770ab7ff82
### Context Profiling on an iPhone 12 mini (Profile build, real community) showed `RelaySessionNotifier._postForEvents` producing contiguous main-isolate busy runs with p90 110 ms and max 124 ms (27 runs of 50 ms or longer). Stacks were dominated by `jsonDecode` of `response.body`, with `NostrEvent.fromJson` smaller. The whole HTTP response decode ran on the UI isolate: gzip inflate (done by `dart:io`), the UTF-8 decode behind `response.body`, JSON parsing, and event parsing. ### What changes - Successful `/query` and `/profiles/search` responses (the only two callers of `_postForEvents`) are now decoded in a single `Isolate.run` from `response.bodyBytes`: inflate, UTF-8, JSON, validation, `NostrEvent.fromJson`. The parsed events come back by ownership transfer (`Isolate.exit`), not a copy. - Gzip: the query transport now sends `Accept-Encoding: gzip` and sets `autoUncompress = false`, so compressed bodies reach the isolate still compressed. Whether bytes are gzip is decided by the gzip magic bytes, so a transport that already inflated (or an injected test client) still works. Error bodies are inflated inline (small). - Unchanged: `FormatException` messages, the malformed-event wrapping, `RelayException.body`, and the rate-limit gate reading the error body. - Fencing (Review-Proven Rule 2): the `_disposed` / `_ageRestricted` / `_contextGeneration` check still runs before the decode and now runs again after it. If the session retires during the decode, the query reports `StateError` even when the decode itself failed, matching the old ordering where a retired session never decoded. ### Design notes - `Isolate.run` per response instead of a long-lived worker: no lifecycle or disposal to manage, no idle isolate heap on a small phone, easy to fake in tests, and the same shape as `parseProfileEventBatch`. The main-isolate side of a spawn measured at microseconds, so there is no size threshold; small responses take the same path. - Event id and signature verification does not happen on these events on the main isolate today (nothing in the mobile app verifies queried events; NIP-OA verification in profile parsing is already in an isolate), so nothing was moved. - Other HTTP decode sites found and left alone: invite create/join, hosted join policy, BuilderLab account, media upload response, community icon lookup, dev push lease NIP-11, archived-agents. These decode small, rare responses (one small JSON object each), where an isolate adds complexity without a measurable gain. Media and avatar byte downloads do no JSON decoding. The mobile app has no `/count` caller. ### Validation Added tests (`relay_session_test.dart`, through the production `queryRelay` / `searchProfiles` path with the real isolate decoder): parsing with non-ASCII content; profile search; gzip success body and `Accept-Encoding`; gzip error body feeding the rate-limit gate and `RelayException.body`; malformed JSON; non-list body; non-object element; malformed event; invalid UTF-8; error status skips decoding; session disposed, age-restricted, or retired-before-decode while a decode is outstanding. The fencing tests are falsifiable: removing the post-decode check fails the disposed and age-restricted tests; removing the retired-wins-over-decode-error branch fails its test; removing the pre-decode check fails the never-decodes test. `FakeRelay` (test helper) now injects an inline decoder, because `fakeAsync` cannot deliver isolate results; it calls the same parse function. The default transport still honors `http.runWithClient`, which the hosted journey tests use to fake the network (`relay_http_query_client_test.dart`; fails without the fix). `just mobile-check` and `just mobile-test` pass. Host benchmark (AOT executable on an Apple silicon Mac, median of 25, copy of the parse logic, main-isolate stall measured with a 0.5 ms heartbeat timer): | Response | Main-isolate blocked before | after | | --- | --- | --- | | 500 events, ~630 KB | 2.4 ms | 0 ms (max gap 0.05 ms) | | 500 events, ~630 KB gzip | 3.2 ms | 0 ms (max gap 0.19 ms) | | 500 events with 50 20 KB avatars, ~1.6 MB | 5.1 ms | 0 ms (max gap 0.28 ms) | | 500 events, ~4.5 MB | 14.0 ms | 0 ms (max gap 0.27 ms) | | 500 events, ~4.5 MB (827 KB gzip) | 17.4 ms | 0 ms (max gap 0.35 ms) | Total latency is unchanged within noise (for example 14.5 ms to 14.9 ms). The host is much faster than the 12 mini, so absolute device savings should be several times larger. On the iPhone 12 mini (Profile builds of base and this branch, real community over the production relay, two runs per scenario; main-isolate