sync_replay_project/docs/ROADMAP.md

Roadmap

Backlog and epics, in order. Done work lives in git history. Check an item off by deleting it in the same commit as the code. Wire changes also edit PROTOCOL.md.

Stabilisation (feature freeze)

No new systems or features until the app is stable on a proper architecture. The next release is the restructure (1.3.0, or 2.0.0). Problems are numbered; delete a line when its fix ships.

Decisions (agreed):

• D1 Presence: In (watching, full), Away (sat out: still in the server, chat and chosen notifications, system notifications in the background, not counted for the gate, ready counter or watched tracking), Gone (disconnected, held in a grace period).
• D2 A joiner during playback does not pause it: they load in the background and join already in sync (a pause also works, no pause is cleaner).
• D3 Watched: at least as good as Jellyfin's own; a peek, skipping around or a screenshot visit never counts. Basis: time present while it played.
• D4 Toasts above the control bar; toasts for joins/leaves, queue adds (title, picture, who), swaps, problems; the rest in the activity log. Chat pop-ups and their sound always on by default; only the unread badge stays off the picture.
• D5 A reconnect resumes the same member within a grace period (~10 min).
• D6 The person passing a video on drops: others keep playing; on reconnect the relay continues from where it was.
• D7 One controls model, two skins (done in 1.2.1-dev.1); uosc credited.
• D8 Always the latest version: automatic checks, a clear prompt (no background download), never during playback.
• D9 Watching alone is a full standalone player: no social sounds or prompts; social parts appear when others are there; no solo mode.
• D11 Login-only sites: error texts say which cookies were used.

Problems:

• P1 A reconnect makes you a new member: the relay, ready, sitting out, your queue items and even your avatar are gone (log: Hoff m23 → m24 had to put ep 06 up again).
• P2 Joining a relay whose source left serves broken leftovers; mpv loops on failed seeks; nobody is told the source is gone.
• P3 A joiner during playback lands mid-scene (see D2).
• P4 Reconnects time out repeatedly on a bad link; no clear "reconnecting" state.
• P6 Sat-out people count in the ready counter.
• P7 Sat-out people get tracked as watched on Jellyfin.
• P8 Sat-out people get the normal notifications.
• P9 The watched rule (position coverage) misses real watches (D3).
• P11 Toasts cover the video controls.
• P12 Queue additions don't show as toasts.
• P15 Commands reach a player mid-switch (seek 90.0, event:5 errors).
• P17 Preload, warm relay and the fresh player per video are layered on the player instead of being one media pipeline.
• P18 Bilibili "no video formats" with browser cookies set; the hint wording misleads (D11).
• P22 Friends on different versions (D8). (P20 version visible and P21 update band: fixed in 1.2.1-dev.3; check the band in real use.)
• P23 Solo mode you enter and leave; going hosted loses the queue (D9).
• P24 The invite address list is unhelpful (shows the proxy's 198.18.x).
• P25 ssh to Gitea blocked through the proxy (pushes go over https).
• P28 Log noise: "Failed to create file cache"; an idle relay channel for Jellyfin items everyone has an account for.
• P29 Relay start delay after a seek into an unbuffered part.
• P30 Shaders don't work on Windows. Fix in 1.2.1-dev.3 (list read-back check; Windows hwdec auto-copy): a Windows user must confirm shaders stay on and the EGL-surface error is gone.
• P31 Software rendering on a friend's Linux. 1.2.1-dev.3 logs it (mpv: render lines); needs that friend's log, plus watch-together 2>&1 | grep VideoOutput from a terminal if software.
• P32 The app freezes on exit, mostly reported on Windows. 1.2.1-dev.3: orderly close, Linux _exit (0 crashes in 41 closes vs 10/10 before), Windows normal close + TerminateProcess + watchdogs, untested on Windows; if it still hangs: Event Viewer 1000/1002, a Task Manager dump, the close: log lines.
• P33 No volume readout on wheel: likely fixed by the controls rework (1.2.1-dev.1; a test covers both skins); confirm in real use.
• P34 Local anime folders are opened as plain files (no banner, names, next episode, tracking); test library: the user's /mnt/torrents/Torrents/Binux/ (several shows and a movie).

