[Feature Request] Refresh the same browser tab when iterating on a plan instead of opening new ones

[AtefBadreddine]

Problem

Every time I deny a plan with feedback and the agent sends a revised version, Plannotator opens a brand new browser tab. After a few iterations I have 5+ tabs and I have to close them all manually.

Proposed solution

Track active sessions and when a new plan iteration arrives for the same session, instead of starting a fresh server on a new port:

1. Kill the old server, restart on the same port — the browser tab stays on the same URL and auto-refetches /api/plan
2. Or add a /api/plan/refresh endpoint so the new invocation can push updated content to the running server

The openBrowser() call in packages/server/browser.ts should first check for an active session — if found, skip openBrowser() entirely and let the existing tab handle the refresh. The UI side in packages/editor/App.tsx would need an SSE listener or simple polling to detect when new plan content is available.

Fall back to current behavior (new tab) when no active session is found.

[backnotprop]

I'm actively working on some session stuff and think I can get what you want. I did have a couple questions:

1. would you be against a desktop app?

2. Have you tried the autoclose feature?

[AtefBadreddine]

1. Desktop App
I think it's overkill for now. The current browser-based approach is more practical. That said, I can see a desktop app making sense down the line as Plannotator grows and adds more functionality. For now I'd prefer keeping things simple.

2. Auto close
I've tried it, and while it helps clean up old tabs, it doesn't solve the core problem. Every iteration still opens a new tab and I have to wait for it to load. The flow I'd love is: submit feedback → switch back to terminal → agent revises → glance back at the same tab and the new plan is already there.

On that note, there's another thing worth considering: when running multiple agents in parallel, it's easy to lose track of which session and which plan belongs to which agent. So alongside the same-tab refresh, including a session title and/or model name in the tab or page header would be really helpful for keeping things straight.

[backnotprop]

Thanks! Great feedback

[AtefBadreddine]

I would like to work on this if possible

[ALenfant]

Agreed that this is a very frustrating issue. I iterate both with Plannotator and the CLI and having a new tab open every time I edit the exact same plan is pretty messy. Maybe we could enforce using the same port when editing the same plan? That could help deduplicating tabs on the browser side.