Read a gone friend's Bot as one sentence and drop the useless Retry

changelog.d/954-bot-gone-no-retry.fixed.md

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+A message to a friend's Bot that no longer exists now reads one sentence — the Bot is no longer shared with you, so ask its owner for a new invite — instead of repeating "no such remote bot. Try again. Try again.", and the failed hold it leaves offers no **Retry**, because sending again cannot succeed ([#954](https://github.com/ThinkFlowLab/FlyBot/issues/954)).

core/src/host/hooks.js

@@ -465,6 +465,9 @@ export function install(rt) {
     } catch (error) {
       approval.status = 'failed'
       approval.error = error?.message ?? String(error)
+      // A sender that knows its failure can never succeed says so (#954): the card then offers no Retry, which
+      // would only repeat the same refusal.
+      if (error?.noRetry === true) approval.noRetry = true
     }
   }
 
@@ -503,7 +506,7 @@ export function install(rt) {
       turn: a.request.meta.replyIn.turn,
       to: toRemote(a.request.to)?.handle ?? null,
       ...(a.recipientName ? { toOwner: a.recipientName } : {}),
-      ...(a.status === 'failed' && a.error ? { error: String(a.error).slice(0, 200) } : {}),
+      ...(a.status === 'failed' && a.error ? { error: String(a.error).slice(0, 200), ...(a.noRetry === true ? { retry: false } : {}) } : {}),
     }))
   rt.heldRepliesOf = (botId) => [...autoSentOf(botId), ...heldOf(botId)]
 

core/src/host/remote-chat.js

@@ -36,6 +36,13 @@ export function notSentLine(error) {
     if (error?.resend === true) return 'Not sent: Bot Social paused that chat. Send your message again: it starts a new chat.'
     return 'Not sent: this chat is paused. Approve any message waiting here, or remove and re-add this friend to start a new chat.'
   }
+  // #954: the friend's Bot itself is gone (Bot Social 404 bot_not_found). One sentence that names the Bot and the
+  // next step; the social plugin already writes that sentence, so it is reused whole instead of translated again.
+  if (/bot_not_found|no such remote bot/i.test(blob)) {
+    if (/no longer shared with you/i.test(raw)) return `Not sent: ${body.replace(/^Not sent:\s*/i, "")}`
+    const who = typeof error?.handle === "string" && error.handle ? error.handle : "that Bot"
+    return `Not sent: ${who} is no longer shared with you, so messages to it cannot be delivered. Ask its owner for a new invite.`
+  }
   if (/has no grant|has not been granted|cannot message friends|cannot message their Bots/i.test(blob)) {
     return 'Not sent: none of your Bots is invited to this friend. Invite them from Bot settings.'
   }
@@ -57,7 +64,8 @@ export function notSentLine(error) {
   if (/timeout|no answer/i.test(blob)) {
     return 'Not sent: Bot Social did not answer. Try again.'
   }
-  const short = (body || raw).slice(0, 80).replace(/\.$/, '')
+  // One "Try again." only: an earlier layer may already have said it (#954), and two reads as a stutter.
+  const short = (body || raw).slice(0, 80).replace(/\.$/, '').replace(/\.?\s*Try again\.?$/i, '').replace(/\.$/, '')
   if (!short || /^[a-z0-9_]+$/i.test(short)) {
     return 'Not sent: the message could not leave. Try again.'
   }

