fix: only open screen-share picker on a user-initiated request

[Shevilll]

Closes #3308

What changed

The desktop-capturer source picker opened on every app launch (regression since 4.14.0, introduced by #3266 which added screen-sharing support for the server view).

Root cause: the web app calls navigator.mediaDevices.getDisplayMedia() during page load to probe capabilities. Because the app runs with --autoplay-policy=no-user-gesture-required, that automatic, gesture-less probe is not rejected as it would be in a browser — it reaches the setDisplayMediaRequestHandler that #3266 now registers on every server-view webview, which opens the picker.

This adds a guard so the handler ignores requests that carry no user gesture (request.userGesture === false), and only delegates to the provider for a genuine, user-initiated screen share. Real shares always originate from a click, so they are unaffected.

This complements the earlier partial fix #3320, which only gated the Linux/portal cache-prewarm path — the picker still opened on every launch on all platforms via the handler itself, which is why this issue remained open.

Why this approach

request.userGesture is the documented Electron signal for whether a display-media request came from a user interaction; gating on it is the minimal change that restores the pre-4.14.0 behaviour (no picker on launch) without reverting #3266's feature. The denial uses the same cb({ video: false }) shape as the other deny paths in this module for consistency.

Tests

Added two cases to src/screenSharing/main/serverViewScreenSharing.spec.ts:

• a gesture-less request is denied with { video: false } and the provider's handleDisplayMediaRequest is not invoked;
• a request with a user gesture is delegated to the provider.

Run with yarn test.

Manual verification

1. Launch the app, connect to a workspace, then close and relaunch → no picker appears on startup (the reported regression).
2. Start a screen share from a server-view share button → the picker still opens and a source can be selected.
3. Start a screen share inside a video call → the picker still works (the call-window handler is separate and untouched).

Summary by CodeRabbit

• Bug Fixes

  • Fixed screen-picker incorrectly opening from automatic probe calls without user gestures. The handler now detects and rejects such requests immediately.

• Tests

  • Added test coverage for user gesture validation, verifying correct handling of both user-initiated and automatic request scenarios.

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All committers have signed the CLA.

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ℹ️ Recent review info

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Configuration used: Organization UI

Review profile: CHILL

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Run ID: 8d084b78-857f-495d-b72a-36e02e4a1fa0

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 4856b6b and e2ed930.

📒 Files selected for processing (2)

• src/screenSharing/main/serverViewScreenSharing.spec.ts
• src/screenSharing/serverViewScreenSharing.ts

📜 Recent review details

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**/*.ts

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Files:

• src/screenSharing/serverViewScreenSharing.ts
• src/screenSharing/main/serverViewScreenSharing.spec.ts

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Import UI components from @rocket.chat/fuselage and check Theme.d.ts for valid color tokens
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Use PascalCase for component file names

Files:

• src/screenSharing/serverViewScreenSharing.ts
• src/screenSharing/main/serverViewScreenSharing.spec.ts

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Files:

• src/screenSharing/serverViewScreenSharing.ts
• src/screenSharing/main/serverViewScreenSharing.spec.ts

**/*.spec.ts

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Use *.spec.ts file naming for Renderer process tests

Files:

• src/screenSharing/main/serverViewScreenSharing.spec.ts

**/*.{spec.ts,main.spec.ts}

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Files:

• src/screenSharing/main/serverViewScreenSharing.spec.ts

🔇 Additional comments (4)

src/screenSharing/serverViewScreenSharing.ts (2)

72-78: LGTM!

---

72-78: The request.userGesture property is documented and available in Electron 40.8.5.

The setDisplayMediaRequestHandler callback's request parameter includes the userGesture property as documented in the official Electron API. This property has been part of the API since its introduction, and Electron 40 remains a supported version as of June 2026. The code correctly relies on this property.

src/screenSharing/main/serverViewScreenSharing.spec.ts (2)

167-183: LGTM!

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185-201: LGTM!

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Walkthrough

setupServerViewDisplayMedia in serverViewScreenSharing.ts now reads the request object in the setDisplayMediaRequestHandler callback and short-circuits with { video: false } when request.userGesture is false. Two new test cases in the spec file cover both the blocked and delegated paths.

Changes

User gesture gate for screen-share handler

Layer / File(s)

Summary

userGesture guard and tests src/screenSharing/serverViewScreenSharing.ts, src/screenSharing/main/serverViewScreenSharing.spec.ts

The setDisplayMediaRequestHandler callback accepts the request argument and returns { video: false } immediately when request.userGesture is false, leaving the existing provider-delegation path intact for genuine user-initiated requests. Two new test cases assert the blocked path calls the callback directly without invoking internalProvider.handleDisplayMediaRequest, and the user-gesture path delegates to the provider.

Estimated code review effort

🎯 2 (Simple) | ⏱️ ~5 minutes

Suggested labels

type: bug

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 5

✅ Passed checks (5 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly and concisely describes the main change: adding a user-gesture gate to prevent opening the screen-share picker on non-user-initiated requests.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	The PR implements the fix for #3308 by adding a user-gesture check to ignore gesture-less display-media requests, directly addressing the regression where the picker opened on every app launch.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	All changes are directly scoped to implementing the user-gesture gate in setupServerViewDisplayMedia and corresponding test coverage, with no extraneous modifications.
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check.

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[Shevilll]

Hi team! Gated the screen-share capturer picker with a user gesture check (request.userGesture === true) to prevent launch-time popups, and verified all Jest test specs are green. Please let me know if there are any adjustments needed! Thanks!