fix(desktop): keep the old notification rule with the flag off, and announce only the user's own chats

- Every existing notification is held back whenever the window is focused,
  as before. Only a background chat's completion, now marked as such, is
  shown when the focused window is somewhere else. With the flag off, a
  flag-off user watching the workflow panel is no longer told about the
  chat they are looking at. The settings label is back to its original
  wording.
- Workspace chat events carry every member's chats. A completion is now
  announced only for a chat this user's own desktop was running, so a
  teammate's finished chat raises nothing.
- The sidebar's activity reads get their own rate-limit bucket, so polling
  tabs can never spend the tokens a device needs to renew its leases.
- An offline desktop's chat now says it is waiting for the device to come
  back, not that it is blocked.
- The rule for which turns bind to a desktop is a named function, tested on
  its outcome.

Author: waleedlatif1

apps/desktop/src/main/desktop-settings.test.ts

@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ describe('desktop notifications in the default "background only" mode', () => {
       title: 'Fix CI',
       body: 'Sim finished responding.',
       route: BACKGROUND_CHAT,
+      background: true,
     })
 
     expect(shown).toBe(true)
@@ -60,6 +61,7 @@ describe('desktop notifications in the default "background only" mode', () => {
       title: 'Fix CI',
       body: 'Sim finished responding.',
       route: BACKGROUND_CHAT,
+      background: true,
     })
 
     expect(shown).toBe(false)
@@ -74,4 +76,16 @@ describe('desktop notifications in the default "background only" mode', () => {
 
     expect(shown).toBe(false)
   })
+
+  it('holds back an ordinary notification whenever the window is focused, wherever it is', () => {
+    // The workflow panel's chat completes while the user watches it on the workflow page.
+    const shown = service({ url: 'https://sim.ai/workspace/ws-1/w/wf-1', focused: true }).notify({
+      title: 'Task complete',
+      body: 'Sim finished responding.',
+      route: BACKGROUND_CHAT,
+    })
+
+    expect(shown).toBe(false)
+    expect(Notification.instances).toHaveLength(0)
+  })
 })

apps/desktop/src/main/desktop-settings.ts

@@ -218,10 +218,12 @@ export function createDesktopSettingsService(
         return false
       }
       const window = deps.getMainWindow()
+      // A focused window holds back every notification, as it always has. Only a background
+      // chat's completion is shown anyway when the focused window is somewhere else.
       if (
         preferences.notificationsOnlyWhenUnfocused &&
         window?.isFocused() &&
-        showsRoute(window, payload.route)
+        (!payload.background || showsRoute(window, payload.route))
       ) {
         return false
       }

apps/desktop/src/main/ipc.ts

@@ -304,10 +304,11 @@ export function parseDesktopNotificationPayload(raw: unknown): DesktopNotificati
   if (typeof raw !== 'object' || raw === null) {
     return null
   }
-  const { title, body, route } = raw as {
+  const { title, body, route, background } = raw as {
     title?: unknown
     body?: unknown
     route?: unknown
+    background?: unknown
   }
   if (
     typeof title !== 'string' ||
@@ -322,7 +323,12 @@ export function parseDesktopNotificationPayload(raw: unknown): DesktopNotificati
   if (route !== undefined && (typeof route !== 'string' || !isSafeInternalPath(route))) {
     return null
   }
-  return { title, body, ...(route !== undefined ? { route } : {}) }
+  return {
+    title,
+    body,
+    ...(route !== undefined ? { route } : {}),
+    ...(background === true ? { background: true } : {}),
+  }
 }
 
 export interface IpcDeps {

apps/sim/app/api/desktop/activity/route.ts

@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 import { listDesktopActivityContract } from '@/lib/api/contracts/desktop-executor'
 import { defineInternalJsonRoute, internalSessionAuth } from '@/lib/api/server/routes'
 import {
+  desktopActivityRateLimit,
   desktopExecutorErrorPolicy,
-  desktopExecutorRateLimit,
 } from '@/lib/api/server/routes/desktop-executor'
 import { listDesktopActivity } from '@/lib/desktop/application/activity'
 
