🎨 Palette: Actionable Empty States

.jules/palette.md

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+## 2026-05-02 - Actionable Empty States
+**Learning:** Empty states present an opportunity to lower user friction when a search yields zero results. Providing a "Clear Search" or "Switch Scope" directly in the empty state acts as an actionable recovery path, so users don't have to manually clear the input field or change settings themselves.
+**Action:** When designing or refactoring empty state components, always provide an inline action button (such as "Clear Search", "Reset Filters", or "Back to Global Scope") directly within the empty state context to simplify recovery.

vscode-extension/src/search-provider.ts

@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@ export class SearchProvider {
     private readonly TOOLTIP_REVEAL = 'Reveal in File Explorer';
 
     // Command IDs for empty state actions
+    private readonly CMD_CLEAR_SEARCH = 'command:clear-search';
     private readonly CMD_NATIVE_SEARCH = 'command:native-search';
     private readonly CMD_SWITCH_SCOPE = 'command:switch-scope-everything';
     private readonly CMD_REBUILD_INDEX = 'command:rebuild-index';
@@ -1530,6 +1531,19 @@ export class SearchProvider {
         selected: SearchResultItem,
         quickPick: vscode.QuickPick<SearchResultItem>,
     ): Promise<boolean> {
+        if (selected.result.item.id === this.CMD_CLEAR_SEARCH) {
+            quickPick.value = '';
+            // Programmatically changing QuickPick.value does not fire onDidChangeValue in VS Code
+            // We must manually trigger the query change logic to update the list
+            this.handleQueryChange(
+                quickPick,
+                '',
+                () => {},
+                () => {},
+            );
+            return true;
+        }
+
         if (selected.result.item.id === this.CMD_NATIVE_SEARCH) {
             await vscode.commands.executeCommand('workbench.action.findInFiles', {
                 query: quickPick.value,
@@ -1656,21 +1670,29 @@ export class SearchProvider {
             });
         };
 
-        // 3. Native Search Action
+        // 3. Clear Search Action
+        addCommandItem(
+            'Clear Search',
+            'Reset your search query',
+            new vscode.ThemeIcon('clear-all'),
+            this.CMD_CLEAR_SEARCH,
+        );
+
+        // 4. Native Search Action
         addCommandItem(
             'Search in Files (Native)',
             "Use VS Code's native search",
             new vscode.ThemeIcon('search-fuzzy'),
             this.CMD_NATIVE_SEARCH,
         );
 
-        // 4. Rebuild Index Action
+        // 5. Rebuild Index Action
         addCommandItem('Rebuild Index', 'Fix missing files', new vscode.ThemeIcon('refresh'), this.CMD_REBUILD_INDEX);
 
-        // 5. Clear Cache Action
+        // 6. Clear Cache Action
         addCommandItem('Clear Index Cache', 'Fix corruption', new vscode.ThemeIcon('trash'), this.CMD_CLEAR_CACHE);
 
-        // 6. Settings Action
+        // 7. Settings Action
         addCommandItem(
             'Configure Settings',
             'Check exclusion rules',