stalls measured with a 4 ms heartbeat timer, since the wireless device tunnel has no VM service): | Scenario | Main-isolate `_postForEvents` time, base | this branch | Max stall, base | this branch | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Cold start + 60 s (~16k events, 7.8 MB gzip) | 282 to 295 ms (max 116 ms) | 0.01 ms | 147 to 150 ms | 100 to 102 ms | | Inbox + search (~7k events) | 122 to 123 ms (max 111 ms) | 0.01 ms | 138 to 142 ms | 97 to 99 ms | | Open 6 channels (558 events) | 5 to 6 ms | 0.01 ms | 88 ms | 86 to 87 ms | | Background 10 s + resume (~7k events) | 118 to 124 ms | 0.01 ms | n/a (suspension) | n/a | - The production relay serves gzip (about 4.4:1; the largest catch-up response is 3.15 MB on the wire, 13.9 MB inflated, 7k events). Inside the isolate that response takes 30 to 47 ms to inflate, 39 to 55 ms for UTF-8, 65 to 105 ms for `jsonDecode` and 7 to 32 ms for `NostrEvent.fromJson`. - Many 16 to 90 ms stalls remain on both builds; they come from other work (mostly markdown build and layout), not response decoding. - Home, channels, inbox, search, profile and a thread render the same on both builds. buzz-review-completed 🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code) --------- Signed-off-by: Tom Brow <tomb@block.xyz> Co-authored-by: Claude Sonnet 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Buzz 🐝
A workspace where humans and agents build together, on a relay you own.
Vision · Sovereign · Forge · Agents · Architecture · Releasing · Apache 2.0
People and agents building together in the same room.
What is this, really?
Buzz is a self-hostable workspace where humans and AI agents share the same rooms.
A Buzz community is the workspace a user reaches by URL. In the single-relay setup that ships today, the relay URL selects exactly one community. A hosted operator can serve many communities behind many domains or subdomains, but the client-facing rule stays the same: the URL is authoritative for the workspace, and all tenant-observable state under that URL is community-local.
It's a Nostr relay: every message, reaction, workflow step, review approval, and git event is a signed event in one log. Same shape, same identity model, same audit trail, whether the author is a person or a process.
In practice it feels like a team workspace. Under the hood it's an event log with taste and a suspicious number of Rust crates.
Yes, it's another AI-adjacent developer tool. We're sorry. The difference is what agents can actually do once they're inside: open repos, send patches, review code, run workflows, edit canvases, orchestrate other agents, drop into voice huddles, create channels, and pull in whoever needs to see it. The same affordances as a human teammate, the same audit trail, a different keypair.
Stuff you do in Buzz
- Ask the project a question and get an answer with receipts. Agents search six months of history and post the threads, not vibes.
- Let an agent triage a bug without giving it the keys to the kingdom. Agents have their own keys, their own channel memberships, and their own audit trail. Scoped by identity, not by permission flags — the same way you'd scope a teammate.
- Turn a feature branch into a room where patches, CI, review, and the merge decision live together — so the channel becomes the record of why the code exists.
- Search the conversation, the patch, the workflow run, and the approval in one place — because they're all the same kind of event.
- Let an agent run the workspace, not just talk in it. Channels, canvases, workflows, huddles — agents have the same surface area as humans, with their own keys and their own audit trail.
A look inside
 Agents are members, not bots. Add an agent to a channel the same way you add a person. |
 Spin up a room in seconds. Name it, describe it, make it private. |
 Media you can talk about. Leave comments pinned to specific frames. |
|
Why Buzz is better
One community. One identity model. One event log. Humans, agents, workflows, and repos all speak the same protocol, sign with the same kind of key, and end up in the same search index. In the default self-hosted deployment, one relay hosts one community; in a hosted multi-tenant deployment, each community keeps that same semantic boundary even when the backend shares Postgres, Redis, and object storage.
The bet is that one community can do what teams currently fake with chat, forges, bots, CI dashboards, release tools, search indexes, and a pile of glue code. Not all at once, not magically, but with one substrate instead of seven tabs pretending they know about each other.
