e097c42996
## Summary
Relay pods on large deployments can take over 5 minutes to open their
health port, and right now nothing shows which startup step is slow.
Startup timing ends at `metrics_bind`, and the slow work all happens
after it.
This PR times every startup step from Postgres connect through public
listener bind. It does not change startup behavior.
- Each step logs `Startup phase started` and `Startup phase finished`,
with `phase`, `elapsed_ms`, and `status` (`succeeded` / `degraded` /
`failed`, the same values `buzz_process_lifecycle` records use).
- Gauge `buzz_startup_phase_current{phase}` is `1` while a step runs and
`0` after it ends. A pod that is still starting shows exactly which step
it is on.
- Gauge `buzz_startup_phase_seconds{phase}` records each finished step's
duration.
- The startup NIP-43 membership reconcile logs `NIP-43 startup
reconciliation progress` every 5,000 communities, with `done`, `total`,
`republished`, `failed`, and `elapsed_ms`.
These are gauges rather than counters on purpose. Each value is written
once per boot, and a monotonic-counter scrape drops a series' first
sample, so a one-shot counter never shows up.
## Contract change
`deploy/charts/buzz/README.md` ("Early-startup telemetry contract") said
the early lifecycle phases are log-only. That still holds: `crypto_init`
through `metrics_bind` are unchanged and emit no metrics.
The README now also documents the post-bind steps. The guard in
`boot_lifecycle.rs` now allows exactly the two `buzz_startup_phase_*`
families. It still rejects any other startup, boot, or lifecycle family,
and it also rejects any exported label value that names an early phase.
## Design
- `crates/buzz-relay/src/startup_steps.rs` adds a closed `StartupStep`
vocabulary (18 steps) and a `StepTimer` guard.
- A step ends exactly once:
- `finish()` → `succeeded`
- `degrade()` then `finish()` → `degraded` (a non-fatal error branch)
- dropped without finishing → `failed` (covers `?` early returns and
panics)
- The NIP-43 and large-roster reconciles now return `ReconcileSummary {
repaired, failed }`. A sweep where any item fails ends its step
`degraded`, and the final log line includes the `failed` count. NIP-FI
warm ends `degraded` when any issuer did not warm. The deprecated
`reconcile_nip43_membership_snapshots` wrapper still returns `repaired`.
- Steps that are disabled by config (migrate, audit connect, NIP-FI
warm, git probe, NIP-43 reconcile) are not timed, so their series never
appear.
- The gauges are set once, so they age out after the existing gauge idle
timeout (2700 s with default intervals; logged as `idle_timeout_secs`).
A step that runs longer than that loses its `_current` series. The
README says so.
- Progress logging runs only for the `Bootstrap` reconcile. The 60 s
maintenance sweep stays quiet.
## What got simpler
Little got simpler in the code: this mostly adds instrumentation. One CI
gap closed along the way: the 54 `config` tests and the 9 non-ignored
`boot_lifecycle` tests, which ran in no CI lane, now run in `test-unit`.
The instrumentation is scoped as small as I could make it, and it is the
evidence needed for the follow-up that should delete code: moving the
per-community NIP-43 reconcile off the pre-bind path, after which the
900 s startup-probe override can go back to the chart default.
## Testing
- `startup_steps` unit tests (`DebuggingRecorder`):
- a running step is current and has no duration
- a finished step clears current and records its elapsed time
- dropped and degraded steps clear current and record a duration
- log capture: `finish`, `degrade`+`finish`, drop, and panic each emit
exactly one `Startup phase finished` record with the right `status`.
Mutating `degrade()` to a no-op and removing the ends-once guard makes
these tests fail.
- the vocabulary is unique and shares no names with the early lifecycle
phases
- Tests that capture logs or check callsite interest now share
`test_support::tracing_dispatch_lock()`. These are the `startup_steps`
helpers, two `telemetry` tests, and the `config` and `bridge`
log-capture helpers. tracing-core caches each callsite's interest across
the whole process. Without the lock, the new panic test lost its record
in 60 of 150 parallel runs of `telemetry:: startup_steps:: config::`.
With the lock it failed 0 of 300. Removing the lock from `gauges()`
brings the failures back (53 of 100 runs).
- `nip43_progress_logs_every_interval_inside_the_startup_sweep_only`
checks the cadence at 79,942 communities (15 progress lines, none at the
start or end) and table-tests that the maintenance sweep never logs
progress.
-
`boot_lifecycle::successful_main_emits_complete_lifecycle_and_reports_current_startup_step`
boots the real relay binary against a TCP peer that never speaks
Postgres. It asserts that `/metrics` shows
`buzz_startup_phase_current{phase="db_connect"} 1` and no finished-step
durations, and that no early phase leaks into metrics.
- **CI routing.** `just test-unit` picks relay tests by hand-maintained
filter. Before this PR, CI's filters selected none of the
`startup_steps`, `telemetry`, `config` or non-ignored `boot_lifecycle`
tests above; the NIP-43 cadence test is picked up by the existing
`handlers::side_effects::tests::` clause. Its infra-free relay stanza
now selects `startup_steps::tests::`, `telemetry::tests::` and
`config::tests::` (anchored so `nip_fi_config` is not selected twice),
and a new `cargo nextest run -p buzz-relay --test boot_lifecycle` line
runs the non-ignored `boot_lifecycle` tests (they spawn the real binary
and need no Postgres or Redis; the Postgres cases stay `#[ignore]`d).
`scripts/run-tests.sh` mirrors both, running `telemetry` and `config`
single-threaded because they mutate process env.
### Manual check
1. `just relay` (or run `buzz-relay` against local Postgres and Redis).
2. Once the relay is up: `curl -s localhost:9102/metrics | grep
buzz_startup_phase`. Every step that ran has a `_seconds` value, and
every `_current` value is 0.
3. In the relay logs, `"Startup phase finished"` lines show each step's
`elapsed_ms`.
---------
Signed-off-by: Elrond <28d6302a099e5225b02c4155ac4236e4912603df2ab08dbfc2f4fef08ce598c8@buzz.block.builderlab.xyz>
Co-authored-by: Elrond <28d6302a099e5225b02c4155ac4236e4912603df2ab08dbfc2f4fef08ce598c8@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
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.