macOS screen recordings are HEVC inside a .mov container, which Chromium,
Firefox and stock Electron can't decode. The file uploaded fine and a
server-side ffmpeg poster was generated, but inline <video> playback failed
silently — stuck at 0:00 with no error, since AttachmentRenderer had no error
handling. Root cause: the system had no concept of web-playability.
Server detects, client degrades:
- mediaPlayable.ts: classifyVideoPlayable(mimetype, codec) — tri-state
(false = known-undecodable e.g. HEVC/ProRes, true = web codec in web
container, null = unknown/optimistic). Never widens `false` beyond codecs
that fail everywhere, so ffmpeg-less instances keep prior behaviour.
- probeMediaMeta now captures the video codec_name; the upload finish hook
stores the verdict in the new attachments.playable column (migration 0007).
- Flag propagated through every serializer: space messages, DMs, WS, and
federation relay (outbound + inbound) — federation-compatible.
- VideoAttachment component: playable===false renders a download card (poster
+ "Can't play here — download" + name/duration/size) with no dead-player
flash; otherwise plays inline with an onError fallback to the same card.
Specs updated: uploads.md, database.md, federation.md.
Manual ownership transfers between two federated instances diverged because
`dm_channels.ownerHomeInstance` was stored as a BARE host (`orbit.ddns.net`)
for federated owners — via `transferGroupDmOwnership` copying `users.homeInstance`
verbatim — while `sourceInstance` always arrives as a full URL on the wire.
`processOwnershipTransferEvent` and `processMemberRemoveEvent` then compared the
two with strict equality and rejected legitimate inbound events as
`unauthorized_source`, keeping ownership permanently divergent across peers.
Live DB inspection on the two test instances confirmed both rows (nova + orbit)
had a BARE `owner_home_instance`, matching the bug report exactly.
Three compounding fixes:
1. Receiver authority checks now compare via `normalizeOriginForCompare` so
legacy bare-vs-full rows accept legitimate transfers (and kicks).
2. New `canonicalizeHomeInstance` helper in `federationAuth.ts`; every write
site that persists `ownerHomeInstance` (`transferGroupDmOwnership`, group DM
creation, lazy federation in member-add, `processMemberAddEvent` bootstrap,
`processOwnershipTransferEvent` receiver storage) routes through it. Full URL
is the canonical storage form, matching how `sourceInstance` arrives.
3. `dm_owner_updated` WS event extended with optional `newOwnerHomeUserId` and
`newOwnerHomeInstance` fields. Client `updateDmOwner` writes them when
present and leaves existing values untouched otherwise (legacy-server safe).
Without this, `getOwnerInstanceForDm` returned the previous owner's home
after a successful WS broadcast, routing the next owner-only op to the wrong
instance.
Coverage: new `federation.ownershipTransfer.test.ts` (7 receiver tests including
the headline bare-vs-full regression and the dedup replay guard); new bare-vs-full
case in `federation.kick.test.ts`; two new client-side cases in
`groupDm.ownerRouting.test.ts` covering both the extended-payload write path and
the legacy-server passthrough. Tests: 1053 server + 364 web, all green.
Specs updated: `dm-system.md` historical bugs + frontend handler table + WS
state-change events table; `federation.md` `ownership_transfer` receiver flow;
`websocket.md` event-fields table.
Transferring ownership or kicking a member surfaced "Target user is not a
member of this DM channel" whenever the target was a federated user.
Root cause: the client passed `canonical.id` from `useCanonicalUserView`,
which returns the user's HOME id when the home view is in the userViews
cache. After owner-routing the request to the owner instance, that
instance's `dm_members.userId` (its own local replicated id) never
matched the home id, so `isDmMember` returned false. The same failure
mode applied across any cross-instance scenario where the
channel-serving instance and the owner-serving instance disagree on the
local replicated user id for the same federated user.
Fix: both endpoints now accept federated identification, mirroring the
existing pattern on `POST /api/dm/:id/members`:
- `POST /api/dm/:id/transfer` body: `{ newOwnerId? } | { homeUserId, homeInstance }`.
Federated args win when both are supplied (strictly more specific).
- `DELETE /api/dm/:id/members/:targetUserId` reads optional
`?homeInstance=<origin>` query; when present, the URL segment is
treated as a homeUserId and resolved via `resolveOrCreateReplicatedUser`.
