Fix startup race when opening project

crates/cowork-gui/src-tauri/src/lib.rs

@@ -717,9 +717,18 @@ pub fn run() {
                         // Store in app state
                         if let Some(state) = app.try_state::<AppState>() {
                             if let Ok(mut ws) = state.workspace_path.lock() {
-                                *ws = Some(workspace);
+                                *ws = Some(workspace.clone());
                             }
                         }
+
+                        // Reset any "running" iterations to "paused" since there's no actual execution after reopening
+                        reset_running_iterations();
+
+                        // Emit project_loaded event to notify frontend to navigate to iterations page
+                        if let Some(window) = app.get_webview_window("main") {
+                            let _ = window.emit("project_loaded", ());
+                            eprintln!("[GUI] Emitted project_loaded event for workspace: {}", workspace);
+                        }
                     }
                 } else {
                     eprintln!("[GUI] Invalid workspace path: {}", workspace);

crates/cowork-gui/src/hooks/useAppEvents.ts

@@ -414,6 +414,19 @@ export function useAppEvents(userInput: string, setUserInput: (input: string) =>
 
 			// Wait for all listeners to be registered in parallel
 			await Promise.all(listenerPromises);
+
+			// Check if there's already an open project (e.g., when launched with --workspace)
+			// This handles the timing issue where backend emits project_loaded before frontend listeners are ready
+			try {
+				const hasOpenProject = await API.workspace.hasOpen();
+				if (hasOpenProject) {
+					console.log('[App] Detected open project on startup, loading project...');
+					await loadProject();
+					setActiveView('iterations');
+				}
+			} catch (error) {
+				console.error('[App] Failed to check for open project:', error);
+			}
 		};
 
 		setupListeners();