[Feature]: Add search to project pickers

[slate-rehm]

FYI - this is my first contribution idea. Help me get it right!

No PR yet. You can see the proof of concept in my fork here:

• commit
• branch

Please let me know your thoughts and the direction this should go in.

---

Duplicate check

I searched Ideas discussions from the last two weeks and found no identical proposal for search in these project pickers.

The closest discussions are:

• #7836 proposes sidebar groups and project-scope navigation. It does not add search to a project picker.
• #8084 proposes thread search by branch name and pull request number. It does not change project selection.

Area

This proposal applies web+desktop and changes apps/web

Problem

Users with many projects must scan and scroll through a long list to find one project. I am one of these users. I frequently need to wander through the list of projects I support in my day-job.

The command palette already supports project search but it combines searching for projects with searching for files. It in unreliable and does not align with the create-thread workflow.

Proposed solution

Keep the current appearance when the project picker is first opened.

After the project picker opens:

• Give keyboard focus to its hidden search input.
• Show the search field after the user types the first character.
• Filter against the visible project name.
• Match without case sensitivity.
• Keep the current project order.
• Keep the New project and Project settings actions.
• Restore the full list when the user clears the query.
• Clear the query when the user closes the picker.

Thus --> No visual change from the current implement until the user begins typing. We replace the default BaseUI typeahead with dedicated search.

Screenshots

Sidebar project filter: unfiltered list (unchanged)

Sidebar project filter: filtered list (when typing)

Draft project picker: unfiltered list (unchanged)

Draft project picker: filtered list (when typing)