Show machine identity in session list when multiple machines are connected

[webwww123]

What feature would you like to see?

When multiple machines are connected to the same HAPI hub, the session list becomes hard to use because sessions are grouped only by directory/path.

Two concrete problems:

1. Sessions from different machines but the same path can appear under the same project grouping.
2. In the collapsed/overview list, it is hard to tell which machine a session belongs to.

A simple improvement would be to show a small machine indicator in the session list, for example:

• machine display name, if configured
• otherwise machine host
• otherwise a short machine ID prefix

I think it would also make sense to group session list entries by machine + directory instead of only directory.

Example real-world case:

• local machine session at /root
• remote machine session at /root

Today they are hard to distinguish in the sidebar/session list.

Additional information

A minimal UX change that would already help a lot:

• show a small machine badge on each session row
• show the same badge on the group header in the session list
• future enhancement: allow custom machine aliases

This is especially useful for people who routinely connect multiple VPS/dev machines to one hub.

[github-actions]

Confirmed in current code: the session list is grouped by directory/path only, not by machine + directory, and the session row/header UI does not render any machine identity today.

A few details from the codebase:

• /api/sessions returns SessionSummary, and that summary already includes metadata.machineId, so the session data does carry machine linkage.
• The session list groups on session.metadata?.worktree?.basePath ?? session.metadata?.path ?? 'Other', which means two sessions from different machines with the same path can land in the same group.
• The row UI currently shows session name, status, pending count, model mode, and worktree branch, but no machine badge/host/display name.
• The app already has a machine title fallback in other components: displayName -> host -> short machine id.

One constraint visible in the current API shape: /api/machines returns online machines only, while /api/sessions exposes only machineId for a session summary. So a machine badge in the session list can likely reuse existing machine metadata for online machines, but offline-session labeling would need additional wiring if maintainers want it to be reliable for all sessions.

I also did not find an existing web/settings flow for user-defined machine aliases. I only found support for an optional machine displayName field in machine metadata.

Relevant code:

• web/src/components/SessionList.tsx:28 - groups sessions by basePath/path only
• web/src/components/SessionList.tsx:255 - session row metadata area; no machine identity rendered
• web/src/components/SessionList.tsx:395 - group header renders directory-derived label only
• shared/src/sessionSummary.ts:28 - session summary includes metadata.machineId
• hub/src/web/routes/sessions.ts:43 - /api/sessions returns toSessionSummary(...)
• web/src/components/MachineList.tsx:4 - existing machine title fallback: displayName -> host -> short id
• web/src/components/NewSession/MachineSelector.tsx:4 - same machine title fallback reused in new-session UI
• hub/src/web/routes/machines.ts:23 - /api/machines returns online machines
• hub/src/sync/machineCache.ts:93 - machine metadata includes optional displayName

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HAPI Bot