a2d28eb6c4
🤖 ## Summary This PR fixes two ways the relay could report a channel change that did not fully happen. **1. Channel settings could be saved only in part, while the app was told that they all worked.** When an owner or admin changed a channel's settings (name, description, topic, public or private, message lifetime, archived or not, who can join), the relay saved the request first and then applied each setting with its own database write. If one write failed, the relay only logged the error. It skipped the remaining settings and still reported success. Sending the request again did nothing, because the relay saw it as already saved. Example: a switch from public to private could fail while the app showed success, and the channel stayed public. Now saving the request, applying every setting and saving the "settings changed" messages in the channel happen in one database transaction. Either all of it is saved or none of it is: - If anything fails, nothing is saved and the client gets an error. It can send the same request again. - A repeat of a request that already succeeded is reported as a duplicate and changes nothing. This is also true when the repeat arrives while the first copy is still being saved. - A request to restore a channel that is not archived, or to change an archived channel without restoring it, is refused and nothing is saved. Before, the relay saved the request and a "settings changed" message, and then the restore failed. - Live updates go out only after the save commits. These are: removing access for people who lose it, and pushing the new messages and channel info to clients. **2. A published member list could include someone who had just been removed.** For some channels the relay publishes a list of the channel's members. While it builds that list, it holds a per-channel membership lock. Kicks by a relay admin and the automatic kick after a deploy did not take that lock. A kick could commit after the list was read, so the published list still showed the removed member. Channel deletion also did not wait for the lock. Kicks, channel deletion and the automatic add when someone joins a Huddle (voice call) now all take the lock first. The published list then includes the change, or the change waits until the list is saved. ## Details - **One lock order for all channel settings writes.** Before, each writer took its own locks. Review kept finding writers that took them in a different order or forgot one. `lock_channel_for_settings_write` (`crates/buzz-db/src/store/channel.rs`) is now the only place that takes them. The order is: 1. the membership lock, only when the public/private setting or the "who can join" setting (`join_role`) changes. Without it, a member add could read the old rule while the change commits. 2. the message-lifetime (TTL) lock: exclusive for a lifetime change, shared otherwise. 3. the channel row (`FOR NO KEY UPDATE`). This does not block the key lock that a member insert takes. The row lock also orders two copies of the same request, so the second copy sees the first as already stored. - The function returns a `ChannelSettingsWriter`. The writer borrows the transaction that took the locks, so the compiler stops it from being used with another transaction or after commit. The settings writes (`update_channel_on`, `set_topic_on`, `set_purpose_on`, `set_archived_on`) require the writer. They refuse a change its locks do not cover. - `Db::apply_channel_metadata_event` stores the channel-edit event (kind:9002) and its mentions, applies the settings and stores the "settings changed" messages (kind:40099) in one transaction. The older single-purpose writes (`update_channel`, `set_topic`, `set_purpose`, `archive_channel`, `unarchive_channel`) use the same helpers and behave as before. - `ingest.rs` and `validate_admin_event`: channel edits no longer check archived/active state before the write. The transaction checks it after its duplicate check, under the row lock. A refusal there goes back to the client as `invalid:`. Channel edits have their own save path and skip the general post-save step. `handle_side_effects` refuses them, so no caller can go around the transaction. - `side_effects.rs`: `emit_system_message` is split into signing and sending. The messages are signed before the transaction and sent after it. All "settings changed" messages from one edit share one timestamp and come in a fixed order (topic, purpose, visibility, lifetime, archive). - A change to "who can join" (`join_role`) is applied in the same transaction and announced with its own `join_role_changed` message. - **Membership lock outside settings** (`relay_admin_actions.rs`, `channel_members.rs`, `audio/handler.rs`): both kick paths (`execute_kick_with_marker`, `deploy_kick_member`) take the membership lock before they remove the member. The marker kick still undoes the removal if its lease check fails after waiting. The Huddle join takes its locks through a new `ChannelMembershipLocks` token, and the auto-add is a method on that token, so it cannot run without the lock. `soft_delete_channel` takes the full settings lock order. - **Limit of the membership lock:** it covers member changes, public/private and "who can join" changes, and channel deletion. It does not cover archiving: archive writes and the cleanup of expired temporary channels do not take it. The cleanup keeps its single UPDATE. A comment in `channel.rs` explains why that is safe and why it must not be split into a read and a write. ### Related issue Follow-up to the review of #8143 (which added the "who can join" setting). That review found that channel edits could be applied in part. No separate issue. ### Testing New PostgreSQL tests in `crates/buzz-relay/src/handlers/edit_metadata_postgres_tests.rs`: - `failed_edit_stores_nothing`: a test trigger makes one write fail partway through the transaction. Nothing is stored or changed, on the first send or a resend. Without the trigger, the same signed request applies in full. - `resent_edit_is_a_duplicate`, `resent_archive_and_unarchive_are_duplicates`: a resend after success is a duplicate and adds nothing. - `resend_validated_after_the_first_commit_is_a_duplicate`: a resend validated after its first copy committed is a duplicate, with no second change and no second message. - `concurrent_copies_of_a_restore_apply_once`: two copies of one restore, held at the channel lock until both are waiting, apply once. The other copy is a duplicate. - `unarchive_of_an_active_channel_is_refused`, `join_role_edit_is_applied_and_announced`. Lock tests in buzz-db: each one holds a member list in progress and checks that the writer waits for it. They cover a "who can join" change (`channel_members.rs`), the deploy kick and the marker kick (`relay_admin_actions.rs`), and channel deletion (`channel.rs`). The kick and delete tests fail when the new locks are removed. These tests and the existing channel-edit tests in `group_state_postgres_tests` pass locally against a migrated PostgreSQL database. --------- Signed-off-by: Logan Johnson <loganj@squareup.com> Co-authored-by: Larry <627498bd4bd1f281a16431e3c6cce3b5c25b6692798c78672298aefbf2f8f8b5@buzz.block.builderlab.xyz>
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.