Start Sidecar Qwen VL from Recommend when the prompt enhancer is offline.

Co-authored-by: Cursor <cursoragent@cursor.com>

pages/index.vue

@@ -1848,14 +1848,13 @@ const recommendDisabled = computed(() => {
   if (recommendBusy.value) return true
   if (!file.value || !prompt.value.trim()) return true
   if (!imageSidecarConfigured.value) return true
-  if (!imageSidecarOk.value) return true
   return false
 })
 const recommendHint = computed(() => {
   if (!imageSidecarConfigured.value) return 'Sidecar Qwen VL is not configured. Set IMAGE_COMFY_HOST.'
-  if (!imageSidecarOk.value) return 'Sidecar Qwen VL is offline.'
   if (!file.value) return 'Load a still first.'
   if (!prompt.value.trim()) return 'Type a draft prompt to enhance.'
+  if (!imageSidecarOk.value) return 'Sidecar is offline. Recommend will start Qwen VL on 192.168.77.101.'
   if (imageSidecarBusy.value) return 'Sidecar is busy — this may wait in its queue.'
   return 'Send this still and draft to Sidecar Qwen VL.'
 })
@@ -2507,7 +2506,9 @@ async function recommendPrompt() {
   recommendError.value = ''
   recommendText.value = ''
   recommendApplied.value = false
-  recommendMessage.value = 'Uploading still to Sidecar Qwen VL…'
+  recommendMessage.value = imageSidecarOk.value
+    ? 'Uploading still to Sidecar Qwen VL…'
+    : 'Sidecar is offline. Starting Qwen VL…'
   const body = new FormData()
   body.append('image', file.value)
   body.append('prompt', prompt.value)
@@ -2542,6 +2543,7 @@ async function recommendPrompt() {
   } finally {
     recommendBusy.value = false
     if (recommendJobId.value) recommendJobId.value = ''
+    void pollComfyHealth()
   }
 }
 

server/utils/imageComfyLifecycle.ts

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { getImageComfyHost, setImageComfyHostOverride, imageComfyConfigured, getBeastImageHost, withImageComfyHost, type ImageEditBox } from '~/server/utils/imageComfy'
+import { getImageComfyHost, setImageComfyHostOverride, imageComfyConfigured, getBeastImageHost, getSidecarImageHost, withImageComfyHost, type ImageEditBox } from '~/server/utils/imageComfy'
 
 export type ImageComfyState = 'online' | 'booting' | 'busy' | 'starting' | 'offline'
 
@@ -229,6 +229,121 @@ export function ensureImageComfyReady(onStatus: StatusFn = () => undefined) {
   return run
 }
 
