@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+A group turn now shows who is working: one line per member that holds an open card on that room's board, with the card number, column, progress and how long it has been open, and an explicit `idle (no open card)` line for a member that holds none — read from the board at the turn, with nothing new written and no one having to post a status ([#1213](https://github.com/ThinkFlowLab/FlyBot/issues/1213)).
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ import { FACE_LEAD_NOTE, FACE_LEAD_ROUTE, faceLeadIsRemote, faceMemberNote, face
 import { faceMentions } from './face-mentions.js'
 import { cleanName, stripSessionChips, unwrapUntrusted } from './delivery.js'
 import { createRoomParticipants } from './room-participant.js'
-import { ROOM_CONTEXT_BUDGET, boardCoversCue, fitRoomLines, formatRoomBoard, prepareRoomLine } from './room-context.js'
+import { ROOM_CONTEXT_BUDGET, boardCoversCue, fitRoomLines, formatRoomBoard, formatRoomPresence, prepareRoomLine } from './room-context.js'
 
 const ROOM_LOG_MAX = 60
 const ROOM_FIRST_LOOK = 12
@@ -367,12 +367,20 @@ export function install(rt) {
     const before = index
     const after = round.slots.length - index - 1
     const working = workingIn(room).filter(item => item.bot.id !== member.id)
+    // Who is on what, before the board itself (#1213): the board says what is open, this
+    // says which member holds it, so a working and an idle member read differently without
+    // anyone posting. Read from the same state, at the moment this turn is built.
+    const presence = isFaceRoom(room) ? '' : formatRoomPresence(rt.state.tasks, {
+      roomId: room.id,
+      members: room.members.map(id => ({ id, name: rt.botOf(id)?.name })),
+    })
     const board = isFaceRoom(room) ? '' : formatRoomBoard(rt.state.tasks, {
       roomId: room.id,
       nameOf: task => rt.botOf(task.ownerBotId)?.name,
     })
     return [
       noticeChange(room, member),
+      presence,
       board,
       fitted.omitted > 0 ? `${fitted.omitted} older lines are not in this turn. Progress is on the task board; call read_group_chat when you need an exact earlier line.` : '',
       earlier.length ? `Earlier in the group, before this round (context only):\n${show(earlier)}` : '',
 
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 // whole. The turn gets a newer-first slice under a character budget, and a long
 // status essay is collapsed so it cannot fill that slice. Progress for the open
 // job is a compact board snapshot in the same turn, not those essays.
-import { compareForWork, progressOf } from '../shared/task-board.js'
+import { columnOf, compareForWork, progressOf } from '../shared/task-board.js'
 
 // Characters, not a tokenizer. The essays this was measured on are mostly CJK,
 // about one token per character, so a character ceiling is the conservative one:
@@ -165,3 +165,68 @@ export function formatRoomBoard(tasks, { roomId, nameOf, limit = 8 } = {}) {
   if (hidden > 0) lines.push(`- ${hidden} more open card(s) not shown`)
   return lines.join('\n')
 }
+
+// Who is on what, read from the board at the moment the turn is built (#1213). Members
+// followed the rule — claim the card, update it, say nothing — and the room became
+// unreadable: silence meant "idle" only because nothing rendered the board's holders.
+// One line per member who holds an open card in THIS room, one line per member who does
+// not, so "nobody is working" is readable too. Read-only: no write, no message, no
+// heartbeat. Columns, progress and age only — never CI, the queue or a verdict, which
+// #1203 keeps off the chat.
+export const ROOM_PRESENCE_BUDGET = 400
+const PRESENCE_MEMBERS = 8
+const OPEN_STATES = new Set(['open', 'claimed', 'working', 'blocked', 'result-ready'])
+
+const columnWord = column => (column === 'in-progress' ? 'in progress' : column === 'not-started' ? 'not started' : column)
+const minutesBetween = (from, now) => Math.max(0, Math.round((now - from) / 60000))
+
+// `- Dev2 — #1081 title (in progress 15%, open 27 min)`: the card's own fields, flattened
+// to one line. A 0% card says `just claimed` instead of a percentage, and a tag is
+// counted from `createdAt` — the fields the record already has, no new one.
