client: a chat bubble's image renders as alt text because #2313's link delegate shadows the host's file resolver #2319

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: 69feb72e65224dadb29e413fa6db88c9
Branch: dev/2-bubble-image-delegate
Base: e40cecf
At: 2026-11-04T00:25:10Z

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

Written-by: FlyBot Lead

What is wrong

After v0.2.22 (e40cecf6), an image inside a chat bubble renders as its alt text only. A message that contains ![shot](screenshots/a.png), with screenshots/a.png present in the session workspace, shows the word shot and no picture; it cannot be opened in the lightbox either. v0.2.21 showed the image.

This is a regression introduced by #2313 (the #2201 link fix), which is in the v0.2.22 release.

Root cause (verified on live main e40cecf6 and the pinned host @deepseek-ai/dsh@0.2.0-rc.2)

Two facts combine:

1. The host hands fileImages to the view, not to the node. dsh-client-ui-chat/lib/client.js:5148 builds the resolver (fileMediaUrl(document.baseURI, resolveWorkspacePath(cwd, path))) and :5280-5283 passes it to the MarkdownDelegateProvider that wraps ChatNodeList. The per-node owner object handed to a node renderer (:1727-1738) carries cwd, openFile, openSkill, inspectCall, forkAt, loadImage, renderMessageImages, fileMentions, turnProcess — no fileImages. FlyBot's cells are fed by exactly that owner object, so fileImages is undefined everywhere in our tree (bundle core/client.js:6839/6850/7062/7182/7236; face() and assistantFace also carry none).

2. A nested MarkdownDelegateProvider replaces the enclosing capabilities. dsh-client-ui-primitives/lib/index.js:11040-11052 builds the context value from exactly its own {openExternalLink, openFile, fileImages} props — "Nested providers replace the enclosing capabilities". So bubbleMarkdown (core/src/client/cells.js:33, :49) wraps MarkdownText in a provider whose fileImages is undefined, shadowing the host's resolver that used to reach the bubble. MarkdownImage (:11543-11549) then gets fileImages?.resolve(...) ?? imageSource(destination, pathImages) → undefined → it draws <span class="imageAlt">{alt}</span>.

Before #2313, core/src/client/cells.js (at a11983c5) imported only MarkdownText and rendered it bare at the same three sites, so the nearest provider was the host's and images resolved. Call sites now: :85 (Bubbles), :614 (EarlierParts), :1002 (GroupReplies).

useMarkdownDelegate is not exported by the primitives package (export list, lib/index.js:12381), so the delegate cannot be read back from context and merged.

Reproduction

1. Run v0.2.22 and open a chat whose message text is ![shot](screenshots/a.png).
2. Expected: the image, clickable into the lightbox (preview: fileImages at lib/index.js:11554).
3. Actual: only the alt text shot; no image, no lightbox.

Why the new tests stayed green

core/test/chat-link-open.test.js:27-31 replaces the provider with a stub that does Object.assign(delegate, { openExternalLink, openFile, fileImages }) and returns children. That models inheritance, not replacement, and it never renders an image, so a shadowed resolver is invisible to it. The whole file only exercises http(s) anchors.

Scope of the fix

• Keep MarkdownText bare at :85, :614, :1002 — drop the nested MarkdownDelegateProvider so the host's fileImages/openFile reach the bubble again, exactly as in v0.2.21.
• Move the client: a link in a chat opens the host's right panel behind FlyBot's own fixed panel, so the page looks blank until the panel is closed #2201 link interception out of the delegate and into capture-phase click handling on the containers: Bubbles already has onClickCapture (:55-75); EarlierParts and GroupReplies need the same. Handle only a[href] with an http/https link, preventDefault() + stopPropagation(), then the existing behaviour: actions.browserNewTab(subject) → actions.browserNavigate(tabId, href), window.open fallback when no panel.
• Leave modifier-click and non-http(s) links (file links, mention anchors) to the host.
• Regenerate the bundle: node core/scripts/build-client.mjs (--check must pass).

Rejected alternative: rebuilding a fileImages resolver inside FlyBot from cwd would need the host-internal fileMediaUrl/resolveWorkspacePath pair, duplicating the host's URL scheme and drifting from it.

The pull request carries changelog.d/2319-bubble-image-delegate.fixed.md — .fixed.md, because this is a
regression fix, and changelog.d/README.md asks for one file per user-visible change. The CI check
(node .github/scripts/changelog.mjs check) only validates fragments that exist, so the fragment has to
be written deliberately rather than left to the gate.

Acceptance

• A test that models the real semantics: a provider stub that replaces its context and an image renderer that reads the resolver from it; the image case must be red at e40cecf6 and green after the fix.
• The existing http(s) anchor cases still pass, and a modifier-click / file-link case proves those are left to the host.
• core/scripts/build-client.mjs --check, npm --prefix core test and npm run verify green at the tip.

Deduplication

• Code search repo:ThinkFlowLab/FlyBot "fileImages": only the cells chain, the bundle, the patch and the test stub — no other resolver path.
• Issue search (image markdown, open): only client: a link in a chat opens the host's right panel behind FlyBot's own fixed panel, so the page looks blank until the panel is closed #2313 (merged, the cause), Fix the UI defects a click-through found: drawer wrapping, protocol previews, blank chats, failure copy #1346 and Rewrite the README for what people do with FlyBot #1385 (closed, unrelated); no open duplicate.

Out of scope

• The window.open fallback is in scope after all: this fix keeps both noopener and noreferrer in the third argument, so the dropped-noreferrer gap named at client: a link in a chat opens the host's right panel behind FlyBot's own fixed panel, so the page looks blank until the panel is closed #2313 is closed here rather than tracked separately. What stays separate is the host-side gap (the host hands openFile/cwd but not fileImages to a plugin node view, so a local image destination inside a bubble keeps rendering as alt text until the host supplies the resolver) and extra argument-level coverage for GroupMessage/AssistantCell.
• A toolbar entry to open a panel page in the user's own browser — separate enhancement.