The host clears seats and closes rooms

Two lobby-lifecycle gaps from tonight's duels (a token lost to a
client bug left an unkickable ghost seat holding a chair in VQJW).
kickSeat: the host removes any other seat from an unstarted room —
the kick is a ledger line so restarts replay it, and a kicked live
socket is set adrift with notice. abandonRoom: the host dissolves a
lobby or a finished game; every member is notified and detached, and
the ledger is archived to rooms-abandoned/ — moved, never deleted.
The lobby shows hosts a ✕ per seat and an abandon-room control.
Proven live: kick with notice, kick surviving a server restart, and
abandonment archiving its ledger.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_015RCWSTnb1KYTPyL4GmhGnF

packages/server/src/index.ts

@@ -57,6 +57,8 @@ import {
   summarize,
   viewForPlayer,
   type Room,
+  kickSeat,
+  abandonRoom,
 } from "./rooms";
 import { engagementStats, recordHotseat } from "./stats";
 import { getShare, loadShares, mintShare } from "./shares";
@@ -526,6 +528,38 @@ wss.on("connection", (socket) => {
           session.token = null;
           break;
         }
+        case "kickSeat": {
+          const room = session.roomId ? getRoom(session.roomId) : undefined;
+          if (!room || !session.playerId) return send(socket, { type: "error", message: "not in a room" });
+          const problem = kickSeat(room, session.playerId, String(msg.name ?? ""));
+          if (problem) return send(socket, { type: "error", message: problem });
+          // A kicked live socket is set adrift so it cannot act on a seat it lost.
+          for (const other of sessions) {
+            if (other.roomId === room.id && other.playerId === msg.name) {
+              other.playerId = null;
+              other.roomId = null;
+              other.token = null;
+              send(other.socket, { type: "kicked", roomId: room.id });
+            }
+          }
+          broadcastRoomState(room);
+          break;
+        }
+        case "abandonRoom": {
+          const room = session.roomId ? getRoom(session.roomId) : undefined;
+          if (!room || !session.playerId) return send(socket, { type: "error", message: "not in a room" });
+          const problem = abandonRoom(room, session.playerId);
+          if (problem) return send(socket, { type: "error", message: problem });
+          for (const other of sessions) {
+            if (other.roomId === room.id) {
+              other.playerId = null;
+              other.roomId = null;
+              other.token = null;
+              send(other.socket, { type: "roomAbandoned", roomId: room.id });
+            }
+          }
+          break;
+        }
         case "addBot": {
           const room = session.roomId ? getRoom(session.roomId) : undefined;
           if (!room || !session.playerId) return send(socket, { type: "error", message: "not in a room" });

packages/server/src/rooms.ts

@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ import {
   type PlayerId,
   CURRENT_RULES_REV,
 } from "@wizwar/engine";
-import { appendLine, ensureDataDir, readAllRooms, roomFileExists, type RoomLine } from "./store";
+import { appendLine, archiveRoomFile, ensureDataDir, readAllRooms, roomFileExists, type RoomLine } from "./store";
 import { recordRoom } from "./stats";
 
 export interface LoggedCommand {
@@ -153,6 +153,33 @@ export function joinRoom(
   return { token: fresh };
 }
 
+/** The host shows an unclaimed (or unwanted) seat the door — lobby only:
+ * once the deal happens, every seat is a player in the game's record. */
+export function kickSeat(room: Room, byId: PlayerId, name: PlayerId): string | null {
+  if (byId !== room.hostId) return "only the host may clear a seat";
+  if (room.state) return "the game has started — seats are settled";
+  if (name === room.hostId) return "the host cannot kick themselves — abandon the room instead";
+  if (!room.players.includes(name)) return "no such seat";
+  room.players = room.players.filter((p) => p !== name);
+  room.tokens.delete(name);
+  room.bots.delete(name);
+  room.colorChoices.delete(name);
+  appendLine(room.id, { kind: "kick", name });
+  recordRoom(room);
+  return null;
+}
+
+/** The host dissolves the room: a lobby that never dealt, or a finished
+ * game done being remembered. The ledger is archived, never deleted. */
+export function abandonRoom(room: Room, byId: PlayerId): string | null {
+  if (byId !== room.hostId) return "only the host may abandon the room";
+  if (room.state && room.state.phase === "playing") return "the game is still being played";
+  appendLine(room.id, { kind: "abandon", by: byId, at: new Date().toISOString() });
+  archiveRoomFile(room.id);
+  rooms.delete(room.id);
+  return null;
+}
+
 /** Everyone gets their chosen standee; the undecided get the first free one. */
 export function resolveColors(room: Room): number[] {
   const taken = new Set<number>();
@@ -601,8 +628,14 @@ export function loadPersistedRooms(): void {
         chat: [],
         bots: new Map(),
       };
+      if (lines.some((l) => l.kind === "abandon")) continue;
       for (const line of lines.slice(1)) {
-        if (line.kind === "join") {
+        if (line.kind === "kick") {
+          room.players = room.players.filter((p) => p !== line.name);
+          room.tokens.delete(line.name);
+          room.bots.delete(line.name);
+          room.colorChoices.delete(line.name);
+        } else if (line.kind === "join") {
           if (line.bot) {
             room.players.push(line.name);
             room.bots.set(line.name, {

packages/server/src/store.ts

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 // command. Because the engine is deterministic, replaying a file rebuilds
 // the exact game state — server restarts lose nothing.
 
-import { appendFileSync, existsSync, mkdirSync, readdirSync, readFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import { appendFileSync, existsSync, mkdirSync, readdirSync, readFileSync, renameSync } from "node:fs";
 import { join } from "node:path";
 
 export interface RoomMetaLine {
@@ -58,7 +58,19 @@ export interface ChatLine {
   at: string;
 }
 
-export type RoomLine = RoomMetaLine | JoinLine | StartLine | CommandLine | ChatLine;
+export interface KickLine {
+  kind: "kick";
+  /** The seat the host removed from an unstarted room. */
+  name: string;
+}
+
+export interface AbandonLine {
+  kind: "abandon";
+  by: string;
+  at: string;
+}
+
+export type RoomLine = RoomMetaLine | JoinLine | StartLine | CommandLine | ChatLine | KickLine | AbandonLine;
 
 const DATA_DIR = process.env.WIZWAR_DATA_DIR ?? join(process.cwd(), "data", "rooms");
 
@@ -103,3 +115,13 @@ export function readAllRooms(): Map<string, RoomLine[]> {
   }
   return rooms;
 }
+
+/** Retire an abandoned room's ledger to the graveyard — never deleted,
+ * only moved out of the living rooms directory. */
+export function archiveRoomFile(roomId: string): void {
+  const src = join(DATA_DIR, `${roomId}.jsonl`);
+  if (!existsSync(src)) return;
+  const graveyard = join(DATA_DIR, "..", "rooms-abandoned");
+  mkdirSync(graveyard, { recursive: true });
+  renameSync(src, join(graveyard, `${roomId}.${Date.now()}.jsonl`));
+}