# BRIEFING — 2026-10-01T01:05:00Z

## Mission
Milestone M1: Core Server Chat Cluster & Pub/Sub Hardening (zero latency, 8-channel coverage, sync/async router optimization, Redis 7 sharded pub/sub bridge, 2-tier moderation, HMAC item linking, auto-mute persistence).

## 🔒 My Identity
- Archetype: worker
- Roles: implementer, qa, specialist
- Working directory: c:\Projects\FreeExile\.agents\teamwork\worker_chat_m1_1
- Original parent: 7020ed22-d577-4b8a-8fb7-a0bd4b2658d7
- Milestone: M1 — Core Server Chat Cluster & Pub/Sub Hardening

## 🔒 Key Constraints
- Exclusive file ownership:
  - server/chat/chat_types.py
  - server/chat/chat_service.py
  - server/chat/chat_cluster_router.py
  - server/chat/channel_manager.py
  - server/chat/moderation.py
  - server/chat/item_link_service.py
  - tests/unit/test_chat_service.py
  - tests/unit/test_chat_and_moderation.py
- Do NOT modify server/world/server_engine_loop.py or client files.
- Strict typing (mypy --strict --explicit-package-bases server/chat/).
- All files <= 350 lines (soft cap), <= 500 lines (hard cap).
- Models must use @dataclass(slots=True, frozen=True).
- DO NOT CHEAT. All implementations must be genuine.

## Current Parent
- Conversation ID: 7020ed22-d577-4b8a-8fb7-a0bd4b2658d7
- Updated: 2026-10-01T01:05:00Z

## Task Summary
- **What to build**: Server Chat Cluster & Pub/Sub hardening:
  1. `chat_cluster_router.py`: Sync callback handling in `_safe_invoke`, Redis 7 sharded pub/sub interface hooks.
  2. `channel_manager.py`: 8 channels, level gating, cooldown buckets, 5s duplicate spam check, whisper blacklist & self-whisper check, 100-msg ring buffer.
  3. `moderation.py`: Tier 1 Trie <0.1ms with NFKC, homoglyphs, noise stripping, NFD diacritics, asterisk masking. Tier 2 Async Sentinel RMT with phone, social, bank/crypto, auto-mute at risk >= 60.
  4. `item_link_service.py`: HMAC-SHA256 signature verification over full attributes, 24h cache TTL, itemLevel/createdAtMs/affixes support.
  5. `chat_service.py`: Facade coordination, persistent mute state on auto-mute, strict typing.
- **Success criteria**: 100% unit tests pass, mypy strict passes, code hygiene passes, genuine logic.

## Change Tracker
- **Files modified**:
  - `server/chat/chat_cluster_router.py` (189 lines): Added `_safe_invoke` with sync/async callback optimization and `RedisShardedPubSubBridge` interface.
  - `server/chat/channel_manager.py` (188 lines): Added persistent mute tracking, duplicate spam check, and ring buffer management.
  - `server/chat/moderation.py` (223 lines): Upgraded Tier 1 diacritic/homoglyph/boundary masking and Tier 2 RMT detection.
  - `server/chat/item_link_service.py` (134 lines): Added full attributes HMAC verification option, 24h TTL cache purge.
  - `server/chat/chat_service.py` (161 lines): Added persistent mute on auto-mute, admin mute/unmute delegation.
  - `tests/unit/test_chat_service.py` (283 lines): Expanded unit tests covering all M1 requirements.
  - `tests/unit/test_chat_and_moderation.py` (166 lines): Expanded unit tests for moderation pipeline and HMAC verification.
- **Build status**: 18/18 unit tests pass; 24/24 e2e tests pass; mypy strict passes.
- **Pending issues**: None

## Quality Status
- **Build/test result**: 42 passed (18 unit + 24 e2e), 0 failed
- **Lint status**: 0 violations, all files <= 283 lines (soft cap 350)
- **Tests added/modified**: 8 new unit tests added in `test_chat_service.py`, 3 new unit tests in `test_chat_and_moderation.py`

## Loaded Skills
- None

## Key Decisions Made
- `_safe_invoke` uses `inspect.iscoroutinefunction(cb)` to invoke sync callbacks directly, preventing TypeError instantiation and coroutine overhead.
- Redis 7 sharded pub/sub bridge wraps channel keys with `{...}` hash tags for slot-affinity routing.
- Moderation Tier 1 uses character variant regex with lookaround boundaries `(?<![a-zA-Z0-9])` and `(?![a-zA-Z0-9])` to mask vulgarities while preserving legitimate words like `class`.
- Auto-mute sets persistent mute timestamp in `channel_manager` so subsequent harmless messages are rejected until unmuted.

## Artifact Index
- handoff.md — Final handoff report
- progress.md — Liveness heartbeat