fix: clear implicit project model defaults

[HamzaNa1]

What Changed

• Added migration 044 to clear only the exact bare Codex gpt-5.4 project default written by the legacy implicit-creation path. Other caller-supplied creation values and later explicit project updates are preserved.
• Rewrites the matching creation event alongside the projection so replay cannot restore that legacy implicit value.
• Auto-bootstrap, CLI project creation, and command-palette project creation no longer pin the current model to the project. Auto-bootstrap still uses the current default for its initial thread.

Why

Older project creation paths silently stored gpt-5.4 as a project default even though the user never configured it.

After #6011 made configured project defaults authoritative for new threads, those dormant values began overriding the last-picked model. Restricting cleanup to the exact legacy-generated shape repairs that cohort without weakening real project defaults or erasing other values supplied through the project creation contract.

Verification

• vp test run apps/server/src/persistence/Migrations/044_ClearImplicitProjectModelDefaults.test.ts apps/server/src/serverRuntimeStartup.test.ts packages/client-runtime/src/operations/projects.test.ts (26 tests)
• Targeted lint and formatting checks for all changed files
• vp run typecheck in apps/server
• vp run typecheck in apps/web

Checklist

• This PR is small and focused
• I explained what changed and why
• I included before/after screenshots for any UI changes (no UI change)
• I included a video for animation/interaction changes (not applicable)

Built with GPT-5.6-Sol through the Codex harness in T3 Code.

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Note

Medium Risk
Migration 044 mutates historical project.created events and project projections; incorrect matching could clear real defaults, though predicates are narrow and explicit meta-updates are excluded.

Overview
Stops treating the app-wide model as a project default when projects are created. CLI add, server auto-bootstrap, and command palette add project now dispatch project.create with defaultModelSelection: null. Auto-bootstrap still applies getAutoBootstrapDefaultModelSelection() on the initial thread.create only.

Adds migration 044 to repair legacy data: it nulls projection_projects.default_model_selection_json and rewrites matching project.created event payloads when the stored value was only the old implicit Codex gpt-5.4 default (no options) and the user never set a default via project.meta-updated. Explicit project defaults and caller-supplied creation values are left intact. Tests cover the migration and bootstrap dispatch behavior.

^{Reviewed by Cursor Bugbot for commit 89486e9. Bugbot is set up for automated code reviews on this repo. Configure here.}

Note

Clear implicit defaultModelSelection across project creation paths and add migration 44

• New project creation in the CLI (projectAddCommand), auto-bootstrap (resolveAutoBootstrapWelcomeTargets), and web command palette (OpenCommandPaletteDialog) now sets defaultModelSelection to null instead of an auto-resolved model
• Migration 44 (ClearImplicitProjectModelDefaults) sets projection_projects.default_model_selection_json to NULL for projects whose creation event used the bare Codex gpt-5.4 default with no later explicit update, and normalizes the corresponding project.created event payloads to stay replay-consistent
• Auto-bootstrap still assigns a model selection to the initial thread via getAutoBootstrapDefaultModelSelection when the project has no default
• Risk: migration 44 mutates existing projection_projects rows and project.created event payloads for projects matching the implicit-default criteria; reviewers should verify the matching condition in 044_ClearImplicitProjectModelDefaults.ts does not catch projects with explicit caller-supplied defaults

^{Macroscope summarized 89486e9.}

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[macroscopeapp]

Approvability

Verdict: Not approved

Macroscope's review found this PR not approvable — This PR changes project model defaults across CLI, server auto-bootstrap, and web project creation, while migration 044 also rewrites persisted projections and historical creation events. The resulting user-visible behavior and durable data changes warrant human review.

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[Rasalas]

Confirmed on another affected installation.

Environment:

• T3 Code 0.0.36
• Nightly desktop app with a local server
• macOS arm64, Darwin 25.5.0

After upgrading, a new thread unexpectedly selected gpt-5.4 with medium reasoning instead of the previously used gpt-5.6-sol.

Read-only database inspection found that the project’s original project.created event, dated 2026-04-18, contained this bare legacy default:

{"provider":"codex","model":"gpt-5.4"}

There was no later project.meta-updated event when the symptom occurred. The projected project default contained the same value, and a recent projected thread confirmed the resulting selection:

{
  "instanceId": "codex",
  "model": "gpt-5.4",
  "options": [
    {"id": "reasoningEffort", "value": "medium"},
    {"id": "serviceTier", "value": "default"}
  ]
}

This installation therefore appears to match the legacy implicit-default cohort targeted by migration 044.

The immediate workaround was to manually select gpt-5.6-sol in the project’s New threads model setting. That correctly produced a new project.meta-updated event, so the proposed migration should preserve the explicit replacement.