Fix: CLI suggestions now select first entry by default

[marius-kilocode]

Problem: When typing / in the CLI to trigger command autocomplete, the first entry was not visually selected, requiring users to press arrow down before they could select a command.

Root Cause: The suggestion action atoms were resetting selectedIndexAtom to -1 when clearing suggestions.

This works for all autocompletion (@ / and also model selections)

[changeset-bot]

🦋 Changeset detected

Latest commit: d24db47

The changes in this PR will be included in the next version bump.

This PR includes changesets to release 1 package

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@kilocode/cli	Patch

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[kiloconnect]

✅ No Issues Found

3 files reviewed | Confidence: 95% | Recommendation: Merge

Review Details

Files:

• cli/src/state/atoms/ui.ts - Core fix for selection behavior
• cli/src/state/atoms/__tests__/default-selection.test.ts - Comprehensive test coverage
• .changeset/cli-slash-command-default-selection.md - Changeset

Checked: Security, bugs, logic errors, edge cases, code patterns

Analysis:

• The fix correctly addresses the root cause: suggestion atoms were resetting selectedIndexAtom to -1 when clearing, which caused the first entry to not be selected when new suggestions appeared
• The new behavior only sets index to 0 when suggestions are provided, and does not modify the index when clearing (allowing other suggestion types to maintain their selection)
• This is consistent with existing patterns in approval.ts which also resets to 0 for new messages
• The setFollowupSuggestionsAtom intentionally uses -1 for different UX (allows custom typing) - this is preserved
• Tests are comprehensive and cover all suggestion types plus cross-menu isolation
• No breaking changes to UI components which handle indices safely with bounds checking

[kiloconnect]

✅ No Issues Found

3 files reviewed | Confidence: 95% | Recommendation: Merge

Review Details

Files Reviewed:

• .changeset/cli-slash-command-default-selection.md (changeset - trivial)
• cli/src/state/atoms/__tests__/default-selection.test.ts (new test file)
• cli/src/state/atoms/ui.ts (core fix)

Summary:
This PR fixes a UX issue where the first entry in autocomplete dropdowns was not visually selected by default when typing / to trigger command suggestions.

Root Cause & Fix:
The action atoms (setSuggestionsAtom, setArgumentSuggestionsAtom, setFileMentionSuggestionsAtom) were resetting selectedIndexAtom to -1 when clearing suggestions. The fix changes this to only set selectedIndexAtom to 0 when new suggestions are provided, without resetting when clearing.

Checked:

• ✅ Security: No concerns (UI state management only)
• ✅ Bugs: Logic is correct and consistent with existing patterns
• ✅ Performance: No impact (simple conditional logic)
• ✅ Error handling: N/A for this change
• ✅ Test coverage: Comprehensive tests added covering all suggestion types

Code Quality:

• Tests follow existing patterns in the codebase
• Changes are minimal and focused
• Comments explain the reasoning clearly

[kiloconnect]

✅ No Issues Found

3 files reviewed | Confidence: 95% | Recommendation: Merge

Review Details

Files:

• cli/src/state/atoms/ui.ts - Core fix for selection behavior
• cli/src/state/atoms/__tests__/default-selection.test.ts - Comprehensive test coverage
• .changeset/cli-slash-command-default-selection.md - Changeset

Summary:
This PR correctly fixes the issue where the first entry in dropdown menus was not selected by default when typing / to trigger command autocomplete.

Root Cause Analysis:
The previous implementation reset selectedIndexAtom to -1 when clearing suggestions. This caused interference between different suggestion types (commands, arguments, file mentions) - when one type was cleared, it would reset the shared selection index, affecting other active suggestion types.

Fix Verification:

• When suggestions are SET (length > 0): resets to index 0 ✓
• When suggestions are CLEARED (length === 0): does NOT touch the index ✓
• setFollowupSuggestionsAtom still correctly uses -1 (by design for custom typing) ✓
• setPendingApprovalAtom still correctly resets to 0 for new messages ✓

Checked: Security, bugs, logic errors, edge cases, test coverage

[kiloconnect]

✅ No Issues Found

3 files reviewed | Confidence: 95% | Recommendation: Merge

Review Details

Files:

• cli/src/state/atoms/ui.ts - Core fix for selection behavior
• cli/src/state/atoms/__tests__/default-selection.test.ts - Comprehensive test coverage
• .changeset/cli-slash-command-default-selection.md - Changeset

Changes Analyzed:
The fix correctly addresses the root cause where selectedIndexAtom was being reset to -1 when clearing suggestions. The new behavior:

• Only sets selectedIndexAtom to 0 when new suggestions are provided
• Does not reset to -1 when clearing, allowing other suggestion types to maintain their selection
• Preserves intentional -1 behavior for followup suggestions (allows custom typing)

Checked: Security, bugs, state management, edge cases, test coverage

Quality Notes:

• Well-documented code with clear comments explaining the rationale
• Comprehensive test coverage for all suggestion types
• Proper handling of cross-menu selection isolation
• No breaking changes to existing behavior

[jdm64]

An alternative solution is in #4708. That solution sets selectedIndexAtom to -1 if there are no suggestions of all types.

[marius-kilocode]

Closing this. We adopt the approach of #4708 instead.