feat: auto-archive inactive chats with audit trail by johnstcn · Pull Request #24642 · coder/coder

johnstcn · 2026-04-22T20:00:45Z

Adds a background job in dbpurge that periodically archives chats inactive beyond a configurable threshold. Each archived root chat gets a background audit entry tagged chat_auto_archive. Disabled by default.

New AutoArchiveInactiveChats SQL query with LATERAL last-activity subquery and partial index on archive candidates
site_configs-backed auto_archive_days setting with admin-only PUT, any-authenticated-user GET
Cascade archive via root_chat_id; pinned chats and active threads exempt
Root-only audit dispatch on detached context, matching manual archive (patchChat) behavior
11 subtests covering disabled no-op, boundary, deleted messages, child activity, pinned exemption, multi-owner, idempotency, and batch pagination

Stacked PR #24643 adds per-owner digest notifications.
Stacked PR #24704 adds the requisite UI controls.

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github-actions · 2026-04-22T20:00:55Z

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johnstcn

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Clean implementation. The batch-paginated archive loop, the family-activity LATERAL subquery, and the status-aware filtering are well thought through. Test coverage is thorough: 8 subtests covering disabled state, active/inactive, child-activity propagation, status filtering, pinned exemptions, multi-owner audits, idempotency, and batch pagination.

5 reviewers (Test Auditor, Database, Go Architect, Edge Case Analyst, Contract Auditor) ran in parallel. After cross-checking for contradictions and weak evidence, 1 nit survived. Most flagged concerns (authz asymmetry on GetChatAutoArchiveDays, audit coupling in dbpurge, nil-deref on auditor load) are consistent with established codebase patterns (GetChatRetentionDays, autobuild.NewExecutor, ActivateDormantUser).

johnstcn · 2026-04-23T08:24:07Z

/coder-agents-review

Layers per-owner digest notifications onto the chat auto-archive subsystem introduced in #24642. Each tick's archived rows are grouped by owner, the top 25 titles per owner are rendered into a new 'Chats Auto-Archived' notification template, and any remainder surfaces as 'and N more'. Duplicate same-day digests collapse via the notifier's existing dedupe hash. The template body branches on retention_days: when retention is disabled (retention_days=0), users are told archived chats are kept indefinitely rather than falsely claiming imminent deletion. Adds one test subtest for the digest overflow cap, plus digest assertions to the existing archive subtests from #24642. Two notification test fixtures (standard and retention-zero) lock the two template branches into goldens. Depends on #24642. Migration 000476 adds the notification template row; 000475 (in the core PR) already created the candidate index.

coder-agents-review

Well-structured PR. The LATERAL family-activity subquery, partial index targeting, and batch-limited purge loop are solid. Test coverage is thorough: 6 subtests with a real Postgres backend, deterministic multi-tick control via quartz.Mock, and proportional batch-size testing. The decision log in the PR description is exemplary.

3 P2, 10 P3, 1 Nit, 2 Notes. 16 reviewers ran in parallel; Ging-Go and Takumi reported no findings (Go idioms and concurrency are clean).

The dominant theme is that the cascade step (c.root_chat_id = t.id) applies no per-child filtering for status or pin_order, creating a gap between the documentation's unqualified guarantees ("Chats whose status indicates ongoing work are never auto-archived", "Pinned conversations are never auto-archived") and the actual behavior. The same cascade shape exists in manual ArchiveChatByID, so this is a consistent convention, not a regression. The simplest fix is likely scoping the doc language to root chats rather than adding complexity to the cascade.

This is a first-round panel review. Findings are the panel's output, not a request for changes.

"Shall I show you? ♥" (Hisoka, on what happens to the audit trail under load)

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johnstcn · 2026-04-23T16:46:08Z

/coder-agents-review

coder-agents-review

Round 2. 12 of 16 R1 findings addressed, 3 acknowledged, 1 contested (DEREM-16 closed by panel vote, 4/4).

All three P2s are fixed: docs scoped to root chats (DEREM-1, DEREM-4), dispatch timeout removed with children skipped from audit (DEREM-2), non-existent Behavior tab reference replaced with API instructions (DEREM-3). The ORDER BY now matches the partial index (DEREM-5). Test coverage expanded with boundary, deleted-message, and all-four-status tests (DEREM-7/8/9). GET auth aligned with retention (DEREM-10).

The DEREM-2 fix (audit roots only, skip children) introduced a doc/code mismatch in the audit section. Two stale comments survived the DEREM-10 fix. 2 P3, 2 Nit new.

