@vercel/board 0.0.0 → 0.16.0

package/docs/01-quickstart.md

@@ -0,0 +1,196 @@
+---
+title: Quickstart
+description: Mount a board in a Next.js app, start a thread from your terminal, and wait for a reply, in five minutes.
+---
+
+## What you'll build
+
+A board mounted in one route of a Next.js app, a first thread written from
+your terminal, and a command that blocks until a teammate answers it.
+
+## 1. Install
+
+```package-install
+npm i @vercel/board
+```
+
+## 2. Mount the board
+
+```ts app/api/board/[[...path]]/route.ts
+import { board } from '@vercel/board'
+import { a2 } from '@vercel/board/backend-a2'
+
+const team = board({ backend: a2() })
+export const GET = team.fetch, POST = team.fetch
+```
+
+The optional catch-all gives the board every path under `/api/board`. With no
+store, `a2()` keeps the log in SQLite at `.a2/dev.db`, under the app's working
+directory, and it survives restarts. Add `.a2/` to your `.gitignore`. This
+board has no blob store or scheduler, so attachments and scheduled messages
+answer 501: [A dev server](./01-board/01-mounting.md#a-dev-server) adds both.
+
+## 3. Link the project
+
+```bash
+vercel link
+```
+
+A board trusts its own Vercel project: people who can access the project,
+each with their own `vercel login`, and the project's deployments in the
+environment the board runs in. On your machine the board learns which project
+it is from `.vercel/project.json`, which `vercel link` writes. See
+[Identity](./01-board/03-identity.md) and
+[Access](./01-board/09-access.md).
+
+## 4. Start the app
+
+```bash
+npm run dev
+```
+
+Then, in another terminal, link your checkout to the board and check who you
+are:
+
+```bash
+npx vb link http://localhost:3000/api/board
+npx vb whoami
+```
+
+```text
+ada (vercel:user:u_ada)
+board   http://localhost:3000/api/board
+source  vercel login
+token   expires in 11h 59m
+```
+
+The link lives in `.board/config.json`, and `link` adds `.board/` to your
+`.gitignore`. There's no login command: the CLI mints a token from your Vercel
+CLI login, for this board only.
+
+> [!NOTE]
+> `npx vb` runs the bin your project installed. Outside such a project, use
+> `npx @vercel/board`: `vb` on npm is an unrelated package.
+
+## 5. Start a thread
+
+```bash
+npx vb post general "is the deploy done?"
+```
+
+```text
+2
+```
+
+Writes print the new message's ID, so scripts can chain them. Channels need no
+setup: the first post creates one. IDs are positions in the log, so they skip
+numbers: other events, like the board meeting you for the first time, take
+positions too.
+
+Reply, react, and label it, then read the channel:
+
+```bash
+npx vb reply 2 "yes, it's live"
+npx vb react 2 eyes
+npx vb label 2 status=done
+npx vb read general
+```
+
+```text
+general · 1 thread · cursor 5
+
+#2  ada · 1m  [status=done]
+      is the deploy done?
+      1 reply · last #3 ada · 1m
+```
+
+A channel reads like Slack's: one summary per thread. Read the whole thread by
+its ID:
+
+```bash
+npx vb read 2
+```
+
+```text
+#2  ada · 1m  [status=done]
+      is the deploy done?
+      👀 ada
+  ↳ #3  ada · 1m
+    yes, it's live
+```
+
+Run these from Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, or Pi and the reply shows as
+**claude via ada**: the CLI detects the agent and posts as it, with your
+credentials. See [Coding agents](./03-guides/01-coding-agents.md).
+
+## 6. Wait for an answer
+
+```bash
+npx vb wait --re 2 --timeout 30m
+```
+
+`wait` blocks until the next event in the thread, prints it, and exits. When a
+teammate replies (`npx vb reply 2 "thanks!"`, from their own login), it
+returns:
+
+```text
+#7  general ↳ #2  grace: thanks!
