ChannelLab — Avalonia IRC starting point

name: ChannelLab Avalonia IRC overview: "Ship an Avalonia IRC-style chat dogfood in novolis-dogfooding: ChannelLab client plus a small ASP.NET ChannelHost (SignalR + guest nicks), using only existing Novolis packages—no Voxa microservices, Raven, LiveKit, or Duende." todos:

• id: scaffold

content: Scaffold ChannelLab + ChannelHost projects under novolis-dogfooding/apps/avalonia/ChannelLab status: completed

• id: host-p0

content: Implement guest nick + ChannelHub Join/Part/Say/Roster with in-memory directory status: completed

• id: client-ui

content: "Avalonia control + peer windows: IRC layout, SignalR client, host auto-start" status: completed

• id: dogfood-proof

content: Two-peer fan-out proof + README with absolute run paths status: completed

• id: p1-sqlite

content: Add SQLite scrollback on Say/Join via Novolis.Storage.Sqlite status: completed

• id: p2-note

content: Document P2 WebView mesh signaling hooks without implementing SFU/LiveKit status: completed isProject: false

Decision

Build in [novolis-dogfooding](d:\novolis\novolis-dogfooding) (not Voxa, not novolis-apps). Product shape from the first-principles canvas: Nick / Channel / Message / Presence; video is a later channel mode, not the host’s reason to exist.

Defaults locked: Windows Avalonia app; separate tiny ASP.NET host process; guest PlayerRef nicks; single hard-coded channel #lobby in P0; SQLite scrollback in P1; WebRTC mesh only after text works.

Architecture

flowchart LR
  subgraph lab [ChannelLab Avalonia]
    Control[Control window]
    PeerA[Peer window A]
    PeerB[Peer window B]
  end
  Host[ChannelHost ASP.NET]
  Hub[ChannelHub SignalR]
  Store[(SQLite P1)]
  Control -->|starts if needed| Host
  PeerA --> Hub
  PeerB --> Hub
  Hub --> Store
  Host --> Hub

• ChannelHost — one process, one hub, in-memory channel state (P0), SQLite append (P1).
• ChannelLab — multi-window: control window boots/stops host and opens peer windows so two nicks prove fan-out on one machine.
• Identity via `Novolis.Game.Identity` + `Novolis.Game.Identity.AspNetCore` claim bridge (PlayerRefFactory.CreateGuest, ToPlayerRefClaim / TryGetPlayerRef).
• Realtime: app-owned ChannelHub using ASP.NET SignalR + those claims. Do not force-fit `GameLobbyHubBase` (lobby/ready semantics). Do not put SignalR into novolis-transports (gaming-layer-policy).
• History: `Novolis.Storage.Sqlite` in P1 only.
• Out of scope for this plan’s ship gate: LiveKit/Coturn, Raven, Duende, YARP, workspaces/admin, WebView video (P2 follow-up once P0–P1 green).

Layout (UI)

One composition per peer window (IRC classic, not SaaS dashboard):

• Left rail: channel list (P0: #lobby only)
• Center: scrollback + single-line composer
• Right: namelist (presence)
• Chrome: nick, connection state, controls to spawn peers / restart host

No Inter brand font; keep Fluent theme. No cards-for-everything — buffer + lists.

Project layout

d:\novolis\novolis-dogfooding\apps\avalonia\ChannelLab\
  ChannelLab.csproj          # WinExe Avalonia
  ChannelHost\
    ChannelHost.csproj        # Web SDK, SignalR
  README.md

PackageReferences (central versions already managed in dogfooding): Avalonia / Avalonia.Desktop / Fluent; Microsoft.AspNetCore.SignalR.Client on the client; host uses Microsoft.NET.Sdk.Web; Novolis.Game.Identity, Novolis.Game.Identity.AspNetCore; P1 adds Novolis.Storage.Sqlite. Consume via PackageReference (GPR); use Platform slnx / -p:NovolisUseProjectReferences=true only for local iteration.

Protocol (minimal)

Host HTTP:

• POST /api/guest { "nick": "alice" } → issues cookie or bearer carrying novolis:player_ref + display name (simplest: cookie auth for SignalR on localhost).

Hub methods / events:

P0: only #lobby. Reject empty say; truncate body (e.g. 2k chars).

Implementation slices

P0 — Wire (ship gate)

1. ChannelHost Program.cs: cookie/guest login, MapHub<ChannelHub>("/hubs/channel"), in-memory ChannelDirectory (members + optional ring buffer of last ~100 messages for late joiners without SQLite yet).
2. ChannelHub: resolve caller via TryGetPlayerRef; Groups.AddToGroupAsync per channel; broadcast Message / Roster.
3. ChannelLab: control window starts dotnet/ChannelHost on fixed port (e.g. 5177) if health check fails; peer window = nick prompt → connect → join #lobby → bind scrollback/namelist/composer.
4. Dogfood proof: open two peers with different nicks; Say in A appears in B; Part updates roster.
5. README with absolute-path run commands.

P1 — Memory

• On Say, append to SQLite via Novolis.Storage.Sqlite under %LocalAppData%/Novolis/ChannelLab/.
• On Join, send scrollback (last N) as a burst of Message or one History event.
• Keep SignalR path identical; persistence is host-side only.

P2 — Face (explicit follow-up, not P0 blocker)

• Same hub grows Signal / ICE relay messages; Avalonia embeds a WebView media pane (new Avalonia WebView package — not LiveKit). Mesh only, 3–4 peers. Text path must keep working if WebView fails.

Run targets (docs)

dotnet run --project d:\novolis\novolis-dogfooding\apps\avalonia\ChannelLab\ChannelHost\ChannelHost.csproj
dotnet run --project d:\novolis\novolis-dogfooding\apps\avalonia\ChannelLab\ChannelLab.csproj

Prefer control-window auto-start host for the happy path (one F5).

Non-goals

• Porting or depending on frankhaugen/Voxa
• Aspire AppHost / SQL Edge / Redis for P0–P1
• Mobile / Blazor
• Extracting a Novolis.Chat.* package before the dogfood loop works

Success criteria

• Cold start on one Windows machine: control window → two peers → bidirectional chat in #lobby without Docker.
• Only Novolis + Avalonia + ASP.NET dependencies.
• README states P2 video is deferred and must not reshape the host.