Review: keep the desk's notification ids so lost answers are said again in place (issue 384)

dunst.started says the notifier's bundle started again: the notifications stay on screen and only the
answers they waited for are lost. Forgetting their ids made the router's message a second popup beside a
dead one. The desk now keeps the ids and says answers-lost-at; the router's message replaces each
notification in place.

Whether a message is said again is now its own (last said before the answers were lost), so a router
that started after the loss still says it and a repeated standing says nothing. It is sent to the desk
directly, not through the outbox, whose failure path moves a warning to Telegram; a failed send is tried
again at the next standing.

modules/messenger/cmd/messenger/holder.go

@@ -327,7 +327,7 @@ type Holder struct {
 	lastUnlink map[string]Unlinked
 	// rootWord is the controller's last word on whether an agent can become root, by the machines asked.
 	rootWord map[string]rootWord
-	// shows is, by kind, the ShowsSince this router last acted on: a later one is a screen made new (restart.go).
+	// shows is, by kind, the AnswersLostAt this router last acted on in full (restart.go).
 	shows map[string]time.Time
 }
 

modules/messenger/cmd/messenger/main.go

@@ -397,7 +397,7 @@ func listenForChannels(h *Holder) {
 				h.Failed(kind, f)
 			}
 		case asks.StandingWhat:
-			// Read as this module's Standing: the bench's word, and shows-since beside it (issue 384).
+			// Read as this module's Standing: the bench's word, and answers-lost-at beside it (issue 384).
 			var s Standing
 			if json.Unmarshal(e.Body, &s) == nil {
 				h.Stand(kind, s)

modules/messenger/cmd/messenger/restart.go

@@ -1,21 +1,23 @@
 package main
 
-// A screen made new (novox/hq issue 384). On 2026-10-10 the desk's notifier started again and the desk showed,
-// from its own memory, nine old popups: resolved, silenced and cancelled ones among them. A channel's memory
-// is which notification a handle has, good for replacing or editing in place and for nothing else; what is
-// still open and unanswered is known here alone. So a channel that lost its screen says so in its standing
-// (ShowsSince moved), and this router says again, on that kind only:
+// Answers lost on a channel (novox/hq issue 384). On 2026-10-10 the desk's notifier started again and the
+// desk showed, from its own memory, nine old popups: resolved, silenced and cancelled ones among them. A
+// channel's memory is which notification a handle has, good for replacing or editing in place and for
+// nothing else; what is still open and unanswered is known here alone. So a channel whose messages' answers
+// were lost — the desk's notifier bundle started again: its notifications stay on screen, their buttons wait
+// for nobody — says when in its standing (AnswersLostAt), and this router says again, on that kind only:
 //
-//   - **what is open and asked there**: one message per problem, under its handle, with the words and the
-//     answers of now — the channel shows it anew where the screen is new and replaces it where it is not;
-//   - **what is silenced**: its message edited to the silenced words, with no answers and no urgency, where the
-//     channel still has it (nowhere on a new screen, so nothing appears);
-//   - **nothing that ended**: a resolved or cancelled message's end was said, or is said, where its message is;
-//     it never comes back.
+//   - **what is open and asked there**, and was last said before the answers were lost: one message per
+//     problem, said again under its handle with the words and the answers of now, so the channel replaces its
+//     message in place and its buttons work again. Sent to that kind directly — never through the outbox, whose
+//     failure path moves a warning to the channel that reaches the operator away;
+//   - **what is silenced**: its message edited to the silenced words, with no answers and no urgency;
+//   - **nothing that ended**: a resolved or cancelled message's end was said where its message is; it never
+//     comes back.
 //
-// Each move of ShowsSince is acted on once; a standing that repeats it says nothing more. A kind that is not
-// ready when its screen became new is said again once it is: the move stays pending until then, so a warning
-// is not pushed to the channel that reaches the operator away as a failed delivery would be.
+// Whether a record is said again is its own: last said before the answers were lost. So a router that started
+// after the loss still says it, and a standing that repeats the time says nothing more (the record was said
+// since). A kind that cannot send waits: what is open there is said once it can.
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
@@ -23,53 +25,37 @@ import (
 	"time"
 )
 