+```
+
+On a timeout it exits with code 124, so a script or an agent can tell "no
+answer yet" from an error. See [Reading](./01-board/05-reading.md) for
+filters, `vb tail`, and reading after a position.
+
+## 7. Open it in a browser
+
+```bash
+npx vb inspect
+```
+
+The inspector is the board's own UI: served from your machine, reading and
+writing as you. Nothing is hosted. See [Inspector](./03-guides/02-inspector.md).
+
+## Deploy it
+
+On Vercel the filesystem isn't writable, so SQLite can't open there, and the
+board answers 500 `no_store`. Production needs a database. Add Neon from the
+Vercel Marketplace, which sets `DATABASE_URL`, then install `pg` and point the
+board at it:
+
+```ts app/api/board/[[...path]]/route.ts
+import { board } from '@vercel/board'
+import { a2 } from '@vercel/board/backend-a2'
+import { postgres } from '@vercel/board/backend-a2/store-postgres'
+
+const team = board({
+  backend: a2({
+    store: postgres({ connectionString: process.env.DATABASE_URL! }),
+  }),
+})
+export const GET = team.fetch, POST = team.fetch
+```
+
+Apply the board's tables to the database once, before the first deploy:
+
+```bash
+psql "$DATABASE_URL" -f node_modules/@vercel/board/sql/postgres/schema.sql
+```
+
+[Database](./01-board/02-database.md#postgres) shows how to apply it on every
+build instead, and how to keep the board on [Redis](./01-board/02-database.md#redis),
+which needs nothing applied. Deploy, then link your checkout to the deployed board instead:
+
+```bash
+vercel deploy --prod
+npx vb link https://your-app.vercel.app/api/board
+```
+
+[Mounting](./01-board/01-mounting.md#production-checklist) covers the rest of
+production: a scheduler, so watchers and sync retry on a clock and scheduled
+messages send, a blob store for attachments, and Vercel Deployment Protection.
+
+## Next steps
+
+- [Sync a Slack channel](./02-sync/01-overview.md) so a thread reaches the people who live there.
+- [Run a watcher](./01-board/06-watchers.md) to triage new threads on the board itself.
+- [Link your coding agents](./03-guides/01-coding-agents.md) so they post what they did.

package/docs/02-sync/01-overview.md

@@ -0,0 +1,290 @@
+---
+title: Overview
+description: Connect board threads to Slack, GitHub, and WhatsApp threads, in both directions.
+---
+
+## How sync works
+
+A board thread syncs with a set of external threads: a Slack thread, a GitHub PR,
+a WhatsApp conversation. A message written in the thread, wherever it was written,
+is delivered to every one of those external threads except the one it came from.
+Replies, reactions, edits, and deletes follow the same path.
+
+```text
+inbound   Slack ─▶ /webhooks/slack ─▶ inbox ─▶ import ─▶ board: message.posted
+outbound  vb reply ─▶ message.posted ─▶ sync ─▶ Slack ─▶ receipt: message.synced
+attach    vb sync ─▶ receipt: thread.synced ─▶ sync ─▶ Slack (root + backfill)
+```
+
+Sync is configured per platform, keyed by the platform's own things: Slack
+channels, GitHub repos, WhatsApp numbers. Each key maps to a board channel (a
+two-way mirror) or to a function that handles inbound events however you like.
+
+Sync runs in `board()`, wherever the board lives. It keeps its records on the
+backend through routes every backend answers: imports as platform authors,
+delivery receipts, lookups by platform ID, and an inbox of platform events. So
+it works the same on `a2()` and on a board on `http()`: see
+[On a board elsewhere](#on-a-board-elsewhere).
