feat: auto-focus chatbox when task is opened or created

- Focus textarea after starting new task in ChatView
- Send focusInput action after showing task from history
- Send focusInput action after creating new task via webview message

This improves user experience by automatically placing cursor in the chat input when a task is opened or created.

src/core/webview/ClineProvider.ts

@@ -1167,6 +1167,8 @@ export class ClineProvider
 		}
 
 		await this.postMessageToWebview({ type: "action", action: "chatButtonClicked" })
+		// Focus the input after loading the task
+		await this.postMessageToWebview({ type: "action", action: "focusInput" })
 	}
 
 	async exportTaskWithId(id: string) {

src/core/webview/webviewMessageHandler.ts

@@ -288,6 +288,8 @@ export const webviewMessageHandler = async (
 			// agentically running promises in old instance don't affect our new
 			// task. This essentially creates a fresh slate for the new task.
 			await provider.initClineWithTask(message.text, message.images)
+			// Focus the input after creating a new task
+			await provider.postMessageToWebview({ type: "action", action: "focusInput" })
 			break
 		case "customInstructions":
 			await provider.updateCustomInstructions(message.text)

test-focus-implementation.md

@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+# Test Plan for Auto-Focus Chat Input Feature
+
+## Changes Made:
+
+1. **ChatView.tsx** - Modified `startNewTask` function to focus textarea after clearing task
+2. **ClineProvider.ts** - Added focus action after showing task with ID
+3. **webviewMessageHandler.ts** - Added focus action after creating new task
+
+## Test Scenarios:
+
+### 1. New Task Creation
+
+- Click "Start New Task" button
+- Expected: Chat input should automatically receive focus
+
+### 2. Opening Past Task from History
+
+- Click on a task from history
+- Expected: Chat input should automatically receive focus after task loads
+
+### 3. Focus Action Handler
+
+- The existing `focusInput` action handler in ChatView.tsx (line 720) will handle the focus request
+
+## Implementation Details:
+
+- Used `setTimeout` with 100ms delay in `startNewTask` to ensure DOM is ready
+- Used `postMessageToWebview` with `focusInput` action for consistent focus handling
+- Leveraged existing focus infrastructure in the codebase

webview-ui/src/components/chat/ChatView.tsx

@@ -594,7 +594,13 @@ const ChatViewComponent: React.ForwardRefRenderFunction<ChatViewRef, ChatViewPro
 		[inputValue, selectedImages],
 	)
 
-	const startNewTask = useCallback(() => vscode.postMessage({ type: "clearTask" }), [])
+	const startNewTask = useCallback(() => {
+		vscode.postMessage({ type: "clearTask" })
+		// Focus the textarea after starting a new task
+		setTimeout(() => {
+			textAreaRef.current?.focus()
+		}, 100)
+	}, [])
 
 	// This logic depends on the useEffect[messages] above to set clineAsk,
 	// after which buttons are shown and we then send an askResponse to the