#30 Add Caprine-style keyboard shortcuts (New Conversation, Search, Insert GIF/Emoji, Attach, Focus Input)

[Anonymous]

Originally created by: kristofferR

Summary

Caprine exposes a set of keyboard shortcuts via its native menus that Carrier doesn't have. Add a chosen subset of them, page-side in inject/messenger.js (same place as the existing chatRows() jump shortcuts) — no Carrier custom commands needed.

Implementation principle: facebook.com/messages is a minified React SPA we don't control. There is no exposed JS command for most of these actions — the logic lives inside React's internal event handlers with no callable global. So prefer the cleanest mechanism per action:

1. Direct JS where the action is genuinely a plain DOM op (focus an input, navigate a route). Preferred — no simulated click.
2. Click the existing button where the action opens a React-driven picker/panel with no reachable handler. Robust fallback.
3. Don't reach into the React fiber to call handlers — it breaks on every FB bundle reship.

Shortcuts to add

Action	Key (mac / other)	Mechanism	Notes
Focus Text Input	⌘L / Ctrl+L	direct JS	composer.focus() — plain DOM op
New Conversation	⌘N / Ctrl+N	direct JS (try)	Navigate to the compose route if one exists; else click the "New message" button
Insert Emoji	⌘E / Ctrl+E	click	Opens a React picker — no callable global
Insert GIF	⌘G / Ctrl+G	click	Opens a React picker — no callable global
Attach Files	⌘T / Ctrl+T	click	Composer attach/upload button
Search in Conversation	⌘F / Ctrl+F	click (two-step)	Open the conversation info sidebar first, then click Search

Explicitly NOT included

These Caprine shortcuts are intentionally left out for now:

• Mute Conversation (⇧⌘M), Archive Conversation (⇧⌘H), Delete Conversation (⇧⌘D)
• Select Next / Previous Conversation (⌃Tab / ⌃⇧Tab) — Carrier already has Cmd/Ctrl+1–9 to jump to a conversation
• Insert Sticker (⌘S)

Constraints

• Don't touch existing shortcuts. Current accelerator bindings in inject/messenger.js: [ / ] (back/forward), - / = / + / 0 (zoom), r (reload), F2 / F3 / F5, and Cmd/Ctrl+1–9 (jump to Nth conversation). None of the new keys collide with these.
• The new bindings overlap with some WebView/browser defaults (⌘N new window, ⌘F browser find, ⌘T new tab, ⌘G find-next). Carrier runs chrome-stripped so these should be free, but preventDefault() and verify there's no unwanted default behavior.
• Reference: Caprine keyboard shortcuts.

Implementation notes

• Add to the accelerator shortcuts map (or a parallel handler) in src-tauri/inject/messenger.js.
• Each handler should query for the relevant Messenger button by a stable selector / aria-label and .click() / .focus() it; bail quietly if not found (FB markup changes).
• Some actions aren't a single button — they require navigating the UI first:
• Search in Conversation (⌘F): the search control only exists once the conversation info/profile sidebar is open. The handler must first open that sidebar (if closed), then click Search. The sidebar may render asynchronously, so click the target after it appears (poll / MutationObserver / requestAnimationFrame, don't assume it's there synchronously).
• Audit each of the other actions for the same pattern — Insert GIF/Emoji and Attach may live behind a "more actions" (…) overflow on narrow widths. Open the parent control first, then click the target, and tolerate the button being absent.
• Validate: node --check inject/messenger.js.

[Anonymous]

Ticket changed by: kristofferR

• status: open --> closed

[Anonymous]

Originally posted by: kristofferR

Implemented in PR [#42], page-side in inject/messenger.js per the mechanism table: Cmd/Ctrl+L focuses the composer (plain focus()), Cmd/Ctrl+E / G open Messenger's emoji/GIF pickers, Cmd/Ctrl+T clicks the attach button, and Cmd/Ctrl+F does the two-step search (opens the conversation-info sidebar when closed, then clicks its Search control once rendered — the control's aria-label is just "Search"). New Conversation deviates from the table: the native File menu already claimed ⌘N for New Window, so compose shipped as a File-menu item on Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+N instead (maintainer call), clicking the a[href="/messages/new/"] control. All selectors were verified against the live Messenger DOM via a new sanitized mcp-bridge probe. Existing shortcuts untouched except Cmd/Ctrl+[ / ] which now step conversations per [#18], and Hide Names & Avatars which moved to Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+H.