From 9e7530d60b3b8e3a57d94ebe3de9940d6327e49b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Anthony Ettinger <anthony@profullstack.com>
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 2026 09:51:05 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] fix(chat): refocus the message box after sending

Sending disabled the editor, which dropped focus, and clicking Send moved it
to the button, so every message needed a click before typing the next one.
Refocus the editor once the send settles.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
 package.json                             |  2 +-
 src/lib/components/chat/MessageInput.jsx | 11 +++++++++++
 2 files changed, 12 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index c5c60b52..a59a12a2 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "name": "qryptchat-web",
   "private": true,
-  "version": "0.21.1",
+  "version": "0.21.2",
   "type": "module",
   "bin": {
     "qc": "./bin/qc.js",
diff --git a/src/lib/components/chat/MessageInput.jsx b/src/lib/components/chat/MessageInput.jsx
index 656c7ad5..d2f92884 100644
--- a/src/lib/components/chat/MessageInput.jsx
+++ b/src/lib/components/chat/MessageInput.jsx
@@ -56,6 +56,10 @@ export default function MessageInput({ conversationId, disabled = false }) {
   const editorRef = useRef(null);
   const fileInputRef = useRef(null);
   const typingTimeoutRef = useRef(null);
+  // Sending disables the editor, which drops focus (and a Send click moves it
+  // to the button). Put the caret back once the send settles so the next
+  // message can be typed straight away.
+  const refocusAfterSend = useRef(false);
 
   const user = useAuthStore((s) => s.user);
   const { conversations, messages, sendMessage, setTyping, stopTyping, loadMessages, replyingTo, clearReplyingTo } = useChatStore(
@@ -334,6 +338,7 @@ export default function MessageInput({ conversationId, disabled = false }) {
     const hasFiles = selectedFiles.length > 0;
     if (!hasText && !hasFiles) return;
 
+    refocusAfterSend.current = true;
     setIsSending(true);
     setIsUploadingFiles(hasFiles);
     setUploadError('');
@@ -387,6 +392,12 @@ export default function MessageInput({ conversationId, disabled = false }) {
     }
   }
 
+  useEffect(() => {
+    if (isSending || !refocusAfterSend.current) return;
+    refocusAfterSend.current = false;
+    editorRef.current?.focus();
+  }, [isSending]);
+
   const canSend = !disabled && !isSending && !isUploadingFiles && (messageText.trim() || selectedFiles.length > 0);
 
   return (