fix: keep labeled system turns visible in history replay (by Wren)

packages/cli/src/commands/chat-hydration.test.ts

@@ -169,6 +169,55 @@ describe('hydrateLedgerFromTranscript — compaction events', () => {
     expect(previewContents.filter((c) => c === 'kept question')).toHaveLength(1);
   });
 
+  it('includes labeled system turns in tailPreview, excluding continuation noise', () => {
+    // Heartbeat triggers / channel-delivered messages must stay visible in
+    // the replay (regression: moving them from type:user to type:system_turn
+    // dropped them from the preview — answers appeared without questions).
+    writeTranscript([
+      { type: 'system_turn', content: '[HEARTBEAT TRIGGER] check email', label: 'heartbeat' },
+      { type: 'assistant', content: 'heartbeat cycle complete', backend: 'claude' },
+      {
+        type: 'system_turn',
+        content: 'Continue working. Use signal_status…',
+        label: 'continuation',
+      },
+      { type: 'assistant', content: 'still done', backend: 'claude' },
+    ]);
+
+    const ledger = new ContextLedger();
+    const result = hydrateLedgerFromTranscript(ledger, transcriptPath);
+
+    const previews = result.tailPreview.map((p) => ({ role: p.role, label: p.label }));
+    expect(result.tailPreview[0].content).toContain('[HEARTBEAT TRIGGER]');
+    expect(previews[0]).toEqual({ role: 'system', label: 'heartbeat' });
+    // Continuation prompts excluded from replay; both assistant replies kept
+    expect(result.tailPreview.filter((p) => p.label === 'continuation')).toHaveLength(0);
+    expect(result.tailPreview.filter((p) => p.role === 'assistant')).toHaveLength(2);
+  });
+
+  it('keeps labeled system turns visible through compaction keptEntries', () => {
+    writeTranscript([
+      { type: 'user', content: 'old' },
+      {
+        type: 'compaction',
+        summary: 'the summary',
+        keptEntries: [
+          { role: 'system', content: '[HEARTBEAT TRIGGER] hourly check', source: 'heartbeat' },
+          { role: 'assistant', content: 'cycle complete', source: 'claude' },
+          { role: 'system', content: 'internal echo', source: 'pcp-activity' },
+        ],
+      },
+    ]);
+
+    const ledger = new ContextLedger();
+    const result = hydrateLedgerFromTranscript(ledger, transcriptPath);
+
+    const labels = result.tailPreview.map((p) => p.label || p.role);
+    expect(labels).toContain('heartbeat');
+    expect(labels).not.toContain('pcp-activity'); // internal sources stay out of replay
+    expect(result.tailPreview.map((p) => p.content)).not.toContain('old');
+  });
+
   it('skips malformed keptEntries without crashing', () => {
     writeTranscript([
       {

packages/cli/src/commands/chat.ts

@@ -387,7 +387,13 @@ interface HistoryHydrationResult {
   messageCount: number;
   source: 'repl-transcript' | 'pcp-session-context' | 'none';
   transcriptPath?: string;
-  tailPreview: Array<{ role: 'user' | 'assistant' | 'inbox'; content: string; ts?: string }>;
+  tailPreview: Array<{
+    role: 'user' | 'assistant' | 'inbox' | 'system';
+    content: string;
+    ts?: string;
+    /** Display label for system entries (e.g., "heartbeat", "continuation") */
+    label?: string;
+  }>;
   seenInboxIds?: string[];
   seenActivityIds?: string[];
   /** True when hydration collapsed history at a compaction event */
@@ -619,8 +625,13 @@ export function hydrateLedgerFromTranscript(
   // (and only them; entries that pre-date hydration are left alone).
   const hydratedEntryIds: number[] = [];
 
