**Category:** fix
**User Impact:** The sidebar now presents unread activity consistently:
unread rooms are bold, offscreen activity is counted by destination, and
DMs or directed activity receive stronger emphasis.
**Problem:** Sidebar unread state was split across competing signals:
agent work could trigger overflow, message totals inflated its count,
non-DM rows showed redundant numerals, and routine room activity looked
as urgent as DMs or directed messages. This made the sidebar noisy and
made the overflow value harder to interpret.
**Solution:** Use one stable offscreen unread control that counts rooms
and DMs—not messages—and remove agent work from that signal. Keep
ordinary room activity quiet; promote DMs, mentions, broadcasts, and
relevant thread replies; preserve DM avatars and targeting; bold every
unread room; and retain thread dots while removing non-DM numerals.
<details>
<summary>File changes</summary>
**desktop/src-tauri/src/unread_catch_up.rs**
Classifies relevant thread replies as priority activity during native
unread catch-up so startup state matches live rendering.
**desktop/src/app/AppShell.tsx**
Passes the priority unread destination set into the sidebar.
**desktop/src/features/channels/useUnreadChannels.ts**
Projects unread destinations, priority state, and thread replies
consistently while keeping Dock badge behavior separate from sidebar
emphasis.
**desktop/src/features/sidebar/lib/useOffscreenActivityChannelIds.test.mjs**
Removes tests for the superseded agent/activity overflow projection.
**desktop/src/features/sidebar/lib/useOffscreenActivityChannelIds.ts**
Removes the old agent-plus-message overflow projection so agent work
alone no longer creates the unread indicator.
**desktop/src/features/sidebar/lib/useSidebarActivityOverflow.ts**
Replaces activity-volume overflow state with unread-destination overflow
state.
**desktop/src/features/sidebar/lib/useSidebarUnreadOverflow.test.mjs**
Covers priority detection and destination-count labels for the new
overflow projection.
**desktop/src/features/sidebar/lib/useSidebarUnreadOverflow.ts**
Counts distinct offscreen unread destinations and determines quiet
versus primary treatment per direction.
**desktop/src/features/sidebar/ui/AppSidebar.tsx**
Renders one stable overflow control, preserves protected-DM visibility
filtering, and prioritizes visible unread DMs for previews and
navigation.
**desktop/src/features/sidebar/ui/AppSidebar.types.ts**
Adds the priority unread destination set to the sidebar contract.
**desktop/src/features/sidebar/ui/CustomChannelSection.tsx**
Stops forwarding non-DM unread counts into custom channel rows.
**desktop/src/features/sidebar/ui/MoreUnreadButton.test.mjs**
Updates control coverage for explicit emphasis, destination labels, and
DM targeting.
**desktop/src/features/sidebar/ui/MoreUnreadButton.tsx**
Applies quiet or primary treatment without changing geometry,
accessibility text, DM avatars, or click behavior.
**desktop/src/features/sidebar/ui/SidebarSection.tsx**
Removes non-DM row numerals while retaining unread weight and thread
preview affordances.
**desktop/src/shared/ui/UnreadPill.tsx**
Shares one composition between quiet and primary states so only color
treatment changes.
**desktop/tests/e2e/badge.spec.ts**
Covers destination counting, promotion without count inflation,
DM/thread priority, row bolding, and removed numerals; also captures the
reviewed UI states.
**desktop/tests/e2e/channel-activity-popover.spec.ts**
Updates channel activity assertions for the numeral-free row treatment.
**desktop/tests/e2e/channels.spec.ts**
Updates channel unread expectations to use bold text rather than a row
count.
**desktop/tests/e2e/thread-unread.spec.ts**
Keeps thread unread-dot and popover coverage while asserting the room
itself is bold.
</details>
## Reproduction steps
1. Open a workspace with enough sidebar destinations to scroll rooms
above or below the viewport.
2. Receive ordinary unread activity in an offscreen room; verify one
quiet `N unread` indicator appears and counts the room once regardless
of message volume.
3. Receive a mention, broadcast, or relevant thread reply in an
offscreen room; verify the same count becomes primary without changing
its geometry or adding a badge.
4. Receive an unread DM, including thread-only activity; verify the
indicator is primary, shows the DM avatar when available, and navigates
to that DM.
5. Scroll the destination onscreen or mark it read; verify the count and
treatment update from the remaining offscreen destinations.
6. Inspect unread non-DM rows; verify their names are bold, numeric
badges are absent, and thread dots still open the unread-thread preview.
## Screenshots
### Ordinary unread room
Routine offscreen room activity uses the quiet treatment.
### Directed unread activity
The same destination count becomes primary when an offscreen room has
directed activity; geometry and label remain unchanged.
### Thread-only unread DM
A DM stays primary and retains its avatar even when only its thread has
unread activity.