-// Stand takes what a kind said of itself, and acts on a screen made new since its last word.
+// Stand takes what a kind said of itself, and acts on answers lost there since this router last acted.
 func (h *Holder) Stand(kind string, s Standing) {
 	if h.Bench != nil {
 		h.Bench.Stand(kind, s)
 	}
-	if s.ShowsSince.IsZero() {
+	if s.AnswersLostAt.IsZero() {
 		return
 	}
 	h.work.Lock()
 	defer h.work.Unlock()
 	h.mu.Lock()
 	h.init()
-	last, known := h.shows[kind]
-	started := h.started
+	done := h.shows[kind].Equal(s.AnswersLostAt)
 	h.mu.Unlock()
-	if !known {
-		// The kind's first word since this router started: a screen made new before that is one this router's
-		// state already allows for (it reads the open conditions and says what was never said); one made new
-		// since is acted on.
-		if started.IsZero() {
-			return
-		}
-		last = started
-	}
-	if !s.ShowsSince.After(last) {
-		if !known {
-			h.mu.Lock()
-			h.shows[kind] = s.ShowsSince
-			h.mu.Unlock()
-		}
+	if done {
 		return
 	}
 	ch := h.channelOf(kind)
 	if ch == nil {
-		h.Logf("[messenger] %s says its screen is new since %s, and no channel of that kind is held here: nothing said again",
-			kind, s.ShowsSince.UTC().Format(time.RFC3339))
-		return
+		return // the controller's word on the kinds is not read yet: acted on at a later standing
 	}
 	if err := ch.Ready(); err != nil {
-		h.Logf("[messenger] %s says its screen is new since %s and cannot send (%v): what is open there is said again once it can",
-			kind, s.ShowsSince.UTC().Format(time.RFC3339), err)
+		h.Logf("[messenger] %s lost its answers at %s and cannot send (%v): what is open there is said again once it can",
+			kind, s.AnswersLostAt.UTC().Format(time.RFC3339), err)
 		return
 	}
-	h.mu.Lock()
-	h.shows[kind] = s.ShowsSince
-	h.mu.Unlock()
-	h.reoffer(ch, s.ShowsSince)
+	if h.reoffer(ch, s.AnswersLostAt) {
+		h.mu.Lock()
+		h.shows[kind] = s.AnswersLostAt
+		h.mu.Unlock()
+	}
 }
 
 // channelOf is the channel sending to a kind now, or nil.
@@ -82,10 +68,12 @@ func (h *Holder) channelOf(kind string) Channel {
 	return nil
 }
 
