docs(ai): handoff for fresh session — AI consolidation plan locked

- HANDOFF: rewritten resume point. AI summary blocker is the active
  task; consolidation plan is the path. 5-step implementation order
  with watch-outs and breadcrumbs.
- CURRENT_TASK: updated commit table through 0d1b305. Documents the
  live-test results (what works, the AI summary blocker), full
  consolidation design with proposed payload shape.
- SESSION_LOG: chronological entry covering live QA bash, two
  pickup bugs found + fixed, the three Enter/dashboard/timeout
  fixes, and the architectural smell that surfaced.
- DECISIONS: new entry "Consolidate the three per-escalation AI
  calls into one structured generation" — rejected alternatives
  (bump timeout further, copy status-update content the wrong way,
  switch to Haiku) and consequences (5s magic-moment, ~60% token
  reduction, instant Ticket Notes button, schema enforcement
  required, migration concerns documented).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 <noreply@anthropic.com>

.ai/SESSION_LOG.md

@@ -12,6 +12,24 @@
 
 ---
 
+## 2026-04-29 04:30 EDT — Claude Code — Live QA bash, pickup bug fixes, AI summary consolidation surfaced
+
+- User on a freshly swapped computer ran the live QA flow. Identified two bugs missed by static analysis from the previous session:
+  - **Pickup landed on a blank chat surface.** Root cause: commit `8914391` had made `activeChatId` initialize from `urlSessionId`, which broke the selectChat-gating effect in `AssistantChatPage` (`urlSessionId === activeChatId` short-circuited fresh mounts). Symptom was `selectChat` never firing post-claim; messages, conversation history, and pickup-flow correctness all silently broken.
+  - **Picked-up session missing from sidebar.** Root cause: `loadChats` runs once at mount; pre-claim the session's `escalated_to_id` is null (the junior didn't specify a target), so `listSessions` doesn't return it. Post-claim `claim_session` sets `escalated_to_id` to teamadmin, but the sidebar list never refreshes.
+- Fixes (commit `0d1b305`):
+  - Replaced the `urlSessionId === activeChatId` gate with a `loadedChatIdsRef` set so selectChat fires once per URL session per page lifecycle, regardless of whether activeChatId already matches.
+  - Added `loadChats()` call in `handleStartHere` after the claim succeeds so the sidebar reflects ownership.
+- Three additional pieces folded into `0d1b305` from the same QA bash:
+  - **Enter-to-submit on the escalate forms.** Chat-input convention: plain Enter submits, Shift+Enter inserts a newline. Added optional `onSubmit` prop to `RichTextInput` (used by `EscalateModal`) and inline `onKeyDown` on the plain textarea in `ConcludeSessionModal`. The user explicitly asked for this — they want to type the reason and hit Enter without reaching for the mouse.
+  - **Dashboard `PendingEscalations` rows expand to preview.** Click a row to reveal escalation reason + step count + confidence tier + PSA ticket number. Pick Up button click-stops to still go directly to magic moment. Single expansion at a time.
+  - **`ESCALATION_AI_ASSESSMENT_TIMEOUT_SECONDS` bumped 15 → 45.** Backend logs showed Sonnet hitting the 15s timeout in field testing. Background-task architecture (e8ba74e) means this no longer blocks the user — only bounds before publishing `has_assessment: false`. **Did NOT fix the live demo.** Assessment placeholder still permanent in user's test.
+- Surfaced an architectural smell: the escalation flow makes **three** Sonnet calls — `_build_escalation_package_enhanced`, `_generate_ai_assessment`, and `generate_status_update` (engineer-triggered) — all summarizing the same source material from slightly different angles. User correctly observed: status update is typically generated during the escalate flow anyway; reusing that content would consolidate.
+- Decided the right consolidation: ONE structured AI call per escalation that returns both the magic-moment diagnostic fields (`likely_cause`, `suggested_steps[]`, `confidence`) AND PSA-ready prose. Magic moment populates immediately. Status update buttons become tone-shift transformations (Haiku) of the saved prose, not fresh summarizations. Drops to 1 call (~60% token reduction), eliminates the AI-summary placeholder bug because the work happens in the foreground escalate path. Full implementation plan written into CURRENT_TASK.md and DECISIONS.md.
+- Session ended pre-consolidation: user is updating Claude Code CLI and starting a fresh session for clean context window. All work pushed to origin (`0d1b305`). PR #155 still draft.
+- Test users for the next session (Acme MSP shared account, password `TestPass123!`): `engineer@` (junior) and `teamadmin@` (senior).
+- Files touched: `frontend/src/pages/AssistantChatPage.tsx`, `frontend/src/components/common/RichTextInput.tsx`, `frontend/src/components/flowpilot/EscalateModal.tsx`, `frontend/src/components/assistant/ConcludeSessionModal.tsx`, `frontend/src/components/dashboard/PendingEscalations.tsx`, `backend/app/core/config.py`, `.ai/CURRENT_TASK.md`, `.ai/HANDOFF.md`, `.ai/SESSION_LOG.md`, `.ai/DECISIONS.md`.
+
 ## 2026-04-28 02:00 EDT — Claude Code — Plan-locked wedge polish + structural task-lane fix
 
 - Audited `docs/plans/2026-04-27-escalation-mode-wedge-design.md` against the branch and identified four locked-design / Codex-correction items not yet shipped: live AI assessment refresh, suggested-step chips, unread 6px dot on queue cards, and race-condition toast on claim conflict.