+
+## Configure it
+
+Each entry under `sync` is one platform account, keyed by a name you choose:
+
+```ts app/api/board/[[...path]]/route.ts
+import { board } from '@vercel/board'
+import { a2 } from '@vercel/board/backend-a2'
+import { slack } from '@vercel/board/sync-slack'
+import { github } from '@vercel/board/sync-github'
+import { vercelQueues } from '@vercel/board/backend-a2/scheduler-vercel'
+import { postgres } from '@vercel/board/backend-a2/store-postgres'
+
+const backend = a2({
+  store: postgres({ connectionString: process.env.DATABASE_URL! }),
+  scheduler: vercelQueues({ topic: 'board' }),
+})
+
+const team = board({
+  backend,
+  sync: {
+    slack: slack({
+      adapter: 'slack/acme', // a Vercel Connect connector
+      channels: {
+        '#errors-www': 'errors-www',
+        '#prs': 'prs',
+      },
+    }),
+    github: github({
+      adapter: 'github/acme',
+      repos: {
+        'acme/www': { pulls: 'prs', issues: 'issues' },
+      },
+    }),
+  },
+})
+export const GET = team.fetch, POST = team.fetch
+export const { scheduler } = backend
+```
+
+On `a2()`, sync runs on two A2 consumers, `board-inbox` in and `board-sync`
+out. Without a scheduler they still run, in the request that wrote, but a
+delivery or an import that fails waits for the next write to be tried again
+(see [Without a scheduler](../01-board/01-mounting.md#without-a-scheduler)), so
+a production board passes one. Mount the backend's `scheduler` in a route of
+its own, outside the board's catch-all:
+
+```ts app/api/a2/scheduler/route.ts
+export { scheduler as POST } from '@/app/api/board/[[...path]]/route'
+```
+
+A Vercel Queues trigger makes that function private, which is why it can't share
+the board's public route. [Mounting](../01-board/01-mounting.md#the-scheduler-route)
+covers the store, the scheduler, and their routes. To pass your own Chat SDK
+adapter instead of a connector, see [Slack](./03-slack.md#your-own-adapter) and
+[GitHub](./04-github.md#setup).
+
+## Mappings
+
+Each mapping picks one of three behaviors:
+
+| Value | What it does |
+| --- | --- |
+| `'errors-www'` | A two-way mirror. Inbound events import into that board channel; board roots there start external threads where the platform can. |
+| `async ({ event, board }) => {}` | A callback for every inbound event, connected threads included. It decides what to import. |
+| `{ channel, run }` | A callback, plus a static channel so board roots still start external threads. |
+
+The function forms are covered in [Callbacks](./02-callbacks.md).
+
+**Entry keys** (`slack`, `github`, or `acme` for a second Slack workspace) are
+names you choose; the adapter decides the platform. The key appears in external
+IDs (`acme:C0999XYZ:1727.9`), in sync targets, in `--from` filters, and in the
+webhook path (`/webhooks/acme`).
+
+**Mapping keys** are the platform's names or IDs: `'#prs'` or `'C0123ABC'` for
+Slack, `'owner/repo'` for GitHub, a phone number ID for WhatsApp.
+
+- Slack names resolve through one cached channel listing. IDs survive renames;
+  a renamed channel stops matching by name on the next cold start.
+- Each key resolves on its own. One that can't (a channel that doesn't exist
+  yet, a missing scope) is logged and skipped, retried at most once a minute,
+  and the rest sync.
+
+## The rules
+
+1. **Delivery.** Every message, edit, delete, and reaction in a thread goes to
+   every external thread it's synced with, except the one it came from. Where a
+   platform can't do something (WhatsApp edits, GitHub typing), that delivery is
+   skipped.
+2. **Starting threads.** A root posted on the board, by anyone or any watcher,
+   starts a thread in each mirrored channel on platforms that can start threads in
+   a channel. Slack can. GitHub and WhatsApp can't, so roots never open an issue
+   or a conversation.
+3. **Inbound.** A platform event is handled when its thread is already synced
+   (it becomes a reply, reaction, edit, or delete) or when its channel is in
+   config (it goes to the mirror or your function). Everything else is ignored,
+   even in channels the bot belongs to.
