Repeated /chat/new-channel notifications

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AI-generated summary

A bug was reported where users receive redundant /chat/new-channel notifications every time a chat message is sent, even when the chat channel is already open and visible. RGJ observed this behavior while testing the message bus and provided sample payloads showing the repeated notifications. j.jaffeux acknowledged the issue, noting recent changes to subscription logic may have contributed, and confirmed it wasn’t a regression but an unnecessary notification that could now be eliminated thanks to improved channel-fetching logic. They referenced PR #21755 as part of the solution. In post 5, j.jaffeux confirmed the fix was merged: /chat/new-channel notifications will now only be sent if the channel is not already present in the user’s sidebar — reducing noise and improving UX. This also helps support future work on limiting sidebar channel counts.

1

While playing around with the message bus, I saw that every time I receive a chat message, I get a /chat/new-channel notification with it. This happens even when both users have the chat open.

[{"global_id":61583779,"message_id":134,"channel":"/chat/4","data":{"chat_message":{"id":6,"message":"nice to see you too","cooked":"<p>nice to see you too</p>","created_at":"2023-05-24T14:07:02.800Z","excerpt":"nice to see you too","available_flags":[],"thread_title":null,"chat_channel_id":4,"user":{"id":152,"username":"testuser","name":"testuser","avatar_template":"https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/{size}.png","moderator":false,"admin":false,"staff":false,"new_user":false,"primary_group_name":null,"assign_icon":"user-plus","assign_path":"/u/testuser/activity/assigned"},"chat_webhook_event":null,"uploads":[]},"type":"sent","staged_id":"66122c8d-ad8e-4754-b04a-e0ff75c4e898","staged_thread_id":null}}]
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[{"global_id":61583780,"message_id":69,"channel":"/chat/4/new-messages","data":{"channel_id":4,"message_id":6,"user_id":152,"username":"testuser","thread_id":null}}]
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[{"global_id":61583781,"message_id":20767,"channel":"/chat/new-channel","data":{"channel":{"id":4,"allow_channel_wide_mentions":true,"chatable":{"id":1,"users":[{"id":152,"username":"testuser","name":"testuser","avatar_template":"https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/{size}.png","custom_fields":{},"assign_icon":"user-plus","assign_path":"/u/testuser/activity/assigned"}]},"chatable_id":1,"chatable_type":"DirectMessage","chatable_url":null,"title":"@testuser","slug":null,"last_message_sent_at":"2023-05-24 14:07:02 UTC","status":"open","memberships_count":0,"current_user_membership":{"following":true,"muted":false,"desktop_notification_level":"always","mobile_notification_level":"always","chat_channel_id":4,"last_read_message_id":5},"meta":{"message_bus_last_ids":{"channel_message_bus_last_id":134,"new_messages":69,"new_mentions":0},"can_join_chat_channel":true},"threading_enabled":false}}}]
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and then when another message is sent

[{"global_id":61583803,"message_id":135,"channel":"/chat/4","data":{"chat_message":{"id":7,"message":"and another message","cooked":"<p>and another message</p>","created_at":"2023-05-24T14:08:01.128Z","excerpt":"and another message","available_flags":[],"thread_title":null,"chat_channel_id":4,"user":{"id":152,"username":"testuser","name":"testuser","avatar_template":"https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/{size}.png","moderator":false,"admin":false,"staff":false,"new_user":false,"primary_group_name":null,"assign_icon":"user-plus","assign_path":"/u/testuser/activity/assigned"},"chat_webhook_event":null,"uploads":[]},"type":"sent","staged_id":"67a062f9-28de-42c8-a037-c3d272584c3d","staged_thread_id":null}}]
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[{"global_id":61583804,"message_id":70,"channel":"/chat/4/new-messages","data":{"channel_id":4,"message_id":7,"user_id":152,"username":"testuser","thread_id":null}}]
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[{"global_id":61583805,"message_id":20768,"channel":"/chat/new-channel","data":{"channel":{"id":4,"allow_channel_wide_mentions":true,"chatable":{"id":1,"users":[{"id":152,"username":"testuser","name":"testuser","avatar_template":"https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/{size}.png","custom_fields":{},"assign_icon":"user-plus","assign_path":"/u/testuser/activity/assigned"}]},"chatable_id":1,"chatable_type":"DirectMessage","chatable_url":null,"title":"@testuser","slug":null,"last_message_sent_at":"2023-05-24 14:08:01 UTC","status":"open","memberships_count":0,"current_user_membership":{"following":true,"muted":false,"desktop_notification_level":"always","mobile_notification_level":"always","chat_channel_id":4,"last_read_message_id":6},"meta":{"message_bus_last_ids":{"channel_message_bus_last_id":135,"new_messages":70,"new_mentions":0},"can_join_chat_channel":true},"threading_enabled":false}}}]
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The source seems to imply that a new-channel event is sent every time when a message is created.

And of course, if this is a complete misunderstanding on my side on how things should work, feel free to laugh at me while you move this to Support :wink:

5 Likes
2

I will investigate this tomorrow thanks. We have been movings lots of things around subscriptions lately, it’s possible we have regressed on this.

3 Likes
4

So I had a quick look already, I don’t think it’s a regression, however, this is now something we could probably get rid off as we have automatic logic to get the channel if not present (simply put: if not in your sidebar).

It would have been harder few months ago.

Will double check and try to finish this tomorrow, good call thanks :+1: This was on a list of things I have to check to allow stricter number of channels in the sidebar, so that’s one less thing :rocket:

https://github.com/discourse/discourse/pull/21755

4 Likes
5

Ok I just merged this, it should now only send the new channel event when the channel is not in your sidebar.

3 Likes