Feature Request: Add conversation/thread delete functionality #1907

📋 Feature Request

Add ability to delete conversations/threads

🎯 Problem Description

Currently, there is no way to delete conversations/threads in the IronClaw web interface. Users can create new conversations (via the "+" button) and switch between them, but cannot delete old ones.

Current UI behavior:

• Clicking a thread item only switches to that conversation
• No delete button, menu, or icon on thread items
• No right-click context menu
• No delete option in settings

🔍 Technical Analysis

Frontend (src/channels/web/static/app.js)

Thread list rendering (line ~2008-2044):

for (const thread of threads) {
  const item = document.createElement('div');
  item.className = 'thread-item' + (isActive ? ' active' : '');
  
  // Only renders: label + timestamp + unread indicator
  // Click only triggers switchThread()
  item.addEventListener('click', () => switchThread(thread.id));
  list.appendChild(item);
}

Missing:

• No delete button/icon in thread item
• No delete confirmation dialog
• No API call to delete endpoint

Backend (src/channels/web/handlers/chat.rs)

Existing handlers:

pub async fn chat_threads_handler(...)      // GET /api/chat/threads
pub async fn chat_new_thread_handler(...)   // POST /api/chat/thread/new
// ❌ No chat_delete_thread_handler

Missing:

• No DELETE /api/chat/thread/{id} endpoint
• No delete handler implementation

Server Routes (src/channels/web/handlers/server.rs)

Existing routes:

.route("/api/chat/threads", get(chat_threads_handler))
.route("/api/chat/thread/new", post(chat_new_thread_handler))
// ❌ No delete route

For comparison, other features have delete:

.route("/api/admin/routines/{id}", delete(routines_delete_handler))
.route("/api/admin/skills/{name}", delete(skills_remove_handler))
.route("/api/admin/secrets/{name}", delete(secrets_delete_handler))

💡 Expected Implementation

Frontend Changes

1. Add delete button/icon on thread items

   • Show on hover or always visible
   • Use trash icon (🗑️) or delete icon
   • Position: right side of thread item

2. Add confirmation dialog

   function confirmDeleteThread(threadId, threadName) {
     if (confirm(`Delete conversation "${threadName}"? This cannot be undone.`)) {
       apiFetch(`/api/chat/thread/${threadId}`, { method: 'DELETE' })
         .then(() => { loadThreads(); if (activeThreadId === threadId) switchToFirstThread(); });
     }
   }

3. Update thread list rendering

   • Add delete button to each thread item
   • Add event listener for delete action

Backend Changes

1. Add delete handler (chat.rs):

   pub async fn chat_delete_thread_handler(
     Path(thread_id): Path<Uuid>,
     user: User,
     db: Data<Database>,
   ) -> Result<Json<()>> {
     // Verify thread belongs to user
     let thread = db.get_thread(thread_id, user.id).await?;
     
     // Delete thread and associated messages
     db.delete_thread(thread_id, user.id).await?;
     
     Ok(Json(()))
   }

2. Add route (server.rs):

   .route("/api/chat/thread/{id}", delete(chat_delete_thread_handler))

3. Add database method (database.rs):

   pub async fn delete_thread(&self, thread_id: Uuid, user_id: Uuid) -> Result<()> {
     // Delete thread and cascade delete messages
     sqlx::query("DELETE FROM threads WHERE id = ? AND user_id = ?")
       .bind(thread_id)
       .bind(user_id)
       .execute(&self.pool)
       .await?;
     Ok(())
   }

🎨 UI Design Suggestions

Option 1: Delete button on hover

┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 📋 Project Discussion    2026-04-02 │ [🗑️]
├─────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 💬 Daily Chat          2026-04-01 │ [🗑️]
└─────────────────────────────────────┘

Option 2: Three-dot menu

┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 📋 Project Discussion    2026-04-02 │ [⋮]
├─────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 💬 Daily Chat          2026-04-01 │ [⋮]
└─────────────────────────────────────┘

Option 3: Delete icon always visible

┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 📋 Project Discussion    2026-04-02 │ 🗑️
├─────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 💬 Daily Chat          2026-04-01 │ 🗑️
└─────────────────────────────────────┘

Recommendation: Option 1 (show on hover) for cleaner UI

🔒 Security Considerations

• Verify thread ownership before delete
• Only authenticated users can delete their own threads
• Admin can delete any thread (optional)
• Add rate limiting to prevent abuse

📝 Use Cases

1. Clean up old conversations - Remove completed projects or outdated discussions
2. Privacy - Delete conversations containing sensitive information
3. Token management - Delete long conversations to free up context space
4. Organization - Keep conversation list manageable and relevant

🏷️ Labels

• enhancement
• good first issue (for frontend changes)
• backend (for API implementation)

📎 Related

• N/A (no existing issues found for this feature)

✅ Acceptance Criteria

• Delete button/icon visible on thread items
• Confirmation dialog before delete
• Backend API endpoint implemented
• Thread and messages deleted from database
• Thread list refreshed after delete
• If deleted thread was active, switch to another thread
• Error handling for permission issues
• Unit tests for delete handler

Thank you for considering this feature request!