[edwin-zvs]

Custom program templates in the empty-state placeholder

Implements all five requested items. The empty-program onboarding placeholder now surfaces every template (built-ins + user-authored), the templates directory is configurable + live-reloading, and templates can carry a docs reference.

What changed (1–5)

1. All templates as clickable buttons, wrapping across rows. The placeholder renders every non-blank template as a bordered button, packed greedily into rows that never exceed the pane width. Every rendered button (across every row) publishes a hitbox, so all are clickable. When more templates exist than fit the available height, it shows as many as fit plus a trailing "+N more" indicator. The narrow/short → plain-text fallback is preserved, and the invariant that no placeholder line exceeds inner.width is kept (tested).
2. Name ordering. Buttons are ordered by name (case-insensitive) in the placeholder; "blank" stays excluded. (The daemon's own list order is unchanged.)
3. Configurable templates directory. New [program].templates_dir config option and CONSTRUCT_PROGRAM_TEMPLATES_DIR env override, resolved env > config > default (<data_dir>/program/templates). Resolved once at daemon start and threaded into Storage via a new override field. The legacy canvas/templates → program/templates migration still runs, but only for the default location (an explicit override is treated as operator-owned). Documented in the config template.
4. Live reload on open. The client used to cache templates (fetched at start / reconnect only). Now opening the program pane kicks off a non-blocking background re-fetch delivered to the event loop over a channel; the pane opens against the cached list and swaps to the fresh one when it lands (no flicker). Editing or adding a template file now appears on the next open — no daemon restart.
5. Reference link + syntax cheat. See interpretation below.

⚠️ Point 5 interpretation (please confirm)

Point 5 was flagged ambiguous. My interpretation:

• Added an optional reference field to ProgramTemplate (protocol) and to the template frontmatter (reference: key, URL value). Built-ins carry a default PROGRAM_DOCS_REFERENCE (https://github.com/zarvis-ai/agentd — swap this for the canonical program-docs URL if there's a better one).
• The placeholder shows the reference as a single underlined Docs: footer link, not one-per-button (a per-button link would blow out the compact button layout). It shows the first available reference; since built-ins always carry the docs link and the daemon returns them first, the footer is a stable "Docs:" link, while a user template's reference: surfaces only when no earlier template has one.
• The old "Tip:" line is now a clearer Syntax: reference: @{session:id} embeds · @{harness:name} delegates · select + Run dispatches · :::clip … ::: groups output — consistent with what built-in templates demonstrate.

If you'd rather show a per-template reference, or pick the reference from the display (name-sorted) order instead of daemon order, that's a small change — flagging for your call.

Tests

• daemon: resolve_program_templates_dir precedence (env > config > default), [program].templates_dir parse, reference: frontmatter parse, override redirects reads (and ignores the default dir).
• cli: name ordering, wrapping >2 templates with clickable hits across rows, overflow indicator, reference footer, narrow fallback, no-templates fallback. Existing button test updated for the new name order.
• Full agentd lib (97) + agentd-protocol + the cli placeholder suite pass. (One unrelated cli perf test — pty_render::…many_small_events_stay_fast — flakes under concurrent build load and passes in isolation; not touched by this PR.)

Specs

• Updated 0049-program-empty-state-onboarding.md (was capped at two buttons).
• Added 0051-program-custom-templates-source.md (directory source, live reload, reference metadata).

Binary

This PR touches crates/daemon + crates/protocol + crates/cli; the single workspace binary is construct:
/Users/moon/agentd/.claude/worktrees/program-custom-templates/target/debug/construct

Screenshot of the new placeholder (8 templates — 6 custom via CONSTRUCT_PROGRAM_TEMPLATES_DIR + built-in Investigation/Tasks — name-ordered, wrapped across 2 rows, syntax line + Docs footer) posted as a comment.

[edwin-zvs]

Screenshot of the new empty-state placeholder — 6 custom templates (via CONSTRUCT_PROGRAM_TEMPLATES_DIR) + built-in Investigation/Tasks: name-ordered, wrapped across two rows, every button clickable, Syntax: line, underlined Docs: footer.

The rendered frame and full clip are local artifacts (gh can't upload binary attachments to a comment — please drag them into the PR if you want them inline):

• /tmp/program-templates-demo/frame_7.png
• /tmp/program-templates-demo/demo.mp4