Client `api.dm.kickMember` and `api.dm.transferOwnership` gain an
optional `federated` argument; `DmRosterPanel` and `MobileGroupDmInfo`
pass it whenever the target has `homeUserId` + `homeInstance` populated.
Adds 5 server tests (3 transfer + 2 kick) covering federated targets,
the federated-wins-over-local precedence rule, and federated-non-member
rejection. Updates 2 client routing tests and 2 DmRosterPanel test
assertions for the new signature. Updates `docs/systems/dm-system.md`
and `docs/systems/api.md`.
Server: 965 tests pass (was 960). Web: 362 tests pass (was 360).
getProfileReferencedFilenames() didn't include dm_channels.icon, so the
storage janitor deleted group DM icons within ~1 hour:
- Owner instance: PATCH /api/dm/:id leaves an attachments row with
messageId=null and dmMessageId=null. After 1h, getUnlinkedAttachments
flags it and cleanupStorage phase 2 deletes the file because the
filename isn't in profileReferenced.
- Receiver instance: downloadProfileAsset writes the icon directly to
uploadDir with no attachments row. cleanupStorage phase 1 treats it
as orphaned and deletes it.
Fix: include dm_channels.icon (non-null, not soft-deleted, not http://)
in the profile-referenced set. Soft-deleted DMs are excluded so their
files still get reaped by cleanupSoftDeletedDmChannels. Absolute URLs
are skipped because they live on a remote instance.
Also mirror the avatar precedent at the PATCH endpoint by deleting the
new icon's standalone attachment row — the file is now protected via
dm_channels.icon, matching users.ts:473.
Refactors the leave-DM destructive core into a shared `removeDmMember`
helper and adds a kick endpoint that reuses it. Both endpoints write the
`member_removed` system message, delete the dm_members + read_states
rows, broadcast `dm_member_removed`, and queue a federation
`member_remove` event with the appropriate `reason` ('leave' | 'kick').
Branching invariants preserved by the helper:
- Ownership transfer fires only on self-leave when the leaver was the
owner. Kicks cannot orphan a group (the owner is still present), so
the transfer block is skipped.
- Soft-delete on last-member-empty fires only on self-leave. Kicks are
guaranteed to leave the owner behind, so the channel can never be
empty after a kick.
Endpoint validation:
- 1-on-1 DM → 400 'Cannot kick from a 1-on-1 DM'
- Caller not the owner → 403 'Only the group owner can remove members'
- Self-target → 400 'Owners cannot kick themselves; use leave instead'
- Target not a member → 404
- Channel missing or soft-deleted → 404
The kicked user is also evicted from the DM voice room (mirroring the
self-leave path) and receives `dm_channel_closed` so the client closes
the channel locally.
DmLastMessagePreview lacked a `type` field, so the sidebar rendered
`lastMessage.content` verbatim — surfacing JSON like
`{"event":"space_invite",...}` for space invites and member-add events.
Adds `type` to the preview payload (populated server-side from
`dm_messages.type`) and routes all sidebar call sites through a single
`formatDmSidebarPreview` helper that renders human-readable text for
each system event and skips the group `Sender:` prefix on system rows.
Empty-string (local) origin is now stored as the absolute home origin
so relayed DM space-invite cards carry the correct value to remote
recipients instead of resolving against the wrong instance.
POST /api/dm/space-invite was hanging 5s and returning invite_invalid
for any local-space invite. fetchSpaceInviteSnapshot was being called
against our own public domain from inside the backspace container, which
fails (Docker NAT loopback) and aborts on timeout.
Add getLocalInviteSnapshot — reads the snapshot directly from the DB —
and branch in dm.ts so local invites bypass the HTTP roundtrip entirely.
Cross-instance invites still go through fetchSpaceInviteSnapshot with
its existing SSRF guard.
Also refactor the GET /api/spaces/invite/:code/preview handler to use
the same helper, keeping the snapshot shape in one place.
Tests assert fetchSpaceInviteSnapshot is NOT called for the local case
(critical regression guard) and that the cross-instance path still hits
the HTTP fetch.
Adds POST /api/dm/space-invite which fetches a space-invite snapshot
server-to-server from the space's home instance, ensures a 1-on-1 DM
between the caller and a friend, and posts a type='system' message
carrying SpaceInviteSystemPayload. Snapshot is never trusted from the
client. Rate-limited 30/60s per caller. Federation relay queued when the
recipient is on a remote instance (system message type forwarded by
Tasks 1-3).
