fix(hud): give click-through a way out that Windows cannot revoke - #388
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The HUD asks to be input-transparent on mount, and every route back out --
pointerenter/pointerdown on the bar, pointermove on the root, the popover
effect -- needs a DOM mouse event. Chromium delivers none to a window it has
made input-transparent, so the only supply was Electron's `{ forward: true }`
WH_MOUSE_LL hook: installed unchecked (SetWindowsHookEx's return value is
discarded), latched behind `forwarding_mouse_messages_` so it re-arms only
after a setIgnoreMouseEvents(false) the renderer can no longer request, and
silently revoked by Windows for any callback that overruns
LowLevelHooksTimeout -- "there is no way for the application to know whether
the hook is removed". One hook that never installs or quietly dies and the HUD
is painted, inert, forever, with the tray icon as the only way to quit.
That is #266, and #385 after it, on 1.9.5 -- a build that already carries the
#266 fix. That fix moved *when* the hook is installed, from construction onto
an IPC message, and left the trapdoor exactly where it was: the renderer still
cannot ask to leave a state that stops it receiving the event it would have to
ask with.
So the escape no longer runs on anything Windows can take away.
getCursorScreenPoint() is a plain positional read the main process can always
make; it is polled only while the window is click-through -- the state the poll
exists to escape -- and the window-relative point is pushed to the renderer,
which hit-tests it with elementFromPoint().closest("[data-hud-interactive]"),
the same predicate handleRootPointerMove already used against the same layout.
Every tick re-derives the answer from scratch, so no dropped message, dead hook
or stale flag can strand it. `forward` is gone, and the e2e test now pins it
off rather than pinning it on.
The point is deduped window-relative rather than by cursor position, because
"hud-overlay-set-size" re-anchors the window on every content change: the bar
can arrive under a cursor that never moved, and that changes the answer too.
Verified against the built app, driving the real main process and moving the
window under a stationary cursor rather than the mouse:
tape after mount: [[true]]
tape with the empty reserve under the cursor: [[true]]
tape after placing the bar under the cursor: [[true],[false]]
-- entered with no `forward` argument, held click-through over the transparent
reserve so desktop clicks still pass through, and released it with no pointer
event of any kind. The new unit test fails on the unpatched renderer.
Not addressed here, and reported separately: the opaque black surround. On
anything below Windows 11 22H2, Electron 41's setContentProtection(true) runs
`SetLayered()` -- WS_EX_LAYERED with SetLayeredWindowAttributes and
UpdateLayeredWindow never called. Removing it would put the HUD back into
recordings, which is a product call, not a bug fix.
Fixes #385
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No actionable comments were generated in the recent review. 🎉 ℹ️ Recent review info⚙️ Run configurationConfiguration used: defaults Review profile: CHILL Plan: Pro Plus Run ID: 📒 Files selected for processing (1)
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Included review availability: Your plan includes up to 4 reviews per rolling hour; 2 remain after this review. 📝 WalkthroughWalkthroughThe HUD replaces Electron’s forwarded mouse hook with main-process cursor polling. The preload bridge forwards window-relative coordinates to the renderer, which restores mouse interaction over interactive HUD elements. Tests cover cleanup, hit detection, and click-through requests. ChangesHUD cursor recovery
Estimated code review effort: 3 (Moderate) | ~20 minutes Merge Risk: ⚪ Minimal · up to This localized input-routing fix is merge-ready after normal checks and review; no actionable merge-blocking risk remains. Sequence Diagram(s)sequenceDiagram
participant OS as OS cursor
participant Main as Main process
participant Preload as Preload bridge
participant HUD as LaunchWindow
participant DOM as HUD DOM
OS->>Main: provide cursor position
Main->>Main: convert to HUD-relative coordinates
Main->>Preload: send hud-overlay-cursor
Preload->>HUD: invoke cursor callback
HUD->>DOM: call elementFromPoint(x, y)
DOM-->>HUD: return interactive HUD element
HUD->>Main: disable click-through
🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 5✅ Passed checks (5 passed)
✨ Finishing Touches📝 Generate docstrings
🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)
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Inline comments:
In `@src/components/launch/LaunchWindow.test.tsx`:
- Around line 453-456: Update the HUD cursor listener test around
hudCursorListeners to exercise the transparent-reserve coordinate before the
interactive bar coordinate: assert click-through remains enabled with no
additional IPC call for the noninteractive point, then invoke the bar point and
assert setHudOverlayIgnoreMouseEvents is called with false.
