feat: add persistContextReferences setting to maintain context across conversations

- Added new VSCode setting 'roo-cline.persistContextReferences' (default: false)
- When enabled, @mentions and /commands persist in the input field after sending messages
- Extracts and preserves context references when clearing the input field
- Maintains backward compatibility with default behavior (clearing context)
- Addresses issue #8439 for improved workflow efficiency

Author: roomote

packages/types/src/global-settings.ts

@@ -152,6 +152,7 @@ export const globalSettingsSchema = z.object({
 	hasOpenedModeSelector: z.boolean().optional(),
 	lastModeExportPath: z.string().optional(),
 	lastModeImportPath: z.string().optional(),
+	persistContextReferences: z.boolean().optional(),
 })
 
 export type GlobalSettings = z.infer<typeof globalSettingsSchema>

src/package.json

@@ -423,6 +423,11 @@
 					"default": false,
 					"description": "%settings.newTaskRequireTodos.description%"
 				},
+				"roo-cline.persistContextReferences": {
+					"type": "boolean",
+					"default": false,
+					"description": "%settings.persistContextReferences.description%"
+				},
 				"roo-cline.codeIndex.embeddingBatchSize": {
 					"type": "number",
 					"default": 60,

src/package.nls.json

@@ -42,5 +42,6 @@
 	"settings.useAgentRules.description": "Enable loading of AGENTS.md files for agent-specific rules (see https://agent-rules.org/)",
 	"settings.apiRequestTimeout.description": "Maximum time in seconds to wait for API responses (0 = no timeout, 1-3600s, default: 600s). Higher values are recommended for local providers like LM Studio and Ollama that may need more processing time.",
 	"settings.newTaskRequireTodos.description": "Require todos parameter when creating new tasks with the new_task tool",
+	"settings.persistContextReferences.description": "Keep context references (@mentions) in the input field after sending a message, allowing them to persist across conversations in the same task",
 	"settings.codeIndex.embeddingBatchSize.description": "The batch size for embedding operations during code indexing. Adjust this based on your API provider's limits. Default is 60."
 }

src/shared/ExtensionMessage.ts

@@ -288,6 +288,7 @@ export type ExtensionState = Pick<
 	| "openRouterImageGenerationSelectedModel"
 	| "includeTaskHistoryInEnhance"
 	| "reasoningBlockCollapsed"
+	| "persistContextReferences"
 > & {
 	version: string
 	clineMessages: ClineMessage[]

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

@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import { AudioType } from "@roo/WebviewMessage"
 import { getAllModes } from "@roo/modes"
 import { ProfileValidator } from "@roo/ProfileValidator"
 import { getLatestTodo } from "@roo/todo"
+import { mentionRegexGlobal, commandRegexGlobal } from "@roo/context-mentions"
 
 import { vscode } from "@src/utils/vscode"
 import {
@@ -123,6 +124,7 @@ const ChatViewComponent: React.ForwardRefRenderFunction<ChatViewRef, ChatViewPro
 		soundVolume,
 		cloudIsAuthenticated,
 		messageQueue = [],
+		persistContextReferences,
 	} = useExtensionState()
 
 	const messagesRef = useRef(messages)
@@ -563,6 +565,23 @@ const ChatViewComponent: React.ForwardRefRenderFunction<ChatViewRef, ChatViewPro
 		}
 	}, [])
 
+	/**
+	 * Extracts mentions from text
+	 * @param text - The text to extract mentions from
+	 * @returns The extracted mentions as a string
+	 */
+	const extractMentions = useCallback((text: string): string => {
+		// Extract all @mentions and /commands from the text
+		const mentionMatches = text.match(mentionRegexGlobal) || []
+		const commandMatches = text.match(commandRegexGlobal) || []
+
+		// Combine and deduplicate
+		const allMentions = [...new Set([...mentionMatches, ...commandMatches])]
+
+		// Return as space-separated string
+		return allMentions.join(" ")
+	}, [])
+
 	const handleChatReset = useCallback(() => {
 		// Clear any pending auto-approval timeout
 		if (autoApproveTimeoutRef.current) {
@@ -573,7 +592,13 @@ const ChatViewComponent: React.ForwardRefRenderFunction<ChatViewRef, ChatViewPro
 		userRespondedRef.current = false
 
 		// Only reset message-specific state, preserving mode.
-		setInputValue("")
+		// If persistContextReferences is enabled, extract and preserve mentions
+		if (persistContextReferences && inputValueRef.current) {
+			const mentions = extractMentions(inputValueRef.current)
+			setInputValue(mentions)
+		} else {
+			setInputValue("")
+		}
 		setSendingDisabled(true)
 		setSelectedImages([])
 		setClineAsk(undefined)
@@ -582,7 +607,7 @@ const ChatViewComponent: React.ForwardRefRenderFunction<ChatViewRef, ChatViewPro
 		// setPrimaryButtonText(undefined)
 		// setSecondaryButtonText(undefined)
 		disableAutoScrollRef.current = false
-	}, [])
+	}, [persistContextReferences, extractMentions])
 
 	/**
 	 * Handles sending messages to the extension
@@ -598,7 +623,13 @@ const ChatViewComponent: React.ForwardRefRenderFunction<ChatViewRef, ChatViewPro
 					try {
 						console.log("queueMessage", text, images)
 						vscode.postMessage({ type: "queueMessage", text, images })
-						setInputValue("")
+						// If persistContextReferences is enabled, preserve mentions
+						if (persistContextReferences) {
+							const mentions = extractMentions(inputValueRef.current)
+							setInputValue(mentions)
+						} else {
+							setInputValue("")
+						}
 						setSelectedImages([])
 					} catch (error) {
 						console.error(
@@ -650,7 +681,7 @@ const ChatViewComponent: React.ForwardRefRenderFunction<ChatViewRef, ChatViewPro
 				handleChatReset()
 			}
 		},
-		[handleChatReset, markFollowUpAsAnswered, sendingDisabled], // messagesRef and clineAskRef are stable
+		[handleChatReset, markFollowUpAsAnswered, sendingDisabled, persistContextReferences, extractMentions], // messagesRef and clineAskRef are stable
 	)
 
 	const handleSetChatBoxMessage = useCallback(

webview-ui/src/context/ExtensionStateContext.tsx

@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ import { convertTextMateToHljs } from "@src/utils/textMateToHljs"
 
 export interface ExtensionStateContextType extends ExtensionState {
 	historyPreviewCollapsed?: boolean // Add the new state property
+	persistContextReferences?: boolean // Add property for persisting context references
 	didHydrateState: boolean
 	showWelcome: boolean
 	theme: any
@@ -158,6 +159,7 @@ export interface ExtensionStateContextType extends ExtensionState {
 	setMaxDiagnosticMessages: (value: number) => void
 	includeTaskHistoryInEnhance?: boolean
 	setIncludeTaskHistoryInEnhance: (value: boolean) => void
+	setPersistContextReferences: (value: boolean) => void
 }
 
 export const ExtensionStateContext = createContext<ExtensionStateContextType | undefined>(undefined)
@@ -559,6 +561,10 @@ export const ExtensionStateContextProvider: React.FC<{ children: React.ReactNode
 		},
 		includeTaskHistoryInEnhance,
 		setIncludeTaskHistoryInEnhance,
+		persistContextReferences: state.persistContextReferences ?? false,
+		setPersistContextReferences: (value) => {
+			setState((prevState) => ({ ...prevState, persistContextReferences: value }))
+		},
 	}
 
 	return <ExtensionStateContext.Provider value={contextValue}>{children}</ExtensionStateContext.Provider>