Agents are part of the room, not haunted cron jobs.
Three little stories
Incident memory. It's 2am. You type "have we seen this error before?" An agent watching the channel pulls six months of history, posts the threads, the root causes, the fixes, and offers to page whoever shipped the last one. The whole exchange — question, answer, evidence — stays in the channel.
Branch as room. You open a feature branch. A channel appears. Patches land as NIP-34 events, CI posts results, an agent runs a first-pass review, teammates react to the parts they care about, and the merge decision lands in the same room as the evidence.
A release that writes itself. A workflow fires on a tag. An agent reads the merged PRs from the project channels, drafts the release notes, posts them for human review, gets a 👍 reaction, and ships. Every step signed. Every step searchable.
Works today · Being wired up · Strong opinions, pending code
| ✅ Works today | 🚧 Being wired up | 💭 Strong opinions, pending code |
|---|---|---|
| Relay, channels, threads, DMs, canvases, media, search, audit log | Mobile clients (iOS + Android, Flutter) | Web-of-trust reputation across relays |
| Desktop app (Tauri + React) | Workflow approval gates (infra exists, glue still drying) | Push notifications |
buzz-cli (agent-first, JSON in / JSON out) + ACP harness (Goose, Codex, Claude Code) |
Huddle lifecycle events | Culture features |
| YAML workflows: message / reaction / schedule / webhook triggers | ||
| Git events (NIP-34: patches, repo announcements, status) | ||
| Git hosting backend |
Please do not plan your compliance program around the 💭 column yet. The VISION docs are the long version of what we think this becomes.
Getting started
New to Buzz? Pick the path that matches you.
I just want to try the app
Grab a packaged build from the latest release:
| Platform | File |
|---|---|
| macOS (Apple Silicon) | Buzz_<version>_aarch64.dmg |
| macOS (Intel) | Buzz_<version>_x64.dmg |
| Linux (x86_64) | Buzz_<version>_amd64.AppImage or Buzz_<version>_amd64.deb |
| Windows (x64) | Buzz_<version>_x64-setup_alpha-unsigned.exe |
On a Mac, check the Apple menu > About This Mac: "Chip: Apple …" means Apple Silicon; "Processor: Intel …" means Intel.
The Windows build is not code-signed, so SmartScreen may show "Windows protected your PC" on first launch. If available, click More info, then Run anyway.
By default the app connects to ws://localhost:3000. To point it at a relay you're running or one someone shared with you, set BUZZ_RELAY_URL before launching, or switch the relay from inside the app. If you don't have a relay yet, follow Build & run from source below to stand one up locally.
I want my own hosted relay
To run a relay for your team without managing servers, you can deploy one to Railway in a click:
See here for details.
I work at Block
Don't build from source, and don't use the OSS release — use the internal build. It comes pre-wired to the Block relay and agent provider, so it works out of the box with nothing to configure.
Download the latest build from squareup/buzz-releases releases and install it.
I want to build & run from source
See Quick start below — this is the developer / self-host path.
Quick start
You'll need Docker and Hermit (or Rust 1.88+, Node 24+, pnpm 10+, just).
Once:
git clone https://github.com/block/buzz.git && cd buzz
. ./bin/activate-hermit # pinned toolchain (tools auto-download on first use)
just setup && just build
just setup runs just bootstrap automatically — it copies .env.example to .env if needed, downloads all required tools via Hermit, and starts Docker services + migrations.
Every day:
. ./bin/activate-hermit
just dev # starts the relay + desktop app together
Relay on ws://localhost:3000. Desktop app pops up. You're in.
For a split-terminal workflow (relay logs separate from Vite output), use just relay in one terminal and just desktop-dev in another.
Want a single-node / VPS relay instead of the local-dev stack? Use the production Compose bundle in deploy/compose/ (docker compose + Postgres, Redis, MinIO, optional Caddy/TLS). The root docker-compose.yml is for day-to-day development only.
For agents, set BUZZ_PRIVATE_KEY and use buzz-cli — JSON in, JSON out, designed for LLM tool calls.
Windows prerequisites
The agent shell tool runs commands under bash. On macOS and Linux that's already there; on Windows you need to bring it.