- Around line 213-218: Add a LaunchWindow test that unmounts the component and
verifies the listener registered through onHudOverlayCursor is removed from
hudCursorListeners. Reuse the existing mock subscription and assert cleanup
occurs without affecting active-listener behavior.
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Fix all unresolved CodeRabbit comments on this PR:
- Push a commit to this branch (recommended)
- Create a new PR with the fixes
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electron/electron-env.d.tselectron/preload.tselectron/windows.tssrc/components/launch/LaunchWindow.test.tsxsrc/components/launch/LaunchWindow.tsxtests/e2e/windows-native-checklist.spec.ts
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CodeRabbit was right on both counts. The "transparent reserve must not claim the window back" assertion ran AFTER the bar had already claimed it, which made it vacuous: the renderer dedupes on hudIgnoreMouseEventsRef, so a point that wrongly enabled input would have sent no IPC at all and "still false" held either way. Moved it before the bar, while the window is still click-through -- there a wrong answer IS an IPC, so the assertion can fail. Confirmed by mutation: dropping the closest() guard from the cursor handler now fails with "expected vi.fn() to not be called at all, but actually been called 1 times", where before it passed. Adds the unmount test AGENTS.md asks for -- the effect returns the unsubscribe handed back by onHudOverlayCursor, and nothing covered it. Also mutation-checked: dropping the `return` fails with "expected [ [Function] ] to have a length of +0". No production change.
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EtienneLescot
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Aug 18, 2026
CodeRabbit caught an over-strong premise, and it traces back to a deliberate choice in #388: pollHudCursor dedupes on the window-relative point, not on the cursor, precisely because "hud-overlay-set-size" re-anchors the window on every content change and the bar can arrive under a pointer that never moved. So "what lifts the input-transparency is a change in the OS cursor position" was not true -- a resize or re-anchor produces a fresh sample on its own. Reworded to what the poll actually reads, and the conclusion is now tied to the property that is airtight rather than to the one that is merely usual: synthesised input moves no pointer at all, so it can never put one on a control. That is what makes a passing injected click prove renderer wiring and not reachability, which is the whole reason this paragraph exists. No code change: a re-anchor lifting click-through is correct -- the pointer IS over the bar once the bar has moved under it.
EtienneLescot
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that referenced
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Aug 18, 2026
#388 deleted `{ forward: true }`, and this section still described it: `forward` as `@platform darwin,win32`, "Windows installs a global WH_MOUSE_LL hook, macOS forwards through its own event path". None of that is true any more. The main process polls screen.getCursorScreenPoint() while the HUD is click-through and pushes the window-relative point to the renderer, which hit-tests it with elementFromPoint().closest("[data-hud-interactive='true']") -- one path, no platform branch. The RULE is untouched, and that is the part worth being explicit about: an agent still has to move the real cursor, because the poll reads the OS cursor position and CDP-injected input does not change it. Says so, and says what the mechanism used to be, so the next reader who finds `forward` in the git history knows this page is current rather than stale. Also corrects the window size while in here: 600x160 was wrong before #388 -- createHudOverlayWindow builds 820x560 and the renderer then resizes to fit its content (measured 904x698, bar at the bottom, empty reserve above).
EtienneLescot
added a commit
that referenced
this pull request
Aug 18, 2026
CodeRabbit caught an over-strong premise, and it traces back to a deliberate choice in #388: pollHudCursor dedupes on the window-relative point, not on the cursor, precisely because "hud-overlay-set-size" re-anchors the window on every content change and the bar can arrive under a pointer that never moved. So "what lifts the input-transparency is a change in the OS cursor position" was not true -- a resize or re-anchor produces a fresh sample on its own. Reworded to what the poll actually reads, and the conclusion is now tied to the property that is airtight rather than to the one that is merely usual: synthesised input moves no pointer at all, so it can never put one on a control. That is what makes a passing injected click prove renderer wiring and not reachability, which is the whole reason this paragraph exists. No code change: a re-anchor lifting click-through is correct -- the pointer IS over the bar once the bar has moved under it.
