refactor(sessions): move session summary generation to startup

packages/cli/src/gemini.tsx

@@ -498,6 +498,20 @@ export async function main() {
 
     // Handle --list-sessions flag
     if (config.getListSessions()) {
+      // Attempt auth for summary generation (gracefully skips if not configured)
+      const authType = settings.merged.security?.auth?.selectedType;
+      if (authType) {
+        try {
+          await config.refreshAuth(authType);
+        } catch (e) {
+          // Auth failed - continue without summary generation capability
+          debugLogger.debug(
+            'Auth failed for --list-sessions, summaries may not be generated:',
+            e,
+          );
+        }
+      }
+
       await listSessions(config);
       await runExitCleanup();
       process.exit(ExitCodes.SUCCESS);

packages/cli/src/ui/AppContainer.tsx

@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ import {
   SessionEndReason,
   fireSessionStartHook,
   fireSessionEndHook,
-  generateAndSaveSummary,
+  generateSummary,
 } from '@google/gemini-cli-core';
 import { validateAuthMethod } from '../config/auth.js';
 import process from 'node:process';
@@ -312,9 +312,13 @@ export const AppContainer = (props: AppContainerProps) => {
           : SessionStartSource.Startup;
         await fireSessionStartHook(hookMessageBus, sessionStartSource);
       }
+
+      // Fire-and-forget: generate summary for previous session in background
+      generateSummary(config).catch((e) => {
+        debugLogger.warn('Background summary generation failed:', e);
+      });
     })();
     registerCleanup(async () => {
-      await generateAndSaveSummary(config);
       // Turn off mouse scroll.
       disableMouseEvents();
       const ideClient = await IdeClient.getInstance();

packages/cli/src/utils/sessions.test.ts

@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ vi.mock('@google/gemini-cli-core', async () => {
   return {
     ...actual,
     ChatRecordingService: vi.fn(),
+    generateSummary: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(undefined),
   };
 });
 

packages/cli/src/utils/sessions.ts

@@ -4,14 +4,21 @@
  * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
  */
 
-import { ChatRecordingService, type Config } from '@google/gemini-cli-core';
+import {
+  ChatRecordingService,
+  generateSummary,
+  type Config,
+} from '@google/gemini-cli-core';
 import {
   formatRelativeTime,
   SessionSelector,
   type SessionInfo,
 } from './sessionUtils.js';
 
 export async function listSessions(config: Config): Promise<void> {
+  // Generate summary for most recent session if needed
+  await generateSummary(config);
+
   const sessionSelector = new SessionSelector(config);
   const sessions = await sessionSelector.listSessions();