core/cli+prompting: hear the notification while a prompt waits

Whether a prompt could be answered from its notification was decided by
`notify_desktop`, which only runs once the grace period is over — by then the
prompt had already committed to the plain terminal read. A pressed button or a
typed reply landed on a queue nobody read, and the human had to come back to the
terminal to answer the prompt the notification was showing.

A wait now asks up front whether an answer may arrive (`answer_capability`: the
kind, `actions`, the channel and the platform's capabilities) and listens on both
surfaces from its first poll. The desktop channel is resolved once, in the
background from `install_notifier`, so the capability probe never lands on a
prompt that is already waiting.

`confirm()` takes an optional `source` (the form's submit confirm and every
limits.py confirmation go through it), which also leaves one place — not two —
parsing `allow` / `deny` into a yes or no.

src/plyngent/cli/limits.py

@@ -236,22 +236,7 @@ async def prompt_continue_limit_async(reason: str) -> bool:
 
 def _confirm_with(wait: PromptAnswerSource | None, prompt: str, *, default: bool) -> bool:
     """Yes/no, also taking an answer that arrived through a notification."""
-    source = _answer_source(wait)
+    return confirm(prompt, default=default, source=_answer_source(wait))
-    if source is None:
-        return confirm(prompt, default=default)
-    suffix = "[Y/n]" if default else "[y/N]"
-    with contextlib.suppress(OSError):
-        _ = sys.stderr.write(f"{prompt} {suffix}: ")
-        _ = sys.stderr.flush()
-    try:
-        raw = _read_answer(None, wait)
-    except (KeyboardInterrupt, EOFError) as exc:
-        msg = "prompt cancelled"
-        raise NonInteractiveError(msg) from exc
-    token = (raw or "").strip().lower()
-    if not token:
-        return default
-    return token in {"y", "yes"}
 
 
 def _prompt_confirm_tool_sync(name: str, args: Mapping[str, object], reason: str) -> bool | str:

src/plyngent/cli/notify.py

@@ -4,7 +4,9 @@ A prompt blocks the turn, so someone who switched to another window learns about
 it only when they come back. The notifier announces a prompt once it has waited
 ``grace_seconds`` — answering at the terminal stays silent — and, where the
 platform allows it, offers the answer itself: allow / deny / review buttons for
-a confirmation, a reply field for a question.
+a confirmation, a reply field for a question. A prompt that can be answered from
+the notification reads from both surfaces from its first poll, since the
+announcement only appears once the grace period is over.
 
 Two channels. The desktop one is the optional ``desktop-notifier`` extra
 (``pip install plyngent[notify]``); the terminal one writes an OSC escape
@@ -38,8 +40,16 @@ ALLOW = "allow"
 DENY = "deny"
 REVIEW = "review"
 
-#: Kinds whose notification carries answer buttons (``ask`` gets a reply field).
+#: Kinds whose notification carries an answer, and the capability it needs: a
-_ANSWER_KINDS = frozenset({"confirm", "batch", "policy", "access", "skills"})
+#: confirmation gets buttons, a question gets a reply field.
+_ANSWER_CAPABILITY: dict[str, str] = {
+    "confirm": "buttons",
+    "batch": "buttons",
+    "policy": "buttons",
+    "access": "buttons",
+    "skills": "buttons",
+    "ask": "reply",
+}
 
 _BUTTONS: tuple[tuple[str, str], ...] = (
     (ALLOW, "Allow once"),
@@ -312,14 +322,16 @@ class WaitHandle:
     notifier: WaitNotifier
     wait: PromptWait
     identifier: str | None
-    #: Whether the notification offered answers, so a read may poll for them.
+    #: Whether an answer may arrive from the notification, so a read polls for
+    #: one from the first moment it blocks — the notification itself is only
+    #: shown after the grace period.
     supports_actions: bool
 
     def __init__(self, notifier: WaitNotifier, wait: PromptWait) -> None:
         self.notifier = notifier
         self.wait = wait
         self.identifier = None
-        self.supports_actions = False
+        self.supports_actions = notifier.answer_capability(wait.kind) is not None
         self._answers: SimpleQueue[str] = SimpleQueue()
         self._timer: threading.Timer | None = None
         self._closed: bool = False
@@ -377,6 +389,7 @@ class WaitNotifier:
     _config: NotifyConfig
     _resolve_desktop: bool
     _desktop: DesktopChannel | None
+    _resolve_lock: threading.Lock
     _write: Callable[[str], None]
     _env: Mapping[str, str]
     _clock: Callable[[], float]
@@ -398,6 +411,7 @@ class WaitNotifier:
         else:
             self._resolve_desktop = False
             self._desktop = desktop
+        self._resolve_lock = threading.Lock()
         self._write = write or write_terminal
         self._env = os.environ if env is None else env
         self._clock = clock
@@ -435,10 +449,39 @@ class WaitNotifier:
     def desktop_channel(self) -> DesktopChannel | None:
         """The desktop surface, resolved once (importing the extra on demand)."""
         if self._resolve_desktop:
-            self._desktop = load_desktop_channel()
+            with self._resolve_lock:
-            self._resolve_desktop = False
+                if self._resolve_desktop:
+                    self._desktop = load_desktop_channel()
+                    self._resolve_desktop = False
         return self._desktop
 
