Devin Desktop: Agent sidebar view preferences (Group by / sort / filters) reset on every app restart

[chuanman2707]

Summary

In Devin Desktop's Agent sidebar, view preferences — the Group by setting (e.g. Group by Workspace/Project), sort field, filters, density, showSpaces, and collapsed groups — are lost every time the app quits and relaunches. Sessions reopen correctly, but the sidebar always falls back to default grouping.

Root cause

The sidebar persists these prefs via api.workspaceStorage under the key agentSidebarPreferences, which lands in User/workspaceStorage/<workspaceId>/state.vscdb (ItemTable).

The problem: each cold start of Devin Desktop creates a brand-new ephemeral workspace file

~/Library/Application Support/Devin/Workspaces/<epoch-ms>/workspace.json

with workbenchMode: "windsurf-agent-window". The workspaceId used for workspaceStorage is a hash of that workspace file URI, so it changes on every launch. Preferences written during run N are orphaned in run N's storage bucket; run N+1 opens with a fresh, empty bucket → defaults.

Meanwhile open-sessions-by-workspace (localStorage, https://app.devin.ai origin) is keyed by the folder workspace id, which is stable — that's why open tabs restore but view prefs don't. The prefs appear to be keyed to the wrong (ephemeral) workspace identity.

Evidence

~/Library/Application Support/Devin/Workspaces/
└── 1790497303964/workspace.json     # only entry; epoch-ms name == this launch
    { "folders": [{"path": "…/magiclight-mcp"}],
      "workbenchMode": "windsurf-agent-window" }

Old launches leave orphaned storage buckets that still hold the prefs:

workspaceStorage/dd479b96… → Workspaces/1790066705614  → has agentSidebarPreferences
workspaceStorage/877e8aa8… → Workspaces/1790408564574  → has agentSidebarPreferences
workspaceStorage/a3bb84a3… → Workspaces/1790477698193  → has agentSidebarPreferences
workspaceStorage/4e6d66de… → Workspaces/1790325828200  → has agentSidebarPreferences
workspaceStorage/24fe50e9… → Workspaces/1790211713552  → has agentSidebarPreferences
workspaceStorage/2bb46849… → Workspaces/1790497303964  → current launch: key missing

Stored value in the orphaned buckets:

{"filters":{...},"sort":{"field":"updated"},
 "view":{"groupBy":"project","showSpaces":true,...},
 "hasAppliedFolderGroupingDefault":true,"hasSeenFoldersSupported":true}

The folder-scoped bucket (workspaceStorage/5318212d… → file:///Users/…/magiclight-mcp) does not contain agentSidebarPreferences, confirming the key follows the window workspace, not the folder.

Expected behavior

Sidebar view preferences should be keyed to something stable across launches — the workspace folder, or global storage — so Group-by and friends survive restarts.

Possibly related

The new-session target picker (Local vs Cloud) is also per-tab only. That one at least has a documented persistent knob (devin.acp.preferredAgent in settings.json), but the UI doesn't hint that the dropdown choice won't persist — same class of "looks like it should stick, doesn't" UX. Worth deciding intentionally whether per-tab target should write preferredAgent or be offered as "set as default".

Environment

• Devin Desktop 3.10.35 (CLI 3000.10.35, commit dfa4a2d6)
• macOS 26 (Darwin 25.6.0), Apple Silicon

Repro

1. Open Devin Desktop → Agent tab.
2. Change Group by in the Sessions sidebar (e.g. Group by Workspace).
3. Quit Devin Desktop fully and relaunch.
4. Sidebar is back to the default grouping.