+function presenceLine(task, name, now, extra = 0) {
+  const ref = typeof task.target?.number === 'number' ? `#${task.target.number} ` : ''
+  const title = oneLine(task.title || '(untitled)', 60)
+  const waiting = task.waitingFor === 'input'
+  const head = waiting ? 'waiting on an answer' : columnWord(columnOf(task))
+  const pct = progressOf(task)
+  const detail = waiting ? '' : pct > 0 ? ` ${pct}%` : ', just claimed'
+  const created = Number.isFinite(task.createdAt) ? task.createdAt : now
+  const open = `open ${minutesBetween(created, now)} min`
+  const moved = Number.isFinite(task.updatedAt) && task.updatedAt - created >= 60000
+    ? `, moved ${minutesBetween(task.updatedAt, now)} min ago`
+    : ''
+  const more = extra > 0 ? ` +${extra} more` : ''
+  return `- ${name} — ${ref}${title} (${head}${detail}, ${open}${moved})${more}`
+}
+
+export function formatRoomPresence(tasks, { roomId, members, now = Date.now(), nameOf } = {}) {
+  if (!roomId) return ''
+  const list = (members ?? []).filter(member => member && member.id !== undefined)
+  if (list.length === 0) return ''
+  const nameOfMember = member => oneLine(typeof nameOf === 'function' ? nameOf(member) : (member.name ?? member.id), 40) || String(member.id)
+  const cardsOf = new Map()
+  for (const task of Object.values(tasks ?? {})) {
+    if (!task || task.origin?.roomId !== roomId || !OPEN_STATES.has(task.status)) continue
+    if (task.ownerBotId === undefined) continue
+    const cards = cardsOf.get(task.ownerBotId) ?? []
+    cards.push(task)
+    cardsOf.set(task.ownerBotId, cards)
+  }
+  const holders = list.filter(member => cardsOf.has(member.id))
+  if (holders.length === 0) return 'Who is working: nobody (no open card).'
+  const built = []
+  for (const member of holders) {
+    const cards = cardsOf.get(member.id).sort(compareForWork)
+    built.push(presenceLine(cards[0], nameOfMember(member), now, cards.length - 1))
+  }
+  for (const member of list.filter(item => !cardsOf.has(item.id))) built.push(`- ${nameOfMember(member)} — idle (no open card)`)
+  const header = 'Who is working (from the task board; nobody has to post here):'
+  const render = count => [header, ...built.slice(0, count), built.length > count ? `- +${built.length - count} more member(s)` : ''].filter(Boolean)
+  let count = Math.min(PRESENCE_MEMBERS, built.length)
+  let lines = render(count)
+  while (count > 1 && lines.join('\n').length > ROOM_PRESENCE_BUDGET) {
+    count -= 1
+    lines = render(count)
+  }
+  return lines.join('\n')
+}
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import assert from 'node:assert/strict'
 import test from 'node:test'
-import { ROOM_CONTEXT_BUDGET, boardCoversCue, compactStatus, fitRoomLines, formatRoomBoard, prepareRoomLine, statusShaped } from '../src/host/room-context.js'
+import { ROOM_CONTEXT_BUDGET, ROOM_PRESENCE_BUDGET, boardCoversCue, compactStatus, fitRoomLines, formatRoomBoard, formatRoomPresence, prepareRoomLine, statusShaped } from '../src/host/room-context.js'
 
 const render = line => `${line.who}: ${line.text}`
 const essay = (tail) => `CI on tip abcdef12 is green. tests-ok passed. enqueue when mergeable. merge_group is next. PASS at abcdef12. @Chief ${'detail '.repeat(80)}${tail}`
@@ -103,3 +103,85 @@ test('an open card covers a status @ and not a question or a new ask', () => {
   assert.equal(boardCoversCue(tasks, { roomId: 'room', botId: 'other', text: '@Other Writer implements' }), false)
   assert.equal(boardCoversCue({ only: { ...tasks.waiting } }, { ...cue, text: '@Writer done' }), false)
 })
+
+// #1213: the room shows who is on what, read from the board, so a member that claimed
+// and stayed quiet is not read as idle. These are the fixtures the issue asks for: two
+// holders and one idle member, and a holder whose card is removed.
