From ce91bc3faa591954c1a153290c20816fec5c72b3 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: ciregenz <ciregenz@berkeley.edu>
Date: Tue, 4 Aug 2026 10:38:11 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] [eric] chat: the embedded composer stops chanting Send a
 message, per-chat lines that flip to follow-up voice

---
 frontend/src/app/pages/AgentChat/AgentChat.tsx         |  3 ++-
 .../src/app/pages/AgentChat/composerPlaceholder.ts     | 10 ++++++++++
 2 files changed, 12 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
 create mode 100644 frontend/src/app/pages/AgentChat/composerPlaceholder.ts

diff --git a/frontend/src/app/pages/AgentChat/AgentChat.tsx b/frontend/src/app/pages/AgentChat/AgentChat.tsx
index ccf3b407..617390a8 100644
--- a/frontend/src/app/pages/AgentChat/AgentChat.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/app/pages/AgentChat/AgentChat.tsx
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ import ToolGroupBubble, { RenderItem, ToolGroup, ToolGroupEntry, isToolGroup, is
 import ToolUiBubble from './tool-ui/ToolUiBubble';
 import AskUiBubble from './tool-ui/AskUiBubble';
 import { isShowUiPair, isAskUiPair, extractPendingAskUi } from './tool-ui/showUiPayload';
+import { composerPlaceholder } from './composerPlaceholder';
 import ApprovalBar, { BatchApprovalBar } from './shell/ApprovalBar';
 import ForceStopAgentBar from './ForceStopAgentBar';
 import { RateLimitPill } from './shell/RateLimitPill';
@@ -2464,7 +2465,7 @@ const AgentChat: React.FC<AgentChatProps> = ({ sessionId: sessionIdProp, onClose
                   sessionId={id}
                   autoFocus={autoFocus}
                   prefillPrompt={prefillPrompt}
-                  placeholderOverride={runContext ? 'Ask about this run...' : embedded ? 'Send a message...' : undefined}
+                  placeholderOverride={runContext ? 'Ask about this run...' : embedded ? composerPlaceholder(session.id, (session.messages || []).some((mm) => mm.role === 'assistant')) : undefined}
                   runContext={runContext}
                   onClearRunContext={onClearRunContext}
                   thinkingLevel={session?.thinking_level ?? 'auto'}
diff --git a/frontend/src/app/pages/AgentChat/composerPlaceholder.ts b/frontend/src/app/pages/AgentChat/composerPlaceholder.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..13766892
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/src/app/pages/AgentChat/composerPlaceholder.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+const FRESH = ['What should we do?', 'Give me a task...', "What's on your mind?", 'Ask me anything...'];
+const FOLLOWUP = ['Reply or take it further...', 'What next?', 'Ask a follow-up...', 'Keep going or change course...'];
+
+/** A composer that always says "Send a message..." reads canned; pick a stable per-chat line, follow-up flavored once the agent has spoken. */
+export function composerPlaceholder(sessionId: string, hasReply: boolean): string {
+  let h = 0;
+  for (let i = 0; i < sessionId.length; i++) h = (h * 31 + sessionId.charCodeAt(i)) >>> 0;
+  const pool = hasReply ? FOLLOWUP : FRESH;
+  return pool[h % pool.length];
+}