Adds an `ensureOneOnOneDmChannel` helper that mirrors the dedup-or-create
behavior of the existing POST /api/dm handler — including federatedId
computation and the dm_channel_created notification payload — without
modifying that handler. Duplication is intentional; consolidation is a
separate follow-up.
Fresh-create returned {id, ownerId, federatedId, createdAt, members, lastMessage}; the existing-DM path returned the same shape minus federatedId. Inconsistency was a footgun for any future feature reading federatedId from this response — fresh-create tests would pass while idempotent path would break. One-line addition to the result builder.
Remove the owner-only gate on POST /api/dm/:id/members. The S2S relay
already accepts member_add from any HMAC-verified peer, and the UI
already shows the add button to all group DM members. Only the
server-side check was blocking non-owners.
Queue dm_close relay in DELETE /api/dm/:id after broadcasting locally,
and queue dm_reopen relay inside the myDm.closed === 1 branch of POST
/api/dm so peers are notified only on actual reopen, not new DM creation.
When a federated user's identity has been tombstoned (isDeleted=1),
findFederatedUser filters them out, causing resolveOrCreateReplicatedUser
to silently create a new stub — a "zombie" resurrection. This guard checks
for a deleted row before creating a stub and returns null instead.
All 11 call sites across federation.ts and dm.ts have been updated with
appropriate null guards: federation relay handlers reject or skip the event
(participant_not_found / accepted no-op), while dm.ts routes convert null
to undefined so the existing 404 path handles it.
sendTypingRelay() mirrors sendCallRelay() — direct POST to peers,
no outbox, no retry. Uses federatedId for cross-instance channel
identification. Wired into handleDmTypingStart() for typing_start
and broadcastDmMessage() for typing_stop.
Broadcasts dm_typing_stop to DM members before dm_message_created,
so the typing indicator clears immediately when a message arrives
instead of lingering for up to 3 seconds after delivery.
Extend the add-member endpoint to resolve federated identity via
resolveOrCreateReplicatedUser() when homeUserId+homeInstance are provided,
falling back to the existing local userId lookup.
POST /api/dm created channels with federatedId=NULL, so when the S2S
reply arrived, processCreateEvent couldn't find the channel and created
a duplicate. Now computes the deterministic SHA256 hash at creation time
when either participant is federated.
Three stacked bugs prevented federation relay from working for group DMs:
1. Origin format mismatch: users.home_instance stores bare domains
("nova.ddns.net") but federation_peers.origin stores full URLs
("https://nova.ddns.net"). getGroupDmTargetOrigins() built target
lists from bare domains, so queueOutboxEvent() never matched any
peers — events were never queued into the outbox.
2. Missing federatedId in outbox reconstruction: the outbox worker
rebuilt relay events from stored payloads but never copied the
federatedId field. Receiving instances check this field and rejected
all member_add/remove/ownership_transfer events with
"missing_membership_payload".
3. Duplicate channels from cross-instance broadcasts: dm_channel_created
was sent to ALL members including remote replicas. Users connected to
multiple instances received the event twice (once per instance),
creating duplicate group DMs in their sidebar. Fixed by only
broadcasting to members whose home instance matches the current
server — remote members receive the channel via federation bootstrap
on their home instance.
- Render system messages (member_added, member_removed, owner_changed) inline
in MessageList with icon + human-readable text; system messages never group
with adjacent user messages
- Rewrite WelcomeHeader to branch on ownerId: group DMs show overlapping avatars,
group name, creator attribution, federated privacy note, and a Leave Group button
- Add dm_owner_updated ServerEvent; broadcast from dm.ts leave handler and
federation processOwnershipTransferEvent so all clients update ownerId in real-time
- Add updateDmOwner action to spaceStore and handle dm_owner_updated in useWebSocket
- Add leaveGroup alias to API client dm namespace
On group DM creation, emit a system message per added member (event:
member_added). On POST /api/dm/:id/members, emit a system message for
the newly added member. On DELETE /api/dm/:id/members, emit a
member_removed system message before the row is deleted (so the leaver
is still a member at broadcast time), and emit an owner_changed system
message when ownership transfers. The newOwnerUser query is moved
outside the federation-only block so it is available unconditionally.
