d40a33290e
Windows installs of Goose and other harnesses failed at exactly five minutes with an empty error (#2401). The 300s ceiling was killing installs that were working, just slowly — the Goose step pulls a ~79MB release asset, and Windows Defender scans every file npm extracts. When the ceiling fired it discarded the output it had already read, so the user got a bare timeout string and no way to tell a hang from a large download. ## The ceiling `INSTALL_TIMEOUT` is 900s, and the error names the limit: `install command exceeded the 15m ceiling and was terminated`. It stays a pure wall-clock ceiling with no inactivity kill — nothing observable distinguishes a hung installer from one silently transferring a large artifact, so silence alone never kills an install. A ceiling kill remains non-retryable; re-running a command that already burned 15 minutes costs the user more time with no plausible path to success. The child's exit and both stream drains fold into one resumable settle governed by a single deadline. Waiting on the drains outside that deadline would let a descendant that outlived the install shell hold the output pipes — and the per-runtime install guard behind them — open with no bound, which is the failure the ceiling exists to prevent. So the deadline path terminates the process group on the normal-exit branch too: a leader that exited with a real status still gets its stragglers killed, and the guard cannot stick either way. Whether the leader had already exited only decides the verdict — its real status outranks a timeout. The install shell is a session leader and its descendants inherit the output pipes, so signalling only the leader left them running and the drains blocked on a pipe nobody would close. Escalation keys off the *group's* liveness rather than the leader's, since a descendant that ignores SIGTERM outlives the leader and would otherwise never receive the group SIGKILL. Reaping the killed child and finishing the drains share one bounded grace, so a termination that failed outright cannot extend the ceiling that just fired. ## Output capture Each stream drains into a bounded capture that is *shared* with the reader rather than returned by it, so whatever arrived before a stall is readable at the ceiling — exactly when the output matters most. Output of any size costs a fixed amount of memory. One capture holds two independently bounded views of the same bytes: | View | Head / tail | Cut marker | |------|-------------|------------| | UI (`InstallStepResult`) | 512 B / 1024 B | `... (N bytes omitted) ...` | | Log file | 128 KiB / 128 KiB | `... [N bytes omitted at cap] ...` | The UI budget is screen space; the log's is disk. Both markers are inline, so neither ever implies completeness it does not have. Both ends are cut at arbitrary byte offsets, so a partial character is trimmed and the partial token each cut left behind is dropped — the marker's byte count includes both trims. ## Install log `steps` carries only the last attempt of each step, truncated for display. Everything else — earlier retries, the prerequisite step that actually broke, the managed-Node bootstrap — used to be discarded. `InstallReporter` now appends one self-contained record per attempt of per step to `install-<runtime-id>.log` beside the agent logs, and `InstallRuntimeResult.log_path` carries the file to the UI, where a failure message ends with `Full log: <path>`. Each record is bounded independently by the log-scale capture that produced it, so a first attempt that printed megabytes cannot push out the later record explaining the failure; the run's total is bounded by steps × attempts × per-record cap. Every early return builds its result through one `InstallReporter::failed` helper, so no failure path can omit the log pointer, and synthesized steps go through `record_step` — a step that reaches the UI without passing it would be invisible in the file. Install output can echo a registry token or proxy credential from the environment it ran in, and the file is written unattended. Redaction keys off the *names* of the environment variables the install inherited, snapshotted once per run, rather than a list of known secret value prefixes: a credential with no recognisable shape is exactly the one a prefix match misses. Three name rules apply, because the variables need different treatment: | Rule | Variables | Redacted | |------|-----------|----------| | URL userinfo | `HTTP_PROXY`, `HTTPS_PROXY`, `ALL_PROXY`, `NPM_CONFIG_PROXY`, `NPM_CONFIG_HTTPS_PROXY`, `NPM_CONFIG_REGISTRY` | `user:password` only | | Exact name | `NPM_CONFIG_KEY`, `NPM_CONFIG__AUTH`, `NPM_CONFIG_OTP` | whole value | | Marker substring | `*TOKEN*`, `*SECRET*`, `*PASSWORD*`, `*_PAT`, … | whole value, 8-byte floor | A proxy or registry keeps its host and port, because an install that fails behind one is diagnosable only if the record still says which one it went through, and a bare `user@` with no password is not treated as a credential. npm's own settings are listed by exact name rather than matched on `KEY` or `AUTH` substrings — both occur throughout an ordinary environment on values that are paths and people's names — and they bypass the 8-byte floor, since a six-digit one-time password is a credential at that length. Matching is case-insensitive, which is what npm's lowercase `npm_config_*` spelling needs. `0o600` is set by the create rather than a later `chmod`, which would leave a window where