The browse and native backends were dual-face packages: a Node backend plus a
browser surface under one tsconfig that referenced Client packages. That put
Client projects — and through them the Client runtime — inside the Host
compiler aggregate, which builds before the generated Remote contributions
exist. Each browser half moves to its own Client package, and both backends
become Node-only.
The interaction is still one choice: the adaptive chooser mounts the backend
and its surface as a pair of Loader entries and tears both down in reverse, so
a resolved kind still swaps both faces. Compositions that pin an interaction
directly now pin the pair, and the chooser's runtime-string package list keeps
naming everything a composing app must resolve.
directory-picker-browse becomes dual-face: its browser half fills
ui-workspace's two directory-flow holes with the Select Workspace Directory
dialog (figma Harness 813-23126 family — Miller two-column view, breadcrumb
with click-to-edit path zone, nested New-folder dialog), driving the node
half's host.listDirectory/host.createDirectory and owning its locale
namespace (directory-browser, zh default / en). The dialog moves here from
ui-workspace wholesale — the trigger surfaces keep only the flow-hole owner
conversation.
apps/cli flips its one directory-picker row -native -> -browse, swapping the
host backend and the client interaction together; picking now works for
remote deployments out of the box. The keyless workspace-flow snapshot boots
the browse bundle and drives menu -> dialog -> Documents -> project -> Open
against the fixture tree.
The web GUI's folder picking was hardwired to one interaction: a native
OS chooser compiled into the gateway, unusable for remote deployments
and swappable only by editing apiproxy source.
Directory picking becomes a three-package capability seam in
packages/host: ctx.directoryPicker returns a discriminated capability —
dialog (the extracted native chooser; host-display only) or browse
(new: one-level listing + child creation over Node stdlib, hidden flags
host-stamped, symlinks followed, ancestry crumbs; remote-capable). The
gateway injects the seam, advertises the kind via
host.describe.directoryPicker, serves host.listDirectory /
host.createDirectory under browse, and answers
directory-picker-unavailable across kinds. cordis.yml is the swap
point; apps/cli keeps dialog mounted, so behavior is unchanged until
the in-app browser PR flips the default. The connection fixture serves
a deterministic browse tree; WorkspacesService gains the browse calls
the browser UI will drive. Decision record:
.agents/notes/implemented/architecture/2026-07-28-directory-picker-capability-seam.md
