From af11e0f2d3b6a554a2bca1f1f1931debd8444cbf Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Jer Miller <jeremie.miller@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 6 Mar 2026 10:43:52 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] Fix chat metadata race during agent startup

Background chat event handling could look up a new chat before its metadata file had been written, causing a 404 once the agent started emitting events. Save new chat metadata to disk immediately after agent creation using a fallback title, then update it with the generated title if it differs. Also move chat redirect journal setup ahead of cortex_request so the metadata save runs immediately after agent spawn succeeds.
---
 apps/chat/call.py   | 14 +++++++-------
 apps/chat/routes.py |  8 ++++++--
 2 files changed, 13 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)

diff --git a/apps/chat/call.py b/apps/chat/call.py
index 093e23e76..bd0a0cf7c 100644
--- a/apps/chat/call.py
+++ b/apps/chat/call.py
@@ -66,6 +66,13 @@ def redirect(
 
     title = generate_chat_title(message)
 
+    import convey.state
+    from apps.utils import get_app_storage_path
+    from convey.utils import save_json
+    from think.utils import get_journal, now_ms
+
+    convey.state.journal_root = str(get_journal())
+
     from think.cortex_client import cortex_request
 
     config: dict = {}
@@ -81,13 +88,6 @@ def redirect(
         typer.echo("Error: failed to create chat thread", err=True)
         raise typer.Exit(1)
 
-    import convey.state
-    from apps.utils import get_app_storage_path
-    from convey.utils import save_json
-    from think.utils import get_journal, now_ms
-
-    convey.state.journal_root = str(get_journal())
-
     chat_id = agent_id
     ts = now_ms()
     chat_record = {
diff --git a/apps/chat/routes.py b/apps/chat/routes.py
index 63189768a..040ae8c13 100644
--- a/apps/chat/routes.py
+++ b/apps/chat/routes.py
@@ -216,17 +216,21 @@ def send_message() -> Any:
         else:
             # New chat: create metadata record
             chat_id = agent_id
-            title = generate_chat_title(message)
+            fallback_title = message.split("\n")[0][:30]
             chat_record = {
                 "ts": ts,
                 "facet": facet,
                 "provider": provider,
                 "muse": "default",
-                "title": title,
+                "title": fallback_title,
                 "agent_ids": [agent_id],
             }
             chats_dir = get_app_storage_path("chat", "chats")
             save_json(chats_dir / f"{chat_id}.json", chat_record)
+            title = generate_chat_title(message)
+            if title != fallback_title:
+                chat_record["title"] = title
+                _save_chat(chat_id, chat_record)
 
         return jsonify(chat_id=chat_id, agent_id=agent_id)
     except Exception as e:
-- 
2.51.2