"Oh, this is a nice test suite!" (Bisky, on the 10-subtest harness)

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Layers per-owner digest notifications onto the chat auto-archive subsystem introduced in #24642. Each tick's archived rows are grouped by owner, the top 25 titles per owner are rendered into a new 'Chats Auto-Archived' notification template, and any remainder surfaces as 'and N more'. Duplicate same-day digests collapse via the notifier's existing dedupe hash. The template body branches on retention_days: when retention is disabled (retention_days=0), users are told archived chats are kept indefinitely rather than falsely claiming imminent deletion. Adds one test subtest for the digest overflow cap, plus digest assertions to the existing archive subtests from #24642. Two notification test fixtures (standard and retention-zero) lock the two template branches into goldens. Depends on #24642. Migration 000476 adds the notification template row; 000475 (in the core PR) already created the candidate index.

feat(coderd): chat auto-archive owner digest notifications Layers per-owner digest notifications onto the chat auto-archive subsystem introduced in #24642. Each tick's archived rows are grouped by owner, the top 25 titles per owner are rendered into a new 'Chats Auto-Archived' notification template, and any remainder surfaces as 'and N more'. Duplicate same-day digests collapse via the notifier's existing dedupe hash. The template body branches on retention_days: when retention is disabled (retention_days=0), users are told archived chats are kept indefinitely rather than falsely claiming imminent deletion. Adds one test subtest for the digest overflow cap, plus digest assertions to the existing archive subtests from #24642. Two notification test fixtures (standard and retention-zero) lock the two template branches into goldens. Depends on #24642. Migration 000476 adds the notification template row; 000475 (in the core PR) already created the candidate index.

feat(coderd): chat auto-archive owner digest notifications Layers per-owner digest notifications onto the chat auto-archive subsystem introduced in #24642. Each tick's archived rows are grouped by owner, the top 25 titles per owner are rendered into a new 'Chats Auto-Archived' notification template, and any remainder surfaces as 'and N more'. Duplicate same-day digests collapse via the notifier's existing dedupe hash. The template body branches on retention_days: when retention is disabled (retention_days=0), users are told archived chats are kept indefinitely rather than falsely claiming imminent deletion. Adds one test subtest for the digest overflow cap, plus digest assertions to the existing archive subtests from #24642. Two notification test fixtures (standard and retention-zero) lock the two template branches into goldens. Depends on #24642.

johnstcn · 2026-04-23T19:53:35Z

/coder-agents-review

coder-agents-review

Round 3. All 4 R2 findings addressed (e1e03ba). Branch rebased (migration renumbered 000475 -> 000477). Netero R3 clean across all 8 sections.

21 findings across 3 rounds: 17 fixed, 3 accepted, 1 panel-closed. 1 new P3.

Mafuuu and Razor reported no findings. Razor verified every doc claim against the code; all match. The implementation is sound.

🤖 This review was automatically generated with Coder Agents.

Layers per-owner digest notifications onto the chat auto-archive subsystem introduced in #24642. Each tick's archived rows are grouped by owner, the top 25 titles per owner are rendered into a new 'Chats Auto-Archived' notification template, and any remainder surfaces as 'and N more'. Duplicate same-day digests collapse via the notifier's existing dedupe hash. The template body branches on retention_days: when retention is disabled (retention_days=0), users are told archived chats are kept indefinitely rather than falsely claiming imminent deletion. Adds one test subtest for the digest overflow cap, plus digest assertions to the existing archive subtests from #24642. Two notification test fixtures (standard and retention-zero) lock the two template branches into goldens. Depends on #24642. Migration 000476 adds the notification template row; 000475 (in the core PR) already created the candidate index.

johnstcn · 2026-04-24T09:42:00Z

/coder-agents-review

Layers per-owner digest notifications onto the chat auto-archive subsystem introduced in #24642. Each tick's archived rows are grouped by owner, the top 25 titles per owner are rendered into a new 'Chats Auto-Archived' notification template, and any remainder surfaces as 'and N more'. Duplicate same-day digests collapse via the notifier's existing dedupe hash. The template body branches on retention_days: when retention is disabled (retention_days=0), users are told archived chats are kept indefinitely rather than falsely claiming imminent deletion. Adds one test subtest for the digest overflow cap, plus digest assertions to the existing archive subtests from #24642. Two notification test fixtures (standard and retention-zero) lock the two template branches into goldens. Depends on #24642. Migration 000476 adds the notification template row; 000475 (in the core PR) already created the candidate index.

johnstcn · 2026-04-24T09:59:35Z

+rest of `dbpurge` during the first run. If you need to prevent the
+initial backfill entirely during a migration window, set
+`auto_archive_days = 0` before upgrading and re-enable it when you
+are ready.


This is actually not possible. You need to upgrade in order to have this setting. Should we make auto-archive opt-in (i.e. default = 0)?

