Components and state#

The feature is split into five main parts. Each part has one clear job.

flowchart LR UI["Settings UI"] --> API["Push API"] Events["Chat events"] --> Service["Push service"] API --> Service Service --> Store["Subscription store"] Service --> WebPush["Web Push client"] WebPush --> Browser["Browser service worker"]

Responsibilities#

Part	Responsibility
Settings UI	Shows support, permission, subscription, test, and error states
Push API	Authenticates the user and accepts subscriptions and presence updates
Push service	Chooses recipients and sends notifications to their devices
Subscription store	Persists the VAPID key and per-user browser subscriptions
Web Push client	Encrypts payloads and safely connects to push providers
Service worker	Displays notifications and routes clicks into the application

State locations#

State	Location	Lifetime
VAPID key pair	`DATA_DIR/webpush-vapid.json`	Until deliberately rotated
Browser subscriptions	`DATA_DIR/push-subscriptions/`	Until disabled, retired, logout, or user removal
Presence claims	Backend memory	Claims live for 55 seconds; revisions are bounded per user
Parked-question state	Backend memory	Until a user, completion, or error event
Browser permission and subscription	Browser profile	Controlled by the browser and user

At startup, Remote loads or creates the VAPID key, verifies the key pair, and constructs the Web Push client. If that fails, notifications are disabled but the rest of Remote still starts normally.

Main source locations#

backend/internal/service/push_notifier.go
backend/internal/service/push/
backend/internal/integration/webpush/
backend/internal/stores/filepush/
frontend/src/api/pushSubscriptionApi.ts
frontend/src/state/push/pushPresenceState.ts
frontend/public/sw.js