feat: add setting to control default project expansion on startup

[alecramos-sudo]

Summary

Closes #1910

• Projects now default to collapsed in the sidebar on restart, fixing the issue where all projects expand and make the sidebar unreadable
• Adds a new "Expand projects on startup" toggle in Settings > General so users can choose their preferred default
• The setting is persisted as a client-side preference via localStorage

Changes

• packages/contracts/src/settings.ts — new sidebarProjectsDefaultExpanded boolean in ClientSettingsSchema (defaults to false)
• apps/web/src/uiStateStore.ts — syncProjects, toggleProject, setProjectExpanded accept the setting as defaultExpanded parameter
• apps/web/src/components/Sidebar.tsx — uses the setting as the fallback for expansion state
• apps/web/src/components/settings/SettingsPanels.tsx — settings UI toggle with reset support
• apps/web/src/environments/runtime/service.ts — passes the setting to syncProjects calls
• apps/web/src/hooks/useSettings.ts — exports getClientSettingsSnapshot for non-React contexts

Test plan

• All existing tests pass (764/764)
• Typecheck passes across all 8 packages
• Lint passes with 0 errors
• Build succeeds (web + desktop)
• Desktop app launches locally
• Verify projects default to collapsed on fresh start
• Verify toggling the setting to "on" restores the old always-expanded behavior
• Verify manually expanded/collapsed projects persist across restarts regardless of the setting

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

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Note

Low Risk
Low risk: adds a new client-side boolean setting and threads it through sidebar/UI state defaults; primary impact is a behavioral change to initial project expansion state.

Overview
Adds a new client-side setting, sidebarProjectsDefaultExpanded (default false), to control the startup/default expansion state of sidebar projects.

Threads this default through the sidebar and UI state layer by replacing hardcoded ?? true fallbacks with the new setting, updating syncProjects/toggleProject to accept a defaultExpanded parameter, and passing the setting into project-sync points in the environment runtime service.

Exposes the toggle in Settings → General with reset/dirty-state support, and updates desktop/web persistence tests to include the new field.

^{Reviewed by Cursor Bugbot for commit 77a80f6. Bugbot is set up for automated code reviews on this repo. Configure here.}

Note

Add setting to control default project expansion on sidebar startup

• Adds a sidebarProjectsDefaultExpanded boolean field to ClientSettingsSchema (default: false), replacing the previously hardcoded true default throughout the sidebar and UI state store.
• Exposes a toggle in General Settings so users can choose whether projects are expanded or collapsed when the app starts.
• Updates syncProjects and toggleProject in uiStateStore.ts to accept a defaultExpanded parameter, and threads the client setting value through from runtime/service.ts and Sidebar.tsx.
• Behavioral Change: Projects that had no persisted expansion state previously defaulted to expanded; they now default to collapsed unless the user enables the new setting.

^{Macroscope summarized 77a80f6.}

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[macroscopeapp]

Approvability

Verdict: Approved

Adds a new user preference setting for sidebar project expansion with straightforward implementation following existing patterns. Changes are self-contained to UI behavior, include appropriate tests, and don't affect security or critical paths.

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