From 139aeda89bce9415cb8e496e8834995bad0e5101 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Cyril <c.gromoff@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 13 Jul 2026 13:59:36 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] =?UTF-8?q?=E2=99=BF=EF=B8=8F(frontend)=20close=20side=20p?=
 =?UTF-8?q?anel=20with=20Escape=20key?=
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

useEscapeToClose: close panel on Escape, restore focus, let chat input bubble
---
 CHANGELOG.md                                  |  1 +
 .../features/chat/components/ChatTextArea.tsx |  2 +-
 .../rooms/livekit/components/SidePanel.tsx    |  3 +++
 src/frontend/src/hooks/useEscapeToClose.ts    | 26 +++++++++++++++++++
 4 files changed, 31 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
 create mode 100644 src/frontend/src/hooks/useEscapeToClose.ts

diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 2a086cd7..f207b0d7 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ and this project adheres to
 - ⬆️(frontend) upgrade @tanstack/react-query from 5.101.1 to 5.101.4
 - ⬆️(frontend) upgrade @pandacss/preset-panda from 1.11.3 to 1.12.0
 - ⬆️(frontend) upgrade posthog-js from 1.404.1 to 1.409.5
+- ♿️(frontend) close side panel with Escape key #1507
 
 ## [1.28.0] - 2026-08-24
 
diff --git a/src/frontend/src/features/chat/components/ChatTextArea.tsx b/src/frontend/src/features/chat/components/ChatTextArea.tsx
index d5c4fb5d..d37503f4 100644
--- a/src/frontend/src/features/chat/components/ChatTextArea.tsx
+++ b/src/frontend/src/features/chat/components/ChatTextArea.tsx
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ export const ChatTextArea = () => {
   const isDisabled = !textAreaValue.trim() || isSending
 
   const onKeyDown = async (e: React.KeyboardEvent<HTMLTextAreaElement>) => {
-    e.stopPropagation()
+    if (e.key !== 'Escape') e.stopPropagation()
     if (e.key !== 'Enter' || (e.key === 'Enter' && e.shiftKey) || isDisabled)
       return
     e.preventDefault()
diff --git a/src/frontend/src/features/rooms/livekit/components/SidePanel.tsx b/src/frontend/src/features/rooms/livekit/components/SidePanel.tsx
index 9936dd05..5fdcd119 100644
--- a/src/frontend/src/features/rooms/livekit/components/SidePanel.tsx
+++ b/src/frontend/src/features/rooms/livekit/components/SidePanel.tsx
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ import { Info } from './Info'
 import { HStack } from '@/styled-system/jsx'
 import { useReactionsToolbar } from '@/features/reactions/hooks/useReactionsToolbar'
 import { useRestoreFocus } from '@/hooks/useRestoreFocus'
+import { useEscapeToClose } from '@/hooks/useEscapeToClose'
 
 type StyledSidePanelProps = {
   title: string
@@ -194,6 +195,8 @@ export const SidePanel = () => {
     activeKey: activePanelId,
   })
 
+  useEscapeToClose(isSidePanelOpen, asideRef, closeSidePanel)
+
   return (
     <StyledSidePanel
       ref={asideRef}
diff --git a/src/frontend/src/hooks/useEscapeToClose.ts b/src/frontend/src/hooks/useEscapeToClose.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9c341eba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/frontend/src/hooks/useEscapeToClose.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+import { useEffect, useRef, type RefObject } from 'react'
+
+export const useEscapeToClose = (
+  isActive: boolean,
+  containerRef: RefObject<HTMLElement | null>,
+  onClose: () => void
+) => {
+  const onCloseRef = useRef(onClose)
+  useEffect(() => {
+    onCloseRef.current = onClose
+  })
+
+  useEffect(() => {
+    if (!isActive) return
+
+    const handleKeyDown = (e: KeyboardEvent) => {
+      if (e.key !== 'Escape') return
+      if (!containerRef.current?.contains(document.activeElement)) return
+      e.stopPropagation()
+      onCloseRef.current()
+    }
+
+    document.addEventListener('keydown', handleKeyDown)
+    return () => document.removeEventListener('keydown', handleKeyDown)
+  }, [isActive, containerRef])
+}