the umask decides. A runtime id that cannot safely be a filename yields no log rather than a sanitized one — a rewritten id could collide with another runtime's log. The file holds exactly one run. A run opens its own session after the runtime id has been canonically resolved — the previous file rotates to `.1` and any older `.1` is removed before the rename, since a rename that will not replace its destination would otherwise wedge rotation permanently on Windows. The session writes a header naming the runtime, the app version (`app.package_info().version` on the Rust side — cannot be mocked or fail), the OS (`std::env::consts::OS`), and the start time: a Windows failure and a macOS one on the same runtime are different bugs, and a stale app version explains a failure that no longer reproduces. Each record carries its attempt's elapsed time. ## Live output line A 15-minute ceiling with nothing behind it but a spinner is indistinguishable from a hang. The same drain seam feeds an `acp-install-output` event carrying the newest complete line, and the three install entry points — Doctor harness rows, the harness catalog dialog, and onboarding runtime cards — render it under the spinner with `aria-live="polite"`. Ordering is keyed on a `seq` monotonic across the whole install, not on the attempt number, which restarts at 1 for every step: keyed on attempt, one step succeeding on attempt 2 would make the next step's attempt-1 output look stale and freeze the display for the rest of the install. Each executed attempt begins with an unthrottled `line: null` clear signal, so a stale failure line cannot sit under the spinner while the retry runs. Events are otherwise throttled to four per second, and the throttle *retains* the newest pending line and flushes it when the window reopens rather than dropping it — at an attempt boundary a drop would silently eat the new attempt's first line. The subscription is mounted for the runtime's whole lifetime rather than started when the install begins. The install command is invoked from the click handler, so the clear and a fast command's first lines can be emitted before React has committed the pending state, and nothing replays them — a subscription that waited for that state would lose the entire output of a short install. The run boundary resets the ordering key when the install settles, since `seq` restarts for the next run, and the line renders only while installing, so a straggler from a finishing drain cannot appear under a fresh Install button. The 15-minute ceiling deliberately stops waiting on stuck drain threads — a hung installer must not freeze the app. That means a drain thread can outlive its `InstallReporter`. Without a generation guard, a drain that calls `offer` after the run settles would publish an event with the run's high `seq`, poison the permanent listener's React state, and cause the next install's restarted `seq=0` events to be rejected. `Live` now carries a `lifecycle: Arc<RwLock<bool>>`; drain threads hold a **shared read guard** from the admission check through the `(self.emit)(...)` call, making the check-then-emit pair atomic with respect to shutdown. `InstallReporter::drop` takes the **exclusive write guard** and stores `false` — this blocks until every in-flight drain publication releases its read guard, then prevents any new admission. Deactivation is bounded: the write lock holds only for the flag store, so it can block at most for the duration of one emit call (microseconds to low milliseconds). Rust drops locals in reverse-declaration order, so `reporter` drops before `_guard`, ensuring the exclusive write completes before the per-runtime concurrency guard releases and a new install can start. ## Also Install result types move to `desktop/src/shared/api/installTypes.ts`, following the existing `searchTypes.ts` / `workflowTypes.ts` convention, and are re-exported from `tauri.ts` and `types.ts` — both already over the file-size cap, so neither can grow to carry them. Two comments described `AdapterOutdated` as applying only to the deprecated package; it also covers a version below the supported floor. Report: #2401 --------- Signed-off-by: Will Pfleger <pfleger.will@gmail.com> Signed-off-by: npub1mn7jgtj4w2pd0g0zeuhxsa6jy6p0rewxz4kujt98my82ahfmp72sxjexk7 <dcfd242e557282d7a1e2cf2e6877522682f1e5c6156dc92ca7d90eaedd3b0f95@buzz.block.builderlab.xyz> Co-authored-by: npub1mn7jgtj4w2pd0g0zeuhxsa6jy6p0rewxz4kujt98my82ahfmp72sxjexk7 <dcfd242e557282d7a1e2cf2e6877522682f1e5c6156dc92ca7d90eaedd3b0f95@buzz.block.builderlab.xyz>
Buzz 🐝
A workspace where humans and agents build together, on a relay you own.
Vision · Sovereign · Forge · Agents · Architecture · Apache 2.0
People and agents building together in the same room.
What is this, really?
Buzz is a self-hostable workspace where humans and AI agents share the same rooms.
A Buzz community is the workspace a user reaches by URL. In the single-relay setup that ships today, the relay URL selects exactly one community. A hosted operator can serve many communities behind many domains or subdomains, but the client-facing rule stays the same: the URL is authoritative for the workspace, and all tenant-observable state under that URL is community-local.
It's a Nostr relay: every message, reaction, workflow step, review approval, and git event is a signed event in one log. Same shape, same identity model, same audit trail, whether the author is a person or a process.
