[Birfy]

Fixes #497

Root cause. Nothing on FlyBot's live path regressed since #432. On a two-home bench at main a7adfe0 (local Bot Social + mock model, browser on A's Chief chat), B's first line, the held reply's Waiting for approval card, the Inbox count and the badge all show without a reload. They just show late: the social plugin reads a Bot's Bot Social inbox only on its idle timer (inboxPollMs, 15 s), and the card also waits for the model's reply. #432 never fixed acceptance item 1; its PR said it found no cause and pointed at the 15 s poll. The self-test logs match: B sent at 12:39:26, A delivered at 12:39:34 (+8.5 s), and the card arrived at 12:39:41 (+15 s). Someone watching for about 8 s sees nothing and then reloads.

What changes

• Client (index.js): the roster poll sends watching: !document.hidden with each state call.
• Host (channel.js, hooks.js): state notes when a window on screen last read the team. A hidden window does not count; an older client that sends nothing does. That is rt.watched() (8 s), offered to plugins as flybot.watched(). Process-local, nothing saved.
• Social (social.js): while a window watches, a second timer reads the inbox at the live cadence (facePollMs, 4 s). It skips ticks the shared timer already covers (a live face room) and ticks within half a period of the last read. With no window open nothing changes (15 s).
• Docs: core-host, core-client, plugin-runtime, social. Changelog fragment.

Measured on the two-home bench (B sends, until the line is in A's open Chief chat, 5 lines each): main 7.7–12.5 s, this branch 1.3–3.1 s. The card and the Inbox count follow on the same host revision, after the mock model's reply.

Tests

• core/test/flybot.test.js Friend's first line and its approval card don't arrive live on the sharing home; need a reload (regression of #420) #497: a window that keeps polling with since gets the friend's first line (friendLineAt), then the held reply (pendingCount 1, heldReplies pending on the turn it answers), with no reload. Also flybot.watched(): hidden does not count, it expires after 8 s, and an older client counts. The second test fails on main.
• plugins/social/test/social.test.js Friend's first line and its approval card don't arrive live on the sharing home; need a reload (regression of #420) #497: with no window the live timer reads nothing. With a window, B's first line is delivered on the first 4 s tick. Once the window is gone it stops. Fails on main.

Ran: ARCH_DOCS_BASE=origin/main TZ=UTC npm run verify at the tip, passes (arch-docs OK; plugin lint OK; core 1079, social 297, tree 80, timeline 83, scripts 93, interop 37, live-e2e 16; 0 failures). Two-home live bench (local Bot Social at 6a97ba0, mock model, headless and headful Chrome) before and after.
Not run: prod Bot Social, real model, the Mac instances, the Desktop app, smoke bench.

Risk tier: T2 (estimate; the controller sets the label)

[Birfy]

Self-review: PASS
Tip SHA: afebea7
Ran:

• ARCH_DOCS_BASE=origin/main TZ=UTC npm run verify at the tip: pass (arch-docs OK, 17 changed files; plugin lint OK; core 1079, social 297, tree 80, timeline 83, scripts 93, interop 37, live-e2e 16; 0 failures)
• node scripts/ds-bot-patches.mjs generate + check: ok; build-client.mjs --check: ok
• New Friend's first line and its approval card don't arrive live on the sharing home; need a reload (regression of #420) #497 tests (core flybot.test.js, social.test.js): pass on the branch; the flybot.watched test and the social live-cadence test fail on main
• Two-home live bench (local Bot Social at 6a97ba0, mock model, Chrome on A's open Chief chat): B's line visible on A after 7.7–12.5 s on main vs 1.3–3.1 s on this branch (5 lines each); the approval card and the Inbox count arrive live on both, with no reload
• CI at the tip: tests-ok green (test, plugins social/tree/timeline, package)
• Diff checked against the owner design rules: no grant, publish, approval or connector change; the approval stays on its UI buttons; no new UI copy; no Bot Social server change
  Not run:
• Prod Bot Social with a real model, the owner's Mac instances, the Desktop app, smoke bench