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name: preset-skill-op-activation-session-refresh description: How a saved preset becomes the running default, first-run/setup choice semantics, propagation, and what /refresh actually switches. version: 1.0.3 last_changed_at: "2026-09-29T00:00:00Z" related_files:

• tui/internal/tui/firstrun.go
• tui/internal/tui/app.go
• tui/internal/preset/preset_skill_router_test.go maintenance: "If you find stale or incorrect information here, use the lingtai-issue-report skill to assemble evidence and obtain per-issue human consent before filing an issue. Never include secrets, credentials, tokens, or private paths."

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Activation / session refresh

Evidence: tui/internal/tui/firstrun.go:2889-3073, tui/internal/tui/firstrun.go:3615, tui/internal/tui/firstrun.go:3697, tui/internal/tui/app.go:971-1020, tui/internal/tui/app.go:1240-1342, tui/internal/tui/app.go:1407-1491, and tui/internal/tui/app.go:1702-1728.

The agent-preset page is saved-only

enterAgentPresets() (firstrun.go:2899-3000) lists only saved presets (Source == SourceSaved via preset.IsTemplate), never raw templates. A built-in template isn't "endorsed" onto this surface until the user has edited and saved it — which materializes a saved preset. See reference/operations/saved-presets/SKILL.md for the save mechanics that put a preset here in the first place.

Selected becomes default; default is always allowed and first

The wizard defaults to "nothing allowed except the one the user's cursor was on when they entered this step" — the schema invariant is that default must be a member of allowed, and the default row is always forced into presetAllowed. allowedPresetRefs() (firstrun.go:3042-3057) writes the default preset first, then the rest of the user-checked rows in row order, into manifest.preset.{default,allowed}.

Setup re-edit preserves existing configuration

Re-running /setup on an agent that already has an init.json hydrates presetAllowed/presetDefaultIdx from the existing manifest.preset.{default,allowed} (firstrun.go:2945-2997) rather than resetting to "nothing allowed" — so re-running setup only changes what the user explicitly changes. Path comparison is normalized (~/... vs absolute) via presetRefMatches (firstrun.go:3014-3035) so the same file referenced two different ways still matches. A preset the wizard's cursor now points at, but which isn't in the existing allowed list (e.g. just created in the editor), is auto-checked so it doesn't silently stay unauthorized — the user can still uncheck it.

Propagation is best-effort, network-wide

propagatePresetPolicyToNetwork() (firstrun.go:3068-3073; call sites at firstrun.go:3615 and firstrun.go:3697) treats /setup as a network-wide preset-policy reset: the wizard's chosen {default, allowed} surface is pushed to every other agent in the project, not just the one being edited. This is best-effort — failures are not surfaced as a user-visible error because the primary agent's save already succeeded.

/refresh — three forms, one thing they don't do

app.go:971-1020 handles three /refresh invocations:

• /refresh all — for every non-human agent, attempts a best-effort reset of manifest.preset.active to that agent's configured manifest.preset.default, then hard-refreshes it. A reset failure is silent, so the prior active preset may remain. Returned relaunch/heartbeat failures are collected per agent; the operation does not stop on the first one.
• /refresh <preset> — resolves <preset> against the target agent's manifest.preset.allowed list first (resolvePresetInAllowed); an unresolvable name surfaces a clear status-bar error and does nothing destructive. It then attempts to write that active preset before the hard refresh. Current source continues when the write fails, so a successful relaunch alone does not prove the requested switch happened.
• bare /refresh — attempts the same best-effort reset to the configured default before hard-refreshing the target. It can switch an agent that was running a non-default preset, but a reset failure leaves the prior active value in place while relaunch continues.

Saving a preset alone does not switch a running session. A saved or even newly-activated (default) preset only takes effect on the next launch/refresh of a given agent — an explicit /refresh [preset], relaunch, or new service construction is required to pick it up.

Operations

For why Save no longer requires a live-probe pass before a preset becomes eligible here (structural validation only), see reference/operations/availability-save-gate/SKILL.md. For the Load/Save/Delete contract, see reference/operations/saved-presets/SKILL.md.