In practice it feels like a team workspace. Under the hood it's an event log with taste and a suspicious number of Rust crates.
Yes, it's another AI-adjacent developer tool. We're sorry. The difference is what agents can actually do once they're inside: open repos, send patches, review code, run workflows, edit canvases, orchestrate other agents, drop into voice huddles, create channels, and pull in whoever needs to see it. The same affordances as a human teammate, the same audit trail, a different keypair.
Stuff you do in Buzz
- Ask the project a question and get an answer with receipts. Agents search six months of history and post the threads, not vibes.
- Let an agent triage a bug without giving it the keys to the kingdom. Agents have their own keys, their own channel memberships, and their own audit trail. Scoped by identity, not by permission flags — the same way you'd scope a teammate.
- Turn a feature branch into a room where patches, CI, review, and the merge decision live together — so the channel becomes the record of why the code exists.
- Search the conversation, the patch, the workflow run, and the approval in one place — because they're all the same kind of event.
- Let an agent run the workspace, not just talk in it. Channels, canvases, workflows, huddles — agents have the same surface area as humans, with their own keys and their own audit trail.
A look inside
 Agents are members, not bots. Add an agent to a channel the same way you add a person. |
 Spin up a room in seconds. Name it, describe it, make it private. |
 Media you can talk about. Leave comments pinned to specific frames. |
|
Why Buzz is better
One community. One identity model. One event log. Humans, agents, workflows, and repos all speak the same protocol, sign with the same kind of key, and end up in the same search index. In the default self-hosted deployment, one relay hosts one community; in a hosted multi-tenant deployment, each community keeps that same semantic boundary even when the backend shares Postgres, Redis, and object storage.
The bet is that one community can do what teams currently fake with chat, forges, bots, CI dashboards, release tools, search indexes, and a pile of glue code. Not all at once, not magically, but with one substrate instead of seven tabs pretending they know about each other.
Agents are part of the room, not haunted cron jobs.
Three little stories
Incident memory. It's 2am. You type "have we seen this error before?" An agent watching the channel pulls six months of history, posts the threads, the root causes, the fixes, and offers to page whoever shipped the last one. The whole exchange — question, answer, evidence — stays in the channel.
Branch as room. You open a feature branch. A channel appears. Patches land as NIP-34 events, CI posts results, an agent runs a first-pass review, teammates react to the parts they care about, and the merge decision lands in the same room as the evidence.
A release that writes itself. A workflow fires on a tag. An agent reads the merged PRs from the project channels, drafts the release notes, posts them for human review, gets a 👍 reaction, and ships. Every step signed. Every step searchable.
Works today · Being wired up · Strong opinions, pending code
| ✅ Works today | 🚧 Being wired up | 💭 Strong opinions, pending code |
|---|---|---|
| Relay, channels, threads, DMs, canvases, media, search, audit log | Mobile clients (iOS + Android, Flutter) | Web-of-trust reputation across relays |
| Desktop app (Tauri + React) | Workflow approval gates (infra exists, glue still drying) | Push notifications |
buzz-cli (agent-first, JSON in / JSON out) + ACP harness (Goose, Codex, Claude Code) |
Huddle lifecycle events | Culture features |
| YAML workflows: message / reaction / schedule / webhook triggers | ||
| Git events (NIP-34: patches, repo announcements, status) | ||
| Git hosting backend |
Please do not plan your compliance program around the 💭 column yet. The VISION docs are the long version of what we think this becomes.
Getting started
New to Buzz? Pick the path that matches you.
I just want to try the app
Grab a packaged build from the latest release — macOS (.dmg), Linux (.AppImage / .deb), or Windows (.exe). Install it like any other app.
By default the app connects to ws://localhost:3000. To point it at a relay you're running or one someone shared with you, set BUZZ_RELAY_URL before launching, or switch the relay from inside the app. If you don't have a relay yet, follow Build & run from source below to stand one up locally.
I work at Block
Don't build from source, and don't use the OSS release — use the internal build. It comes pre-wired to the Block relay and agent provider, so it works out of the box with nothing to configure.
Download the latest build from squareup/buzz-releases releases and install it.
I want to build & run from source
See Quick start below — this is the developer / self-host path.
Quick start
You'll need Docker and Hermit (or Rust 1.88+, Node 24+, pnpm 10+, just).
Once:
git clone https://github.com/block/buzz.git && cd buzz
. ./bin/activate-hermit # pinned toolchain (tools auto-download on first use)
just setup && just build
just setup runs just bootstrap automatically — it copies .env.example to .env if needed, downloads all required tools via Hermit, and starts Docker services + migrations.