+const presenceAt = Date.parse('2026-10-26T02:00:00Z')
+const presenceMembers = [{ id: 'dev2', name: 'Dev2' }, { id: 'dev3', name: 'Dev3' }, { id: 'chief', name: 'Chief' }]
+const presenceTasks = () => ({
+  race: { id: 'race', status: 'working', progress: 15, title: 'Connectors test race', ownerBotId: 'dev2', origin: { roomId: 'room' }, target: { number: 1081 }, createdAt: presenceAt - 27 * 60000, updatedAt: presenceAt - 27 * 60000 },
+  recursion: { id: 'recursion', status: 'claimed', progress: 0, title: 'Face room recursion', ownerBotId: 'dev3', origin: { roomId: 'room' }, target: { number: 979 }, createdAt: presenceAt - 3 * 60000, updatedAt: presenceAt - 3 * 60000 },
+  done: { id: 'done', status: 'accepted', title: 'FINISHED_MARKER', ownerBotId: 'dev3', origin: { roomId: 'room' }, updatedAt: presenceAt },
+  elsewhere: { id: 'elsewhere', status: 'working', progress: 50, title: 'OTHER_ROOM', ownerBotId: 'dev2', origin: { roomId: 'elsewhere' }, updatedAt: presenceAt },
+})
+
+test('presence: two holders and an idle member each get one line, with column, progress and age', () => {
+  const text = formatRoomPresence(presenceTasks(), { roomId: 'room', members: presenceMembers, now: presenceAt })
+  assert.match(text, /^- Dev2 — #1081 Connectors test race \(in progress 15%, open 27 min\)$/m)
+  assert.match(text, /^- Dev3 — #979 Face room recursion \(not started, just claimed, open 3 min\)$/m)
+  assert.match(text, /^- Chief — idle \(no open card\)$/m)
+  assert.doesNotMatch(text, /FINISHED_MARKER|OTHER_ROOM/)
+  assert.ok(text.startsWith('Who is working'))
+})
+
+test('presence: a card removed turns its holder into idle (the strip follows the board)', () => {
+  const tasks = presenceTasks()
+  delete tasks.recursion
+  const text = formatRoomPresence(tasks, { roomId: 'room', members: presenceMembers, now: presenceAt })
+  assert.doesNotMatch(text, /Dev3 — #979/)
+  assert.match(text, /^- Dev3 — idle \(no open card\)$/m)
+  assert.match(text, /^- Dev2 — #1081/m)
+})
+
+test('presence: a waiting card says so, and a moved card adds when it moved', () => {
+  const tasks = {
+    ask: { id: 'ask', status: 'blocked', waitingFor: 'input', progress: 40, title: 'Need a name', ownerBotId: 'dev2', origin: { roomId: 'room' }, createdAt: presenceAt - 12 * 60000, updatedAt: presenceAt - 2 * 60000 },
+  }
+  const text = formatRoomPresence(tasks, { roomId: 'room', members: [{ id: 'dev2', name: 'Dev2' }], now: presenceAt })
+  assert.match(text, /- Dev2 — Need a name \(waiting on an answer, open 12 min, moved 2 min ago\)/)
+})
+
+test('presence: a holder with three cards names the first and counts the rest', () => {
+  const tasks = {
+    one: { id: 'one', status: 'working', progress: 10, title: 'First card', ownerBotId: 'dev2', origin: { roomId: 'room' }, createdAt: presenceAt, updatedAt: presenceAt },
+    two: { id: 'two', status: 'open', progress: 0, title: 'Second card', ownerBotId: 'dev2', origin: { roomId: 'room' }, createdAt: presenceAt, updatedAt: presenceAt },
+    three: { id: 'three', status: 'open', progress: 0, title: 'Third card', ownerBotId: 'dev2', origin: { roomId: 'room' }, createdAt: presenceAt, updatedAt: presenceAt },
+  }
+  const text = formatRoomPresence(tasks, { roomId: 'room', members: [{ id: 'dev2', name: 'Dev2' }], now: presenceAt })
+  assert.match(text, /^- Dev2 — First card \(in progress 10%, open 0 min\) \+2 more$/m)
+})
+
+test('presence: nobody holding a card is one readable line, never an empty block', () => {
+  assert.equal(formatRoomPresence({}, { roomId: 'room', members: presenceMembers, now: presenceAt }), 'Who is working: nobody (no open card).')
+  assert.equal(formatRoomPresence(presenceTasks(), { roomId: 'no-such-room', members: presenceMembers, now: presenceAt }), 'Who is working: nobody (no open card).')