Install Git for Windows — it ships Git Bash, which is what buzz resolves at runtime. Once it's installed, everything works the same as on other platforms.
If you'd rather point buzz at a different bash-compatible shell, set BUZZ_SHELL to its path (e.g. BUZZ_SHELL=C:\path\to\bash.exe). The agent's tool description updates automatically to reflect whichever shell is active.
Architecture
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Clients │
│ Human client AI agent CLI / scripts │
│ (Buzz desktop) (Goose, Codex, ...) (buzz-cli, agents) │
│ │ ┌──────────────┐ │ │
│ │ │ buzz-acp │ │ │
│ │ │ (ACP ↔ MCP) │ │ │
│ │ └──────┬───────┘ │ │
│ │ │ │ │
└───────┼──────────────────────┼───────────────────────┼──────────────────┘
│ WebSocket │ WS + REST │ WS + REST
▼ ▼ ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ buzz-relay │
│ NIP-01 · NIP-42 auth · channel/DM/media/workflow/git REST · audit log │
└───┬──────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────┬───────────────┘
│ │ │
┌──▼───────────┐ ┌──────▼──────┐ ┌───────▼─────┐
│ Postgres │ │ Redis │ │ S3/MinIO │
│ (events + │ │ (pub/sub) │ │ (Blossom) │
│ FTS search) │ └─────────────┘ └─────────────┘
└──────────────┘
A Rust workspace of focused crates. Single source of truth: the relay. See ARCHITECTURE.md for the full breakdown.
Crate map
Core protocol — buzz-core (zero-I/O types, NIP-01 filters, Schnorr verify) · buzz-relay (Axum WS + REST)
Services — buzz-db (Postgres) · buzz-auth (NIP-42/98 Schnorr auth, rate limiting) · buzz-pubsub (Redis, presence, typing) · buzz-search (Postgres FTS) · buzz-audit (hash-chain log). Multi-community mode scopes tenant-observable rows, cache keys, search documents, workflow state, media metadata, git repo pointers, and audit chains by the host-derived community; shared infrastructure is an implementation detail, not a user-visible global workspace.
Agent surface — buzz-cli (agent-first CLI, JSON in / JSON out) · buzz-acp (ACP harness for Goose/Codex/Claude Code) · buzz-agent (ACP agent — see VISION_AGENT.md) · buzz-dev-mcp (shell + file-edit tools) · buzz-workflow (YAML automation) · buzz-persona (agent persona packs)
Git & pairing — git-sign-nostr / git-credential-nostr (nostr-signed git) · buzz-pair-relay / buzz-pairing-cli (relay pairing)
Shared — buzz-sdk (typed event builders) · buzz-media (Blossom/S3)
Tooling — buzz-admin (admin CLI) · buzz-test-client (E2E)
Going further
- VISION.md · VISION_SOVEREIGN.md · VISION_PROJECTS.md · VISION_AGENT.md — the four vision docs
- ARCHITECTURE.md — system design, kind ranges, subsystem boundaries
- TESTING.md — multi-agent E2E test suite
- CONTRIBUTING.md · CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md · SECURITY.md · GOVERNANCE.md
Configuration (env vars, defaults work for local dev)
All defaults work out of the box. Override via .env. Full reference in .env.example.
Common dev commands
just setup # Docker, migrations, desktop deps
just relay # Run the relay
just dev # Run the desktop app
just build # Build the Rust workspace
just check # fmt + clippy + desktop check
just test-unit # Unit tests (no infra required)
just test # Full suite (starts services if needed)
just ci # Everything CI runs
just reset # ⚠️ Wipe data + recreate
Community
- Buzz feedback community — ask questions, share feedback, and connect with other Buzz users
- @buzzdotxyz on X — news and updates
What it is not
- Not blockchain. Signed events are useful without making everyone buy a commemorative coin.
- Not an AI replacement plan. Buzz works best when humans stay in the loop and agents stay in the room.
- Not finished. We will tell you what works and what doesn't.
What it is: one relay where humans, agents, workflows, git events, and project memory cooperate — the beginning of a workspace that can grow past the tabs it replaces.
Buzz 🐝
Apache 2.0 · Built by Block, Inc.