From 659768831da32c222b5f09503fb346ab5676c398 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Charles Cunningham <ccunningham@openai.com>
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2026 23:36:23 -0800
Subject: [PATCH] tui: simplify pending nudge submit gating

---
 codex-rs/tui/src/chatwidget.rs       | 22 +++++++++-------------
 codex-rs/tui/src/chatwidget/tests.rs | 19 +++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 28 insertions(+), 13 deletions(-)

diff --git a/codex-rs/tui/src/chatwidget.rs b/codex-rs/tui/src/chatwidget.rs
index c9f566ffaa..8bccb294f5 100644
--- a/codex-rs/tui/src/chatwidget.rs
+++ b/codex-rs/tui/src/chatwidget.rs
@@ -3438,24 +3438,20 @@ impl ChatWidget {
                             .bottom_pane
                             .take_recent_submission_mention_bindings(),
                     };
-                    let Some(user_message) =
-                        self.maybe_defer_user_message_for_realtime(user_message)
-                    else {
-                        return;
-                    };
                     if user_message.text.is_empty()
                         && user_message.local_images.is_empty()
                         && user_message.remote_image_urls.is_empty()
                     {
                         return;
                     }
-                    let has_images = !user_message.local_images.is_empty()
-                        || !user_message.remote_image_urls.is_empty();
+                    let Some(user_message) =
+                        self.maybe_defer_user_message_for_realtime(user_message)
+                    else {
+                        return;
+                    };
                     let should_preview_as_pending_nudge = self.is_session_configured()
                         && self.bottom_pane.is_task_running()
-                        && !self.is_review_mode
-                        && user_message.text.strip_prefix('!').is_none()
-                        && (!has_images || self.current_model_supports_images());
+                        && !self.is_review_mode;
                     if should_preview_as_pending_nudge {
                         self.submit_user_message_internal(user_message, false);
                     } else if self.is_session_configured() {
@@ -4263,9 +4259,9 @@ impl ChatWidget {
             personality,
         };
 
-        self.codex_op_tx.send(op).unwrap_or_else(|e| {
-            tracing::error!("failed to send message: {e}");
-        });
+        if !self.submit_op(op) {
+            return;
+        }
 
         // Persist the text to cross-session message history.
         if !text.is_empty() {
diff --git a/codex-rs/tui/src/chatwidget/tests.rs b/codex-rs/tui/src/chatwidget/tests.rs
index cfd09fbdc3..2a3e6f2ef6 100644
--- a/codex-rs/tui/src/chatwidget/tests.rs
+++ b/codex-rs/tui/src/chatwidget/tests.rs
@@ -3579,6 +3579,25 @@ async fn steer_enter_uses_pending_nudges_while_final_answer_stream_is_active() {
     assert!(lines_to_single_string(&inserted[0]).contains("queued while streaming"));
 }
 
+#[tokio::test]
+async fn failed_pending_nudge_submit_does_not_add_pending_preview() {
+    let (mut chat, mut rx, op_rx) = make_chatwidget_manual(None).await;
+    chat.thread_id = Some(ThreadId::new());
+    chat.on_task_started();
+    drop(op_rx);
+
+    chat.bottom_pane.set_composer_text(
+        "queued while streaming".to_string(),
+        Vec::new(),
+        Vec::new(),
+    );
+    chat.handle_key_event(KeyEvent::new(KeyCode::Enter, KeyModifiers::NONE));
+
+    assert!(chat.pending_nudges.is_empty());
+    assert!(chat.queued_user_messages.is_empty());
+    assert!(drain_insert_history(&mut rx).is_empty());
+}
+
 #[tokio::test]
 async fn raw_response_item_with_canonicalized_user_payload_clears_pending_nudge() {
     let (mut chat, mut rx, _op_rx) = make_chatwidget_manual(None).await;