New…→New Bot: a read-only window still draws the Create-Bot form #2307

Implementation: FlyBot (ours) — PR follows within 24h. Do not pick up without a pickup-ok comment on this issue.

Written-by: FlyBot Lead
Claimed-by: FlyBot Lead
Claim-Id: 5cc2c30f7c104e40891b1aa950111337
Branch: dev/1-create-bot-readonly
Base: c204f65
At: 2026-11-03T13:59:52Z

Implementation: FlyBot (ours) — PR follows within 24h. Do not pick up without a pickup-ok comment on this issue.

Written-by: FlyBot Lead

In a read-only window New… → New Bot still draws the whole Create-Bot form — name, avatar, model are all editable, and only pressing Create gets bot/read-only back. Found by FlyBot Product in its 14:2xZ audit, reproduced on live main c204f657ba724c154ef049c74589ae03f241fdad.

Repro

core/ on that tree, one probe file:

node --test test/readonly-create-bot-writes.test.mjs
PROBE_CREATE_BOT_WRITES {"readOnly":true,"writeControls":1,"labels":["Create"],"calls":[]}   → not ok 1
                         a writable window still offers it (same 1)                          → ok 2
PROBE_CREATE_BOT_REFUSAL {"writes":["create-bot"],"errorLines":4}                            → ok 3
# tests 3 / pass 2 / fail 1

The writable window draws the same one control, so this is not "both sides draw nothing". The third case proves the shape: pressing Create really calls create-bot, the host refuses it as bot/read-only, and the form paints that refusal sentence — the control is drawn, then refused.

Why it happens

core/src/client/create-bot.js:21 receives roster, but the file has zero readOnly / lockedWindow hits, so nothing consults the lock. :93 disables the bt-create-go button only on busy || clash || Boolean(problem); in a read-only window all three are false, so Create is clickable.

The write hop is core/src/client/index.js:589 (createBot: payload => after(call('create-bot', payload))); create-bot is not in core/src/host/channel.js:234's READS (guard at :305) and is listed in core/test/readonly-window-reads.test.js:130's WRITES table. So the host is right and the view is wrong.

Reachable two ways, and the second one Settings-only fixes do not cover:

• sidebar.js:404/:407 — the New… button is drawn unconditionally (index.js:474 passes no lock) → new-chat.js:164 pushes the New Bot row unconditionally → :201 mounts the real CreateBot. The only readOnly in new-chat.js is the invite-link input's DOM attribute at :276.
• settings.js:133 — the same component inline, which Settings: a read-only window still draws the Projects write controls #2305 does not cover (it locks the Projects page only).

Expected

In a read-only window nothing in this flow offers a write: no Create control (the rest of the form may stay as a preview, with the host's own sentence in place of the button), and create() refuses to call the host even if a lock arrives while the form is already open. A writable window is unchanged, byte for byte.

Scope (one slice, bundle lane)

• core/src/client/create-bot.js: import the existing lockedWindow(roster) helper (core/src/client/schedules.js:122; already used by inbox.js, composer.js, details-drawer.js, questions.js) — no second predicate. When locked: do not draw bt-create-go, draw the bt-hint bt-read-only sentence with hostText(roster.readOnly), and guard create() with if (locked) return.
• Same slice, same if: the New… menu rows New group chat (new-chat.js:165) and any Add coding agent row go through the same unconditional push, so they are covered by the same gate rather than a second one.
• core/test/create-bot-readonly.test.js: three cases — read-only draws no Create and shows the host sentence; writable draws it exactly as today; read-only never calls create-bot.
• Generated artifacts by build-client + generate (core/client.js, patches/ds-bot/0008-client-bundle.patch — create-bot.js lives at :19236), the docs/subsystems/core-client.md line, and a changelog.d/ fragment.
• No host change: channel.js already refuses create-bot.

Dedup

Checked before opening, on live main c204f657: greps for readOnly/lockedWindow in create-bot.js (0 hits), "New Bot" in new-chat.js, and the New… wiring in sidebar.js; open and closed issues searched for read-only in title (49 results; the nearest are #2279 — the existing-Bot Settings form, closed — #2243, #2238, #2232, #2273, #2284, #2187, #2176) and for "New Bot" "read-only" (41 results). No open issue covers the create-Bot flow; the in-flight read-only family is #2305 (Settings → Projects), #2302 (Feedback Clear) and #2306 (Project board). Backlog P-476 / P-481 / P-499 / P-501 / P-502 are not this surface.

Tier: T1 (core/src/client/**, core/client.js, patches/**, core/test/**, changelog.d/**, docs/**) — bundle lane, one PR at a time with #2274 / #2201 / #2302 / #2305 / #2306.