core/test/host-approval-status.test.js

@@ -240,3 +240,38 @@ test('#754: host and client import the same judgment, and neither keeps a litera
   assert.match(files['channel.js'], /isApprovalWaiting\(reply\.status\)/, 'the wait badge asks the rule')
   assert.match(files['cells.js'], /isApprovalWaiting\(held\.status\)/, 'the chat bubble asks the rule')
 })
+
+// #954: a sender that knows its refusal can never succeed says so, and the card it failed on must not
+// offer Retry — the button would only repeat the same refusal. A failure that may pass later keeps it.
+test('#954: a final failure reaches the chat as retry: false, an ordinary one keeps Retry', async (t) => {
+  const { fb, call, stop } = await start()
+  t.after(stop)
+  holdFlagged(fb)
+  // The team is read before a grant can be written, and a remote send needs one.
+  await call('state', {})
+  await fb.grants.set('a', [{ grantee: '@bob.bot' }])
+  let error
+  fb.transports.add('bot-social', { send: async () => { throw error } })
+  const holdToBob = () => heldId(fb, {
+    from: 'a', to: { kind: 'remote', handle: '@bob.bot' }, text: 'are you still there?',
+    via: 'auto-reply', meta: { hold: true, replyIn: { sessionId: 's1', turn: 4 } },
+  })
+  const view = async id => (await call('state', {})).value.bots.find(bot => bot.id === 'a').heldReplies.find(entry => entry.id === id)
+
+  error = Object.assign(new Error('@bob.bot is no longer shared with you, so messages to it cannot be delivered. Ask its owner for a new invite.'), { code: 'bot_not_found', handle: '@bob.bot', noRetry: true })
+  const id = await holdToBob()
+  const approved = await call('flybot/decide', { id, decision: 'approve' })
+  assert.equal(approved.ok, true, JSON.stringify(approved))
+  assert.equal(approved.value.status, 'failed', JSON.stringify(approved))
+  const failed = await view(id)
+  assert.equal(failed.retry, false, 'the sender said this can never succeed, so no Retry is offered')
+  assert.match(failed.error, /no longer shared with you/)
+
+  // The negative half: a failure that may pass later keeps the Retry it always had.
+  error = new Error('Bot Social did not answer')
+  const retryId = await holdToBob()
+  assert.equal((await call('flybot/decide', { id: retryId, decision: 'approve' })).value.status, 'failed')
+  const retryable = await view(retryId)
+  assert.equal(retryable.error, 'Bot Social did not answer')
+  assert.notEqual(retryable.retry, false, 'a retryable failure still offers Retry')
+})

core/test/remote-chat.test.js

@@ -154,6 +154,15 @@ test('a failed 1:1 send is one short English line with a next step', () => {
     // The plugin's pause says to send again: the next send opens a fresh chat; nothing names Extend or turns.
     assert.equal(notSentLine(Object.assign(new Error('Bot Social paused that chat (loop detected). Send your message again: it starts a new chat.'), { code: 'conversation_paused', resend: true })), 'Not sent: Bot Social paused that chat. Send your message again: it starts a new chat.')
     assert.doesNotMatch(notSentLine(Object.assign(new Error('paused'), { resend: true })), /Extend|turns/)
+    // #954: a Bot that no longer exists says one sentence with the next step, names the Bot when the sender
+    // knows which one it is, and never repeats "Try again." (the plugin's sentence already ended the line).
+    const gone = notSentLine(Object.assign(new Error('Bot Social send_as_member: no such remote bot'), { code: 'bot_not_found', handle: '@coder.bob.home' }))
+    assert.equal(gone, 'Not sent: @coder.bob.home is no longer shared with you, so messages to it cannot be delivered. Ask its owner for a new invite.')
+    assert.doesNotMatch(gone, /no such remote bot|Try again/)
+    const relayed = notSentLine(Object.assign(new Error('Coder (Bob) (@coder.bob.home) is no longer shared with you, so messages to it cannot be delivered. Ask its owner for a new invite.'), { code: 'bot_not_found', handle: '@coder.bob.home' }))
+    assert.equal(relayed, 'Not sent: Coder (Bob) (@coder.bob.home) is no longer shared with you, so messages to it cannot be delivered. Ask its owner for a new invite.')
+    // One "Try again." only, whatever the layer below already wrote (#954).
+    assert.equal(notSentLine(new Error('Bot Social send_as_member: gateway hiccup. Try again.')), 'Not sent: gateway hiccup. Try again.')
     assert.equal(notSentLine(new Error('Bot Social send_as_member: weird_code')), 'Not sent: the message could not leave. Try again.')
     assert.doesNotMatch(notSentLine(new Error('something odd happened')), /console/)
 });

docs/subsystems/core-host.md

@@ -264,13 +264,13 @@ Work a member hands a Bot with `message_bot` from its group Session runs in a hi
 