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Summary
The HUD asks to be input-transparent on mount, and every route back out —
pointerenter/pointerdownon the bar,pointermoveon the root, the popover effect — needs a DOM mouse event. Chromium delivers none to a window it has made input-transparent, so the only supply was Electron's{ forward: true }WH_MOUSE_LL hook: installed unchecked (SetWindowsHookEx's return value is discarded), latched behindforwarding_mouse_messages_so it re-arms only after asetIgnoreMouseEvents(false)the renderer can no longer request, and silently revoked by Windows for any callback that overrunsLowLevelHooksTimeout— "there is no way for the application to know whether the hook is removed". One hook that never installs or quietly dies and the HUD is painted, inert, forever, with the tray icon as the only way to quit the app.That is #266, and #385 after it on 1.9.5 — a build that already carries the #266 fix.
6eb5bbb7moved when the hook is installed, from construction onto an IPC message, and left the trapdoor exactly where it was: the renderer still cannot ask to leave a state that stops it receiving the event it would have to ask with. Its closing comment said as much ("it was never confirmed on a machine that actually reproduced it… if you still get a ghost window there, please reopen"), and this is that reopening.The escape no longer runs on anything Windows can take away.
screen.getCursorScreenPoint()is a plain positional read the main process can always make. It is polled only while the window is click-through — the state the poll exists to escape — and the window-relative point is pushed to the renderer, which hit-tests it withelementFromPoint().closest("[data-hud-interactive='true']"): the same predicatehandleRootPointerMovealready ran, against the same layout. Every tick re-derives the answer from scratch, so no dropped message, dead hook or stale flag can strand it.forwardis deleted, and the e2e assertion now pins it off instead of pinning it on.The point is deduped window-relative rather than by cursor position, because
hud-overlay-set-sizere-anchors the window on every content change: the bar can arrive under a cursor that never moved, and that changes the answer too.Not addressed here
setContentProtection(true)reachesSetLayered()—WS_EX_LAYEREDset withSetLayeredWindowAttributes/UpdateLayeredWindownever called (electron_desktop_window_tree_host_win.cc). Win11 22H2+ takes the other branch, which is why it has never been seen on a dev machine. Dropping content protection on Windows 10 would put the HUD back into recordings — a product call, not a bug fix.Ctrl+Shift+Obeing "inert" is expected, not a second symptom. It is bound toshowMainWindow, which on an already-visible HUD isshow(); focus(); return;.Related issue
Fixes #385
Type of change
Release impact
Desktop impact
macOS also loses
forwardand moves onto the poll — one path instead of a platform branch. Linux is untouched:setIgnoreMouseEventsis a no-op there, the renderer never asks for click-through, so the poll never starts.Screenshots / video
None — the change is in input routing, and the HUD is content-protected (invisible to captures).
Testing
End to end against the built app, driving the real main process and moving the window under a stationary cursor rather than the mouse, so it needs no control of the screen:
— entered click-through with no
forwardargument, held it over the transparent reserve so desktop clicks still pass through, and released it with no pointer event of any kind.Unit: a new regression test in
LaunchWindow.test.tsxfires no pointer events at all — the exact information state of a stuck HUD — and requires the pushed cursor alone to make the bar clickable. It fails on the unpatched renderer (expected [] to not have a length of +0). Full suite: 152 files, 1783 passed, 5 skipped.Gates:
tsc --noEmitandtsc -p tsconfig.test.json --noEmitboth clean,biome checkclean.Not run:
tests/e2e/windows-native-checklist.spec.ts(updated here) — it needs the native Windows helpers. As its own comment says, CDP-injected clicks arrive below the OS hit-test and cannot exercise this path anyway; the end-to-end run above is what covers it.Summary by CodeRabbit
Bug Fixes
Tests