redis-gui-foundation/plans/2026-03-31-hac-29-browse-search-baseline.md

HAC-29 Browse And Search Baseline Stabilization

Date: 2026-03-31 UTC Owner: Senior Frontend Engineer Issue: HAC-29 Scope: desktop-v1 browse/search hardening only

Context

• apps/desktop already supports live browse pagination and DB-scoped search, but the visible search surface still leaves a few operator-facing gaps:
  • no explicit feedback about whether input is treated as substring matching or raw Redis pattern matching
  • no bounded clear action from the browser header
  • one generic empty-state sentence was doing too much work across loading, empty DB, and filtered no-match cases
• Current phase must stay inside browse/search hardening and must not expand into Add Key, delete execution, non-string editing, or visual refresh work.

Decision

• Keep the existing workspace layout and backend contracts unchanged.
• Extract search-state interpretation into a shared frontend helper so visible UI copy and backend browse requests use the same source of truth.
• Improve only the key-browser and inspector feedback layer:
  • explicit search mode label (all keys, contains, pattern)
  • concise result-status message under the search input
  • clear action for returning to normal browse state
  • distinct empty-state copy for loading, empty DB, and no-match search results

Implemented Slice

1. Added apps/desktop/src/lib/key-browser-search.ts plus focused tests for:
   • blank input vs contains search vs raw wildcard-pattern classification
   • backend request-pattern generation
   • browser status and empty-state copy
   • inspector empty-state copy aligned to the same search state
2. Updated apps/desktop/src/App.tsx to:
   • consume the shared search helper for live browse requests
   • render a visible search-mode badge and status line under the browser search field
   • expose a bounded clear action when search input is active
   • keep browser and inspector empty-state feedback aligned
3. Updated docs/frontend-workspace-baseline.md so the shared acceptance language now includes the search-mode feedback, clear action, and differentiated empty states.

Verification

• pnpm --filter @redis-gui/desktop test -> pass (9 files / 33 tests)
• pnpm run desktop:build -> pass

Remaining Risk

• This environment still cannot launch a visible Tauri window, so final GUI-level browse/search smoke evidence remains a QA follow-up even though the frontend code and build path are green.