 ### Remote chats and mentions
 
-- Channel `view()` puts `pendingCount` on a friend's chat (`bot.remote`) from `rt.listChatApprovals`, the same gold wait badge rooms already use. A local team Bot gets the count of its own held sends when the provider names them (`fromId`, #371), plus its own waiting held replies to friends (#418); otherwise 0. Those replies are also listed on the Bot as `heldReplies` (`rt.heldRepliesOf`, hooks.js: id, policy, status pending / approved / rejected / failed, or `auto` for a reply a middleware let go on the owner's Auto-send (#417, `state.flybot.autoSent`, last 200), the chat `sessionId` and `turn` the reply answers, the friend's handle and `toOwner`; no text), for the Bot's owner only under enforcement. `turns.js` passes the answered turn to `flybotReplyRemote` (`replyIn`), which puts it on the auto-reply's `meta.replyIn`; a hold record superseded by a later hold (`next`) is left out. A middleware's `hold` verdict may name its `recipient` (a person's name, at most 120 characters); the record keeps it as `recipientName` for the card. The social plugin supplies the list via `flybot.chatApprovals.setProvider` ([plugin-runtime](plugin-runtime.md)). Still not team mode.
+- Channel `view()` puts `pendingCount` on a friend's chat (`bot.remote`) from `rt.listChatApprovals`, the same gold wait badge rooms already use. A local team Bot gets the count of its own held sends when the provider names them (`fromId`, #371), plus its own waiting held replies to friends (#418); otherwise 0. Those replies are also listed on the Bot as `heldReplies` (`rt.heldRepliesOf`, hooks.js: id, policy, status pending / approved / rejected / failed, or `auto` for a reply a middleware let go on the owner's Auto-send (#417, `state.flybot.autoSent`, last 200), the chat `sessionId` and `turn` the reply answers, the friend's handle and `toOwner`; no text), for the Bot's owner only under enforcement. `turns.js` passes the answered turn to `flybotReplyRemote` (`replyIn`), which puts it on the auto-reply's `meta.replyIn`; a hold record superseded by a later hold (`next`) is left out. A middleware's `hold` verdict may name its `recipient` (a person's name, at most 120 characters); the record keeps it as `recipientName` for the card. A failed dispatch keeps its error, and an error the sender marks `noRetry: true` — a refusal nothing can change, such as a friend's Bot no longer shared — is passed on as `retry: false` so the chat draws no Retry (#954); every other failure keeps the Retry it always had. The social plugin supplies the list via `flybot.chatApprovals.setProvider` ([plugin-runtime](plugin-runtime.md)). Still not team mode.
 - Channel `live()` also sends `pluginTools`: the names of plugin tools a per-Bot mask may take away (`rt.pluginToolNames`, from `hidePluginTools`' gated set), so the client hides their `Tool added` / `Tool removed` rows (#419). A plugin reload changes them without a new revision, so they ride every `state` answer, an `unchanged` one too.
 - Channel `state` notes when a window on screen last read the team (#497): the client sends `watching: !document.hidden` with every poll (a visible window asks every 1.5 s, a hidden one every 10 s), and `watching: false` does not count; an older client that sends nothing counts as on screen. `rt.watched()` is true for 8 s after such a read and reaches plugins as `flybot.watched()` ([plugin-runtime](plugin-runtime.md)). Process-local, never saved. Covered by `core/test/flybot.test.js` #497, which also locks in that a friend's first line and its held reply move the revision, so a window that keeps polling reads `friendLineAt`, `pendingCount` and `heldReplies` with no reload.
 - A face-to-face room's presented Bot participants carry `label` = `remoteBotTitle`, `<Bot> (<owner>)`, for remote and local seats alike (`room-membership.js`, #384); `faceAliases` still answers to the older `<Bot> · <owner>'s Bot` / `<owner>'s Chief` labels.
 - `remoteTurn` (`src/host/remote-chat.js`) finds what the user typed on a friend's remote chat by skipping host-appended `role:'user'` context: forms `snapshot`, `instructions` (the AGENTS.md baseline on a chat's first turn) and `notice`, and the time-context kinds. Match by form, not by a whitelist of senders, or the first message of a new chat is dropped (#66).
 - `remoteChats.sync(plugin, list)` (`src/host/remote-chat.js`) mirrors a chat whose Bot left the published list (`gone`) into `bot.hidden`, so it leaves the sidebar without deleting its history, and drops that hide when the Bot is published again. It remembers which chats were `gone` before `open()` clears the marker, and only a real change of `gone` touches `hidden`: a chat the user hid himself (`roster.setFlags`, "Hide from sidebar") while its Bot is still published stays hidden instead of returning on the next publish. The marker `bot.remote.hiddenByGone` records a hide the sync itself imposed (and only when the chat was not already hidden), so returning drops that hide alone and a hide the user set survives the Bot leaving the list and coming back (#631).
-- `notSentLine` (`src/host/remote-chat.js`) is the one short line for a failed send to a friend's Bot. It names only steps a FlyBot owner can take (#404): a paused chat says to approve a waiting message or remove and re-add the friend (or, when the plugin's error says `resend`, to send the message again, which starts a new chat; there is no Extend and no turn limit), and the fallbacks end in *Try again.*; it never points to the Bot Social console, which a FlyBot owner cannot sign in to.
+- `notSentLine` (`src/host/remote-chat.js`) is the one short line for a failed send to a friend's Bot. It names only steps a FlyBot owner can take (#404): a paused chat says to approve a waiting message or remove and re-add the friend (or, when the plugin's error says `resend`, to send the message again, which starts a new chat; there is no Extend and no turn limit), and the fallbacks end in *Try again.*; it never points to the Bot Social console, which a FlyBot owner cannot sign in to. A friend's Bot Bot Social no longer knows (`bot_not_found` / "no such remote bot") gets its own sentence — *the Bot is no longer shared with you, so messages to it cannot be delivered. Ask its owner for a new invite.* — which the social plugin also writes and the host reuses whole instead of translating again, and no line carries *Try again.* twice (#954).
 - A friend chat waits on its reply (#443): a successful `forward` sets `state.remoteAwaiting[chatId]` (saved before the send turn ends), the friend's reply clears it as it arrives (`deliver`, before the reply is written into the chat) and again in the echo turn. A failed send never sets it. `channel.js` exposes it as `roster.remoteAwaiting`, and `authz.js` narrows it per owner like `remoteTypedTurns`.
 - Remote-chat `open` copies optional published `color` / `avatar` / `avatarUpdatedAt` onto the chat record (cached by `avatarUpdatedAt`) so headers, the picker, and group lists match Friends' Bots. A missing look stays handle-seeded (#137).
 - `0002-flybot-api-host` `cleanRemote` sanitizes those peer-controlled `name` / `homeName` / `owner` labels (strip `@` and controls/newlines, 60-char cap) before they are stored. Details in [plugin-runtime](plugin-runtime.md) (#75).