Restructure (in order; reviewed against the code). Truth lives in three places: the server (members, presence, gate, transport, queue incl. the automatic continuation and countdown, relay state), the device (client id, library and folders, match corrections, watch history, settings, notification prefs, what this app is sourcing) and the integrations (Jellyfin played/resume, AniList list). R. Rename (before step 1, so dev builds install side by side with 1.2.x): app id dev.foxyz.starsync, binary, Windows company foxyz; Hive out of ~/Documents into the app's support folder, copied not moved; a settings schema version with ordered migrations; AppDirs (today Hive and logs, and STARSYNC_PROFILE) becomes a port and the default moves next to the profiles; the 1.3.0 archive still contains watch_together(.exe) so 1.2.x's self-update restart works; the old .desktop entry removed; the manifest kept at the old URL; VPS ExecStart/update.sh paths.

1. Connection + Identity + Presence; proto 16 opened (version ranges on both sides, refusal frame, identity, grace, presence, relay resume, ids in the feed); later steps add fields, it is frozen at the 1.3.0 release. A drop is not the end of the session: keep the last state (marked stale), the player, media and relay source; the UI reads the connection state (no update band over a running video, no emptied queue, no reopen); reconnect with backoff and jitter; silence 8–10 s with "connection unstable" from ~3 s; lost/back sounds only after a few seconds of drop. New feed actions mapped one-to-one onto today's notices, matched by member id, not name. Presence shown in the strip and party UI (joining, away, gone = dimmed "reconnecting"). The relay source re-dials on return (client half of D6). Auto sit-out with a ShellPort.watchActivity (focused/unfocused/minimised/hidden): never when alone; while playing only minimised-for-a-while counts; the client re-sends its intent after a non-resumed welcome. A joiner holds only while not playing, at most ~15 s; while playing never (D2). The app close sends bye and flushes it; update-and-restart does not. Profile moves to identity. Fixes P1 P3 P4 P6, server half of P2; D1 D2 D5 D6 (source).
2. Status (one computed level, incl. the server's hold reason) + Notifier (noticeFor(event, context): self presence, alone, window activity, playing, prefs, replayed; owns its toast timer; system notifications port; library snack bars moved in). Fixes P8 P11 P12 P21 P33, "source left"; D4, D1 notifications, D9 alone policy ("alone" defined once in core next to PresencePolicy).
3. Your server: one hub, listeners attached and detached without members reconnecting (old isolate path kept until that's proven); Invite as a value (filtered addresses, version gate from /health.version, an fp field reserved for pinned certificates later); SessionState is deleted here. Fixes P22 P23 P24; D9.
4. Library + Media identity: L1 local grouping (kinds, folder hints, gaps, merge across folders) and L2 match (AniList/TVDB, art, names, manual pin, cache); MediaRef in swap/queue media. Fixes P34.
5. Media pipeline + player host port: plan → resolve → open → ready, commands queued during a switch, viewer-side recovery when a source drops (no mpv seek loops, play what's buffered), resolver and source chosen by capability; a Windows CI smoke job (start, open, close within N s, no orphan process). Fixes P2 P15 P17 P18 P28 P29, P30–P32; D11.
6. What's next (decides which/when, asks the pipeline to prepare; continuation and countdown as server state, shared cancel) + Watch tracking (time In from the presence history, device history, Jellyfin now, AniList later). Fixes P7 P9; D3.
7. Release 1.3.0: publish the manifest (protocol 16 makes it a required update for 1.2.x) and update the VPS dedicated server in the same window; check a 1.2.x app gets a clear "update the app" message. Composition root: an AppGraph built in main.dart only constructs and disposes systems (no logic, no signals); systems get dependencies through constructors, widgets through one AppScope; a test fails if the count of .instance singletons grows (today: SessionState 94, AppSettings 51, JellyfinAccounts 10, Profile 7). Not in the restructure: P25 (ops).

