feat(sessions): show thinking level in assistant chat bubble metadata

Attribute the thinking level in effect to each assistant message: from
thinking_level_change branch entries for history, from the live session
level for streamed message.end events and join-time stream snapshots.
The chat metadata row renders it after the model; thinking "off" stays
hidden so non-reasoning bubbles are unchanged.

.changeset/chat-bubble-thinking-level.md

@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"@jmfederico/pi-web": patch
+---
+
+Show the thinking level in assistant chat bubble metadata next to the model and timestamp, for both history and live messages. Bubbles from turns with thinking off stay unchanged.

src/client/src/chatMessages.test.ts

@@ -113,6 +113,12 @@ describe("chat message normalization", () => {
     ]);
   });
 
+  it("carries the thinking level into assistant message metadata", () => {
+    expect(normalizeMessage({ role: "assistant", content: [{ type: "text", text: "hi" }], provider: "openai", model: "gpt-4.1", timestamp: "2026-05-09T12:00:00.000Z", thinkingLevel: "max" })).toEqual([
+      { role: "assistant", parts: [{ type: "text", text: "hi" }], meta: { timestamp: "2026-05-09T12:00:00.000Z", model: { provider: "openai", id: "gpt-4.1" }, thinkingLevel: "max" } },
+    ]);
+  });
+
   it("shows assistant model errors as system chat messages", () => {
     expect(normalizeMessage({ role: "assistant", content: [], stopReason: "error", errorMessage: "429 rate limit", timestamp: "2026-05-09T12:00:00.000Z", provider: "openai", model: "gpt-4.1" })).toEqual([
       { role: "system", parts: [{ type: "text", text: "Model response failed: 429 rate limit" }], meta: { timestamp: "2026-05-09T12:00:00.000Z", model: { provider: "openai", id: "gpt-4.1" } } },

src/client/src/chatMessages.ts

@@ -109,8 +109,13 @@ function normalizeSource(message: unknown): ChatLine["source"] | undefined {
 function normalizeMeta(message: unknown): ChatLine["meta"] | undefined {
   const timestamp = normalizeTimestamp(getProperty(message, "timestamp"));
   const model = normalizeModel(message);
-  if (timestamp === undefined && model === undefined) return undefined;
-  return { ...(timestamp === undefined ? {} : { timestamp }), ...(model === undefined ? {} : { model }) };
+  const thinkingLevel = getString(message, "thinkingLevel");
+  if (timestamp === undefined && model === undefined && (thinkingLevel === undefined || thinkingLevel === "")) return undefined;
+  return {
+    ...(timestamp === undefined ? {} : { timestamp }),
+    ...(model === undefined ? {} : { model }),
+    ...(thinkingLevel === undefined || thinkingLevel === "" ? {} : { thinkingLevel }),
+  };
 }
 
 function normalizeTimestamp(value: unknown): string | undefined {

src/client/src/components/ChatView.test.ts

@@ -259,6 +259,17 @@ describe("chatMessageMetadataLabel", () => {
       meta: { timestamp, model: { provider: "provider", id: "model" } },
     })).toBe(`${formattedTimestamp} · provider/model`);
   });
+
+  it("appends the thinking level after the model when present", () => {
+    const timestamp = "2026-07-10T19:15:30.000Z";
+    const formattedTimestamp = new Intl.DateTimeFormat(undefined, { dateStyle: "medium", timeStyle: "medium" }).format(new Date(timestamp));
+
+    expect(chatMessageMetadataLabel({
+      role: "assistant",
+      parts: [],
+      meta: { timestamp, model: { provider: "provider", id: "model" }, thinkingLevel: "high" },
+    })).toBe(`${formattedTimestamp} · provider/model · high`);
+  });
 });
 
 describe("chat event-group content seams", () => {

src/client/src/components/ChatView.ts

@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@ export function chatMessageMetadataLabel(message: ChatLine): string {
   const timestamp = message.meta?.timestamp;
   const time = timestamp === undefined ? undefined : formatMessageTimestamp(timestamp);
   const model = chatMessageModelLabel(message);
-  const parts = [time, model].filter((part): part is string => part !== undefined && part !== "");
+  const parts = [time, model, message.meta?.thinkingLevel].filter((part): part is string => part !== undefined && part !== "");
   return parts.length === 0 ? "No Pi message metadata available" : parts.join(" · ");
 }
 

src/client/src/components/shared.ts

@@ -68,6 +68,8 @@ export interface ChatLine {
   meta?: {
     timestamp?: string;
     model?: { provider?: string; id?: string; responseId?: string };
+    /** Thinking level the assistant message was generated with, when known. */
+    thinkingLevel?: string;
   };
 }
 