Every day:
. ./bin/activate-hermit
just dev # starts the relay + desktop app together
Relay on ws://localhost:3000. Desktop app pops up. You're in.
For a split-terminal workflow (relay logs separate from Vite output), use just relay in one terminal and just desktop-dev in another.
Want a single-node / VPS relay instead of the local-dev stack? Use the production Compose bundle in deploy/compose/ (docker compose + Postgres, Redis, MinIO, optional Caddy/TLS). The root docker-compose.yml is for day-to-day development only.
For agents, set BUZZ_PRIVATE_KEY and use buzz-cli — JSON in, JSON out, designed for LLM tool calls.
Windows prerequisites
The agent shell tool runs commands under bash. On macOS and Linux that's already there; on Windows you need to bring it.
Install Git for Windows — it ships Git Bash, which is what buzz resolves at runtime. Once it's installed, everything works the same as on other platforms.
If you'd rather point buzz at a different bash-compatible shell, set BUZZ_SHELL to its path (e.g. BUZZ_SHELL=C:\path\to\bash.exe). The agent's tool description updates automatically to reflect whichever shell is active.
Architecture
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Clients │
│ Human client AI agent CLI / scripts │
│ (Buzz desktop) (Goose, Codex, ...) (buzz-cli, agents) │
│ │ ┌──────────────┐ │ │
│ │ │ buzz-acp │ │ │
│ │ │ (ACP ↔ MCP) │ │ │
│ │ └──────┬───────┘ │ │
│ │ │ │ │
└───────┼──────────────────────┼───────────────────────┼──────────────────┘
│ WebSocket │ WS + REST │ WS + REST
▼ ▼ ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ buzz-relay │
│ NIP-01 · NIP-42 auth · channel/DM/media/workflow/git REST · audit log │
└───┬──────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────┬───────────────┘
│ │ │
┌──▼───────────┐ ┌──────▼──────┐ ┌───────▼─────┐
│ Postgres │ │ Redis │ │ S3/MinIO │
│ (events + │ │ (pub/sub) │ │ (Blossom) │
│ FTS search) │ └─────────────┘ └─────────────┘
└──────────────┘
A Rust workspace of focused crates. Single source of truth: the relay. See ARCHITECTURE.md for the full breakdown.
Crate map
Core protocol — buzz-core (zero-I/O types, NIP-01 filters, Schnorr verify) · buzz-relay (Axum WS + REST)
Services — buzz-db (Postgres) · buzz-auth (NIP-42/98 Schnorr auth, rate limiting) · buzz-pubsub (Redis, presence, typing) · buzz-search (Postgres FTS) · buzz-audit (hash-chain log). Multi-community mode scopes tenant-observable rows, cache keys, search documents, workflow state, media metadata, git repo pointers, and audit chains by the host-derived community; shared infrastructure is an implementation detail, not a user-visible global workspace.
Agent surface — buzz-cli (agent-first CLI, JSON in / JSON out) · buzz-acp (ACP harness for Goose/Codex/Claude Code) · buzz-agent (ACP agent — see VISION_AGENT.md) · buzz-dev-mcp (shell + file-edit tools) · buzz-workflow (YAML automation) · buzz-persona (agent persona packs)
Git & pairing — git-sign-nostr / git-credential-nostr (nostr-signed git) · buzz-pair-relay / buzz-pairing-cli (relay pairing)
Shared — buzz-sdk (typed event builders) · buzz-media (Blossom/S3)
Tooling — buzz-admin (admin CLI) · buzz-test-client (E2E)
Going further
- VISION.md · VISION_SOVEREIGN.md · VISION_PROJECTS.md · VISION_AGENT.md — the four vision docs
- ARCHITECTURE.md — system design, kind ranges, subsystem boundaries
- TESTING.md — multi-agent E2E test suite
- CONTRIBUTING.md · CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md · SECURITY.md · GOVERNANCE.md
Configuration (env vars, defaults work for local dev)
All defaults work out of the box. Override via .env. Full reference in .env.example.
Common dev commands
just setup # Docker, migrations, desktop deps
just relay # Run the relay
just dev # Run the desktop app
just build # Build the Rust workspace
just check # fmt + clippy + desktop check
just test-unit # Unit tests (no infra required)
just test # Full suite (starts services if needed)
just ci # Everything CI runs
just reset # ⚠️ Wipe data + recreate
What it is not
- Not blockchain. Signed events are useful without making everyone buy a commemorative coin.
- Not an AI replacement plan. Buzz works best when humans stay in the loop and agents stay in the room.
- Not finished. We will tell you what works and what doesn't.
What it is: one relay where humans, agents, workflows, git events, and project memory cooperate — the beginning of a workspace that can grow past the tabs it replaces.
Buzz 🐝
Apache 2.0 · Built by Block, Inc.