[eric] browser: evict only AGENT-SPAWNED cards (a wedged USER card must never be deleted out from under the user; unverifiable ownership = no delete, reuse-skip is the remedy); caught in the downstream-risk review, 3 tests

backend/apps/agents/browser/browser_agent.py

@@ -2500,8 +2500,19 @@ async def p_evict_dead_card(dashboard_id: str | None, browser_id: str) -> None:
     """Free a wedged card's webview so the recovery card isn't its heavy neighbor:
     tell the renderer to unmount it (frees the renderer process), drop it from the
     persisted layout, and WAIT for the teardown to land before the caller spawns the
-    recovery card. Fail-open, never raises into the abort path."""
+    recovery card. Fail-open, never raises into the abort path.
+    ONLY agent-spawned cards are ever evicted: a user's own card (they selected it
+    for the agent) must never be deleted out from under them, wedged or not; for
+    those the DEAD_CARDS reuse-skip is the whole remedy."""
     ACTIVE_AGENT_CARDS.discard(browser_id)
+    try:
+        from backend.apps.dashboards.dashboards import load as p_dash_load
+        p_card = p_dash_load(dashboard_id).layout.browser_cards.get(browser_id) if dashboard_id else None
+        if p_card is None or not getattr(p_card, "spawned_by", None):
+            logger.info(f"[browser-agent] {browser_id} is not an agent-spawned card; skipping evict (reuse-skip only)")
+            return
+    except Exception:
+        return
     try:
         await ws_manager.broadcast_global("dashboard:browser_card_evict", {
             "dashboard_id": dashboard_id or "", "browser_id": browser_id})

backend/tests/test_deadcard_evict.py

@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ def p_patch(monkeypatch, cards):
 
 
 def test_evict_broadcasts_unmount_and_removes_from_layout(monkeypatch):
-    broadcasts, saved, dash = p_patch(monkeypatch, {"browser-dead": object(), "browser-keep": object()})
+    broadcasts, saved, dash = p_patch(monkeypatch, {"browser-dead": FakeCard("sess-1"), "browser-keep": FakeCard("sess-1")})
     ba.ACTIVE_AGENT_CARDS.add("browser-dead")
     asyncio.run(ba.p_evict_dead_card("dash-1", "browser-dead"))
     # the renderer is told to unmount exactly the dead card
@@ -46,9 +46,23 @@ def test_evict_broadcasts_unmount_and_removes_from_layout(monkeypatch):
     assert "browser-dead" not in ba.ACTIVE_AGENT_CARDS
 
 
-def test_evict_is_fail_open_without_a_dashboard(monkeypatch):
+def test_evict_without_a_dashboard_deletes_nothing(monkeypatch):
+    # No dashboard = ownership unverifiable = fail SAFE: never unmount or delete
+    # what might be the user's card; the reuse-skip alone handles it.
     broadcasts, saved, _ = p_patch(monkeypatch, {})
-    # no dashboard id: still tells the renderer to unmount (best-effort), never raises
     asyncio.run(ba.p_evict_dead_card("", "browser-x"))
-    assert broadcasts and broadcasts[0][0] == "dashboard:browser_card_evict"
-    assert not saved  # nothing to persist without a dashboard
+    assert not broadcasts and not saved
+
+
+class FakeCard:
+    def __init__(self, spawned_by=None):
+        self.spawned_by = spawned_by
+
+
+def test_user_card_is_never_evicted(monkeypatch):
+    """A wedged USER card (no spawned_by) must never be deleted out from under the
+    user; reuse-skip is the whole remedy. Only agent-spawned cards evict."""
+    broadcasts, saved, dash = p_patch(monkeypatch, {"browser-user": FakeCard(None)})
+    asyncio.run(ba.p_evict_dead_card("dash-1", "browser-user"))
+    assert not broadcasts and not saved
+    assert "browser-user" in dash.layout.browser_cards