Dashboard chat submits to /api/steer instead of /api/task, and SSE handler doesn't clear "Working..." state

[josephfung]

Problem

The dashboard chat doesn't work — messages show "Task In Progress / Working..." indefinitely and never display a response. There are two bugs, both in App.tsx:

1. Chat submits to the wrong endpoint

handleSubmitTask (line 232) sends the user's message to POST /api/steer:

await axios.post('/api/steer', {
  jobId: selectedJob,
  message: prompt,
  author: 'operator',
  source: 'dashboard',
});

/api/steer injects a steering message into an already-running task via the SteeringManager. It writes a file to disk and returns — it does not submit anything to the orchestrator. Since selectedJob defaults to 'job_active' and no task is running with that ID, the message goes nowhere.

The correct endpoint is POST /api/task, which submits the prompt to the orchestrator, generates a jobId, and kicks off execution with SSE events:

await axios.post('/api/task', { prompt });

2. SSE handler doesn't process completion events

The es.onmessage handler (line 382) only clears taskRunning when it receives a job_update event:

if (data.type === 'job_update') {
  if (data.data?.status === 'completed' || data.data?.status === 'failed') {
    setTaskRunning(false);
  }
}

But the backend (daemon.ts submitTask callback + orchestrator) never sends job_update. It sends:

• done — task completed with result text
• task.end — task lifecycle ended
• job_failed — task threw an error

These all fall through to the catch-all else block, which displays raw JSON as a system message but never calls setTaskRunning(false).

Steps to reproduce

1. Open the dashboard at localhost:8070
2. Type any message in the chat input
3. Click SEND
4. Observe: "Task In Progress / Working..." appears and never clears
5. Confirm via docker compose logs zora that no task was submitted to the orchestrator

Fix

Both bugs are in src/dashboard/frontend/src/App.tsx:

1. Change axios.post('/api/steer', ...) to axios.post('/api/task', { prompt })
2. Add handlers for done, task.end, and job_failed that call setTaskRunning(false)

Working patch in my fork: josephfung@838ceba

Happy to open a PR if my understanding is correct and my patch aligns with the design.

[dmmdea]

Hi @josephfung — your repro and fix here (commit josephfung@838ceba) look solid. Are you still planning to open a PR? I noticed #168 was self-closed. If you'd rather not, I'd be glad to open a focused PR using your patch with Co-authored-by: attribution — wanted to check with you before stepping on your work.

@ryaker — would a focused PR on only this bug (no bundled scope like #168) be useful, or do you have related dashboard work in flight?

No hurry.

[josephfung]

@dmmdea happy to submit a PR - was simply waiting on confirmation/questions.

Note - the contribution guidelines suggest starting w/ an issue, but are ambiguous about whether you expect a PR right after or want discussion first