-// reoffer says again on one channel, whose screen is new since `since`, what is still open and asked there,
-// edits what is silenced to say so, and leaves what ended alone.
-func (h *Holder) reoffer(ch Channel, since time.Time) {
+// reoffer says again on one channel, whose answers were lost at `lost`, what is still open and asked there,
+// edits what is silenced to say so, and leaves what ended alone. It answers whether every message to be
+// said again was.
+func (h *Holder) reoffer(ch Channel, lost time.Time) bool {
 	kind := ch.Name()
+	rp, canReplace := ch.(replacer)
 	now := h.Now()
 	h.mu.Lock()
 	var recs []*Record
@@ -94,19 +82,20 @@ func (h *Holder) reoffer(ch Channel, since time.Time) {
 	}
 	h.mu.Unlock()
 	sort.Slice(recs, func(i, j int) bool { return recs[i].Raised.Before(recs[j].Raised) })
-	again, silenced, ended := 0, 0, 0
+	again, silenced, ended, failed := 0, 0, 0, 0
 	for _, r := range recs {
 		h.mu.Lock()
 		id, shown := r.Sent[kind]
 		open := r.Cleared.IsZero()
+		before := lastSaid(r).Before(lost)
 		reminded := r.Reminded
 		h.mu.Unlock()
 		if !shown || id == "" {
-			continue // never a message of its own there: nothing is on record to say again under
+			continue // never a message of its own there: nothing to say again under
 		}
 		switch {
 		case !open:
-			ended++ // its end is said where its message is, or was; nothing comes back
+			ended++ // its end is said where its message is; nothing comes back
 		case r.silenced(now):
 			h.mu.Lock()
 			r.SilenceSaid = true
@@ -114,23 +103,34 @@ func (h *Holder) reoffer(ch Channel, since time.Time) {
 			h.editOn(ch, r, "silenced")
 			h.persist(r)
 			silenced++
-		case h.askKinds(r)[kind]:
+		case h.askKinds(r)[kind] && before && canReplace:
 			what := "raised"
 			if reminded {
 				what = "reminder"
 			}
-			h.enqueue(kind, item{Key: r.Key, What: what, Severity: r.Severity, At: now})
+			err := rp.Replace(id, h.sayOn(r, what, kind))
+			h.noteChannel(kind, err)
+			if err != nil {
+				h.Logf("[messenger] could not say %s again on %s (%v): tried again at its next standing", r.Key, kind, err)
+				failed++
+				continue
+			}
+			h.mu.Lock()
+			r.LastSaid = now
+			h.lastSend[kind] = now
+			h.mu.Unlock()
+			h.record(Sent{At: now, Channel: kind, Key: r.Key, What: what + ", again: its answers were lost", Outcome: "sent"})
+			h.persist(r)
 			again++
 		}
 	}
-	h.record(Sent{At: now, Channel: kind, Key: "(screen)", What: "new since " + since.UTC().Format(time.RFC3339),
-		Outcome: fmt.Sprintf("%d open and asked said again, %d silenced said so, %d ended left ended", again, silenced, ended)})
-	h.Logf("[messenger] %s's screen is new since %s: %d open and asked said again, %d silenced said so, %d ended left ended; "+
-		"nothing shown from the channel's memory", kind, since.UTC().Format(time.RFC3339), again, silenced, ended)
-	if again > 0 {
-		// Now, not after the desk's warning rhythm: the operator is at a screen that lost its questions.
-		h.flushChannel(ch, now, true)
-	}
+	h.record(Sent{At: now, Channel: kind, Key: "(answers lost)", What: "at " + lost.UTC().Format(time.RFC3339),
+		Outcome: fmt.Sprintf("%d open and asked said again, %d silenced said so, %d ended left ended, %d failed",
+			again, silenced, ended, failed)})
+	h.Logf("[messenger] %s lost its answers at %s: %d open and asked said again in place, %d silenced said so, %d ended "+
+		"left ended, %d failed; nothing shown from the channel's memory", kind, lost.UTC().Format(time.RFC3339), again,
+		silenced, ended, failed)
+	return failed == 0
 }
 
 // editOn edits a record's message on one channel, where it is shown as a message of its own.

modules/messenger/cmd/messenger/restart_test.go

@@ -9,13 +9,13 @@ import (
 )
 
