fix: add loading screen and retry logic to prevent webview lockup on startup

- Created LoadingScreen component to show proper loading state instead of blank screen
- Added timeout handling to show message when loading takes longer than expected
- Implemented retry logic in App and ExtensionStateContext to resend initialization message
- Changed App to render LoadingScreen instead of null when waiting for state hydration

This fixes the issue where the webview would show a blank screen indefinitely if the
extension was slow to respond with the initial state.

Fixes #6234

webview-ui/src/App.tsx

@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ import { AccountView } from "./components/account/AccountView"
 import { useAddNonInteractiveClickListener } from "./components/ui/hooks/useNonInteractiveClick"
 import { TooltipProvider } from "./components/ui/tooltip"
 import { STANDARD_TOOLTIP_DELAY } from "./components/ui/standard-tooltip"
+import { LoadingScreen } from "./components/common/LoadingScreen"
 
 type Tab = "settings" | "history" | "mcp" | "modes" | "chat" | "marketplace" | "account"
 
@@ -81,6 +82,7 @@ const App = () => {
 
 	const [showAnnouncement, setShowAnnouncement] = useState(false)
 	const [tab, setTab] = useState<Tab>("chat")
+	const [showTimeout, setShowTimeout] = useState(false)
 
 	const [humanRelayDialogState, setHumanRelayDialogState] = useState<HumanRelayDialogState>({
 		isOpen: false,
@@ -207,6 +209,27 @@ const App = () => {
 		console.debug("App initialized with source map support")
 	}, [])
 
+	// Add timeout handling for extension state
+	useEffect(() => {
+		if (!didHydrateState) {
+			// Show timeout message after 5 seconds
+			const timeoutTimer = setTimeout(() => {
+				setShowTimeout(true)
+			}, 5000)
+
+			// Retry sending webviewDidLaunch after 3 seconds
+			const retryTimer = setTimeout(() => {
+				console.debug("Retrying webviewDidLaunch message...")
+				vscode.postMessage({ type: "webviewDidLaunch" })
+			}, 3000)
+
+			return () => {
+				clearTimeout(timeoutTimer)
+				clearTimeout(retryTimer)
+			}
+		}
+	}, [didHydrateState])
+
 	// Focus the WebView when non-interactive content is clicked (only in editor/tab mode)
 	useAddNonInteractiveClickListener(
 		useCallback(() => {
@@ -224,7 +247,7 @@ const App = () => {
 	}, [tab])
 
 	if (!didHydrateState) {
-		return null
+		return <LoadingScreen showTimeout={showTimeout} />
 	}
 
 	// Do not conditionally load ChatView, it's expensive and there's state we

webview-ui/src/components/common/LoadingScreen.tsx

@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+import React from "react"
+import { VSCodeProgressRing } from "@vscode/webview-ui-toolkit/react"
+
+interface LoadingScreenProps {
+	message?: string
+	showTimeout?: boolean
+}
+
+export const LoadingScreen: React.FC<LoadingScreenProps> = ({
+	message = "Loading Roo Code...",
+	showTimeout = false,
+}) => {
+	return (
+		<div className="fixed inset-0 flex flex-col items-center justify-center bg-vscode-editor-background">
+			<div className="flex flex-col items-center gap-4">
+				<VSCodeProgressRing />
+				<p className="text-vscode-foreground text-sm">{message}</p>
+				{showTimeout && (
+					<p className="text-vscode-descriptionForeground text-xs mt-2">Taking longer than expected...</p>
+				)}
+			</div>
+		</div>
+	)
+}

webview-ui/src/context/ExtensionStateContext.tsx

@@ -360,8 +360,19 @@ export const ExtensionStateContextProvider: React.FC<{ children: React.ReactNode
 	}, [handleMessage])
 
 	useEffect(() => {
+		// Send initial launch message
 		vscode.postMessage({ type: "webviewDidLaunch" })
-	}, [])
+
+		// If we don't get a response within 2 seconds, try again
+		const retryTimer = setTimeout(() => {
+			if (!didHydrateState) {
+				console.warn("No state received from extension, retrying webviewDidLaunch...")
+				vscode.postMessage({ type: "webviewDidLaunch" })
+			}
+		}, 2000)
+
+		return () => clearTimeout(retryTimer)
+	}, [didHydrateState])
 
 	const contextValue: ExtensionStateContextType = {
 		...state,