Table talk may be private, to the seats named and never the gallery, and a line says the round it was said in

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01Jm2auWk6RP71CjaAb4FMoG

CONVENTIONS.md

@@ -30,6 +30,10 @@ README.
   *lets the Peanut Gallery talk*; then a watcher signs a name no seat holds
   and their lines read *Name (gallery)*. Each line is a ledger line, so it
   replays with the game, and the hall counts lines said while you were away.
+  A line said while a game is running carries its round (`turn`). A seat
+  may also speak privately, naming seats (`room.say(text, to)`): the line
+  is shown to its sender and those seats alone, never to the gallery, and
+  a game whose talk is its heart puts the choice of whom in its talk box.
 - **A rematch**: a finished table may call for one. A new table of the same
   size opens with the same bots, seats held for the same people, and the
   caller as host; a second call finds it already open. Held seats refuse

template/server/src/index.ts

@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 //   POST /api/rooms/:id/unseat      {token, seat}      the host sends a bot away before the game begins
 //   POST /api/rooms/:id/begin       {token}            the host begins with the players seated so far
 //   POST /api/rooms/:id/turn        {token, input}     this seat's move
-//   POST /api/rooms/:id/say         {token, text}      table talk, from a seat to the whole room;
+//   POST /api/rooms/:id/say         {token, text, to?} table talk, from a seat to the whole room, or privately to the seats in `to`;
 //                                   {name, text}       or from the gallery, signed, when the host allows it
 //   POST /api/rooms/:id/gallery     {token, on}        the host lets the Peanut Gallery talk, or hushes it
 //   POST /api/rooms/:id/challenge   {token}            call the keeper to a held seat; their phone rings
@@ -241,7 +241,7 @@ async function handle(req: IncomingMessage, res: ServerResponse): Promise<void>
 			return send(res, 200, rooms.view(room, SPECTATOR));
 		}
 		if (!voices.allow(clientOf(req))) throw new RoomError('The table has heard enough from here for now.', 429);
-		rooms.say(room, token, body.text);
+		rooms.say(room, token, body.text, body.to);
 		return send(res, 200, rooms.view(room, rooms.seatOf(room, token).id));
 	}
 	if (action === 'gallery') {

template/server/src/rooms.test.ts

@@ -15,13 +15,14 @@ afterEach(() => {
 	rmSync(dir, { recursive: true, force: true });
 });
 
-/** A table of the demo game: the host and a second person, the game begun. */
-function table(spec: GameSpec<State, Input> = game) {
+/** A table of the demo game: Ann, who opened it, Bo, and Cy when asked for, the game begun. */
+function table(spec: GameSpec<State, Input> = game, withCy = false) {
 	const rooms = new Rooms(spec, new Store(dir));
-	const host = rooms.create('Ann', 2);
+	const host = rooms.create('Ann', 3);
 	const guest = rooms.join(host.room, 'Bo');
+	const third = withCy ? rooms.join(host.room, 'Cy') : null;
 	rooms.begin(host.room, host.token);
-	return { rooms, room: host.room, ann: host.token, bo: guest.token };
+	return { rooms, room: host.room, ann: host.token, bo: guest.token, cy: third?.token };
 }
 
 describe('rooms', () => {
@@ -76,4 +77,17 @@ describe('rooms', () => {
 		expect(rooms.view(room, 'B').yourLastInput).toEqual({ pick: 2 });
 		expect(rooms.view(room, '').yourLastInput).toBeNull();
 	});
+
+	it('shows a private line to its sender and the seats it names, never to anyone else or the gallery', () => {
+		const { rooms, room, ann, bo } = table(game, true);
+		rooms.say(room, ann, 'Everyone, hello.');
+		rooms.say(room, ann, 'Bo, lay a five.', ['B']);
+		const heard = (seat: string) => rooms.view(room, seat).chat.map((l) => l.text);
+		expect(heard('A')).toEqual(['Everyone, hello.', 'Bo, lay a five.']);
+		expect(heard('B')).toEqual(['Everyone, hello.', 'Bo, lay a five.']);
+		expect(heard('C')).toEqual(['Everyone, hello.']);
+		expect(heard('')).toEqual(['Everyone, hello.']);
+		expect(rooms.view(room, 'B').chat[1]).toMatchObject({ id: 'A', to: ['B'], turn: 1 });
+		expect(() => rooms.say(room, bo, 'Anyone?', ['Q'])).toThrow(/Nobody at this table/);
+	});
 });

template/server/src/rooms.ts

@@ -9,8 +9,9 @@ import { cleanOptions, SPECTATOR, tableSize, type GameSpec, type SeatId, type Ta
 import type { ChatLine, RoomView } from '../../src/lib/net/view';
 import type { LedgerLine, Store } from './store';
 