 // Issue 384: the desk's notifier started again and the desk showed, from its own memory, nine old popups —
-// resolved, silenced and cancelled ones among them. Now the desk says in its standing since when its screen
-// is new, and this router says again only what is still open and unanswered: with three messages on the desk
-// — one open with an answer, one silenced, one resolved — one is said again under its handle, with its
-// answers; one is edited to the silenced words, with no answers and no urgency; nothing is said for the
-// resolved one. A standing that repeats the time says nothing more; its ticket is one-time still, and the
-// channel that reaches the operator away hears nothing of it.
-func TestAScreenMadeNewGetsOnlyWhatIsOpenAndUnansweredSaidAgain(t *testing.T) {
+// resolved, silenced and cancelled ones among them. Now the desk says in its standing when the answers were
+// lost, and this router says again only what is still open and unanswered: with the desk showing one open
+// message with an answer, one silenced, one open asking nothing and one resolved, one is said again under its
+// handle (in place of its message), with its answers; one is edited to the silenced words, with no answers
+// and no urgency; nothing is said for the others. A standing that repeats the time says nothing more; its
+// ticket is one-time still, and the channel that reaches the operator away hears nothing of it.
+func TestLostAnswersGetOnlyWhatIsOpenAndUnansweredSaidAgain(t *testing.T) {
 	h, tg, dt, c, _, w := newRouter(t)
 	h.Start()
 	c.pass(2 * time.Minute)
@@ -80,10 +80,10 @@ func TestAScreenMadeNewGetsOnlyWhatIsOpenAndUnansweredSaidAgain(t *testing.T) {
 	silencedBefore := dt.edits["g14=2"]
 	delete(dt.edits, "g14=2") // so the edit said again is seen as such
 	sends, edits, replaced, tgSaid := len(dt.sends), len(dt.edits), len(dt.replaced), saidOn(tg)
-	// The desk's notifier started again: its standing says since when its screen is new.
+	// The desk's notifier started again: its standing says when the answers were lost.
 	c.pass(time.Minute)
 	newSince := c.now()
-	h.Stand("desktop", Standing{Ready: true, At: c.now(), ShowsSince: newSince})
+	h.Stand("desktop", Standing{Ready: true, At: c.now(), AnswersLostAt: newSince})
 	runFor(h, c, 2*time.Minute)
 	if len(dt.sends) != sends {
 		t.Fatalf("a new message was sent instead of one under its handle: %+v", dt.sends[sends:])
@@ -109,8 +109,8 @@ func TestAScreenMadeNewGetsOnlyWhatIsOpenAndUnansweredSaidAgain(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("the channel that reaches the operator away heard of the desk's screen: %+v %+v", tg.sends, tg.edits)
 	}
 	// The standing said again with the same time, and one with an older time: nothing more.
-	h.Stand("desktop", Standing{Ready: true, At: c.now(), ShowsSince: newSince})
-	h.Stand("desktop", Standing{Ready: true, At: c.now(), ShowsSince: newSince.Add(-time.Hour)})
+	h.Stand("desktop", Standing{Ready: true, At: c.now(), AnswersLostAt: newSince})
+	h.Stand("desktop", Standing{Ready: true, At: c.now(), AnswersLostAt: newSince.Add(-time.Hour)})
 	runFor(h, c, 2*time.Minute)
 	if len(dt.replaced) != replaced+1 || len(dt.sends) != sends {
 		t.Fatalf("said again more than once: replaced %d, sends %d", len(dt.replaced)-replaced, len(dt.sends)-sends)
@@ -140,10 +140,11 @@ func TestAScreenMadeNewGetsOnlyWhatIsOpenAndUnansweredSaidAgain(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-// A screen made new while the desk cannot send is said again once it can — and not pushed to the channel that
-// reaches the operator away. A desk that never said its screen is new (or Telegram, whose messages stay in the
-// chat) gets nothing said again; a screen made new before this router started is in the state it read.
-func TestAScreenMadeNewWaitsForTheDeskAndIsNeverGuessed(t *testing.T) {
+// Whether a message is said again is its own: last said before the answers were lost. A loss before it was
+// last said says nothing; a router that started again (it remembers no standing it acted on) says it again
+// once, and then nothing more. A loss while the desk cannot send is said once it can — never pushed to the
+// channel that reaches the operator away. Telegram, whose answers are never lost, says no time and gets nothing.
+func TestLostAnswersAreJudgedPerMessageAndWaitForTheDesk(t *testing.T) {
 	h, tg, dt, c, _, _ := newRouter(t)
 	h.Start()
 	c.pass(2 * time.Minute)
