The "New subscribers" notification toggle controls nothing and its Slack ping is unmutable — the subscribe path calls createNotification directly, bypassing notifyUser

[serge-ivo]

The "New subscribers" notification toggle controls nothing, and its Slack ping cannot be muted — one of six notification types bypasses notifyUser

Found in the D1 sweep prompted by #438. Two writers of notifications rows with different behaviour, and the type the console offers a control for is on the wrong one.

Verified — the subscribe path calls createNotification directly

workers/api/src/routes/instances.ts:264-269:

		await createNotification(
			c.env.DB, creator.owner_id, "subscribe",
			`New subscriber: ${subscriber?.github_login || "someone"}`,
			`${subscriber?.github_login || "A user"} subscribed to ${agent.name}.`,
			agent.id,
		);

grep -rn "createNotification(" workers/api/src --include="*.ts" | grep -v test → 3
  (the definition at routes/notifications.ts:65, routes/push.ts:273, routes/instances.ts:264)
grep -rn 'notifyUser(…, "subscribe"' workers/api/src --include="*.ts" | grep -v test → 0

notifyUser (routes/push.ts:234-278) is the funnel that consults the preference:

		interrupt = pushAllowedByPreference(parseAccountPreferences(row?.preferences).notifications, type, kind);

grep -rn "pushAllowedByPreference" workers/api/src --include="*.ts" | grep -v test → 3 hits: the definition (lib/notifications.ts:172), the import and the single call in routes/push.ts:251. Nothing else reads the preference.

Verified — the type IS offered as a control

workers/api/src/lib/notifications.ts:76-81:

	{
		id: "subscribe",
		label: "New subscribers",
		description: "Someone subscribing to an agent you publish.",
		alerts: false,
	},

served at routes/preferences.ts:51 (notificationTypes: NOTIFICATION_TYPES) and rendered as a toggle by store/console/src/components/NotificationPreferences.tsx, mounted at store/console/src/pages/Preferences.tsx:162-166.

The other five declared types (apply, coding, deploy, loop, trigger) all go through notifyUser — 13 call sites.

Verified — what the bypass costs

workers/api/src/routes/notifications.ts:75 — const interrupt = opts.interrupt !== false;. The subscribe call passes no opts, so interrupt is true, and :95-105 then fires the Slack webhook:

	// Slack is an interruption channel like the push is, so a suppressed copy is silent there
	// too. Muting deploys in the console and still being pinged in Slack would make the control
	// a half-truth.
	if (!interrupt) return;

It also passes no dedupeKey, so the #361 duplicate floor (routes/push.ts:255-270) has no key to match on, and it never calls sendPushToUser.

User-visible impact

A creator who turns off "New subscribers" keeps getting Slack pings on every subscription, and the toggle gives no feedback that it did nothing — the card's own copy promises the opposite. The mute is vacuously honoured for web push only because no push is attempted for this type at all, which is a second, quieter surprise: the toggle is advertised for a channel that never fires.

Not claimed

Not reproduced against a live Slack webhook. The three code paths above settle it.

Refs #438, #361.

[serge-ivo]

Audit — still LIVE. Citations essentially exact.

9c3d45e9 (#669) edited routes/instances.ts and moved the subscribe notification down by one line: it is at :265-270, otherwise verbatim.

Re-verified today:

• grep -rn "createNotification(" workers/api/src | grep -v test → 3: the definition (routes/notifications.ts:65), routes/push.ts:273 (inside notifyUser), and routes/instances.ts:265 (the bypass).
• routes/notifications.ts:75 still const interrupt = opts.interrupt !== false; — the subscribe call passes no opts, so Slack still fires.
• lib/notifications.ts:76-81 still declares the subscribe type, and store/console/src/pages/Preferences.tsx:162-166 still renders it as a toggle.

So a creator can still turn off "New subscribers", still get the Slack ping, and still get no feedback that the control did nothing.

Leaving open, labels unchanged.

[serge-ivo]

Fixed in commit d37ce42. The subscribe path in routes/instances.ts now calls notifyUser (passing c.env) instead of createNotification directly. This routes through the preference gate, so the "New subscribers" toggle is evaluated and Slack is silenced when muted. Two new tests in push.test.ts pin this: muted → row written, no push/Slack; unmuted → row written, push delivered.