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Answering my own question:

The server configuration can indicate how a group should be presented in a GUI by setting the "type" attribute. For example:

mygroup = gen.add_group("MyGroup", type="tab")

Other type values are 'hide', 'collapse', 'apply'. The rqt_reconfigure actually obeys the 'type' indication.

The state attribute has effect only for the 'hide' and 'collapse' types. The server may in the callback change the 'state' attribute to hide/collapse a group in the rqt_reconfigure, example:

def callback(config, level):
    # example: change visibility state of group
    config.groups.groups.MyGroup.state = False

I have no solution on the exception generated by load/reload and the same problem is actually seen when toggling the checkbox for a group with type 'collapse'. I have filed a bug report.