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ export const GET = defineInternalJsonRoute({
   contract: listDesktopActivityContract,
   auth: internalSessionAuth,
   operation: listDesktopActivity.operation,
-  rateLimit: desktopExecutorRateLimit,
+  rateLimit: desktopActivityRateLimit,
   errorPolicy: desktopExecutorErrorPolicy,
   mapInput: ({ query }) => ({ workspaceId: query.workspaceId }),
   useCase: listDesktopActivity,

apps/sim/app/workspace/[workspaceId]/settings/components/desktop/desktop.tsx

@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ export function Desktop() {
           />
           <PreferenceRow
             id='desktop-notifications-unfocused'
-            label='Notify only for chats in the background'
+            label="Notify only when Sim isn't focused"
             checked={preferences.notificationsOnlyWhenUnfocused}
             disabled={notificationsDisabled || pendingPreference !== null}
             onCheckedChange={(checked) =>

apps/sim/app/workspace/[workspaceId]/w/components/sidebar/sidebar.tsx

@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ const DESKTOP_ACTIVITY_COLOR: Record<DesktopChatActivity['state'], string> = {
 
 function desktopActivityLabel({ state, deviceName }: DesktopChatActivity): string {
   if (state === 'needs_input') return 'Needs input'
-  if (state === 'blocked') return `Blocked: ${deviceName} is offline`
+  if (state === 'blocked') return `Waiting for ${deviceName} to come back online`
   return `Running on ${deviceName}`
 }
 

apps/sim/hooks/use-mothership-chat-events.test.ts

@@ -302,7 +302,9 @@ describe('reflectBackgroundChatStatus', () => {
     queryClient.setQueryData(mothershipChatKeys.ownerList('ws-1'), [
       { id: 'chat-b', name: 'Fix CI' },
     ])
-    queryClient.setQueryData(desktopActivityKeys.list('ws-1'), [])
+    queryClient.setQueryData(desktopActivityKeys.list('ws-1'), [
+      { chatId: 'chat-b', state: 'running', deviceName: 'Studio Mac' },
+    ])
   }
 
   const activityStale = () =>
@@ -316,7 +318,12 @@ describe('reflectBackgroundChatStatus', () => {
     reflectBackgroundChatStatus(queryClient, 'ws-1', completed, true)
 
     expect(shown).toEqual([
-      { title: 'Fix CI', body: 'Sim finished responding.', route: '/workspace/ws-1/chat/chat-b' },
+      {
+        title: 'Fix CI',
+        body: 'Sim finished responding.',
+        route: '/workspace/ws-1/chat/chat-b',
+        background: true,
+      },
     ])
   })
 
@@ -374,4 +381,17 @@ describe('reflectBackgroundChatStatus', () => {
 
     expect(activityStale()).toBe(false)
   })
+
+  it("never announces a teammate's chat that finished in the same workspace", () => {
+    showing('/workspace/ws-1/chat/chat-c')
+
+    reflectBackgroundChatStatus(
+      queryClient,
+      'ws-1',
+      JSON.stringify({ chatId: 'teammate-chat', type: 'completed', streamId: 's-9' }),
+      true
+    )
+
+    expect(shown).toEqual([])
+  })
 })

apps/sim/hooks/use-mothership-chat-events.ts

@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import { createLogger } from '@sim/logger'
 import { getErrorMessage } from '@sim/utils/errors'
 import type { QueryClient } from '@tanstack/react-query'
 import { useQueryClient } from '@tanstack/react-query'
+import type { DesktopChatActivity } from '@/lib/api/contracts/desktop-executor'
 import { getDesktopBridge } from '@/lib/desktop'
 import { suspendDesktopChatScopes } from '@/lib/desktop/chat-scope'
 import { createRotatingEventSource } from '@/lib/events/rotating-event-source'
@@ -189,8 +190,8 @@ function chatRoute(owner: MothershipChatOwner, chatId: string): string {
 
