Messages

Channel messages are the core durable object. Every message is Markdown text with optional attachments. Threads are modelled as messages with a non-null parent_message_id (see threads.md). Inline quote-replies — the lightweight Discord/Telegram-style "reply with quote" pattern — live on the same row via quoted_message_id and friends, documented in replies.md.

Endpoints

GET    /api/channels/{channel_id}/messages?after_seq=&limit=
POST   /api/channels/{channel_id}/messages
PATCH  /api/messages/{message_id}
DELETE /api/messages/{message_id}

GET returns root messages only (parent_message_id IS NULL) for the channel, ordered by channel_seq ascending. after_seq is exclusive; limit is clamped to 1..200 (default 100).
POST accepts {body}. Empty bodies are rejected.
PATCH accepts {body} and only the original author can edit. Sets edited_at.
DELETE is a soft delete — sets deleted_at, keeps the row and the channel_seq slot so cursors stay valid.

All four emit durable events: message.created, message.updated, message.deleted.

Sequence numbers

Every channel message gets a per-channel channel_seq assigned inside the insert transaction:

SELECT COALESCE(MAX(channel_seq), 0) + 1
FROM messages
WHERE channel_id = ? AND parent_message_id IS NULL

That sequence is what clients page by, what the realtime event carries, and what reconnect uses to backfill. It is monotonic per channel but not globally. Thread replies use a separate thread_seq instead.

Body format

Bodies are stored as Markdown text. The body_format column is hard-coded to markdown in V1 and exists so a future format (rich text, plain) can be added without a migration. The frontend renders a sanitized subset.

The web composer is a Slack-like message well with a format bar for bold, italic, inline code, code blocks, links, attachments, and GIF insertion. The GIF picker inserts standard Markdown image syntax, so no provider-specific durable schema is required for V1.

Attachments

Messages carry zero or more attachments via the message_attachments join table. Hydration happens in hydrateAttachments and surfaces as the attachments field on Message. See uploads.md for the two-step upload-then-attach flow.

The web client renders image and video attachments inline and links other attachments as file cards. Clicking an inline image attachment, or an image inside rendered Markdown, opens an in-app image viewer with an Open original link. Markdown image URLs, including animated GIF URLs, render inline through the same sanitized Markdown path.

Author hydration

ListMessages and GetThread join users and populate Message.author so clients don't need a second round-trip. Avatar URLs are passed through as-is.

What is intentionally missing

Hard delete. The soft-delete row stays for cursor stability.
Pinning, bookmarks, read receipts.
Per-message permissions beyond "the author can edit/delete".

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