e43d57c6ba
Replaces #8759, which had its head on a fork. This branch also carries
the stars/mutes (#8781) and sort mode (#8784) work that merged into it.
## Summary
Sidebar sections were desktop-only. They live in the encrypted
kind:30078 `channel-sections` preference, and the CLI had no command for
it. An agent that mirrors a team's Slack channels into Buzz could create
the channels but not group them into sections.
This adds `buzz sidebar sections`:
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
| `list` | `{sections: [{id, name, icon?, order}], assignments:
{channel_id: section_id}}` |
| `create --name <n> [--icon <emoji>]` | Adds a section at the end;
returns `section_id` |
| `update --section <s> [--name] [--icon \| --clear-icon]` | Renames a
section or changes its icon |
| `delete --section <s>` | Deletes a section; its channels go back to
the default list |
| `reorder --section <s>...` | Sets the section order; unlisted sections
keep their order after the listed ones |
| `move --channel <uuid>... --section <s>` | Moves one or more channels
into a section |
| `unassign --channel <uuid>...` | Returns channels to the default list
|
`--section` takes a section id, or a section name when the name is
unique. One `create` and one `move` per section set up a whole sidebar:
```bash
buzz sidebar sections create --name "Engineering" --icon "🛠"
buzz sidebar sections move --section "Engineering" --channel <uuid> --channel <uuid>
```
## Design
- **Wire compatibility.** `sidebar_doc.rs` ports desktop's per-field LWW
register document (`channelSectionsSync.ts`, `sidebarLwwMap.ts`,
`sidebarLaneStore.ts`): decode, shape validation, projection, encode,
and `setRegs` stamping (`v = max(now, newest + 1)`, one shared stamp per
edit, unchanged leaves not rewritten). CLI writes merge with desktop
edits field by field. The CLI also imports the flat (meta-less) format
that mobile writes.
- **One user action is one publish.** Each command reads the head once
and publishes once. A multi-channel `move` therefore lands as one event.
A command that changes nothing publishes nothing and prints `"message":
"unchanged"`.
- **Never overwrite what it cannot read.** If the head fails decryption,
signature verification, or decoding (for example, an unknown `meta.v`),
`list` and every write fail. They do not treat the head as empty. A
write that the relay reports as dominated exits 5 (`Conflict`).
- **Same limits as desktop.** 100 sections, 1,000 assignments, and the
65,535-byte ciphertext cap. Channel IDs are stored in lowercase
hyphenated form, which is the form desktop matches.
- **No relay change.** The relay already stores `channel-sections` as a
generic replaceable kind:30078 event.
## Scope notes
- The commands always edit the **signing identity's own** sidebar,
because the document is NIP-44 encrypted to self. A local agent that
runs with the user's key (for example, `BUZZ_PRIVATE_KEY` set to the
user's nsec) sets up that user's sidebar. A managed agent with its own
key edits only its own sidebar.
- The request also mentioned "an equivalent agent/MCP tool". Agents use
`buzz-cli` for agent-facing operations, so the CLI help and
`crates/buzz-cli/README.md` document the `list` output contract. This PR
adds no separate MCP tool. This PR does not change `desktop/`
(deprecated; see #8840).
- `create` does not dedupe by name, which matches desktop. If a setup
script runs twice, it creates duplicate sections, and later `--section
<name>` lookups then fail as ambiguous. They do not pick one silently.
## Testing
- `cargo test -p buzz-cli`: 513 pass. The sidebar tests are:
- A journey through the production command functions against a fake
relay. The fake relay checks the head filter (`kinds`, `authors`, `#d`,
`limit`). The journey covers list, create, a multi-channel move as one
publish, a no-op repeat, invalid input with no publish, reorder, update,
unassign, delete, and the decrypted event's kind, tags, and document
shape.
- Rows for head selection (newest `created_at`, lower id on a tie,
another author's event ignored), `created_at = head + 1` after a
future-dated head, a mobile flat head, an unreadable head, a tampered
head, the count limit, the ciphertext cap, the NIP-44 plaintext cap, an
empty `--icon`, and a dominated write (exit 5).
- Each guard was mutation-checked: removing it makes at least one test
fail.
- **Desktop interop:** a CLI-written document was fed to desktop's own
`decodeDoc` and `projectSections` (from
`desktop/src/features/sidebar/lib`, run with node). Desktop decoded it
as a meta document, its projection matched the CLI's exactly, and
`canonical(json) === canonical(encodeDoc(tree))`. So desktop treats the
head as settled and does not republish it.
- **Live read:** `buzz sidebar sections list` against a real relay
correctly decrypted and projected a desktop-written sidebar (2 sections,
2 assignments). I ran no live writes.
- `cargo clippy -p buzz-cli --all-targets -D warnings` and `cargo fmt
--check` are clean.
- An agent review ran. It reported no blockers, and its optional
findings were fixed: tests now bind the relay filter and head selection,
a silently dropped head is an error, a no-op `reorder` writes nothing,
the `safe_int` overflow is fixed, channel IDs are canonical, and an
empty `--icon` is rejected.
### Manual test steps
1. `cargo build -p buzz-cli`, then set `BUZZ_PRIVATE_KEY` (your nsec)
and `BUZZ_RELAY_URL`.
2. `buzz sidebar sections list`: you see your current desktop sections.
3. `buzz sidebar sections create --name "CLI test" --icon "🧪"`: within a
few seconds, a "CLI test" section appears at the bottom of the desktop
sidebar.
4. `buzz sidebar sections move --section "CLI test" --channel <uuid>
--channel <uuid>`: both channels move under "CLI test" in desktop.
5. In desktop, rename the section. Then run `buzz sidebar sections
list`, which shows the new name.
6. `buzz sidebar sections delete --section <id>`: the section
disappears, and its channels return to the Channels list.
The author ran these steps and confirmed the result on an earlier head.
**Live re-test on this head** (rebased on `main` at 7fe3e6f), with the
Buzz Desktop credential provider against the production relay:
- `list` read the existing desktop-written sidebar (2 sections, 9
assignments).
- `create` (with an icon), `move`, a repeated `move` (published nothing;
`"unchanged"`), `update --name`, `list`, `unassign`, and `delete` were
all accepted.
- After cleanup, `list` output was byte-for-byte equal to the snapshot
taken before the test.
**`buzz-app` Desktop interop:** Buzz Desktop now ships from
`block/buzz-app`, so I checked the CLI document against its code at
`main` as well. `projectSidebarRecord` and `projectSidebarPreferences`
(`src/features/relay/`) project the CLI document to the same sections,
and the projected record equals the CLI document, so Desktop does not
republish it. The document also satisfies the Desktop signer rules in
`src-tauri/src/identity.rs` (`version: 1`, meta keys `v`/`s`/`a`,
section fields `name`/`icon`/`live`/`order`, 16-hex device ids).
Note: Desktop loads `channel-sections` by fetch, not by live
subscription, so a CLI edit shows in an open Desktop on its next sidebar
refresh (for example, a restart), not instantly. This is the same for
edits from another device.
Requested in Buzz:
`buzz://message?channel=e62570dd-33ad-42c5-b92b-75f2689f9694&id=2f3f2d152dc8a2cf2e75d803e7822faea28c24c163158feb97edfc57e2106c0e`
🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)
---------
Signed-off-by: Blake McAnally <bmcanally@squareup.com>
Signed-off-by: bmcanally <bmcanally@squareup.com>
Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 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.