src/server/sessions/piSessionService.messages.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { PiSessionService } from "./piSessionService.js";
+import { CapturingSessionEventHub, fakeRuntime, fakeSessionManager, runtimeCreator, sessionGateway, sessionRecord, sessionRef, testModelRuntime } from "./piSessionService.testSupport.js";
+
+const TEST_AGENT_DIR = "/tmp/pi-web-test-agent";
+
+describe("PiSessionService", () => {
+  describe("assistant thinking-level attribution", () => {
+    function messagesService(branch: unknown[], patch: Parameters<typeof fakeRuntime>[1] = {}) {
+      const fake = fakeRuntime("session-1", {
+        sessionFile: "/tmp/session-1.jsonl",
+        sessionManager: fakeSessionManager("/workspace", { getBranch: () => branch }),
+        ...patch,
+      });
+      const events = new CapturingSessionEventHub();
+      const service = new PiSessionService(events, {
+        agentDir: TEST_AGENT_DIR,
+        modelRuntime: testModelRuntime,
+        createAgentRuntime: runtimeCreator(fake.runtime),
+        sessionManager: sessionGateway([sessionRecord("session-1")]),
+        heartbeatIntervalMs: 60_000,
+      });
+      return { fake, service, events };
+    }
+
+    it("annotates paged assistant messages with the thinking level in effect from branch entries", async () => {
+      const branch = [
+        { type: "message", message: { role: "user", content: [{ type: "text", text: "hi" }] } },
+        { type: "message", message: { role: "assistant", provider: "openai", model: "gpt-4.1", content: [{ type: "text", text: "before any entry" }] } },
+        { type: "thinking_level_change", thinkingLevel: "medium" },
+        { type: "message", message: { role: "assistant", provider: "openai", model: "gpt-4.1", content: [{ type: "text", text: "first answer" }] } },
+        { type: "thinking_level_change", thinkingLevel: "max" },
+        { type: "message", message: { role: "assistant", provider: "openai", model: "gpt-4.1", content: [{ type: "text", text: "second answer" }] } },
+        { type: "thinking_level_change", thinkingLevel: "off" },
+        { type: "message", message: { role: "assistant", provider: "openai", model: "gpt-4.1", content: [{ type: "text", text: "unthinking answer" }] } },
+        { type: "message", message: { role: "toolResult", toolName: "bash", content: [{ type: "text", text: "done" }] } },
+      ];
+      const { service } = messagesService(branch);
+
+      const messages = await service.messages(sessionRef("session-1"));
+
+      expect(messages).toEqual([
+        { role: "user", content: [{ type: "text", text: "hi" }] },
+        { role: "assistant", provider: "openai", model: "gpt-4.1", content: [{ type: "text", text: "before any entry" }] },
+        { role: "assistant", provider: "openai", model: "gpt-4.1", content: [{ type: "text", text: "first answer" }], thinkingLevel: "medium" },
+        { role: "assistant", provider: "openai", model: "gpt-4.1", content: [{ type: "text", text: "second answer" }], thinkingLevel: "max" },
+        { role: "assistant", provider: "openai", model: "gpt-4.1", content: [{ type: "text", text: "unthinking answer" }] },
+        { role: "toolResult", toolName: "bash", content: [{ type: "text", text: "done" }] },
+      ]);
+      await service.dispose();
+    });
+
+    it("annotates live assistant message.end events with the session's current thinking level", async () => {
+      const { fake, service, events } = messagesService([], { thinkingLevel: "high" });
+      await service.status(sessionRef("session-1")); // bring the session online so it publishes events
+
+      fake.emit({ type: "message_end", message: { role: "assistant", provider: "openai", model: "gpt-4.1", content: [{ type: "text", text: "answer" }] } });
+      fake.emit({ type: "message_end", message: { role: "user", content: [{ type: "text", text: "next" }] } });
+
+      const messageEnds = events.sessionEvents.map(({ event }) => event).filter((event) => event.type === "message.end");
+      expect(messageEnds).toEqual([
+        { type: "message.end", message: { role: "assistant", provider: "openai", model: "gpt-4.1", content: [{ type: "text", text: "answer" }], thinkingLevel: "high" } },
+        { type: "message.end", message: { role: "user", content: [{ type: "text", text: "next" }] } },
+      ]);
+      await service.dispose();
+    });
+
+    it("annotates the join-time stream snapshot partial with the current thinking level", async () => {
+      const streamingMessage = {
+        role: "assistant",
+        provider: "openai",
+        model: "gpt-4.1",
+        content: [{ type: "thinking", thinking: "hmm", thinkingSignature: "provider-signature" }],
+      };
+      const { service } = messagesService([], { thinkingLevel: "xhigh", state: { streamingMessage } });
+
+      const snapshot = await service.streamSnapshot(sessionRef("session-1"));
+
+      expect(snapshot.partial).toEqual({
+        role: "assistant",
+        provider: "openai",
+        model: "gpt-4.1",
+        content: [{ type: "thinking", thinking: "hmm" }],
+        thinkingLevel: "xhigh",
+      });
+      await service.dispose();
+    });
+  });
+});