+})
+
+test('presence: at most eight members, the rest counted, and the whole block stays under the budget', () => {
+  const tasks = {}
+  const members = []
+  for (let at = 0; at < 12; at += 1) {
+    const id = `bot${at}`
+    members.push({ id, name: `Bot${at}` })
+    tasks[id] = { id, status: 'working', progress: 50, title: `Card ${at}`, ownerBotId: id, origin: { roomId: 'room' }, createdAt: presenceAt, updatedAt: presenceAt }
+  }
+  const text = formatRoomPresence(tasks, { roomId: 'room', members, now: presenceAt })
+  const memberLines = text.split('\n').filter(line => line.startsWith('- ') && line.includes(' — '))
+  assert.ok(memberLines.length <= 8, `at most eight member lines, got ${memberLines.length}`)
+  assert.match(text, /^- \+\d+ more member\(s\)$/m)
+  assert.ok(text.length <= ROOM_PRESENCE_BUDGET, `block is ${text.length} chars`)
+})
+
+test('presence: a long title is flattened and cut, and no note prose rides along', () => {
+  const tasks = {
+    long: { id: 'long', status: 'working', progress: 5, title: `${'x'.repeat(300)}<b>`, note: 'NOTE_PROSE '.repeat(40), ownerBotId: 'dev2', origin: { roomId: 'room' }, createdAt: presenceAt, updatedAt: presenceAt },
+  }
+  const text = formatRoomPresence(tasks, { roomId: 'room', members: [{ id: 'dev2', name: 'Dev2' }], now: presenceAt })
+  assert.doesNotMatch(text, /NOTE_PROSE|<b>/)
+  assert.ok(text.length <= ROOM_PRESENCE_BUDGET)
+})
+
+test('presence: no members or no room renders nothing at all', () => {
+  assert.equal(formatRoomPresence(presenceTasks(), { roomId: 'room', members: [], now: presenceAt }), '')
+  assert.equal(formatRoomPresence(presenceTasks(), { members: presenceMembers, now: presenceAt }), '')
+})
@@ -2035,3 +2035,54 @@ test('a Bot @ whose open card already shows the line passes without a turn (#120
   await personRound
   assert.equal(person.sessionId, live.sessions[writer.id], 'a person @ still gets an answer')
 })
+
+
+// #1213: the turn reads the board twice — who is working (one line per member, idle ones
+// included) and then the board itself. The owner asked "they are both working, why does the
+// group show nothing"; a claimed card has to be readable before any PR exists.
+test('a group turn shows who is working before the board it renders (#1213)', async (t) => {
+  const { call, emit, userMessage, relay, answer, stop, sent, rt } = start()
+  t.after(stop)
+  const chief = (await call('state', {})).value.mainBotId
+  const writer = (await call('create-bot', { name: 'Writer' })).value
+  const idle = (await call('create-bot', { name: 'Idle' })).value
+  const room = (await call('create-room', { name: 'R1213', members: [chief, writer.id, idle.id] })).value
+  await call('update-room', { id: room.id, mode: 'everyone' })
+  const now = Date.now()
+  rt.state.tasks = {
+    card: {
+      id: 'card', status: 'working', progress: 15, title: 'Connectors test race', kind: 'task',
+      ownerBotId: writer.id, origin: { roomId: room.id }, target: { number: 1081 },
+      createdAt: now - 27 * 60000, updatedAt: now - 27 * 60000,
+    },
+  }
+  const playRound = async (label, check, { board = true } = {}) => {
+    sent.length = 0
+    await emit(room.id, userMessage(label))
+    const running = relay(room.id, `r1213-${label}`)
+    const seen = []
+    for (let at = 0; at < 3; at += 1) {
+      const turn = await turnFor(sent, ...seen)
+      assert.ok(turn, `${label}: member ${at + 1} gets a turn`)
+      seen.push(turn)
+      const text = turn.message.content[0].text
+      assert.ok(text.includes('Who is working'), `${label}: the prompt carries the presence block`)
+      if (board) assert.ok(text.indexOf('Who is working') < text.indexOf('Task board (assign, claim'), `${label}: presence reads before the board`)
+      else assert.ok(!text.includes('Task board (assign, claim'), `${label}: no open card, so no board block`)
+      assert.doesNotMatch(text, /tests-ok|merge queue|Verdict/, `${label}: the anti-narration rule still holds`)
+      check(text)
+      await answer(turn.sessionId, turn.message.source.exchangeId, `${label} ${at + 1}.`, at + 1)
+    }
+    await running
+  }
+  await playRound('who', (text) => {
+    assert.match(text, /Who is working \(from the task board; nobody has to post here\):/)
+    assert.match(text, /- Writer — #1081 Connectors test race \(in progress 15%, open 2[67] min\)/)
+    assert.match(text, /- Idle — idle \(no open card\)/)
+  })
+  // The board is the record: removing the card turns "Writer is working" into "nobody".