+let sidecarGate: Promise<unknown> = Promise.resolve()
+let sidecarLastStartAt = 0
+
+function sidecarControlSettings() {
+  const config = useRuntimeConfig()
+  return {
+    host: getSidecarImageHost(),
+    controlUrl: String(config.imageComfyControlUrl || process.env.IMAGE_COMFY_CONTROL_URL || '').replace(/\/$/, ''),
+    controlToken: String(config.imageComfyControlToken || process.env.IMAGE_COMFY_CONTROL_TOKEN || ''),
+    healthTimeoutMs: 2500,
+    startTimeoutMs: Number(process.env.IMAGE_COMFY_START_TIMEOUT_MS || 180_000)
+  }
+}
+
+async function sidecarControlRequest(path: string, method = 'GET') {
+  const { controlUrl, controlToken } = sidecarControlSettings()
+  if (!controlUrl) return null
+  try {
+    const res = await fetch(`${controlUrl}${path}`, {
+      method,
+      headers: {
+        Accept: 'application/json',
+        ...(controlToken ? { Authorization: `Bearer ${controlToken}` } : {})
+      },
+      signal: AbortSignal.timeout(5000)
+    })
+    if (!res.ok) return { ok: false, status: res.status }
+    return await res.json() as {
+      ok?: boolean
+      http?: boolean
+      process?: boolean
+      started?: boolean
+      already?: boolean
+    }
+  } catch {
+    return null
+  }
+}
+
+async function startSidecarComfy() {
+  const now = Date.now()
+  if (now - sidecarLastStartAt < 15_000) {
+    log('sidecar-start-skipped', { reason: 'recent-start' })
+    return { started: false, reason: 'recent-start' as const }
+  }
+  sidecarLastStartAt = now
+  const remote = await sidecarControlRequest('/start', 'POST')
+  if (remote?.ok || remote?.started) {
+    log('sidecar-start-remote', {})
+    return { started: true, reason: 'remote' as const }
+  }
+  return { started: false, reason: 'no-launcher' as const }
+}
+
+async function ensureSidecarUnlocked(onStatus: StatusFn) {
+  const cfg = sidecarControlSettings()
+  const host = cfg.host
+  if (!host) {
+    throw createError({
+      statusCode: 503,
+      statusMessage: 'Sidecar Qwen VL is not configured. Set IMAGE_COMFY_HOST or IMAGE_COMFY_FALLBACK_HOST.'
+    })
+  }
+
+  onStatus({ state: 'offline', message: 'Checking Sidecar Qwen VL…', host, box: 'sidecar' })
+  const health = await checkImageComfyHttp(cfg.healthTimeoutMs, host)
+  if (health.ok) {
+    onStatus({ state: 'online', message: 'Sidecar Qwen VL online', host, box: 'sidecar' })
+    return
+  }
+
+  onStatus({
+    state: 'starting',
+    message: 'Sidecar is offline. Starting Qwen VL on 192.168.77.101…',
+    host,
+    box: 'sidecar'
+  })
+  const started = await startSidecarComfy()
+  if (!started.started && started.reason === 'no-launcher') {
+    throw createError({
+      statusCode: 503,
+      statusMessage: 'Sidecar is offline and the host agent did not start it. Confirm the agent on 192.168.77.101:8199 is running.'
+    })
+  }
+
+  const deadline = Date.now() + cfg.startTimeoutMs
+  let attempt = 0
+  while (Date.now() < deadline) {
+    attempt += 1
+    onStatus({
+      state: 'starting',
+      message: `Starting Sidecar Qwen VL… waiting for Comfy (${attempt})`,
+      host,
+      box: 'sidecar'
+    })
+    const next = await checkImageComfyHttp(cfg.healthTimeoutMs, host)
+    if (next.ok) {
+      onStatus({ state: 'online', message: 'Sidecar Qwen VL online', host, box: 'sidecar', processRunning: true })
+      return
+    }
+    await sleep(2000)
+  }
+
+  throw createError({
+    statusCode: 503,
+    statusMessage: 'Started Sidecar Qwen VL but it never answered. The 101 box can take a couple of minutes to load after a cold boot.'
+  })
+}
+
+export function ensureSidecarReady(onStatus: StatusFn = () => undefined) {
+  const run = sidecarGate.then(() => ensureSidecarUnlocked(onStatus))
+  sidecarGate = run.then(() => undefined, () => undefined)
+  return run
+}
+
 export async function pickImageEditHost(onStatus: StatusFn = () => undefined): Promise<ImageEditTarget> {
   const beast = getBeastImageHost()
   if (!beast) {

server/utils/promptComfy.ts

@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { getSidecarImageHost } from '~/server/utils/imageComfy'
+import { ensureSidecarReady } from '~/server/utils/imageComfyLifecycle'
 import { buildVisionPromptWorkflow } from '~/server/utils/promptWorkflow'
 import { normalizeShotScript } from '~/utils/parseRecommend'
 
@@ -220,6 +221,10 @@ export async function runPromptRecommend(job: PromptJob, params: {
   mode: string
 }) {
   job.status = 'running'
+  job.message = 'Checking Sidecar Qwen VL…'
+  await ensureSidecarReady((status) => {
+    job.message = status.message
+  })
   job.message = 'Uploading still to Sidecar Qwen VL…'
   const imageName = await uploadPromptImage(params.image, job.id)
   job.message = 'Qwen VL is reading the still…'