meeting-assistant/openspec/changes/add-summary-agent-requests/design.md

Context

Project IDs are direct subfolder names. BoundMeetingProjectResolver reads the meeting note on each access. The summarizer already has project read/write tools and an initial section for bound AGENTS.md instructions, but writes currently accept any existing project. Native actionable toasts and a WPF settings-agent window already exist.

Goals / Non-Goals

Goals: Discover projects using compact metadata, extend project access only after approval, maintain metadata through the agent, and forward approved workflow requests to the interactive settings agent.

Non-Goals: Bulk-generate metadata for unassociated projects, let the summarizer edit workflows directly, change project IDs, migrate UI frameworks, or deploy/restart the workstation service.

Decisions

• Store name and description in the root PROJECT.md frontmatter; name is the display name, and the directory name remains the stable ID. Missing/invalid metadata falls back to the ID and an empty description. Catalog results contain metadata, never AGENTS.md or arbitrary project content.
• Reuse write_projectfile for metadata maintenance. Validate resulting PROJECT.md frontmatter (name and description, maximum 256 description characters) before writing. Preserve ordinary file edit modes. Restrict writes to associated projects, matching existing read/search permissions.
• Append metadata and AGENTS.md at the existing initial project section. Add mandatory capability guidance even when a custom base prompt is configured. Instruct the agent to maintain metadata using grounded project knowledge and propose missing associations before finalizing the summary.
• Project approval is an awaited tool call, with cancellation and a ten-minute deadline. Return approval plus project metadata and AGENTS.md only after updating the latest meeting note. Preserve other frontmatter and body content; recheck target and cancellation before writing. Write to a temporary file in the same directory and replace the note only after that write completes, so cancellation or a partial write cannot truncate the note. Existing associations return current context without another prompt.
• Use an application-owned background request queue for workflow approvals. The tool returns requested immediately; the queue outlives a summary run. Requests also expire after ten minutes. Only acceptance opens a new settings-agent window and automatically submits the complete detailed prompt. A new conversation avoids overwriting drafts or interrupting an existing agent run.
• Reuse the installed native toast toolkit behind a testable approval-prompt interface. Timeouts and cancellation remove pending toasts and invalidate late actions. Shutdown cancels pending approvals; requests are not persisted across process restarts.
• Keep tool execution sequential so a blocking project approval cannot be bypassed by concurrent tool execution in the same model response.

Risks / Trade-offs

• [User ignores project approval] → continue after ten minutes as denied; no project scope or note change.
• [User edits the note while a request is pending] → read again after acceptance and append only the project field, retaining all other current fields and notes.
• [Project disappears or becomes invalid while waiting] → refuse the association without expanding access.
• [Native UI cannot run in automated tests] → test approval, timeout, scope and handoff through controlled prompt/window services and build the Windows target; record hardware/UI verification limits.
• [Summarizer completes before workflow approval] → the application queue retains the request until decision, timeout, or shutdown.

Migration Plan

No bulk migration. Existing folders remain discoverable without PROJECT.md, and associated projects gain metadata as the summarizer maintains them. Rollback removes the tools; PROJECT.md and normal meeting associations remain ordinary vault content.

Open Questions

None. Workflow notifications use the same ten-minute validity as project notifications; workflow notification intentions are limited to 100 characters for readability.