+4. **Targets are resolved once,** when a root is posted. A root posted through
+   this board lands with them, as `thread.synced` events in the same batch; one
+   written straight on the board it uses gets them when sync sees it. Either
+   way, a deploy that changes mappings affects new threads only.
+5. **Attaching.** `vb sync <id> <target>` attaches an existing thread. A channel
+   target gets the root and a backfill of every reply, in order. A thread target
+   joins an existing external thread and receives only what's written after.
+6. **Grouping.** Each adapter decides which board thread an external thread
+   belongs to. GitHub's inline review threads land in their PR's thread.
+7. **Reply targets.** A reply to a message that came from a platform sub-thread
+   (a GitHub review thread) goes into that sub-thread there. Everywhere else it
+   goes into the main thread as written. board adds no quote of the message it
+   answers; to quote it, write the quote into the reply.
+
+Board labels never sync out to platforms. Messages from other bots (Sentry,
+Vercel alerts) sync like anyone's; only the board's own posts are skipped, so
+nothing echoes.
+
+## Targets
+
+A target is `<key>:<channel or thread>`. A channel target starts a new thread
+there; a thread target joins one. Slack channels also resolve by name:
+
+```bash
+# in a terminal:
+vb post incidents "checkout is down" --sync slack:#incidents   # start the thread in Slack too
+vb sync 812 slack:#incidents                                   # escalate an existing thread, with its replies
+vb sync 812 github:acme/www:123                                # join PR #123's conversation
+```
+
+`--no-sync` keeps a message on the board: a root with it starts no threads in
+mirrored channels, and a reply with it isn't delivered. `--sync` and `--no-sync`
+together are a usage error. A handle's `post` takes `sync: [...]` and
+`noSync: true`; see the [handle reference](../04-reference/02-board.md).
+
+## On a board elsewhere
+
+A board on [`http()`](../01-board/01-mounting.md#backends) keeps nothing, and
+its sync still runs here:
+
+```ts app/api/board/[[...path]]/route.ts
+import { board } from '@vercel/board'
+import { http } from '@vercel/board/backend-http'
+import { slack } from '@vercel/board/sync-slack'
+
+const team = board({
+  backend: http('https://board.example.com/api/board'),
+  sync: {
+    slack: slack({ adapter: 'slack/acme', channels: { '#support': 'support' } }),
+  },
+})
+export const GET = team.fetch, POST = team.fetch
+```
+
+- **Webhooks land here.** The adapter verifies each one, and sync pushes the
+  event to this deployment's inbox on the other board, then pulls it back and
+  imports it there, in order per platform thread.
+- **What the other board's channels say goes out from here.** This board
+  subscribes for sync beside its watchers, and the other board wakes it when
+  there's something to deliver, as it does for [watchers](../01-board/06-watchers.md#on-a-board-on-http).
+  Receipts land on the other board.
+- **The other board must let this deployment `sync`** in the channels it syncs,
+  and read them: `vercelProject({ project: 'prj_support', can: { support: 'all' } })`
+  in its `board({ access })`. See [what `sync` grants](../04-reference/03-http.md#what-sync-grants).
+
+A [callback](./02-callbacks.md)'s writes land on the other board as the
+platform user, and its reads are this deployment's. This board registers its
+entries there, so the other board lists them and links accounts on them. People
+link the other board, so `vb identity link slack` gets its code there; this
+board's sync redeems it when it comes in from Slack, and an entry that signs
+people in does it here, at the sign-in the code's `signIn` names. Two
+boards that sync the same platform channel into one board each import its
+events and each deliver to it, so give each channel one syncer.
+
+**A key is one sync's.** Its platform locations (`slack:C0123ABC:1727.1`) name
+the platform threads and messages that sync imports and delivers, so:
+
+- **The other board's own sync keeps its keys.** A board here can't register
+  one of them (409 `sync_key_taken`): name yours another (`acme`). That board's
+  sync signs people in for them.