+    def answer_capability(self, kind: str) -> str | None:
+        """The capability *kind*'s answer needs (``buttons`` / ``reply``), or None.
+
+        Answered before the notification is shown, so a prompt knows from the
+        start of its wait whether an answer may arrive.
+        """
+        needed = _ANSWER_CAPABILITY.get(kind)
+        if needed is None or not self._config.actions or not self._wants("desktop"):
+            return None
+        channel = self.desktop_channel()
+        if channel is None or needed not in channel.capabilities():
+            return None
+        return needed
+
+    def warm(self) -> None:
+        """Resolve the desktop channel off the caller's thread.
+
+        Probing the platform's capabilities costs a round trip to the
+        notification server, so the first prompt of a run must not pay for it
+        while the human is already waiting.
+        """
+        if not self._resolve_desktop or not self._config.actions or not self._wants("desktop"):
+            return
+        if importlib.util.find_spec("desktop_notifier") is None:
+            return  # no extra: the terminal channel is all there is
+        threading.Thread(target=self.desktop_channel, name="plyngent-notify-warm", daemon=True).start()
+
     def notify_desktop(self, handle: WaitHandle) -> bool:
         """Show the desktop notification; False when it could not be shown."""
         if not self._wants("desktop"):
@@ -447,25 +490,20 @@ class WaitNotifier:
         if channel is None:
             return False
         wait = handle.wait
-        capabilities = channel.capabilities()
+        capability = self.answer_capability(wait.kind)
-        buttons: tuple[tuple[str, str], ...] = ()
-        if self._config.actions and wait.kind in _ANSWER_KINDS and "buttons" in capabilities:
-            buttons = _BUTTONS
-        reply = self._config.actions and wait.kind == "ask" and "reply" in capabilities
         try:
             handle.identifier = channel.send(
                 DesktopRequest(
                     title=_clean(wait.title, _MAX_TITLE),
                     message=self._message(wait),
-                    buttons=buttons,
+                    buttons=_BUTTONS if capability == "buttons" else (),
-                    reply_field=reply,
+                    reply_field=capability == "reply",
                     on_answer=handle.answer,
                     on_reply=handle.answer,
                 )
             )
         except Exception:  # noqa: BLE001 - a notification never breaks a prompt
             return False
-        handle.supports_actions = bool(buttons) or reply
         return True
 
     def notify_terminal(self, wait: PromptWait) -> None:
@@ -497,5 +535,6 @@ def install_notifier(config: NotifyConfig) -> WaitNotifier | None:
         set_prompt_wait_hook(None)
         return None
     notifier = WaitNotifier(config)
+    notifier.warm()
     set_prompt_wait_hook(notifier)
     return notifier

src/plyngent/prompting.py

@@ -140,7 +140,12 @@ class PromptAnswerSource(Protocol):
 
     @property
     def supports_actions(self) -> bool:
-        """Whether :meth:`take` can answer this prompt at all."""
+        """Whether an answer may arrive while the prompt waits.
+
+        A surface that will offer the answer says so before it has offered it —
+        the notification is only shown after the host's grace period — so a read
+        polls :meth:`take` from its first moment instead of deciding once.
+        """
         ...
 
     def take(self) -> str | None:
@@ -619,8 +624,26 @@ def choose(
         backend.echo("Invalid choice; pick a listed option.")
 
 
-def confirm(prompt: str, *, default: bool = False) -> bool:
+#: Answers a surface spells out on top of the ``y`` a confirm already accepts.
-    """Yes/no confirm via the active backend.
+_YES = frozenset({"allow", "y", "yes"})
+
+
+def _confirm_from_source(prompt: str, source: PromptAnswerSource, *, default: bool) -> bool:
+    """Yes/no for a prompt a surface may answer, reading the terminal as well."""
+    hint = "[Y/n]" if default else "[y/N]"
+    try:
+        answer = _read_with_source(f"{prompt} {hint}", source, default="")
+    except (KeyboardInterrupt, EOFError) as exc:
+        msg = "prompt cancelled"
+        raise NonInteractiveError(msg) from exc
+    token = answer.strip().lower()
+    if not token:
+        return default
+    return token in _YES
+
+
+def confirm(prompt: str, *, default: bool = False, source: PromptAnswerSource | None = None) -> bool:
+    """Yes/no confirm via the active backend, or from *source* when given.
 
     Non-interactive backends return ``default`` without blocking.
     Cancel (Ctrl+C / EOF) raises :class:`NonInteractiveError`.
@@ -628,8 +651,13 @@ def confirm(prompt: str, *, default: bool = False) -> bool:
     backend = get_prompt_backend()
     if not backend.is_interactive():
         return default
+    if source is not None:
+        return _confirm_from_source(prompt, source, default=default)
     backend.echo()
-    with prompt_wait("confirm", prompt):
+    with prompt_wait("confirm", prompt) as wait:
+        offered = wait if wait is not None and wait.supports_actions else None
+        if offered is not None:
+            return _confirm_from_source(prompt, offered, default=default)
         return backend.confirm(prompt, default=default)