> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.fased.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Presence

# Presence

Fased presence is a lightweight, best-effort view of:

* the **Gateway** itself, and
* **clients connected to the Gateway** (mac app, WebChat, CLI, etc.)

Presence is used primarily for operator/admin visibility: the Dashboard may show
compact live status, while detailed instance/client rows belong under Advanced
diagnostics or native app debug views.

## Presence fields (what shows up)

Presence entries are structured objects with fields like:

* `instanceId`: stable client identity when the client provides one
* `deviceId`: signed device identity when device auth is present
* `host`: human-friendly host name
* `ip`: best-effort IP address
* `version`: client version string
* `platform`: platform string
* `deviceFamily` / `modelIdentifier`: hardware hints
* `mode`: `ui`, `webchat`, `cli`, `backend`, `probe`, `test`, `node`, ...
* `lastInputSeconds`: seconds since last user input, if known
* `reason`: `self`, `connect`, `node-connected`, `periodic`, ...
* `roles` / `scopes`: Gateway role and scope hints from the connection
* `text`: original presence text or generated fallback text
* `ts`: last update timestamp (ms since epoch)

## Producers (where presence comes from)

Presence entries are produced by multiple sources and **merged**.

### 1) Gateway self entry

The Gateway always seeds a `self` entry at startup so UIs show the gateway host
even before any clients connect.

### 2) WebSocket connect

Every WebSocket client begins with a `connect` request. On successful handshake
the Gateway upserts a presence entry for that connection.

#### Why one-off CLI commands don't show up

The CLI often connects for short, one-off commands. To avoid spamming the
Instances list, `client.mode === "cli"` is **not** turned into a presence entry.

### 3) `system-event` beacons

Clients can send richer periodic beacons via the `system-event` method. The mac
app uses this to report host name, IP, platform details, and
`lastInputSeconds`.

Non-node `system-event` text is also added to the system event feed. `Node:`
presence lines are deduped so only meaningful context changes create a system
event.

### 4) Node connects (role: node)

When a node connects over the Gateway WebSocket with `role: node`, the Gateway
upserts a presence entry with `roles: ["node"]` and the granted scopes.

## Merge + dedupe rules (why `instanceId` matters)

Presence entries are stored in a single in-memory map:

* Entries are keyed by a **presence key**.
* Keys are case-insensitive.
* WebSocket connect entries prefer `device.id`, then `client.instanceId`, then
  the connection id.
* `system-event` entries prefer `deviceId`, then `instanceId`, then parsed
  host/IP/text fallback data.

If a client reconnects without a stable device or instance identity, it may show
up as a duplicate row until the old entry expires.

## TTL and bounded size

Presence is intentionally ephemeral:

* **TTL:** entries older than 5 minutes are pruned
* **Max entries:** 200 (oldest dropped first)

This keeps the list fresh and avoids unbounded memory growth.

Disconnects update the entry reason to `disconnect`; they do not immediately
delete the row. The TTL removes stale rows.

## Remote/tunnel caveat (loopback IPs)

When a client connects over an SSH tunnel or local port forward, the Gateway may
see the remote address as `127.0.0.1`. To avoid overwriting a good client-reported
IP, loopback remote addresses are ignored.

## Consumers

### Advanced and native debug views

Advanced/native debug views render the output of `system-presence` and apply a
small status indicator (Active/Idle/Stale) based on the age of the last update.

## Debugging tips

* To see the raw list, call `system-presence` against the Gateway.
* If you see duplicates:
  * confirm clients send a stable `client.instanceId` or signed `device.id` in the handshake
  * confirm periodic beacons use the same `deviceId` or `instanceId`
  * check whether the connection-derived entry fell back to a connection id