fix(chat): busy / background send stays silent — need a short spoken acknowledgment #1584

Context

Owner (2026-10-28 Asia/Shanghai, t683u): when a message runs in the background while Chief is busy (e.g. header shows 「N 个后台任务」), follow-up sends get no spoken reply — only silence / 「思考过程」 until the job finishes. UX is bad; they want at least one short spoken acknowledgment promptly.

Screenshot: Chief with 「32 个后台任务」, three user follow-ups, no bot spoken line — only thinking chrome.

Actual

• User messages can be accepted as queue/steer while the agent is running.
• Steer admits to next-step, but a blocking foreground job wait never yields a step, so the model never speaks.
• LIVE Harness Queue→Steer alone did not fix silence during long bash waits.
• Related but different: fix(chat): human Steer while a tool/job wait is open does not interrupt — only Stop aborts #1509 (Steer does not interrupt tool waits — only Stop); Follow-up message typed while a Bot is working is postponed instead of being delivered at its next step #707 (follow-up postponed).

Expected

When the user’s message is accepted for (or begins) background/busy handling, the chat gets at least one short spoken acknowledgment promptly — not silence until the job finishes. Prefer a real product fix (host/client) over prompt-only.

Notes

• fix(chat): human Steer while a tool/job wait is open does not interrupt — only Stop aborts #1509 remains about interrupt semantics; this issue is the acknowledgment gap even when interrupt is not available.
• Prod tip already includes fix(workflow): early-end tip-unchanged/open-PR; arm deadline without ephemeral #1572 — unrelated; do not mix.
• Authorized: no Cursor CloudAgent; box-local clone/edit/push/PR.

Written-by: Grok Bot