The Retry Keystroke Failed After Cancel: A Dead AbortSignal Retrospective

Description and use

Keyboard users can cancel a streaming request and then press Retry, but the retry button remains enabled while the underlying AbortController is already aborted, preventing a new request from starting and leaving the UI in a dead state. The fix is to create a new AbortController for each retry.

Problem

Keyboard users can cancel a streaming request and then press Retry, but the retry button remains enabled while the underlying AbortController is already aborted, preventing a new request from starting and leaving the UI in a dead state.

Outcome

The bug was caused by reusing the same AbortController across attempts. The fix is to create a new AbortController for each retry, ensuring the controller is not already aborted when starting a new fetch.

Workflow

• 1. Focus composer and submit prompt with Enter.
• 2. While status says generating, press Escape to cancel.
• 3. Observe focus moves to Stop (or hidden).
• 4. Tab to Retry and press Enter.
• 5. Verify that a new attempt starts, live region announces retry, composer is enabled, and focus lands on Stop or composer.

Evidence

Retry is not a click handler glued onto a cancelled bubble. Retry is a transition that must create a new attempt.

Source

The first attempt had aborted, but Retry still held the same AbortController. signal.aborted was already true, so the next fetch never started.

Source