Agreed since: the queue stays in memory (no server storage). Transport: wss:// preferred when a server offers it, ws:// still allowed (a cleartext exception on Android); it only carries sync. Tests: many pin behaviour the restructure drops; each is tagged with the step that rewrites it, and the safety-net scenarios (DEVELOPMENT "Tests") must keep passing through every step. Open questions below are decided during the restructure. How: incremental on main (one system extracted per step, every dev build usable), signals plus constructor wiring through one composition root (no new framework), dev builds 1.3.0-dev.N, everyone moves to proto 16 together at the 1.3.0 release. Rooms are out (no room id). No Windows dev builds: restructure testing happens on Linux; Windows friends stay on 1.2.x until the 1.3.0 release (Windows-only fixes like P30 reach them then). Rename to Starsync everywhere (repo, app id, data folder, updater URL migration) is its own step; app id dev.foxyz.starsync, Windows company name foxyz (replacing Flutter's default com.example). Auto sit-out: idle or minimised for a while sets you Away, activity sets you In; it replaces the 10-minute auto-unready.

Open decisions:

• Starting together: today someone has to stay unready so others can join first. Ideas: a short "starting in 30 s, ready up" countdown; waiting for everyone from the last session.

• Grace length: ~10 min; a source in grace keeps its relay buffer.

• Platform decision: "Desktop + mpv only" becomes "mpv only, desktop first" if Android goes ahead.

• D10 was dropped on purpose (preload/warm relay/fresh player are folded into step 6, not a separate decision).

Protocol 16 (planned)

Lands in step 1, written into PROTOCOL.md then. Tags against proto 15: new, changed, removed. Rooms are out: one server, no room id.

Versions and refusal:

• hello.proto changed: the client's version; the server accepts [protoMin, protoMax] (both 16 at 1.3.0; later additions raise protoMax only, so they stay additive). welcome.proto new: the version used on this connection.
• Refusal changed, stable from 16 on: {"t":"err","code":"version", "min":16,"max":16,"server":"1.3.0","message":"proto mismatch: got 15, want 16..16"}, then close (a proto 15 app shows message). Every err gets code new: version, secret, rejected, bad, replaced.
• /health: protoMin, protoMax, tls new (proto = protoMax).

Handshake:

• hello.client new: a random id per install (22 characters base64url), private: never broadcast.
• hello.app ("1.3.0"), hello.platform (linux, windows, android), hello.caps new: what this app can do (source: serve a relay; resolve: run yt-dlp; jellyfin: play with its own account); unknown entries ignored.
• hello.resume removed (the client id replaces it); hello.media removed (unused).
• members[].app new: the member's hello.app.

Lasting member:

• The server maps client to one member. A new socket with a known client id takes that member over (memberId and token unchanged, so /m /r /j URLs keep working); the older socket gets err replaced and closes. welcome.resumed new: true when it did.
• A socket close no longer removes the member changed: it goes gone and is kept for the grace period (~10 min, welcome.grace new, seconds) with its ready flag, presence, queue items and relay. After the grace it leaves (feed leave).
• {"t":"bye"} new: leave now (Leave button, app close).

Presence:

• members[].presence new: joining | in | away | gone; members[].goneSince new (ISO, only while gone). members[].out and members[].stale removed (away; a silent socket is closed and its member is gone).
• {"t":"presence","target":"<memberId>","state":"away"|"in"} new, replaces out removed: anyone sets someone away; only the member itself goes back in.
• Feed changed: away (was out), in (was back), gone (was stale), return new (back within the grace: no join), leave (after the grace or bye), join (new members only).
• Gate (one PresencePolicy in core, used by server and app): only in counts for the gate, the ready counter and watched tracking; away and gone never. A joiner is joining until its report holds the current media with bufferNeed at the current position, then in. While playing a joiner never holds (D2): it loads in the background and comes in already in sync. While held it is in the set like a fresh member today, for at most ~15 s, then out of the set until in. A returning member (gone → back within grace) is joining again with its ready flag kept, treated like a joiner; an away one stays away.