 /**
  * Reflects a turn starting or ending in the chats that run in the background: the desktop
- * activity list changes and, with `announceCompletions`, a chat the user is not looking at that
- * finished its turn is announced. The desktop app decides whether to show that notification
+ * activity list changes and, with `announceCompletions`, a chat of the user's own that their
+ * desktop was running and that they are not looking at is announced when its turn finishes. The desktop app decides whether to show that notification
  * (notifications on, the chat not on screen in the focused window); the chat on screen announces
  * its own completion.
  */
@@ -202,8 +203,18 @@ export function reflectBackgroundChatStatus(
 ): void {
   const payload = parseChatStatusEventPayload(data)
   if (payload?.type !== 'started' && payload?.type !== 'completed') return
+  // Read before the refresh below drops it. The events carry every member's chats in the
+  // workspace; only one this user's own desktop was running is theirs to be told about.
+  const ranOnDesktop =
+    typeof owner === 'string' &&
+    Boolean(
+      queryClient
+        .getQueryData<DesktopChatActivity[]>(desktopActivityKeys.list(owner))
+        ?.some((activity) => activity.chatId === payload.chatId)
+    )
   queryClient.invalidateQueries({ queryKey: desktopActivityKeys.lists() })
   if (!announceCompletions || payload.type !== 'completed' || !payload.chatId) return
+  if (!ranOnDesktop) return
   const settings = getDesktopBridge()?.settings
   if (!settings) return
   const route = chatRoute(owner, payload.chatId)
@@ -213,7 +224,12 @@ export function reflectBackgroundChatStatus(
   )
   const name = chats?.find((chat) => chat.id === payload.chatId)?.name
   void settings
-    .notify({ title: name ?? 'Task complete', body: 'Sim finished responding.', route })
+    .notify({
+      title: name ?? 'Task complete',
+      body: 'Sim finished responding.',
+      route,
+      background: true,
+    })
     .catch((error) =>
       logger.warn('Could not show a chat completion notification', {
         error: getErrorMessage(error),

apps/sim/lib/api/server/routes/desktop-executor.ts

@@ -34,3 +34,12 @@ export const desktopExecutorRateLimit = internalRateLimits.user({
   bucketName: 'desktop-executor',
   config: { maxTokens: 600, refillRate: 10, refillIntervalMs: 1_000 },
 })
+
+/**
+ * The sidebar's desktop activity reads, in a bucket of their own: however many tabs poll it, they
+ * can never spend the tokens a device needs to renew its leases.
+ */
+export const desktopActivityRateLimit = internalRateLimits.user({
+  bucketName: 'desktop-activity',
+  config: { maxTokens: 120, refillRate: 2, refillIntervalMs: 1_000 },
+})

apps/sim/lib/desktop/application/activity.ts

@@ -11,7 +11,8 @@ const logger = createLogger('DesktopActivity')
 /**
  * - `running`: the desktop is working on the chat's turn.
  * - `needs_input`: the turn waits on the user: an approval, a terminal handoff, a browser takeover.
- * - `blocked`: the desktop the turn runs on is offline, so its desktop calls cannot start.
+ * - `blocked`: the desktop the turn runs on is offline; its desktop calls fail as not run until it
+ *   returns, while the rest of the turn carries on.
  */
 type DesktopChatActivityState = 'running' | 'needs_input' | 'blocked'
 
@@ -35,7 +36,8 @@ async function readPresence(deviceId: string): Promise<boolean> {
 /**
  * Which of the caller's chats in a workspace are running on one of their desktops, and in what
  * state. Lists only the caller's own runs, never their content, so it needs no workspace role.
- * Runs already bound keep showing after the executor is turned off, until they end.
+ * The endpoint is not flag-gated (runs already bound are listed until they end); the sidebar asks
+ * only while the background executor is on for the user.
  */
 export const listDesktopActivity = defineAuthorizedCredentialUserUseCase({
   // permission-group-exempt: reports only the caller's own runs, with no content.