[Design exploration] Actions pane consolidation — unified Clarion control surface

[msarson]

Background

Clarion-specific controls are currently scattered across three surfaces with no unifying logic:

• Status bar items: compile target picker ([UX] Clarion version status bar — disambiguate IDE install vs active compile target #133/[UX] Two-stage version picker: Installation → Compile Target (via ClarionInstallationDetector) #134), active build configuration
• Actions pane (feat: Clarion Actions Explorer-sidebar panel #102): Build / Run / Debug / Open / Close buttons + solution/project/config summary
• Command palette: clarion.setActiveVersion, clarion.openSolution, various build/run/debug commands

Each surface has its own activation/visibility logic, and several user actions span multiple surfaces.

Problem

Per Mark 2026-05-12: the scattering creates UX friction. The Actions pane is a webview surface with richer UI affordances than status bar QuickPicks — natural home for unifying these controls. But the current pane is heavily solution-bound (details + toolbar only meaningful when solution open), so consolidation requires a pane redesign.

Proposed direction

Consolidate Clarion-specific controls into the Actions pane with progressive disclosure across three states:

1. No Clarion context (no .clw/.inc/.sln/.cwproj in workspace) — pane hidden via [UX] Tighten extension activation — only when Clarion context detected #143 activation tightening
2. Clarion files present, no solution loaded — pane shows: Installation picker, default version setting, "Open Solution" button + recent solutions. Hides solution-bound content (no startup project, no build config, no toolbar).
3. Solution loaded — pane shows: full view (Clarion installation + compile target + solution + startup project + build config + Build/Run/Debug toolbar)

Status bar reduces to ONE read-only at-a-glance indicator (Clarion 11.1 · Release style) when solution is loaded; hides entirely when no solution (per Mark 2026-05-12). Click on status bar focuses the Actions pane rather than opening a QuickPick.

Open questions

• Current Actions pane is webview HTML/JS — consolidation requires substantial UI work + state-sync code between extension host and webview
• Migration story: [Design] Per-solution version reconciliation — auto-switch on solution-open #141 (per-solution version reconciliation) ships its UX hooks against today's status bar surface first; this task migrates those hookups later WITHOUT re-deciding any behavior (behaviors locked on [Design] Per-solution version reconciliation — auto-switch on solution-open #141 stand)
• Knock-on effect on [UX] Tighten extension activation — only when Clarion context detected #143 activation tightening — pane visibility IS the activation surface; [UX] Tighten extension activation — only when Clarion context detected #143 design may collapse into a sub-section of this task
• Should status bar Clarion indicator be eliminated entirely once pane is the primary surface, or retained as at-a-glance summary?

Recommended action

Design exploration phase first (similar shape to the workspaces grey-area task #142):

1. Mock the three-state pane UI
2. Decide progressive-disclosure mechanics + state transitions
3. Define migration boundary: what moves from status bar vs stays
4. THEN implementation phase as a separate follow-up

Estimate

• Design exploration: 2-4 hours
• Implementation: 8-16 hours

Relationship to release

Filed 2026-05-12 per Mark's "discuss" pivot during #141 design. NOT in 0.9.7 (post the polish-and-ship narrative); targets 0.9.8 or 1.0.

Cross-reference

MultiTerminal task: 42e30887