+  delete rt.state.tasks.card
+  await playRound('now', (text) => {
+    assert.match(text, /Who is working: nobody \(no open card\)\./)
+  }, { board: false })
+})
@@ -106,6 +106,11 @@ A group turn does not hand the model the raw ring buffer. `src/host/room-context
 
 The open task board for that room is a compact snapshot in the same turn (`formatRoomBoard`): the newest overall task, then its subtasks and any room card that is not under a different overall task, up to eight cards. Done cards stay off. Titles and notes are one line, capped, with `<` and `>` removed. A face-to-face room has no snapshot and keeps `@Name` as how its lead gives a part. The standing section does not carry the snapshot or the transcript, so it still changes only when the group settings change. In a group that has a board, `ROOM_REPLY_BOARD` and the task-lead note say assigning, claiming, and progress are `track_tasks` writes (overall task, subtask, assignee, column, progress), `@Name` only wakes, and a status the board already shows is `[PASS]`. A task-drive wake in the group says to set that card's column and progress, and appends the same snapshot after its cue. Covered by `core/test/room-context.test.js`, `core/test/rounds.test.js`, and `core/test/task-drive.test.js`.
 
+### Who is working (#1213)
+
+The board says what is open; the turn also says which member holds it, because a member that claims a card and stays quiet used to be indistinguishable from an idle one. `room-context.js` `formatRoomPresence(tasks, { roomId, members, now })` reads the same `rt.state.tasks` at the moment the turn is built — no write, no message, no heartbeat — and `groups.js` `roomPrompt` renders it just before `formatRoomBoard`, for a room with a board only (a face-to-face room gets neither). One line per member that holds an unfinished card in that room: `- Dev2 — #1081 <title> (in progress 15%, open 27 min)`, the number from the card's `target`, the column word from `columnOf`, progress from `progressOf`, age from `createdAt` (`open N min`), and `, moved N min ago` when `updatedAt` is at least a minute newer; a card waiting on an input reads `waiting on an answer`, a 0% card `just claimed`, and a second card on the same owner is `+N more`. Every member that holds no card gets `- <Name> — idle (no open card)`, so "nobody is working" is readable too; when no member holds a card the block is the single line `Who is working: nobody (no open card).` At most eight member lines and `ROOM_PRESENCE_BUDGET` (400) characters, then `- +N more member(s)`; titles are flattened and cut, and a card's note prose never rides along. Only card state is rendered — never CI, the queue or a verdict, which #1203 keeps out of the chat. Covered by `core/test/room-context.test.js` and `core/test/rounds.test.js`.
+
+
 ### Group loop guards (#557)
 
 `post_to_group` has no cap on the rounds Bots start in one group between the user's lines. The old `ROOM_BOT_ROUNDS` (3) gate was turned off by owner decision 2026-10-21 07:34 Asia/Shanghai: it refused a recurring scheduled task's fourth post with a tool result only, so owner-set runs stopped overnight with nothing shown in the group. A saved room may still carry `botRounds`; nothing reads it, and `channel.js` keeps it out of the roster. The guards that stay: `MAX_HOPS` (6) ends a Bot-to-Bot chain (`message_bot`, and `post_to_group` from a relayed turn); `MAX_UNREAD_REQUESTS` (10) per Bot chat; `ROOM_TURNS_EACH` / `ROOM_ADMIN_TURNS_EACH` (2 / 4) per member per round, except the room's admin when a member names it with `@`: that call is never dropped by the cap (#804), because it is a report to the coordinator rather than a chain, and the round's own turn limit still bounds the round; `ROOM_LATE_ROUNDS` (10) late replies answered before the user speaks again; and a Bot cannot `post_to_group` into the room it is speaking in. Face-to-face rooms take the same path. Covered by `core/test/rounds.test.js`.
Original file line number	Diff line number	Diff line change
`@@ -0,0 +1 @@`
	`1`	+A group turn now shows who is working: one line per member that holds an open card on that room's board, with the card number, column, progress and how long it has been open, and an explicit `idle (no open card)` line for a member that holds none — read from the board at the turn, with nothing new written and no one having to post a status ([#1213](https://github.com/ThinkFlowLab/FlyBot/issues/1213)).