Relay (D6):

• media.relay.sourceGone new: true while the source member is gone. The relay and its buffer stay; viewers play what is buffered.
• Source resume changed: the source's close no longer ends the relay; only its leave (grace over, bye) or a swap does. Back in the grace, it dials /r/<sid>/<token>/source again; an info equal to the first continues (pulls restart from the first byte or piece not buffered, new pull ids), a different one ends the relay (close 4002 new).

Queue and what's next:

• queue[].by changed: lasting (the member id survives reconnects); a through/file item of a gone adder waits instead of being skipped, until its adder leaves.
• queue[].auto new: the continuation (next episode): add with auto:true; at most one, after the others, replaced by a newer one, dropped by a swap to something else.
• state.advance new: {"id":"q3","at":"<server time>","secs":10}, the shared countdown when the media finishes and an item is first; at at + secs the server sets queuePlay to it. {"t":"queue","op":"cancel"} new clears it for everyone (feed advance-cancel new).

Media identity:

• media.ref new, in swap.media, state.media and queue[].media: {"kind":"episode"|"movie"|"extra","ids":{"anilist":1, "tvdb":2},"show":"...","season":1,"episode":6} (MediaRef); passed through as is, at most 2 KiB.

Transport: paths unchanged. A server with TLS serves the same endpoints over wss:///https:// (/health.tls); apps use wss:// when offered, ws:// stays allowed.

Protocol 16 additions (second review):

• Client range too: hello.protoMin/proto; the server picks the highest common version; read proto before strict hello parsing; 16 apps still send hello.media:{} so a 15 server answers "proto mismatch"; a 16 app shows a 15 refusal as "the host runs an older Starsync".
• Ordered takeover: hello.seq (monotonic per client), older hellos get err stale; replaced is terminal on the client ("opened in another window"); welcome.instance per server boot (grace expired vs server restarted).
• Error codes stale, forbidden, rate, full, plus err.for; close codes listed in one place. /health.version (no member names).
• Silence: no frame for ~15 s closes the socket (member gone); the gone feed line only after ~10 s gone (a quick return emits nothing); presence.reason manual/idle/minimised/bye; away → in while playing goes through joining; joining ends on a report error or timeout; a second /source socket for the same token replaces the first.
• Feed: actorId/targetId; feed.seq with hello.feedAfter and a bounded replay in welcome (marked replayed: logged, not toasted).
• state.hold {reason ready|buffer|joining|source|start, members, until}; members[].caps.
• Relay: sourceGoneSince; "same info" = size, duration, tracks, name.
• Queue: auto items carry for: <mediaId>, added only by the current swapper (or first in); advance holds while its performer or source is gone; cancel drops the auto item too.
• MediaRef gains absolute; season may be null.
• client is redacted from every log; optionally derived per server (HMAC of an install secret and the dialled host:port).
• wss: only with a CA-valid certificate in 1.3.0; pinned self-signed via the Invite fp later.

Backlog

1. Auto-skip OP/ED (undecided): who decides and how (shared for the server, personal, per show) is open. Constraint: a skip is a seek and seeks are shared, and only real ranges (segments, OP/ED chapters) should ever be skipped.

2. Files: next episode from Files (by parsed episode, with the countdown, and under Up next's "Continues with"). Later: tracking for file series.

3. yt-dlp follow-ups (see ARCHITECTURE "yt-dlp"): check that the bundled Windows libmpv has the ytdl hook (Lua) and plays edl:// URLs through media_kit; if not, resolve in the app and open the relay tracks' formats. YouTube: yt-dlp wants a JS runtime (deno) for full extraction. Formats that need yt-dlp's cookies.

