, RepairTask, Router, Scheduler};
-use crate::channels::{ChannelManager, IncomingMessage, OutgoingResponse};
+use crate::channels::{ChannelManager, IncomingMessage, OutgoingResponse, StatusUpdate};
 use crate::config::AgentConfig;
 use crate::context::ContextManager;
 use crate::error::Error;
@@ -127,6 +127,20 @@ impl Agent {
         let intent = self.router.route(message);
         tracing::debug!("Routed to intent: {:?}", intent);
 
+        // Send thinking status for non-trivial operations
+        match &intent {
+            MessageIntent::Chat { .. } | MessageIntent::CreateJob { .. } => {
+                let _ = self
+                    .channels
+                    .send_status(
+                        &message.channel,
+                        StatusUpdate::Thinking("Processing...".into()),
+                    )
+                    .await;
+            }
+            _ => {}
+        }
+
         // Handle based on intent
         let response = match intent {
             MessageIntent::CreateJob {
@@ -293,20 +307,41 @@ impl Agent {
         }
     }
 
-    async fn handle_chat(
-        &self,
-        _message: &IncomingMessage,
-        content: &str,
-    ) -> Result<String, Error> {
+    async fn handle_chat(&self, message: &IncomingMessage, content: &str) -> Result<String, Error> {
+        // Send thinking status
+        let _ = self
+            .channels
+            .send_status(
+                &message.channel,
+                StatusUpdate::Thinking("Generating response...".into()),
+            )
+            .await;
+
         // Use LLM for general chat
         let reasoning = Reasoning::new(self.llm.clone(), self.safety.clone());
 
         let context = ReasoningContext::new().with_message(ChatMessage::user(content));
 
-        let response = reasoning.respond(&context).await?;
-
+        match reasoning.respond(&context).await {
+            Ok(response) => {
+                let _ = self
+                    .channels
+                    .send_status(&message.channel, StatusUpdate::Status("Done".into()))
+                    .await;
                 Ok(response)
             }
+            Err(e) => {
+                let _ = self
+                    .channels
+                    .send_status(
+                        &message.channel,
+                        StatusUpdate::Status(format!("Error: {}", e)),
+                    )
+                    .await;
+                Err(e.into())
+            }
+        }
+    }
 
     async fn handle_command(
         &self,

src/channels/channel.rs

@@ -99,6 +99,21 @@ impl OutgoingResponse {
     }
 }
 
+/// Status update types for showing agent activity.
+#[derive(Debug, Clone)]
+pub enum StatusUpdate {
+    /// Agent is thinking/processing.
+    Thinking(String),
+    /// Tool execution started.
+    ToolStarted { name: String },
+    /// Tool execution completed.
+    ToolCompleted { name: String, success: bool },
+    /// Streaming text chunk.
+    StreamChunk(String),
+    /// General status message.
+    Status(String),
+}
+
 /// Trait for message channels.
 ///
 /// Channels receive messages from external sources and convert them to
@@ -124,6 +139,13 @@ pub trait Channel: Send + Sync {
         response: OutgoingResponse,
     ) -> Result<(), ChannelError>;
 
+    /// Send a status update (thinking, tool execution, etc.).
+    ///
+    /// Default implementation does nothing (for channels that don't support status).
+    async fn send_status(&self, _status: StatusUpdate) -> Result<(), ChannelError> {
+        Ok(())
+    }
+
     /// Check if the channel is healthy.
     async fn health_check(&self) -> Result<(), ChannelError>;
 

src/channels/cli/mod.rs

@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ use ratatui::backend::CrosstermBackend;
 use tokio::sync::{Mutex, mpsc};
 use tokio_stream::wrappers::ReceiverStream;
 
-use crate::channels::{Channel, IncomingMessage, MessageStream, OutgoingResponse};
+use crate::channels::{Channel, IncomingMessage, MessageStream, OutgoingResponse, StatusUpdate};
 use crate::error::ChannelError;
 
 pub use app::{AppEvent, AppState, InputMode};
@@ -109,6 +109,26 @@ impl Channel for TuiChannel {
         Ok(())
     }
 
+    async fn send_status(&self, status: StatusUpdate) -> Result<(), ChannelError> {
+        let event = match status {
+            StatusUpdate::Thinking(msg) => AppEvent::LogMessage(format!("🤔 {}", msg)),
+            StatusUpdate::ToolStarted { name } => AppEvent::ToolStarted { name },
+            StatusUpdate::ToolCompleted { name, success } => {
+                AppEvent::ToolCompleted { name, success }
+            }
+            StatusUpdate::StreamChunk(chunk) => AppEvent::StreamChunk(chunk),
+            StatusUpdate::Status(msg) => AppEvent::LogMessage(msg),
+        };
+        self.event_tx
+            .send(event)
+            .await
+            .map_err(|e| ChannelError::SendFailed {
+                name: "tui".to_string(),
+                reason: e.to_string(),
+            })?;
+        Ok(())
+    }
+
     async fn health_check(&self) -> Result<(), ChannelError> {
         // Channel is healthy if we haven't been closed
         if self.event_tx.is_closed() {

src/channels/manager.rs

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ use std::sync::Arc;
 use futures::stream;
 use tokio::sync::RwLock;
 
-use crate::channels::{Channel, IncomingMessage, MessageStream, OutgoingResponse};
+use crate::channels::{Channel, IncomingMessage, MessageStream, OutgoingResponse, StatusUpdate};
 use crate::error::ChannelError;
 
 /// Manages multiple input channels and merges their message streams.
@@ -82,6 +82,21 @@ impl ChannelManager {
         }
     }
 
+    /// Send a status update to a specific channel.
+    pub async fn send_status(
+        &self,
+        channel_name: &str,
+        status: StatusUpdate,
+    ) -> Result<(), ChannelError> {
+        let channels = self.channels.read().await;
+        if let Some(channel) = channels.get(channel_name) {
+            channel.send_status(status).await
+        } else {
+            // Silently ignore if channel not found (status is best-effort)
+            Ok(())
+        }
+    }
+
     /// Check health of all channels.
     pub async fn health_check_all(&self) -> HashMap<String, Result<(), ChannelError>> {
         let channels = self.channels.read().await;

src/channels/mod.rs

@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ mod manager;
 mod slack;
 mod telegram;
 
-pub use channel::{Channel, IncomingMessage, MessageStream, OutgoingResponse};
+pub use channel::{Channel, IncomingMessage, MessageStream, OutgoingResponse, StatusUpdate};
 pub use cli::TuiChannel;
 pub use http::HttpChannel;
 pub use manager::ChannelManager;