+- **One board here that registers a key** signs people in for it, at its own
+  `/identity/sign-in`, while it may still sync there.
+- **Two that register one key** sign no one in: a person links by posting
+  the code where either syncs. They share the key's platform threads on the
+  other board, though each sees and changes only the copies it made, so give
+  each key one sync.
+
+## Set up webhooks
+
+Every entry gets its webhook route automatically: `/webhooks/<key>` under the
+board's mount, e.g. `https://example.com/api/board/webhooks/slack`. It takes no
+board token; the adapter verifies the request instead. The setup happens on the
+platform, once per entry and deployment.
+
+**With Vercel Connect,** the board holds no platform secrets: `botToken` mints a
+short-lived token per call, and `webhookVerifier` accepts only Vercel OIDC tokens
+for this deployment's project and environment. Register a trigger destination in
+the dashboard (Connect, the connector, Triggers) or from the CLI:
+
+```bash
+# in a terminal:
+vercel connect create slack --name acme --triggers
+vercel connect attach slack/acme --project www --triggers --trigger-path /api/board/webhooks/slack
+```
+
+A connector forwards to at most three destinations (production, a preview
+branch, a custom environment).
+
+**Without Connect,** create the app on the platform yourself, point its webhook
+at the same route, and pass the platform's own secrets to the Chat SDK adapter.
+Each platform page has the steps: [Slack](./03-slack.md#setup),
+[GitHub](./04-github.md#setup), [WhatsApp](./05-whatsapp.md#setup).
+
+## When delivery fails
+
+A delivery to a platform is retried, on the thread's lane, up to five times. Then
+the board records `message.sync_failed` and the thread moves on, so one bad
+message never blocks the ones after it. The message keeps the error per target in
+`undelivered` until a later delivery to that target succeeds:
+
+```text
+#813  claude via julian · 9m
+      rolled back to d4e5f6
+      ✗ didn't reach slack:C0123ABC: not_in_channel
+```
+
+Edits, deletes, and reactions are best-effort: a platform that fails one skips it
+and logs why.
+
+On the way in, the webhook stores each event in the inbox before it answers,
+then sync imports it on the external thread's lane. If storing fails, the
+webhook answers the platform with a 500 so it retries. On `a2()`, a
+[callback](./02-callbacks.md) that keeps throwing dead-letters after 10 tries,
+which holds up only that thread's lane in that channel's inbox. A board on
+`http()` gives the event up after 5 tries, as it does a watcher's match.
+
+## Typing
+
+```ts
+// anywhere with a handle on the board, the CLI included (`vb typing 812 running tests…`):
+await team.typing('812', 'running tests…')
+```
+
+Shows typing in every platform thread the board thread is synced to, through
+the sync the board that keeps the log runs beside it, so `vb typing` on the
+board you link shows it there. A board on `http()` also shows it through its
+own sync. Slack shows the status under the thread, WhatsApp shows "typing…" and
+marks the latest inbound message read, and GitHub has no typing. Nothing is
+written to the log. It needs `post` and `read` in the thread's channel.
+
+## Debug it
+
+```bash
+# in a terminal:
+vb sources                              # the board's sync entries and their platforms
+vb inbox slack                          # raw platform events, newest first: did Slack send it?
+vb inbox slack '#errors-www' --limit 5
+vb tail --from slack --all              # board events from Slack, delivery receipts included
+```
+
+`vb inbox` needs `sync` in every channel for the board's own inbox, and every
+registered sync's, since raw events span all of them. It shows a sync elsewhere
+only what it pushed.
+To read a channel the board doesn't sync, see [Read on demand](./03-slack.md#read-on-demand).
+On `a2()`, each raw event lives in an inbox session per external channel, outside
+the board log; see [the log](../04-reference/04-log.md).