Adds a `type` column (TEXT NOT NULL DEFAULT 'user') to the dm_messages
table via schema, migration, and type definition. Updates
buildDmMessageWithUser and the inline replyTo builder in the GET
messages handler to include the field in all DM message responses.
Both buildDmMessageWithUser and buildMessageWithUser manually map
attachment fields — add federationStatus and federationMeta so they
reach the frontend.
When converting a 1-on-1 DM to a group, the existing DM partner was
incorrectly required to be your friend. DMs don't require friendship,
so this check was over-strict. Added fromDmChannelId parameter to
createGroup — existing members of the source DM are exempt from the
friendship validation.
Rewrite the group DM creation endpoint to accept identity objects
(GroupDmUserIdentity) instead of raw user ID strings. Each identity
is resolved to a local database user via resolveOrCreateReplicatedUser
for federated users or direct ID lookup with resolveLocalUser fallback
for local users. Dedup and caller-exclusion checks now operate on
resolved local IDs rather than input IDs.
- Hoist callerUser DB query above the federation block so it's fetched
once and reused for response building, federation ID assignment, and
relay payload construction (was fetched 3 times).
- Add homeInstance !== domainOrigin guard to finalTargets augmentation,
matching the existing pattern in POST /api/dm/:id/members.
Adds a dedicated endpoint for creating group DMs with 3-10 members.
Validates friendship, deduplication, and member caps. Includes federation
relay support for remote instance members.
- Add migrateFixOneOnOneOwnerIds migration to NULL-out ownerId on all
existing 1-on-1 DMs (those with exactly 2 members)
- Fix POST /api/dm to create 1-on-1 channels with ownerId=null instead
of the creator's ID
- Guard POST /api/dm/:id/members: reject with 400 if channel has no
owner (i.e. is a 1-on-1), directing callers to POST /api/dm/group
- Guard DELETE /api/dm/:id/members: replace member-count check with
ownerId check; remove now-duplicate dmChannel query in that handler
- Add CreateGroupDmRequest type to shared types
Replace the hard-delete in the leave handler with a soft-delete (sets
deleted_at timestamp) when the last member leaves a group DM. A new
janitor sweep in the federation worker runs hourly and purges channels
whose grace period has expired, cascading through reactions, embeds,
attachments, messages, members, outbox/mutation-log/file-queue entries,
and finally the channel itself.
All client-facing dm_channels queries now filter on deleted_at IS NULL
to hide soft-deleted channels from the REST API and WebSocket ready
payload.
getGroupDmTargetOrigins() was called after the leaving user's dm_members row
was deleted, causing their instance to be excluded from member_remove and
ownership_transfer relay fan-out if they were the only member from that peer.
Move the target origins and leaving user lookups to before the deletion.
Hook POST /api/dm/:id/members and DELETE /api/dm/:id/members to the
federation outbox so membership changes propagate to peer instances:
- Assign federatedId when a group DM first gains remote members
- Relay member_add events with group metadata and participant-aware routing
- Relay member_remove (leave) events to peer instances
- Relay ownership_transfer when the departing user was the group owner,
updating the federated owner columns accordingly
The relay was failing because processCreateEvent relied on the friends
table to discover the DM recipient, but friendships aren't federated
across instances. Also, resolveLocalUser matched deleted replicated
users before active ones.
- Add participants[] to FederationRelayEvent with homeUserId/homeInstance
for all DM channel members
- Add getDmParticipants() helper to look up member identities
- Include participants in outbox payloads (create/update) and sync events
- Rewrite processCreateEvent to resolve participants directly, compute
canonicalDmPairId, and findOrCreateDmChannel — removing the entire
friends-list fallback (60+ lines)
- Fix resolveLocalUser to filter out deleted users (is_deleted = 0)
and prefer the replicated user match when multiple candidates exist
- Add Activity, ActivityType, ActivityTimestamps, ActivityAssets types to shared types
- Add activity_update client event and activities field on presence_update server event
- Add userActivities to ready payload and showActivity to User/UpdateUserRequest
- Create shared activities.ts with ACTIVITY_LIMITS, ACTIVITY_PRIORITY, getPrimaryActivity
- Add show_activity column to users table (schema + migration)
- Update sanitizeUser with isSelf parameter; only include showActivity for self
- Fix .map(sanitizeUser) calls to use arrow wrapper to prevent index-as-boolean bug
- Mark auth routes (register/login) as isSelf=true since they return own user data
Jannis Braun