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
- Fix ?? to || in metadataFetcher.ts to handle empty strings from Cheerio
- Fix stale embeds on message edit: delete old embeds synchronously before
broadcast, then resolve new ones async (all 4 edit paths: REST+WS, msg+DM)
- Revert unrelated MessageList.tsx scroll threshold change (5000 not 150)
- Remove duplicate embed indexes from migrateAddIndexes (kept standalone ones)
Integrate embed infrastructure into the complete message flow:
- messages.ts: batch-fetch embeds in GET, resolve on POST, re-resolve on PATCH
- dm.ts: same pattern for DM messages with isDm=true
- search.ts: include embeds in all 4 search/around endpoints
- events.ts: embed resolution in WS message create/edit for both space and DM
- Fix embedClassifier.ts type errors (regex match undefined → null)
- Add embeds: [] to all inline MessageWithUser/DmMessageWithUser constructions
- Add embeds: [] to chatStore optimistic message
Root cause: own messages echoed by the server marked channels unread when
the user had already navigated away. Seven related bugs compounded the
problem — stale read states, missing cleanup on space/DM removal, REST
broadcast ignoring VIEW_CHANNEL, and no validation on channel_ack writes.
Frontend:
- Skip markChannelUnread for the user's own messages (federation-aware)
- Walk backward past temp_ IDs in ackChannel instead of bailing
- Re-fire ack timer when temp message is replaced by server-confirmed ID
- Add removeChannelStates to clean up unread/read/message caches
- Clean up chatStore on removeSpace, removeDmChannel, removeInstanceSpaces
Server:
- Use sendToChannel instead of sendToSpace for REST message creation
- Clean up read_states on space deletion, member kick/leave, and ban
- Validate channel membership before accepting channel_ack writes
- Clean up read_states on DM leave and DM channel deletion
- SSRF protection: DNS resolution + private IP blocking on metadata fetcher
- Upload security: CSP/X-Frame-Options headers, SVG forced download, nosniff
- Auth hardening: JWT secret min length, password min 8 chars, token revocation via password_changed_at
- Attachment ownership verification before linking to messages
- Message length limit (4000 chars) enforced on client and server
- Asset URL validation on avatar/banner updates
- Federation instance validation (domain regex, origin scheme, length limits)
- DB indexes on all FK columns for query performance
- Migrations: nullable moderator columns, dm_messages reply_to FK constraint
- File cleanup on avatar/banner replacement and space deletion
- Fastify trustProxy, AbortController on fetches, typing map size cap
Avatars/banners now resize to max 512px/1920px and convert to WebP before
upload (zero server cost). Chat image uploads generate an 800px-wide WebP
thumbnail via Sharp; the feed shows the thumbnail, click opens the full-res
original. Adds lazy loading to avatars. Federation-compatible: remote
instances without this feature fall back gracefully.
- Add fileCleanup utility to delete uploaded files from disk on message/account deletion
- Add migration to clean orphaned DM channels, attachments, reactions, read states, and stale moderator refs
- Add FK constraints on dm_message_id in attachments and dm_reactions schema
- Make bans.bannedBy and voiceRestrictions.moderatorId nullable for deleted moderators
- Transfer group DM ownership on member leave or account deletion
- Fully clean up orphaned DM channels (zero members) including files
- Add "Leave Group" context menu for group DMs in ChannelSidebar
- Add leaveDm action to spaceStore
Add multi-instance support foundation: shared federation types
(ReplicatedInstance, InstanceInfoResponse, VerifyPasswordRequest),
database schema changes (home_instance, replicated_instances on users,
instance_name on settings), public instance info endpoint, auth
registration with homeInstance and username@domain collision fallback,
password verification endpoint, and replicatedInstances sync on user
profile. Extract duplicated sanitizeUser into shared utility across
8 server files.
- Add Backspace-design-prototype.html: finalized "Aether Drift" design
language with warm matte surfaces and subtle frosted glass accents
- Update CLAUDE.md with DESIGN SYSTEM section and remove Discord clone references
- Rename all Opencord references to Backspace across the full codebase
- Archive outdated design experiments and Discord-specific assets
- Add science-backed accessibility fallback (prefers-reduced-transparency)
Add a server-side instance_settings table (single-row, CHECK(id=1))
that stores admin-configurable streaming bounds: bitrate min/max/step,
allowed resolutions, and allowed framerates.
Backend:
- New instance_settings schema + migrations (is_admin on users, default
settings row, first-registered-user promoted to admin)
- GET/PATCH /api/settings/streaming endpoints with admin-only writes
and full input validation including cross-field checks
Frontend:
- settingsStore fetches limits on WebSocket ready, exposes isAdmin flag
- ScreenShareSettingsPopover reads bounds from store instead of
hardcoded constants, auto-clamps stale localStorage values
- buildScreenShareOptions() clamps bitrate to server limits at build
time as enforcement backstop
- ServerSettings modal gains a "Streaming" tab (admin-only) with
bitrate range sliders, resolution/framerate toggles, and save/reset
Wrap all multi-write DB operations in atomic transactions (server/channel
creation, message+attachment linking, DM creation, friend acceptance,
cascading deletes) to prevent partial-write corruption.
Batch N+1 queries in WS ready payload into O(1) bulk fetches with
chunked inArray() to respect SQLite's variable limit.
Fix chat history regression where background WS messages bypassed
channel load by switching the guard from messages.has() to hasMore.has().
Add LRU channel eviction (20 cached, evict to 15) and per-channel
message cap (200) to bound client memory growth.
Shorten WS heartbeat from 30s to 15s for aggressive proxy/NAT
environments. Clear all user-scoped stores on logout to prevent
cross-session data leaks.
Extract LiveKit internal accessors into shared livekitInternals utility.
DM uploads silently failed because the 5-point chain (types, frontend,
POST, GET, WS broadcast) was never wired for attachments. Added
buildDmMessageWithUser/getDmMessageWithUser helpers mirroring the server
channel pattern, and plumbed attachmentIds + replyToId through all DM
code paths.
Jannis Braun