+/** The longest line of talk. A game of long negotiation raises this, and the talk box's maxlength with it. */
 const CHAT_MAX_LENGTH = 300;
-/** Lines of talk kept and sent; the ledger keeps them all. */
+/** Lines of talk kept and sent; the ledger keeps them all. A game that runs for weeks of talk raises this. */
 const CHAT_KEEP = 200;
 export { SPECTATOR };
 
@@ -394,10 +395,18 @@ export class Rooms<State, Input> {
 		return this.game.settled ? this.game.settled(input as Input) : true;
 	}
 
-	/** Table talk, from a seat to everyone at the table and in the gallery. */
-	say(room: Room<State>, token: string | undefined, raw: unknown): void {
+	/**
+	 * Table talk, from a seat: to everyone at the table and in the gallery,
+	 * or, naming seats, privately to them alone. A private line is never
+	 * shown to anyone else, the gallery included.
+	 */
+	say(room: Room<State>, token: string | undefined, raw: unknown, rawTo?: unknown): void {
 		const seat = this.seatOf(room, token);
-		this.commit(room, { t: 'chat', at: Date.now(), id: seat.id, text: this.cleanTalk(raw) });
+		const to = Array.isArray(rawTo)
+			? [...new Set(rawTo.filter((id): id is SeatId => typeof id === 'string' && id !== seat.id && room.seats.some((s) => s.id === id)))]
+			: [];
+		if (Array.isArray(rawTo) && rawTo.length && !to.length) throw new RoomError('Nobody at this table answers to that.');
+		this.commit(room, { t: 'chat', at: Date.now(), id: seat.id, text: this.cleanTalk(raw), ...(to.length ? { to } : {}) });
 	}
 
 	private cleanTalk(raw: unknown): string {
@@ -435,7 +444,8 @@ export class Rooms<State, Input> {
 			state: room.state ? this.game.view(room.state, seatId) : null,
 			yourInput: seated && seatId in room.pending ? room.pending[seatId] : null,
 			yourLastInput: seated && seatId in room.played ? room.played[seatId] : null,
-			chat: room.chat,
+			// Private lines only to their sender and the seats they name; a note is the sender's own memory, never sent.
+			chat: room.chat.filter((line) => !line.to || line.id === seatId || (seated && line.to.includes(seatId))).map(({ note: _, ...line }) => line),
 			audience: this.gallery.get(room.id) ?? 0,
 			galleryTalk: room.galleryTalk,
 			challenge: room.challenge,
@@ -522,7 +532,15 @@ export class Rooms<State, Input> {
 				room.resolved += 1;
 				break;
 			case 'chat':
-				room.chat.push({ id: line.id, text: line.text, at: line.at, ...(line.name ? { name: line.name } : {}) });
+				room.chat.push({
+					id: line.id,
+					text: line.text,
+					at: line.at,
+					...(room.state ? { turn: this.game.turn(room.state) } : {}),
+					...(line.name ? { name: line.name } : {}),
+					...(line.to ? { to: line.to } : {}),
+					...(line.note !== undefined ? { note: line.note } : {})
+				});
 				if (room.chat.length > CHAT_KEEP) room.chat.splice(0, room.chat.length - CHAT_KEEP);
 				break;
 		}

