feat: filter stale groups and unresolvable contacts from sidebar (closes #256) (#286)

johnsideserf · claude · web-flow · commit 6a832d0e71cf · 2026-03-21T23:54:46.000Z
Hide conversations from the default sidebar view when they have no
messages AND no meaningful name (empty/abandoned groups with only a
raw group ID, or contacts with only a UUID hash). The active
conversation is never hidden, and using the sidebar filter (/) shows
all conversations including hidden ones.

Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) &lt;noreply@anthropic.com&gt;
diff --git a/src/app.rs b/src/app.rs
@@ -258,6 +258,24 @@ pub struct Conversation {
 }
 
 impl Conversation {
+    /// Whether this conversation is stale and should be hidden from the default sidebar view.
+    /// A conversation is stale if it has no messages AND has no meaningful name
+    /// (e.g. empty/abandoned groups, or contacts with only a UUID hash).
+    pub fn is_stale(&self) -> bool {
+        if !self.messages.is_empty() {
+            return false;
+        }
+        if self.is_group {
+            // Group with no messages and no resolved name (name is the raw group ID)
+            self.name.is_empty() || self.name == self.id
+        } else {
+            // 1:1 contact with no messages and no usable name:
+            // keep if name is a phone number (+...), hide if name is just the raw ID
+            // (a UUID hash or "..." with no real identity)
+            !self.name.starts_with('+') && self.name == self.id
+        }
+    }
+
     /// Binary-search for a message by timestamp (messages are sorted by `timestamp_ms`).
     fn find_msg_idx(&self, ts: i64) -> Option<usize> {
         let end = self.messages.partition_point(|m| m.timestamp_ms <= ts);
@@ -9911,4 +9929,51 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(app.typing.indicators.contains_key("+1"),
             "1:1 typing indicator should be keyed by sender phone");
     }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn is_stale_filters_correctly() {
+        let empty_group = Conversation {
+            name: "abc123groupid".to_string(),
+            id: "abc123groupid".to_string(),
+            messages: vec![],
+            unread: 0,
+            is_group: true,
+            expiration_timer: 0,
+            accepted: true,
+        };
+        assert!(empty_group.is_stale(), "group with no messages and name==id is stale");
+
+        let named_group = Conversation {
+            name: "Book Club".to_string(),
+            id: "abc123groupid".to_string(),
+            messages: vec![],
+            unread: 0,
+            is_group: true,
+            expiration_timer: 0,
+            accepted: true,
+        };
+        assert!(!named_group.is_stale(), "group with a real name is not stale");
+
+        let phone_contact = Conversation {
+            name: "+15551234567".to_string(),
+            id: "+15551234567".to_string(),
+            messages: vec![],
+            unread: 0,
+            is_group: false,
+            expiration_timer: 0,
+            accepted: true,
+        };
+        assert!(!phone_contact.is_stale(), "contact with phone number is not stale");
+
+        let uuid_contact = Conversation {
+            name: "8eb3dbda-1234-5678".to_string(),
+            id: "8eb3dbda-1234-5678".to_string(),
+            messages: vec![],
+            unread: 0,
+            is_group: false,
+            expiration_timer: 0,
+            accepted: true,
+        };
+        assert!(uuid_contact.is_stale(), "contact with UUID-only name is stale");
+    }
 }
diff --git a/src/ui.rs b/src/ui.rs
@@ -643,15 +643,26 @@ fn draw_sidebar(frame: &mut Frame, app: &mut App, area: Rect) {
     let theme = &app.theme;
     let max_name_width = (area.width as usize).saturating_sub(5); // "• # " + margin
 
-    // Use filtered list when sidebar filter is active
+    // Use filtered list when sidebar filter is active.
+    // When filtering, show everything (so users can find hidden conversations).
+    // In normal view, hide stale conversations (empty groups, unresolvable contacts).
     let display_order: Vec<String> = if app.sidebar_filter_active {
         if app.sidebar_filter.is_empty() {
             app.conversation_order.clone()
         } else {
             app.sidebar_filtered.clone()
         }
     } else {
-        app.conversation_order.clone()
+        app.conversation_order
+            .iter()
+            .filter(|id| {
+                app.active_conversation.as_ref() == Some(id)
+                    || app.conversations
+                        .get(*id)
+                        .is_some_and(|c| !c.is_stale())
+            })
+            .cloned()
+            .collect()
     };
 
     let items: Vec<ListItem> = display_order