Layers per-owner digest notifications onto the chat auto-archive subsystem introduced in #24642. Each tick's archived rows are grouped by owner, the top 25 titles per owner are rendered into a new 'Chats Auto-Archived' notification template, and any remainder surfaces as 'and N more'. Duplicate same-day digests collapse via the notifier's existing dedupe hash. The template body branches on retention_days: when retention is disabled (retention_days=0), users are told archived chats are kept indefinitely rather than falsely claiming imminent deletion. Adds one test subtest for the digest overflow cap, plus digest assertions to the existing archive subtests from #24642. Two notification test fixtures (standard and retention-zero) lock the two template branches into goldens. Depends on #24642. Migration 000476 adds the notification template row; 000475 (in the core PR) already created the candidate index.

coder-agents-review

Round 4. DEREM-21 addressed (23ac3ba). All 21 findings from R1-R3 resolved: 18 fixed, 3 accepted, 1 panel-closed.

Netero R4: clean. Panel (Bisky, Mafuuu, Razor): Mafuuu and Razor reported no findings. Razor verified every policy model claim, SQL query property, and doc assertion against the code. One P4 from Bisky: MultipleOwners asserts audit attribution but not the chats' Archived state; other subtests cover that class of assertion.

22 findings across 4 rounds, 21 resolved. The implementation is thorough and well-tested.

🤖 This review was automatically generated with Coder Agents.

mafredri · 2026-04-24T10:13:14Z

+        COALESCE(activity.last_activity_at, c.created_at) AS last_activity_at
+    FROM chats c
+    LEFT JOIN LATERAL (
+        SELECT MAX(cm.created_at) AS last_activity_at


If a chat message is edited, does that change created_at?

The UpdateChatMessageByID query does not. But editing a chat message in the UI calls the patchChatMessage handler. This calls EditMessage, which soft-deletes the original and all subsequent messages, and then inserts a new message with a fresh created_at. So, yes.

mafredri · 2026-04-24T10:14:59Z

+    )::timestamptz AS last_activity_at
+FROM archived a
+LEFT JOIN to_archive t ON t.id = a.id
+ORDER BY (a.root_chat_id IS NULL) DESC, a.owner_id ASC, a.created_at ASC, a.id ASC;


Doing all of this in a single query is efficient, but I worry about having repeated logic (e.g. archival cascades to children) in multiple places. This is a case where inefficiency might be beneficial (pull target IDs and call regular archival path).

How about GetAutoArchivableChatIDs + ArchiveChatsByIDs? Could do it as a separate post-merge followup.

github-actions Bot assigned johnstcn Apr 22, 2026

This was referenced Apr 22, 2026

feat: chat auto-archive owner digest notifications #24643

Merged

[superseded by #24642 + #24643] feat: auto-archive chats #24486

Closed

johnstcn changed the title ~~feat(coderd): auto-archive inactive chats with audit trail~~ feat: auto-archive inactive chats with audit trail Apr 22, 2026

johnstcn force-pushed the cj/chat-archive-core branch from d8d9e0e to 4583b50 Compare April 22, 2026 20:27

johnstcn commented Apr 22, 2026

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Comment thread coderd/database/dbpurge/dbpurge.go

johnstcn force-pushed the cj/chat-archive-core branch from 4583b50 to 641ee3a Compare April 23, 2026 08:16

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johnstcn force-pushed the cj/chat-archive-core branch 6 times, most recently from 9e35586 to 1766474 Compare April 23, 2026 16:19

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Comment thread docs/ai-coder/agents/platform-controls/chat-auto-archive.md Outdated

Comment thread coderd/database/dbpurge/dbpurge_test.go

Comment thread docs/ai-coder/agents/chats-api.md

Comment thread coderd/database/dbauthz/dbauthz.go

johnstcn force-pushed the cj/chat-archive-core branch from 81ffa45 to e1e03ba Compare April 23, 2026 17:41

feat(coderd): auto-archive inactive chats with audit trail

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johnstcn force-pushed the cj/chat-archive-core branch from d0cc93d to ddbfe37 Compare April 23, 2026 19:53

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Comment thread coderd/database/dbpurge/dbpurge_test.go

test: prove cascade is status-blind (DEREM-21)

23ac3ba

johnstcn marked this pull request as ready for review April 23, 2026 20:28

Merge branch 'main' into cj/chat-archive-core

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johnstcn commented Apr 24, 2026

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ThomasK33 approved these changes Apr 24, 2026

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johnstcn commented Apr 24, 2026

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Comment thread coderd/database/queries/siteconfig.sql Outdated

johnstcn added 4 commits April 24, 2026 12:46

disable auto-archive by default

aca85a3

functional options for dbpurge chat batch size

acfac5e

Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/main' into cj/chat-archive-core

2e31991

export default chat auto archive days for ui

3b63935

johnstcn merged commit a876287 into main Apr 24, 2026
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johnstcn deleted the cj/chat-archive-core branch April 24, 2026 13:18

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