@@ -156,27 +157,47 @@ func TestAScreenMadeNewWaitsForTheDeskAndIsNeverGuessed(t *testing.T) {
 	submit(t, h, ConditionOwner, ask)
 	runFor(h, c, time.Minute) // the question reaches Telegram too, as its own message
 	replaced, tgSaid := len(dt.replaced), saidOn(tg)
-	// Before this router started: already allowed for.
-	h.Stand("desktop", Standing{Ready: true, At: c.now(), ShowsSince: h.started.Add(-time.Minute)})
-	// Telegram says no screen: nothing.
+	// Lost before the message was last said: its answers are those of the notifier that runs now.
+	h.Stand("desktop", Standing{Ready: true, At: c.now(), AnswersLostAt: open.Raised.Add(-time.Minute)})
 	h.Stand("telegram", Standing{Ready: true, At: c.now()})
 	runFor(h, c, time.Minute)
 	if len(dt.replaced) != replaced || saidOn(tg) != tgSaid {
-		t.Fatalf("said again without a screen made new: desk %+v, telegram %+v", dt.replaced[replaced:], tg.sends)
+		t.Fatalf("said again for answers that were not lost: desk %+v, telegram %+v", dt.replaced[replaced:], tg.sends)
 	}
-	// Made new while the desk cannot send: waits, and goes to the desk once it can — never to Telegram.
+	// Lost while the desk cannot send: waits, and goes to the desk once it can — never to Telegram.
 	c.pass(time.Minute)
-	since := c.now()
+	lost := c.now()
 	dt.notReady = errorf("notifications paused")
-	h.Stand("desktop", Standing{Ready: false, Why: "notifications paused", At: c.now(), ShowsSince: since})
+	h.Stand("desktop", Standing{Ready: false, Why: "notifications paused", At: c.now(), AnswersLostAt: lost})
 	runFor(h, c, 2*time.Minute)
 	if len(dt.replaced) != replaced || saidOn(tg) != tgSaid {
 		t.Fatalf("said while the desk cannot send: desk %+v, telegram %+v", dt.replaced[replaced:], tg.sends)
 	}
 	dt.notReady = nil
-	h.Stand("desktop", Standing{Ready: true, At: c.now(), ShowsSince: since})
+	h.Stand("desktop", Standing{Ready: true, At: c.now(), AnswersLostAt: lost})
 	runFor(h, c, time.Minute)
 	if len(dt.replaced) != replaced+1 || saidOn(tg) != tgSaid {
 		t.Fatalf("once the desk can send: desk %+v, telegram %+v", dt.replaced[replaced:], tg.sends)
 	}
+	// The router started again, remembering no standing it acted on: the message was said since, so nothing.
+	h.shows = map[string]time.Time{}
+	h.Stand("desktop", Standing{Ready: true, At: c.now(), AnswersLostAt: lost})
+	runFor(h, c, time.Minute)
+	if len(dt.replaced) != replaced+1 {
+		t.Fatalf("said again twice for one loss: %+v", dt.replaced[replaced:])
+	}
+	// A send that fails is tried again at the next standing, on the desk alone.
+	c.pass(time.Minute)
+	lost = c.now()
+	dt.fail = errorf("no session answers")
+	h.Stand("desktop", Standing{Ready: true, At: c.now(), AnswersLostAt: lost})
+	dt.fail = nil
+	runFor(h, c, time.Minute)
+	if len(dt.replaced) != replaced+1 || saidOn(tg) != tgSaid {
+		t.Fatalf("after a failed send: desk %+v, telegram %+v", dt.replaced[replaced:], tg.sends)
+	}
+	h.Stand("desktop", Standing{Ready: true, At: c.now(), AnswersLostAt: lost})
+	if len(dt.replaced) != replaced+2 || saidOn(tg) != tgSaid {
+		t.Fatalf("the failed send was not tried again on the desk: desk %+v, telegram %+v", dt.replaced[replaced:], tg.sends)
+	}
 }

modules/messenger/cmd/messenger/seatchannel.go

@@ -45,11 +45,11 @@ type Standing struct {
 	Why           string    `json:"why,omitempty"`
 	EditsSilently bool      `json:"edits-silently,omitempty"`
 	At            time.Time `json:"at"`
-	// ShowsSince is since when what the channel shows is on a screen: it moves when the screen became new — the
-	// desk's notifier started again and lost what it showed (issue 384). The router then says again what is
-	// still open and unanswered there (restart.go); the channel shows nothing from its own memory. Zero from a
-	// channel whose messages stay where they were put (Telegram's chat).
-	ShowsSince time.Time `json:"shows-since,omitempty"`
+	// AnswersLostAt is when the answers the channel's messages waited for were last lost: the desk's notifier
+	// started again, its notifications still on screen and their buttons dead (issue 384). The router then says
+	// again what is still open and unanswered there (restart.go); the channel shows nothing from its own memory.
+	// Zero from a channel whose answers are never lost (Telegram's buttons live in the chat).
+	AnswersLostAt time.Time `json:"answers-lost-at"`
 }
 
 // Bench is every kind the router may send to, and what each said.