One name, two identities: the name key has no Unicode normalization and keeps invisible characters #2691

Written-by: Chief

core/src/host/text.js:23 builds the identity key every name comparison uses — Bot names, room names, @-mentions:

export const normalize = (value) => String(value ?? '').trim().toLowerCase()

Two gaps, both reachable from the surfaces that already call it:

1. No Unicode normalization. Café written NFC (U+0043 U+0061 U+0066 U+00E9) and the same name written NFD (Cafe + U+0301) are the same visible name and two different keys. Nothing in the repository calls normalize('NFC') on a name.
2. Invisible characters survive. trim() removes ASCII whitespace only; U+200B (zero-width space) is not White_Space, so Dev + U+200B is a second name that reads as Dev.

Reproduction (real modules, main 6f086fa528f6ac99437b3942a8115c6eaa86052e)

/data/dsh/bot/workspace/audit42/audit42.test.mjs, cases B, F and G — the real install()/load() store, temp home, fake data:

• B — with Café (NFC) stored, findBot('Cafe' + U+0301) is undefined: the duplicate guard at roster.js:72/:191 lets a second Bot in under a name that renders identically, list_bots prints two identical lines and @Café reaches only the first. The reverse also holds: İlker (U+0130) and i + U+0307 + lker normalize to one key, so findBot for the second name returns the wrong record (id: 'b' where the exact name belongs to 'c').
• F — with Dev stored, findBot('Dev' + U+200B) is undefined; nameProblem() (shared/mentions.js:15) accepts the invisible twin, so a second Bot lives under a name nothing on screen can distinguish.
• G — with the room Café (NFC) stored, findRooms('Cafe' + U+0301) is [], so cleanRoomName (roster.js:281) admits a second group chat with the same visible name; once both exist, a keyboard that writes NFC can never name the second one again.

Reverse control in every case: value.normalize('NFC') on both sides before comparing makes the two spellings one identity.

Why it matters

The identity key decides which Bot a message goes to, which chat a name opens, which memory scope a remember writes into, and whether a duplicate Bot is allowed to exist. Being wrong in the first direction creates a twin nobody can address; being wrong in the second direction (İlker) resolves a name to a different Bot — a message, a memory write or a stop_bot aimed at one record landing on another.

Expected

One identity key that is right for names: NFC-normalize, drop invisible format characters (U+200B–U+200D, U+FEFF, U+00AD), then trim and lowercase — applied in normalize() so every existing call site inherits it, and mirrored in the guards that compare names directly (roster.js:72, :191, :281, shared/mentions.js:15). A name that is only invisible characters must be refused as empty. Existing stored names keep resolving: the NFC form of what is already in state.json is what the key must produce.

Change scope

core/src/host/text.js (the one key), the host guards that compare names without it, core/src/shared/mentions.js (the name rule), plus tests. core/test/ has store/roster cases to extend. Same class, different surfaces, tracked separately in #2692 (tree, task board, memory topics) and #2693 (the 60-unit cut in plugins/social).