new(context-v, issues): flow switch doesn't surface the new stage — step-bubble click required

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01UvYzx7vDWeafnkAi2nEQeb

Author: mpstaton

context-v/issues/Flow-Switch-Doesnt-Surface-The-New-Flows-Stage-Step-Bubble-Click-Required.md

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+---
+title: "Switching flows from the Flows popdown doesn't surface the new flow's stage — a rotation-step click is required"
+lede: "Picking 'Augment from DB' from the Flows popdown flips the pill but (with persisted layout state from a prior flow) the stage keeps showing nothing until the operator clicks the '1 Org Workbench' step bubble. Fresh browser contexts don't reproduce it — persisted tiling/layout state is the differing ingredient."
+date_created: 2026-07-24
+date_modified: 2026-07-24
+authors:
+  - Michael Staton
+augmented_with:
+  - Claude Code on Claude Fable 5
+semantic_version: 0.0.0.1
+tags:
+  - Issue
+  - Usability
+  - Augment-It
+  - Shell
+  - Flows
+  - Tiling-Host
+status: Open · Jotted
+---
+
+# Flow switch doesn't surface the new stage
+
+## The symptom (operator-confirmed, 2026-07-24 evening)
+
+Flows popdown → "Augment from DB": the FLOW pill updates to "1 Org
+Workbench" but the stage shows nothing (or the prior flow's panes). Clicking
+the **rotation-step bubble** ("1 Org Workbench") in the FlowWidget is what
+actually mounts/surfaces the workbench. Discovered during the
+workspace-reset debugging — after the humain-vc reset was fixed, this
+remained the last inch of "doesn't load."
+
+## Why it's slippery
+
+Headless drives against the same stack did NOT reproduce: a fresh browser
+context (no persisted layout) renders the new flow's stage immediately on
+popdown selection. The differing ingredient is **persisted tiling/layout
+state** (`layout.svelte.ts` — pane modes ⇲ ⊟ ▢, per-flow visible-set
+memory) carried in the operator's long-lived tab. The flow switch updates
+`activeFlow`; the stage derivation apparently keeps honoring stale layout
+state until a step-bubble click resets focus to the rotation's first step.
+
+## Direction (jotted)
+
+- On flow switch, the stage should surface the new rotation's step 1 as if
+  the operator had clicked its bubble — one code path for both gestures.
+- Audit `layout.svelte.ts`'s persisted keys for flow-scoped state that
+  outlives a flow switch (the same class of stale-persisted-state bug as
+  today's active-workspace reset and per-workspace org restore — third
+  instance today; the pattern is becoming its own theme, see
+  [[No-User-Visibility-Into-State-Needs-A-State-Inspector]]).