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mesh-catalog/modules/desk-channel/README.md
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jochen 3345ff9317 One message per problem: a reminder replaces, a blip says nothing (issues 373 and 369)
The operator stopped believing the mesh's notifications: one problem stood
twice on the desk (a reminder beside the message it followed, an escalation
then a reminder 31 s later), a unit failing again at each apply was said
again 22 times, and a question's buttons outlived it on a reminder the
ask's end never reached.

- messenger: a reminder or escalation is said in place of the problem's
  message (Replace under its handle), alone, never as a digest line; a
  problem first said in a digest gets its own message next time. A
  reminder counts from when it was last said. A clearing is said once it
  stays cleared 2 min (10 min once it came back); back before that, the
  message continues without a word. Cleared before ever said and back:
  said. An ask's expiry is said with its day.
- desk-channel: a send or show under a handle already shown replaces its
  notification by the notifier's replace id.
- telegram: the same deletes the earlier message and sends the new one,
  ringing as its kind rings; one it cannot delete loses its buttons.
2026-10-10 14:22:42 +02:00

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Markdown

# desk-channel
The desk as a channel of the operator's conversation: kind `desktop` of the `channel` and `intake` benches the
router (`messenger`) declares (novox/hq ADR 0258, ADR 0259). It shows the router's messages on the notifier of
each machine the operator sits at (the `node-notifier` seat), and says which button was chosen there.
- **It proves nothing about who clicked.** Any process of the operator's account can choose a notification's
action (`dunstctl action`), so its claim declares no `verified-sender`: the router offers here only
acknowledgements (Silence for a week, Details) and says in the words where an approval can be given.
- **An answer is taken only on a machine its message was shown on**, and once; a refused click is said where it
was made. A message with buttons stays until it is dismissed.
- **A notifier that started again** (`dunst.started`) is shown again every open message with buttons it showed.
- A message no machine took is said to the router as failed; the router tries it again.
- **One notification per message** (issue 373): an `edit`, and a `send` or `show` under a handle already shown (a
reminder, an escalation), replace that message's notification on each machine by its id (the notifier's
`replace_id`), so a problem is one notification updated in place. An edit goes only where it was shown; a
message said again is shown anew on a machine it was not.
## What the operator gives
The machines to show on, as a setting: `settings` for `desk-channel` with
`{"desktop-machines": ["<the machine the operator sits at>", …]}`. Until then it says it cannot send, and the
router sends warnings to the channel that reaches the operator away.
## Where it runs
Held once for the mesh, on the same machine as the router, which is where it is assigned. **It runs as the
account `desk-channel`, in a runtime of its own, on a bus account of its own** (`runs-as`), as telegram does:
what it shows and the answers it says are out of reach of the operator's account, which agents run as. It asks
each machine's notifier through the mesh: nothing new runs on the machines.
## A link's code (the review of 2026-10-09)
- **It is shown only where it is seen.** Each machine's notifier says whether it is paused (`dunst.paused`, at
least every two minutes). A message the router marks secret is shown only on a named machine heard unpaused in
the last five minutes; while there is none, it is said to the router as failed and the desk says it cannot
send, so the router starts no link. A code held by a paused notifier would appear later, to whoever is at the
screen then.
- **It is kept nowhere.** Not in this module's state, and sent `secret` to the notifier, which sends it
transient in the category `mesh.secret`: dunst's rules keep it out of its history, and
`node-notifier.history`, which every caller of the mesh's verbs may read, leaves it out.
- **What remains**: while it is on screen, a program of the operator's account on that X display can read it
(X11 isolates no client from another). It is shown for as long as the router's code lives.
## Tools
| tool | does |
|---|---|
| `desk_channel_status` | whether it can show messages, the machines and each one's last answer, and its rules |