docs/subsystems/plugin-runtime.md

@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ FlyBot's plugin API surface on top of the patched core: host hooks, client slots
 
 | File | Role |
 | --- | --- |
-| `core/src/host/hooks.js` | Host hook points: send middleware, transports, grants, the owner-bound held-send approvals (#52), task hold/decide/delete seams (#54), and `bot.update({ name?, hidden? })` for plugin rename/hide (#452). A hold's waiting status is the shared rule `src/shared/approval-waiting.js` `isApprovalWaiting()`: `decide()`, `heldOf()` (the chat card), `PENDING_MAX`, the in-flight filter and the `APPROVALS_KEPT` cleanup all ask it instead of comparing to `pending`, so a `pending_approval` hold is decidable, drawn as waiting, counted and never cleaned up mid-wait (#754). It also exposes `flybot.approvals.stats()` — per-Bot, per-status counts of held sends, read-only (#396/#57 direction). |
+| `core/src/host/hooks.js` | Host hook points: send middleware, transports, grants, the owner-bound held-send approvals (#52), task hold/decide/delete seams (#54), and `bot.update({ name?, hidden? })` for plugin rename/hide (#452). A hold's waiting status is the shared rule `src/shared/approval-waiting.js` `isApprovalWaiting()`: `decide()`, `heldOf()` (the chat card), `PENDING_MAX`, the in-flight filter and the `APPROVALS_KEPT` cleanup all ask it instead of comparing to `pending`, so a `pending_approval` hold is decidable, drawn as waiting, counted and never cleaned up mid-wait (#754). It also exposes `flybot.approvals.stats()` — per-Bot, per-status counts of held sends, read-only (#396/#57 direction). A dispatch that fails keeps its error on the record, and an error the sender marks `noRetry: true` — a refusal nothing can change, such as a friend’s Bot no longer shared — reaches the chat view as `retry: false` so the card draws no Retry (#954); every other failure stays retryable. |
 | `core/src/host/flybot-feed.js` | Activity feed: folds a Bot Session's `session/event`s into `flybot.on('turn.start' \| 'turn.end' \| 'tool.start' \| 'tool.end' \| 'exchange.delivered' \| 'decision')` (#241). `turn.end` also carries the turn's token counts (summed from its `assistant/message` usage, floored and capped, counts only) under `tokens` (#357). `decision` is fired by `decisions.js` (#396), not folded from a Session event. |
 | `core/src/client/flybot-slots.js` | Client slots, including the approval card queue (`flybot.approvals`, `flybot/decide`) and `flybot.sidebar.structure` (`parentOf`, optional `include`, `menuItems`, `nodeActions`). Every `flybot.sidebar.section` entry is wrapped in `div.bt-flybot-section`, and a wrapper a section leaves empty (its component renders null) draws no separator: the `:empty` rule zeroes that margin, border and padding, keyed on emptiness rather than on a section id, so the next null-rendering section is covered too (#818; `core/test/flybot-section-empty.test.js` renders the host entry and pins both rules). Its Approve / Reject and the held-reply card both ask `approval-waiting.js` `isApprovalWaiting()` (`pending` and `pending_approval` wait), so a hold carrying the spelling Bot Social's own outbound hold uses stays answerable (#734). |
 | `core/src/client/flybot-registry.js` | Registry. |