Chat, in plain English

Talk where you work: squad teams message inside their workspace today, and a dedicated direct-message inbox is on the way. There is no public chat room and no stranger discovery — every thread is limited to its participants.

What exists today

Encrypted team messaging inside squad workspaces at /squads — teammates coordinate next to their code projects.
Global notification dropdown (planned per the blueprint, not yet live): subscribed to new events with categories and an unread badge.

Planned: direct 1-on-1 chat (/chat)

The remastery blueprint adds a private messaging portal at /chat for direct messages between squad co-developers and clan members, plus squad threading. Status: planned — the route does not exist yet. Planned behavior:

Threads: 1-on-1 or small group threads with a title; only participants can read or post.
Realtime delivery: new messages arrive live; read receipts track each participant's last-read time.
Attachments: message attachments ride along as structured data, never executable content.
Notifications tie-in: a new direct message raises a chat-category notification with an unread badge.

Data shapes (planned schema)

Table	What it holds
chat_threads	id, created_by, title, is_group, timestamps.
chat_participants	thread_id + user_id, last_read_at.
chat_messages	thread_id, sender_user_id, content, attachments, created_at.
notifications	user_id, category (squad \| game \| chat \| compute \| system), title, message, action_url, metadata, is_read.

Privacy rule (planned RLS): you only ever see threads you participate in, and only your own notifications.

Worked example: first squad thread

Create the squad first. Chat threads never float free: every thread belongs to a squad workspace at /squads. Invite the two or three collaborators who need the thread before typing anything.
Open team messaging beside the work. Post the question next to the code project it concerns, for example sprint scope or a failing build, so context stays attached to the thread instead of scattered across tools.
Watch the notification path. Each post raises a chat-category notification for the other participants with an unread badge. The bell clears only when each person opens the thread, which doubles as a read receipt.
Attach data, never executables. Screenshots, repro steps, and structured payloads ride along as inert attachments. Review the privacy and safety rules before pasting logs that might contain secrets.

Notification categories

Chat is one of five notification categories. Knowing all five helps you triage the bell instead of treating every ping as urgent.

Category	Fires when	Lands where
squad	Invites, role changes, pooled balance moves.	Bell plus squad workspace feed.
game	Build verdicts, playtest results, heal completions.	Bell plus the game page.
chat	New direct or thread message from a collaborator.	Bell plus the thread itself.
compute	Pod state changes, quota warnings, escrow events.	Bell plus the compute dashboard.
system	Migrations, policy updates, scheduled maintenance.	Bell only, newest first.

Full bell behavior, including polling fallback when realtime drops, is documented in notifications plus chat.

Troubleshooting

No badge after a teammate posts: confirm you are a participant on that thread, then refresh. Privacy rules mean non-participants never see the thread or its badge, by design.
Messages arrive late: the client falls back to periodic refresh when the realtime channel drops. Nothing typed is lost; the next poll delivers the backlog and the badge catches up.
Cannot find the /chat inbox: expected, since direct 1-on-1 chat is planned and the route does not exist yet. Coordinate inside squad workspaces at /squads until the inbox ships.
Attachment rejected: strip executables and re-send as plain text or images. Attachments are structured data only, never runnable content.

Safety notes

Chat is for people you already work with: squads and clans are invite-only.
Never share passwords, API keys, or payment details in chat. Docs pages never show secrets either.
See privacy and safety for reporting and blocking.

FAQ

Is there a public lobby? No. Every thread is limited to its participants, and squads are invite-only. Stranger discovery does not exist in Wave 1.
Who can read my thread? Only its participants, enforced by planned row policies on threads, participants, and messages. Notifications follow the same rule: you see only your own.
Can I bill chat time? Yes, indirectly: track the session in the time tracker and convert it into the invoicing suite. Chat itself carries no coin charges.
What stays out of chat? Passwords, API keys, and payment details. Docs pages never show secrets either, and pasting one into chat puts it in front of every participant permanently.

Chat is for people you already work with — squads and clans are invite-only.
Never share passwords, API keys, or payment details in chat. Docs pages never show secrets either.
See privacy & safety for reporting and blocking.

Next: Squad workspaces · Invoicing & trash · All docs

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4weird.com/docs/remastery/chat · Wave 1