template/server/src/store.ts

@@ -20,8 +20,11 @@ export type LedgerLine =
 	| { t: 'turn'; at: number; inputs: Record<SeatId, unknown> }
 	/** Written after the turn that ends the game, for anything that reads ledgers without the engine. */
 	| { t: 'over'; at: number; winner: SeatId | null; reason: string }
-	/** A line of table talk: from a seat, or, with `name`, from the Peanut Gallery (id SPECTATOR). */
-	| { t: 'chat'; at: number; id: SeatId; text: string; name?: string }
+	/**
+	 * A line of table talk: from a seat, or, with `name`, from the Peanut Gallery (id SPECTATOR).
+	 * `to` names the seats a private line was said to; `note` is a bot's memory of what it said, never shown.
+	 */
+	| { t: 'chat'; at: number; id: SeatId; text: string; name?: string; to?: SeatId[]; note?: unknown }
 	/** The host let the gallery talk, or hushed it. */
 	| { t: 'galleryTalk'; at: number; on: boolean; by: SeatId }
 	/** A seat is held for the keeper of the site, called to the table. */

template/src/lib/components/TableTalk.svelte

@@ -47,7 +47,10 @@
 			<li class="muted">Nobody has said a word.</li>
 		{/if}
 		{#each lines as line, i (line.at + ':' + i)}
-			<li class:you={!line.name && line.id === room.me}><em>{line.name ? `${line.name} (gallery)` : line.id === room.me ? 'You' : room.nameOf(line.id)}</em> {line.text}</li>
+			<li class:you={!line.name && line.id === room.me} class:private={!!line.to}>
+				<em>{line.name ? `${line.name} (gallery)` : line.id === room.me ? 'You' : room.nameOf(line.id)}{#if line.to}<span class="to">, to {line.to.map((id) => (id === room.me ? 'you' : room.nameOf(id))).join(', ')} alone</span>{/if}</em>
+				{line.text}
+			</li>
 		{/each}
 	</ul>
 	{#if room.spectating && room.view.galleryTalk}
@@ -110,6 +113,10 @@
 		color: var(--frost);
 	}
 
+	li.private {
+		font-style: italic;
+	}
+
 	form {
 		display: flex;
 		gap: 0.4rem;

template/src/lib/net/client.ts

@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ export function makeApi<State, Input>() {
 		/** The gallery's view: no token, no seat, nothing any player could not see. */
 		watch: (roomId: string) => call<View>('GET', `/api/rooms/${roomId}`),
 		turn: (roomId: string, token: string, input: Input, resolved: number) => call<View>('POST', `/api/rooms/${roomId}/turn`, { token, input, resolved }),
-		say: (roomId: string, token: string, text: string) => call<View>('POST', `/api/rooms/${roomId}/say`, { token, text }),
+		say: (roomId: string, token: string, text: string, to?: SeatId[]) => call<View>('POST', `/api/rooms/${roomId}/say`, { token, text, ...(to?.length ? { to } : {}) }),
 		/** A word from the gallery, signed with a name, when the host allows it. */
 		sayFromGallery: (roomId: string, name: string, text: string) => call<View>('POST', `/api/rooms/${roomId}/say`, { name, text }),
 		setGalleryTalk: (roomId: string, token: string, on: boolean) => call<View>('POST', `/api/rooms/${roomId}/gallery`, { token, on }),

template/src/lib/net/room.svelte.ts

@@ -112,9 +112,10 @@ export class Room {
 		return this.act(() => api.unseat(this.roomId, this.token, seat), 'The bot could not be sent away.');
 	}
 
-	say(text: string): Promise<boolean> {
+	/** Talk to the whole table, or, naming seats, to them alone. */
+	say(text: string, to?: SeatId[]): Promise<boolean> {
 		if (this.spectating) return Promise.resolve(false);
-		return this.act(() => api.say(this.roomId, this.token, text), 'The table did not hear you.');
+		return this.act(() => api.say(this.roomId, this.token, text, to), 'The table did not hear you.');
 	}
 
 	/** A word from the gallery, signed; only when the host has let the gallery talk. */

template/src/lib/net/view.ts

@@ -9,6 +9,12 @@ export interface ChatLine {
 	text: string;
 	at: number;
 	name?: string;
+	/** A private line: the seats it was said to. Absent, the whole table and the gallery heard it. */
+	to?: SeatId[];
+	/** The round the line was said in, counted from one; absent before the game begins. */
+	turn?: number;
+	/** A bot's memory of the line (an offer made, an answer heard). Kept in the ledger; never sent. */
+	note?: unknown;
 }
 
 export interface RoomView<State> {