-  const pushPreview = (role: 'user' | 'assistant' | 'inbox', content: string, ts?: string) => {
-    preview.push({ role, content: compactForHistoryPreview(role, content), ts });
+  const pushPreview = (
+    role: 'user' | 'assistant' | 'inbox' | 'system',
+    content: string,
+    ts?: string,
+    label?: string
+  ) => {
+    preview.push({ role, content: compactForHistoryPreview(role, content), ts, label });
     if (preview.length > HISTORY_PREVIEW_MAX) {
       preview.shift();
     }
@@ -657,11 +668,9 @@ export function hydrateLedgerFromTranscript(
           keptRecord.role === 'system'
             ? keptRecord.role
             : 'system';
-        const entry = ledger.addEntry(
-          role,
-          keptRecord.content,
-          typeof keptRecord.source === 'string' ? keptRecord.source : 'compaction-tail'
-        );
+        const source =
+          typeof keptRecord.source === 'string' ? keptRecord.source : 'compaction-tail';
+        const entry = ledger.addEntry(role, keptRecord.content, source);
         hydratedEntryIds.push(entry.id);
         loaded += 1;
         if (role === 'user' || role === 'assistant' || role === 'inbox') {
@@ -671,6 +680,15 @@ export function hydrateLedgerFromTranscript(
             keptRecord.content,
             typeof event.ts === 'string' ? event.ts : undefined
           );
+        } else if (role === 'system' && !INTERNAL_SYSTEM_SOURCES.has(source)) {
+          // Kept system turns with a meaningful channel label (heartbeat,
+          // telegram, …) stay visible in the replay
+          pushPreview(
+            'system',
+            keptRecord.content,
+            typeof event.ts === 'string' ? event.ts : undefined,
+            source
+          );
         }
       }
       continue;
@@ -712,6 +730,16 @@ export function hydrateLedgerFromTranscript(
       hydratedEntryIds.push(entry.id);
       loaded += 1;
       messageCount += 1;
+      // Continuation prompts are repetitive noise — keep delivered messages
+      // (heartbeat triggers, channel messages) visible in the replay.
+      if (label !== 'continuation') {
+        pushPreview(
+          'system',
+          event.content,
+          typeof event.ts === 'string' ? event.ts : undefined,
+          label
+        );
+      }
       continue;
     }
     if (type === 'hook_injection' && typeof event.content === 'string') {
@@ -835,7 +863,25 @@ function compactForLedger(content: string, maxChars = LEDGER_COMPACT_CHARS): str
   return `${normalized.slice(0, Math.max(1, maxChars - 1))}…`;
 }
 
-function compactForHistoryPreview(role: 'user' | 'assistant' | 'inbox', content: string): string {
+// System-entry sources that are runtime bookkeeping, not conversation —
+// excluded from the visible history replay (they stay in the ledger).
+const INTERNAL_SYSTEM_SOURCES = new Set([
+  'continuation',
+  'compaction-tail',
+  'compaction-history',
+  'pcp-activity',
+  'pcp-activity-history',
+  'passive-recall',
+  'budget-monitor',
+  'auto-run',
+  'hook-history',
+  'bootstrap',
+]);
+
+function compactForHistoryPreview(
+  role: 'user' | 'assistant' | 'inbox' | 'system',
+  content: string
+): string {
   if (role === 'inbox') {
     return compactForLedger(content.replace(/\s+/g, ' ').trim(), 180);
   }
@@ -4342,9 +4388,17 @@ export async function runChat(options: ChatOptions): Promise<void> {
             ? ('user' as const)
             : entry.role === 'assistant'
               ? ('assistant' as const)
-              : ('inbox' as const);
+              : entry.role === 'system'
+                ? ('system' as const)
+                : ('inbox' as const);
         const label =
-          entry.role === 'user' ? 'you' : entry.role === 'assistant' ? agentId : '📬 inbox';
+          entry.role === 'user'
+            ? 'you'
+            : entry.role === 'assistant'
+              ? agentId
+              : entry.role === 'system'
+                ? entry.label || 'system'
+                : '📬 inbox';
         inkRepl.addMessage(role, entry.content, {
           label,
           time: formatHumanTime(entry.ts, runtime.userTimezone),