openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Feature]: New Session "+" button: add confirmation, change icon, or make it configurable [4 comments, 3 participants]

Summary

Prevent accidental session loss from the New Session button in the chat toolbar

Problem to solve

The "+" (New Session) button sits in the chat input toolbar right next to the Send button. A single misclick triggers /new, which immediately replaces the current conversation with a blank session — with no confirmation dialog and no obvious way to recover the lost conversation. The "+" icon also conflicts with user expectations: in every major chat app (WeChat, WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Discord), a "+" next to the input signals "add attachment" or "add content", not "discard everything I'm looking at."

Proposed solution

Primary recommendation (minimal effort, maximum impact): Show a confirmation dialog before executing /new — "Start a new session? Current conversation will be cleared." with Confirm/Cancel buttons.

Alternatively or additionally:

Change the icon: Replace + with a ↻ (refresh) glyph or a document icon — anything that doesn't imply "add attachment".
Relocate the button: Move it out of the send toolbar into the session header or sidebar, away from the Send button's click zone.
Config option: Add gateway.controlUi.hideNewSessionButton to let users remove it entirely.

Alternatives considered

CSS-only workaround (current user fix): Some users hide the button via browser extensions like Stylus with button.btn--ghost[aria-label="New session"] { display: none !important; }. This works but shouldn't be necessary — it removes the functionality entirely instead of fixing the underlying UX issue, and requires technical knowledge most users don't have.

Removing the button entirely by default: Too aggressive — the button has legitimate use. The goal is to prevent accidental clicks, not remove access to /new.

Impact

Affected users: All Control UI users, especially those on touchscreens and fast typists.

Severity: Blocks workflow — the entire conversation context is lost in one click with no recovery path. Users must manually dig through the Sessions panel to find their old session.

Frequency: Always reproducible — every time the button is misclicked (happens multiple times per day for some users). The button is always visible and adjacent to the most frequently clicked UI element (Send).

Consequence: Lost context means re-explaining the task to the assistant, wasted tokens, interrupted workflow, and growing user frustration that leads to browser-extension workarounds.

Evidence/examples

Existing community discussions confirm this is a recurring pain point: GitHub issues #56611 (icon confusion with attachment), #45800 (proximity to Send), #6784 (destructive reset behavior), #5969 (move to session dropdown). User workaround evidence: Multiple users have resorted to installing Stylus browser extensions and writing custom CSS to hide the button entirely — a disproportionate response for what should be a UX preference. Comparative precedent: ChatGPT, Claude, and most AI chat UIs place "New Chat" in the sidebar or top header, never in the send toolbar adjacent to the submit button.

Additional information

No response