   • Live streams through the relay (today refused: the sync model needs a fixed duration and seeking).
   • tool/relay_e2e.dart: a two-track case (bytes and pieces) over a shaped source link. Pieces on a slow source: a cold piece can take longer than media_kit's 5 s network-timeout; if it does, fetch the first pieces before setting relay.live.
   • Pieces, unverified so far: the 403/410 re-resolve against a real expiring HLS (signed segment URLs), HLS discontinuities / ad splicing, Windows' bundled ffmpeg with extensionless piece URLs (p/<i>; fine with ffmpeg 9 on Linux).
   • Thumbnails and scrubbing previews of a relayed media with tracks should open the video track's URL alone, not the EDL.

4. AniList account: sign in (OAuth via a localhost callback), "My list" filter on the Schedule from the user's AniList lists. This is the Schedule's personal tracking; AnimeFlow has no per-user follow.

5. Ops: Check shaders on Windows; the relay e2e "source drops uncleanly and resumes" fails about half the time under the full suite.

6. Windows: first real use. CI builds and publishes watch-together-<ver>-windows-x64.zip (libmpv bundled) and runs the updater tests on NTFS; a friend has joined from it. Still unchecked: fullscreen controls, hosting (firewall prompt), in-app update from one release to the next. The rest of the desktop tests are not in CI.

7. Relay follow-ups (see ARCHITECTURE "Relay"). First real use: owner's PC -> VPS -> friend, Jellyfin and a file. Then:

   • Source takeover: when the source leaves, another member with an account on that Jellyfin (or the same file: name, size, hash) takes over instead of the buffer running dry.
   • "Bob can't open this link — relay it?": offer the relay to whoever put a direct link up when a viewer's player fails to open it.
   • The host's own file as Up next's first item: it plays from /m once up, so others open it cold (the warm relay covers every other relayed item, see ARCHITECTURE "Relay"). The hosting app could hand the server the item's path early and /m serve it under a next/ name until the swap.
   • Research (before building anything): can stream URLs a member's app resolved with yt-dlp (its cookies, its address) be fetched by the server from another address? Per site: YouTube (its googlevideo URLs carry the resolving IP), Bilibili, X, generic HLS/DASH, others; and YouTube resolved by the server itself from a VPS, with and without cookies. Decides whether a server-driven fetch of member-resolved links (the member need not upload or stay) is worth building.

8. Jellyfin (epic, below).

9. Smaller items

   • Video output robustness: if media_kit's hardware path regresses to software (see ARCHITECTURE, Media: render mode), vendor a media_kit_video fix that builds the EGL display from GDK's native display. The video freeze after GPU idle is not explained by this; next suspect is media_kit's context switching on the raster thread with NVIDIA.
   • Link conveniences: a link swap in session updates the remembered media; show the open link with an open-in-browser button.
   • Time UI: remaining time, scrubber preview.
   • mpv / mpv.net shortcut parity.
   • Chaos suite: host drop 5 s / 30 s, viewer stall, 20-seek storm, long outage with cache exhaustion (tool/shaper.dart --kill-after); assert no OOM, no stuck session, drift recovers.
   • Chat history pane (today: activity log only).
   • Images in chat (paste a screenshot; server memory only): possible, not wanted yet.
   • HTTP: move the app's clients (Jellyfin, AniList, AnimeFlow, updater) to dio from fox_utils when touching them, for retries/interceptors.
   • TLS: document a reverse proxy in front of the server.
   • Up next follow-ups (see ARCHITECTURE "Up next"): a member whose reconnect lands as a new member loses its "through me" links and files in the queue (skipped as gone); the key could follow the member. A whole season or a pick list at once ("Add the rest of the season").
   • Sidecar subtitles.

Epic: Jellyfin

What is left (the rest is in ARCHITECTURE.md, "Jellyfin in a session"):

• Auto-advance cancel for everyone (the next episode and Up next): today Cancel is per screen (the designated swapper's Cancel stops the swap; a seek stops all). A shared cancel needs a wire message.
• Sidecar (external) subtitle streams of Jellyfin items: only embedded tracks are mapped to mpv today.

Deferred

P2P, Android. Never: transcoding, web clients.