---------
Signed-off-by: Taylor Ho <taylorkmho@gmail.com>
Co-authored-by: Rizz <302abe414ca6e3134763d2539bfcf145aea2a63fe5f8455204ed602fd40cf381@buzz.block.builderlab.xyz>
Co-authored-by: Carl <acda9e433d19dcd0e6b6840f7f4b98f3a56f1fab98049d444c087019e6d36560@buzz.block.builderlab.xyz>
**Category:** fix
**User Impact:** Sidebar mention numerals now match the user's
theme/accent color and appear for mentions inside threads, not just
top-level channel messages. Hover-to-preview on channel rows is
unchanged.
**Problem:** Follow-ups to #6696:
1. The mention numeral used a fixed red `--notification` token that
ignored the user's theme and accent selection.
2. The numeral read `appBadgeCount`, which deliberately excludes
threaded replies (Home's badge subtotal counts those toward the Dock
badge). Mentions inside threads therefore never surfaced a numeral on
the channel row — only the generic thread-activity dot.
**Solution:**
1. The badge now reuses the primary accent pair (`bg-primary` /
`text-primary-foreground`), the same treatment as the DM count badge, so
it follows whatever accent the user applies — including the pinned
neutral accent of the Buzz themes. The now-unused `--notification`
tokens and Tailwind utilities are removed.
2. Non-DM rows now count every unread mention/broadcast — threaded or
top-level — via a new `highPriorityCount` channel projection, replacing
the boolean `highPriorityUnread` across the TS contract, the Tauri
SQLite store, the e2e mock bridge, and the native test rig. The Dock/app
badge projection (`appBadgeCount`) is unchanged, so Dock totals do not
double-count thread activity that Home already counts.
The hover-to-preview channel activity popover is untouched; e2e coverage
now pins the combination (thread mention → numeral, no dot, popover
still opens and lists the mentioning reply).
<details>
<summary>File changes</summary>
**desktop/src/features/channels/useUnreadChannels.ts**
Non-DM sidebar counts switch from `appBadgeCount` to the
mention/broadcast-inclusive `highPriorityCount`; the high-priority
channel set derives from the same count.
**desktop/src/features/sidebar/ui/SidebarSection.tsx**
Badge drops the fixed notification classes and inherits the
accent-following default.
**desktop/src/shared/styles/globals/theme.css /
desktop/tailwind.config.js**
Remove the unused fixed `--notification` tokens and semantic utilities.
**desktop/src/shared/api/tauriObservedUnread.ts /
desktop/src-tauri/src/observed_unread.rs**
Projection contract: `highPriorityUnread: bool` → `highPriorityCount:
u64`, aggregated per unread high-priority event.
**desktop/src/testing/e2eBridge.ts /
desktop/src/features/channels/observedUnreadNativeRig.mjs**
Mock/native-rig projections mirror the new count field.
**desktop/src/features/channels/observedUnreadNative.test.mjs**
Native badge-lane test seeds a high-priority event to match the
numeral's new semantics.
**desktop/tests/e2e/badge.spec.ts**
Top-level mention test now asserts the badge equals the applied accent
(seeded `#22c55e` under an adversarial theme). New test: in-thread
mention shows the numeral, no dot, and the hover preview popover still
lists the mentioning reply.
**desktop/tests/e2e/channel-activity-popover.spec.ts /
desktop/tests/e2e/thread-unread.spec.ts**
Seeded fixtures that mention the user now expect the numeral (which
subsumes the dot).
</details>
## Reproduction steps
1. Pick any theme + accent color in Settings → Appearance.
2. Receive a top-level message mentioning you in an inactive channel →
the row shows a numeral pill in your accent color.
3. Receive a reply **inside a thread** that mentions you in an inactive
channel → the row shows the numeral (previously only a dot).
4. Hover the row → the channel activity preview still opens and lists
the mentioning reply.
5. Switch accents/themes → the pill re-colors accordingly; the Dock
badge count is unchanged from before.
## Verification
- `tsc --noEmit`, Biome, `check:px-text` — clean
- Desktop unit tests: 179/179 channel-suite; full suite has one
pre-existing failure from #6590 (`useRetainedProjectGitViews.test.mjs`
loader error, fails on clean `main`)
- Tauri Rust: `observed_unread` tests + clippy + fmt — clean
- Playwright smoke: badge (19), channel-activity-popover (10),
thread-unread (13), plus channels/inbox/stream/messaging/mentions suites
— all green
## Screenshots
Screenshots are posted in the PR discussion using immutable
repository-hosted image URLs.
Signed-off-by: tulsi <tulsi@block.xyz>
## Summary
- show relevant unread threads and active agents when hovering a channel
- keep channel-level unread emphasis separate from thread activity dots
- make activity rows navigate to the thread and remove demo-only data
## Test plan
- `just ci` (all stages passed except the final duplicate native check,
which ran out of disk after its earlier clippy pass)
- `cd desktop && pnpm exec playwright test
tests/e2e/channel-activity-popover.spec.ts --project=smoke`
---------
Signed-off-by: kenny lopez <klopez4212@gmail.com>
