[Bug]: Left click becomes right-click; sidebar threads unclickable until Ctrl+Escape

[KarstenKreh]

Before submitting

• I searched existing issues and did not find a duplicate.
• I included enough detail to reproduce or investigate the problem.

Area

apps/desktop

Steps to reproduce

I do not have a deterministic first trigger. It happens often during normal use of the desktop app, especially around the left sidebar (projects / threads). After it starts, every left click behaves like a right click.

Related tickets I found (same menu, different symptom, all closed): #2053, #2535, #285, #3698. Those describe a misplaced menu or an item firing on open. This report is the stuck state that follows: left click stays in right-click mode and the thread list stops accepting selection.

Expected behavior

A left click selects the thread or UI control under the cursor. A right click opens the context menu. After the menu closes, left click works again.

Actual behavior

Left click starts opening context menus (or otherwise acting as a right click). Threads in the left sidebar cannot be selected. Escape or clicking around sometimes clears it. Closing T3 Code often does not. Ctrl+Escape consistently restores normal left-click behavior.

That looks like a leftover context-menu listener or compositor pointer grab. Ctrl+Escape may just force a focus change that drops the grab; I am not claiming it is an intentional T3 shortcut.

Impact

Major degradation or frequent failure

Version or commit

v0.0.40 (Linux AppImage T3-Code-0.0.40-x86_64.AppImage)

Environment

Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS, COSMIC desktop, Wayland, T3 Code desktop AppImage v0.0.40

Workaround

Ctrl+Escape resets the stuck state and left click works again. Escape alone or clicking around only helps sometimes. Restarting the app is unreliable.

Created with AI · Commissioned by Karsten.

[juliusmarminge]

Triage

Confirmed as a real desktop bug, not a duplicate of the closed sidebar-menu tickets.

What this report is

On Pop!_OS 24.04 COSMIC / Wayland (AppImage v0.0.40), left click sometimes starts opening context menus (or otherwise behaving as a right click). Sidebar threads stop selecting. Escape / clicking around / restarting the app is unreliable. Ctrl+Escape consistently restores normal left-click behavior.

That stuck state is distinct from:

• [Bug]: Right Click / Context Menu on Projects & Sessions #2053 / [Bug]: RIght-click behaviour on projects and threads is inconsistent. #2535 — menu opens in the wrong place or fires an inconsistent action
• Right-click menu anywhere instantly selects first option #285 / [Bug]: Sidebar context menu auto-selects a random item on right-click (regression of #285) #3698 — menu item activates immediately on open

Those are the same menu surface, different failure modes. This issue is the leftover “right-click mode” after the menu is gone.

Likely cause

The desktop app always uses native Electron Menu.popup() when desktopBridge is present (apps/web/src/localApi.ts → apps/desktop/src/electron/ElectronMenu.ts). There is no Linux/Wayland special case. contextMenu.close() is a no-op on desktop, and the native path never calls menu.closePopup().

The web DOM fallback (apps/web/src/contextMenuFallback.ts) is not used by this AppImage. Leftover renderer listeners are a poor fit: they would not survive a full process restart, and leftover sidebar drag listeners would block clicks rather than turn left click into right-click.

This lines up with a COSMIC/Wayland pointer grab left behind by Electron’s native GTK popup. COSMIC’s compositor Escape path unsets pointer/keyboard grabs. Ctrl+Escape is not a T3 shortcut; Escape can be swallowed by a still-grabbing (possibly invisible) native menu, which would explain why Ctrl+Escape is the reliable reset.

Related but unmerged: #6440 would have routed Linux through the themed renderer fallback and avoided native GTK popups. #3025 only hardened the web fallback.

Also adjacent upstream: Electron Wayland mouse-state leftovers after right-click (electron#48656 / electron#48752).

Next step

Keep this open. Investigate native Menu.popup() grab lifetime on COSMIC/Wayland. Practical T3 mitigations:

1. Use the renderer fallback on Linux (especially Wayland), as fix(web): theme context menus on Windows and Linux #6440 proposed.
2. Track the live Menu and call closePopup(); make desktop contextMenu.close() actually dismiss it.

Helpful checks (if easy)

1. Does the stuck state always start after a sidebar right-click (even a “successful” one)?
2. Does ELECTRON_OZONE_PLATFORM_HINT=x11 (or an X11 session) avoid it?
3. Do other Electron apps on this COSMIC session get the same leftover right-click mode?
4. After it sticks, do left clicks open context menus outside T3 Code as well, or only inside the app?

Workaround: Ctrl+Escape, as reported.