src/server/sessions/piSessionService.ts

@@ -1910,7 +1910,7 @@ export class PiSessionService implements SessionRouteService {
     const streamingMessage = session.state.streamingMessage;
     const partial = streamingMessage === undefined || streamingMessage === null
       ? null
-      : projectBrowserMessage(streamingMessage);
+      : annotateAssistantThinkingLevel(projectBrowserMessage(streamingMessage), session.thinkingLevel);
     return { seq, partial };
   }
 
@@ -3220,7 +3220,7 @@ export class PiSessionService implements SessionRouteService {
       }
     }
     active.unsubscribe = session.subscribe((event) => {
-      this.events.publish(session.sessionId, toClientEvent(event));
+      this.events.publish(session.sessionId, toClientEvent(event, session.thinkingLevel));
       this.publishActivityForEvent(session, event);
       const eventType = getString(event, "type");
       if (eventType === "agent_end") this.abortRunScopedExtensionDialogs(session.sessionId);
@@ -4119,11 +4119,30 @@ function stringValue(value: unknown): string {
   return typeof value === "string" ? value : "";
 }
 
+/**
+ * Attach the thinking level in effect when an assistant message was generated,
+ * so chat bubbles can show it next to the model. Non-assistant messages pass
+ * through by reference; assistant messages are copied only when a level is set.
+ * "off" is the absence of thinking, not a level worth labeling on every bubble.
+ */
+function annotateAssistantThinkingLevel(message: unknown, thinkingLevel: string | undefined): unknown {
+  if (thinkingLevel === undefined || thinkingLevel === "" || thinkingLevel === "off") return message;
+  if (!isRecord(message) || message["role"] !== "assistant") return message;
+  return { ...message, thinkingLevel };
+}
+
 function historyMessages(session: PiAgentSession): unknown[] {
   const messages: unknown[] = [];
+  // Pi records the initial level at session creation and every later change, so
+  // walking the branch yields the level in effect for each assistant message.
+  let thinkingLevel: string | undefined;
   for (const entry of session.sessionManager.getBranch()) {
     if (!isRecord(entry)) continue;
-    if (entry["type"] === "message") messages.push(entry["message"]);
+    if (entry["type"] === "message") messages.push(annotateAssistantThinkingLevel(entry["message"], thinkingLevel));
+    else if (entry["type"] === "thinking_level_change") {
+      const level = getString(entry, "thinkingLevel");
+      if (level !== undefined) thinkingLevel = level;
+    }
     else if (entry["type"] === "custom_message" && entry["display"] === true) messages.push({ role: "custom", content: entry["content"], customType: entry["customType"], details: entry["details"] });
     else if (entry["type"] === "compaction") messages.push({ role: "system", source: "compaction", content: `Compacted history:\n\n${stringValue(entry["summary"])}` });
     else if (entry["type"] === "branch_summary") messages.push({ role: "system", source: "branch_summary", content: `Branch summary:\n\n${stringValue(entry["summary"])}` });
@@ -4167,7 +4186,7 @@ function finalAssistantText(messages: readonly unknown[]): string {
   return "";
 }
 
-function toClientEvent(event: unknown): SessionUiEvent {
+function toClientEvent(event: unknown, thinkingLevel?: string): SessionUiEvent {
   const eventType = getString(event, "type");
   const assistantMessageEvent = getProperty(event, "assistantMessageEvent");
   if (eventType === "message_update" && getString(assistantMessageEvent, "type") === "text_delta") {
@@ -4192,7 +4211,8 @@ function toClientEvent(event: unknown): SessionUiEvent {
   if (eventType === "agent_end") return { type: "agent.end" };
   if (eventType === "message_end") {
     const message = getProperty(event, "message");
-    return message === undefined ? { type: "message.end" } : { type: "message.end", message };
+    if (message === undefined) return { type: "message.end" };
+    return { type: "message.end", message: annotateAssistantThinkingLevel(message, thinkingLevel) };
   }
   return { type: "pi.event", eventType: eventType ?? "unknown" };
 }