The agent panel is meant to open by default, and does — until anyone closes it once, after which that browser profile boots collapsed forever.
Ryan asked for it explicitly, 29:04: "I'd actually say maybe having the Gently agent window show up as a default would help, because when you go through bottom cam and SPIM head, the user, if they're not familiar with the program, is used to interacting with this interface here… so you're looking for some button in the main interface." Agreed on the call: "we can definitely expand the window by default."
restorePrefs() (agent-chat.js:1240-1251) does default to open, with a comment saying so. But togglePanel persists the state: localStorage.setItem('gently-chat-open', panelOpen ? '1' : '0') (:1159). The header toggle, the × (:1325) and Ctrl+J (:1333) all route through it. So one close on the microscope PC makes "open by default" false on that machine indefinitely — which is a plausible explanation for why it was collapsed at the start of the walkthrough.
Fix: if open-by-default means always, delete the persistence rather than adding a flag — remove :1159 and :1249-1250, leaving togglePanel(true). Two-line deletion; Ctrl+J still collapses it for the session.
Before the next demo: clear gently-chat-open in the scope PC's browser profile regardless of whether the code changes.
Evidence: 2026-08-07 walkthrough, 29:04–30:13. Not previously captured.
The agent panel is meant to open by default, and does — until anyone closes it once, after which that browser profile boots collapsed forever.
Ryan asked for it explicitly, 29:04: "I'd actually say maybe having the Gently agent window show up as a default would help, because when you go through bottom cam and SPIM head, the user, if they're not familiar with the program, is used to interacting with this interface here… so you're looking for some button in the main interface." Agreed on the call: "we can definitely expand the window by default."
restorePrefs()(agent-chat.js:1240-1251) does default to open, with a comment saying so. ButtogglePanelpersists the state:localStorage.setItem('gently-chat-open', panelOpen ? '1' : '0')(:1159). The header toggle, the×(:1325) and Ctrl+J (:1333) all route through it. So one close on the microscope PC makes "open by default" false on that machine indefinitely — which is a plausible explanation for why it was collapsed at the start of the walkthrough.Fix: if open-by-default means always, delete the persistence rather than adding a flag — remove
:1159and:1249-1250, leavingtogglePanel(true). Two-line deletion; Ctrl+J still collapses it for the session.Before the next demo: clear
gently-chat-openin the scope PC's browser profile regardless of whether the code changes.Evidence: 2026-08-07 walkthrough, 29:04–30:13. Not previously captured.