From 14a0d79548d4de8fc2de95c1b94bb0de63a739d3 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: gglucass <garm.lucassen@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 2026 04:44:32 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] Emit statusline setup nudge at most once per user (#483)

Writes a flag file the first time the STATUSLINE SETUP NEEDED nudge fires, and skips it on later sessions so it stops nagging every start. Includes a regression test that a second session stays silent.
---
 hooks/ponytail-activate.js |  7 ++++++-
 tests/hooks.test.js        | 18 ++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 24 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/hooks/ponytail-activate.js b/hooks/ponytail-activate.js
index 3087c7c..d54fbe4 100644
--- a/hooks/ponytail-activate.js
+++ b/hooks/ponytail-activate.js
@@ -53,7 +53,12 @@ if (!isCodex && !isCopilot) try {
     }
   }
 
-  if (!hasStatusline) {
+  // Nudge at most once — the flag file marks that the user has already seen
+  // (and implicitly declined) the statusline setup offer. Repeating it every
+  // session start turns a helpful hint into a nag.
+  const nudgeFlagPath = path.join(claudeDir, '.ponytail-statusline-nudged');
+  if (!hasStatusline && !fs.existsSync(nudgeFlagPath)) {
+    try { fs.writeFileSync(nudgeFlagPath, ''); } catch (e) { /* best-effort */ }
     const isWindows = process.platform === 'win32';
     const scriptName = isWindows ? 'ponytail-statusline.ps1' : 'ponytail-statusline.sh';
     const scriptPath = path.join(__dirname, scriptName);
diff --git a/tests/hooks.test.js b/tests/hooks.test.js
index 032ea15..bf4a8eb 100644
--- a/tests/hooks.test.js
+++ b/tests/hooks.test.js
@@ -161,6 +161,24 @@ assert.ok(
   'statusline nudge must reference the CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR settings.json',
 );
 
+// #483: the statusline nudge fires at most once — after it writes its flag, a
+// later session stays silent instead of re-nagging on every start.
+assert.ok(
+  fs.existsSync(path.join(customConfigDir, '.ponytail-statusline-nudged')),
+  'first nudge must write the once-only flag (#483)',
+);
+const secondNudge = run('ponytail-activate.js', {
+  HOME: home2,
+  USERPROFILE: home2,
+  CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR: customConfigDir,
+  PONYTAIL_DEFAULT_MODE: 'lite',
+});
+assert.equal(secondNudge.status, 0, secondNudge.stderr);
+assert.ok(
+  !secondNudge.stdout.includes('STATUSLINE SETUP NEEDED'),
+  'nudge must not repeat once the flag file exists (#483)',
+);
+
 const copilotData = path.join(temp, 'copilot-data');
 const codexData = path.join(temp, 'codex-data-shadow');
 result = run('ponytail-activate.js', {