fix(agents): wire controlled effort state through AgentEditMergedDialog

EffortPickerField gained required disabled/value/onChange props in #4625.
Wire them through the merged dialog using the same Save-gated pattern as the
now-deleted AgentInstanceEditDialog: effortLevel state + effortTouched ref in
AgentEditMergedDialog, passed as effortValue/onEffortChange to the instance
section, which forwards to EffortPickerField.

In useAgentEditMergedSubmit, add effortLevel/effortTouched to AgentEditSubmitState
and include effortLevel in the locked update_managed_agent call when touched.
When no other I-fields changed (agentInput would be null), synthesise a
minimal input from inst.pubkey so the effort write is still atomic.

Co-authored-by: Will Pfleger <pfleger.will@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Will Pfleger <pfleger.will@gmail.com>

desktop/src/features/agents/ui/AgentEditMergedDialog.tsx

@@ -219,6 +219,10 @@ export function AgentEditMergedDialog({
   const [iIsCustomProviderEditing, setIIsCustomProviderEditing] =
     React.useState(false);
   const runtimeTouched = React.useRef(false);
+  // Effort picker is Save-gated: hold pending selection in dialog state.
+  // `effortTouched` distinguishes "user picked a value" from "seeded display".
+  const [effortLevel, setEffortLevel] = React.useState<string | null>(null);
+  const effortTouched = React.useRef(false);
 
   // Convenience: the active model/provider — D-state when a definition is present,
   // I-state when instance-only (no definition). Used for the D-section and for
@@ -315,6 +319,8 @@ export function AgentEditMergedDialog({
     setShowAdvancedFields(false);
     setIsAvatarUploadPending(false);
     runtimeTouched.current = false;
+    setEffortLevel(null);
+    effortTouched.current = false;
     autoSeededDefinitionRuntimeRef.current = null;
     // Capture the definition revision the form is baselined against.
     seededDefinitionUpdatedAtRef.current = def?.updatedAt ?? null;
@@ -548,6 +554,8 @@ export function AgentEditMergedDialog({
     onValidate,
     onOpenChange,
     onUpdated,
+    effortLevel,
+    effortTouched,
   } satisfies AgentEditSubmitState;
 
   const {
@@ -921,6 +929,16 @@ export function AgentEditMergedDialog({
                 systemPrompt={systemPrompt}
                 onSystemPromptChange={setSystemPrompt}
                 effortConfig={configSurfaceQuery.data}
+                effortValue={
+                  effortTouched.current
+                    ? effortLevel
+                    : (configSurfaceQuery.data?.normalized.thinkingEffort
+                        ?.value ?? null)
+                }
+                onEffortChange={(level) => {
+                  effortTouched.current = true;
+                  setEffortLevel(level);
+                }}
               />
             ) : null}
 

desktop/src/features/agents/ui/AgentEditMergedDialogInstanceSection.tsx

@@ -129,6 +129,9 @@ export type AgentEditMergedISectionProps = {
   systemPrompt: string;
   onSystemPromptChange: (value: string) => void;
   effortConfig: RuntimeConfigSurface | undefined;
+  /** Controlled pending effort selection (null = adapter default). */
+  effortValue: string | null;
+  onEffortChange: (level: string | null) => void;
 };
 
 // ── Component ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
@@ -208,6 +211,8 @@ export function AgentEditMergedInstanceSection({
   systemPrompt,
   onSystemPromptChange,
   effortConfig,
+  effortValue,
+  onEffortChange,
 }: AgentEditMergedISectionProps) {
   const shouldReduceMotion = useReducedMotion();
   const advancedFieldsTransition = shouldReduceMotion
@@ -436,7 +441,13 @@ export function AgentEditMergedInstanceSection({
         </div>
       ) : null}
 
-      <EffortPickerField agent={inst} config={effortConfig} />
+      <EffortPickerField
+        agent={inst}
+        config={effortConfig}
+        disabled={isSaving}
+        value={effortValue}
+        onChange={onEffortChange}
+      />
 
       <AgentAiDefaultsNotice
         onEditDefaults={() => onAiDefaultsOpenChange(true)}

desktop/src/features/agents/ui/useAgentEditMergedSubmit.test.mjs

@@ -66,6 +66,8 @@ function makeDefinitionOnlyState(definition, overrides = {}) {
     defReadOnly: false,
     inheritedSubmissionProvider: null,
     runtimes: [],
+    effortLevel: null,
+    effortTouched: { current: false },
     ...overrides,
   };
 }

desktop/src/features/agents/ui/useAgentEditMergedSubmit.ts

@@ -93,6 +93,10 @@ export type AgentEditSubmitState = {
   onValidate?: () => string | null;
   onOpenChange: (open: boolean) => void;
   onUpdated?: (agent: ManagedAgent) => void;
+  /** Controlled pending effort selection from the dialog (null = adapter default). */
+  effortLevel: string | null;
+  /** Ref tracking whether the user has made an explicit effort selection. */
+  effortTouched: React.RefObject<boolean>;
 };
 
 export type AgentEditSubmitHookReturn = {
@@ -271,11 +275,19 @@ export function useAgentEditMergedSubmit(
         const seed = seedAgentFormModel(s.ctx);
         const next = buildNextAgentFormModel(seed, s);
 
-        const { personaInput, agentInput, policySets } = emitAgentFormDiff(
-          seed,
-          next,
-          s.ctx,
-        );
+        const {
+          personaInput,
+          agentInput: rawAgentInput,
+          policySets,
+        } = emitAgentFormDiff(seed, next, s.ctx);
+
+        // Effort write: when touched, resolve and include in the locked update
+        // (atomic with any access-policy change — PR #4625 semantics).
+        let agentInput = rawAgentInput;
+        if (s.effortTouched.current && inst) {
+          agentInput = agentInput ?? { pubkey: inst.pubkey };
+          agentInput = { ...agentInput, effortLevel: s.effortLevel };
+        }
 
         const refetchStores = () => refetchAgentStores(queryClient, def, inst);