v0.4.0: live feed updates (auto-insert new posts)

New artifacts appear at the top of the feed without a manual refresh.

- GET /feed/updates (session-authed): new artifacts since a timestamp marker,
  owner-scoped and filter-aware (source/label/kind/q), returned as row HTML.
- Feed JS polls every 5s, paused while the tab is hidden (immediate poll on
  refocus). Prepends new rows into today's group without touching the selected
  row or the preview iframe — what you're reading stays put and selected.
- Fresh rows show "now", aging into their real time after ~3 min; brief
  highlight on arrival.
- Extracted _artifact_rows.html partial, shared by the day-group render and the
  updates endpoint, so live rows match exactly.
- Polling chosen over SSE/WebSockets: zero infra on sync-WSGI + SQLite (see
  planning/next_steps for the SSE upgrade path). 142 tests pass; feed page +
  endpoint verified.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -9,6 +9,23 @@ former name, "Daybook".)
 
 _Nothing yet._
 
+## [0.4.0] — 2026-09-04
+
+### Added
+- **Live feed updates.** New artifacts now appear at the top of the feed
+  automatically, without a manual refresh — the browser polls a lightweight
+  `GET /feed/updates` every 5s (paused while the tab is hidden, one immediate
+  poll on refocus). Owner-scoped and **respects the active source/label/kind/q
+  filters**, so a new post that doesn't match your current view won't show. The
+  currently selected/previewed artifact stays put and visibly selected. Fresh
+  rows display "now" and age into their real time after a few minutes.
+  (Chosen over SSE/WebSockets deliberately: zero new infrastructure on the
+  sync-WSGI + SQLite stack; see `planning/next_steps/` for the SSE upgrade path.)
+
+### Changed
+- Extracted the feed row markup into a reusable `_artifact_rows.html` partial
+  (shared by the day-group render and the live-updates endpoint).
+
 ## [0.3.2] — 2026-09-04
 
 ### Added
@@ -138,7 +155,8 @@ First tagged release.
 - Dockerised (Gunicorn + whitenoise), SQLite, `git`-based deploy with a
   runbook (`deploy/cloud_agent_deploy.md`) and health check.
 
-[Unreleased]: https://git.cygnus.systems/peter/daybook/compare/v0.3.2...HEAD
+[Unreleased]: https://git.cygnus.systems/peter/daybook/compare/v0.4.0...HEAD
+[0.4.0]: https://git.cygnus.systems/peter/daybook/compare/v0.3.2...v0.4.0
 [0.3.2]: https://git.cygnus.systems/peter/daybook/compare/v0.3.1...v0.3.2
 [0.3.1]: https://git.cygnus.systems/peter/daybook/compare/v0.3.0...v0.3.1
 [0.3.0]: https://git.cygnus.systems/peter/daybook/compare/v0.2.1...v0.3.0

artifacts/urls.py

@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ from . import views
 urlpatterns = [
     path("", views.feed, name="feed"),
     path("feed/older", views.feed_older, name="feed-older"),
+    path("feed/updates", views.feed_updates, name="feed-updates"),
     path("a/<str:artifact_id>/read", views.mark_artifact_read, name="artifact-mark-read"),
     path("a/<str:artifact_id>/keep", views.toggle_artifact_keep, name="artifact-toggle-keep"),
     path("a/<str:artifact_id>/share", views.toggle_artifact_share, name="artifact-toggle-share"),

artifacts/views.py

@@ -22,9 +22,10 @@ from django.db import OperationalError, transaction
 from django.db.models import Count, Q, Sum
 from django.http import FileResponse, Http404, HttpResponse, HttpResponseForbidden, JsonResponse
 from django.shortcuts import get_object_or_404, redirect, render
-from django.template.defaultfilters import slugify
+from django.template.defaultfilters import date as date_filter, slugify
+from django.template.loader import render_to_string
 from django.urls import reverse
-from django.utils.dateparse import parse_date
+from django.utils.dateparse import parse_date, parse_datetime
 from django.utils import timezone
 from django.utils.decorators import method_decorator
 from django.views.decorators.clickjacking import xframe_options_sameorigin
@@ -573,6 +574,8 @@ def feed(request):
             "day_groups": day_groups,
             "older_count": older_count,
             "window_start": window_start,
+            # Marker for live polling: newest artifact shown, else now.
+            "feed_since": (window_artifacts[0].created_at if window_artifacts else timezone.now()).isoformat(),
             "source_counts": source_counts,
             "total_count": source_scoped.filter(read_at__isnull=True).count(),
             "all_labels": labels_with_colors_list(all_labels, overrides),
@@ -666,6 +669,58 @@ def feed_older(request):
     )
 
 
+@login_required
+def feed_updates(request):
+    """New artifacts since a timestamp, as row HTML for the feed to prepend live.
+    Owner-scoped and filter-aware — respects the source/label/kind/q the browser
+    is currently viewing, so a new post that doesn't match won't appear."""
+    after = parse_datetime(request.GET.get("after", "") or "")
+    if after is None:
+        return JsonResponse({"count": 0})
+
+    selected_source = request.GET.get("source", "")
+    selected_label = request.GET.get("label", "")
+    selected_kind = request.GET.get("kind", "")
+    title_query = request.GET.get("q", "")
+    artifacts = apply_feed_filters(
+        Artifact.objects.filter(owner=request.user),
+        selected_source,
+        selected_label,
+        selected_kind,
+        title_query,
+    ).filter(created_at__gt=after).order_by("-created_at")
+
+    new = list(artifacts[:100])
+    if not new:
+        return JsonResponse({"count": 0})
+
+    overrides = tag_color_overrides()
+    for artifact in new:
+        artifact.label_chips = tags_with_colors(artifact.tags, overrides)
+
+    html = render_to_string(
+        "artifacts/_artifact_rows.html",
+        {
+            "artifacts": new,
+            "selected_artifact": None,
+            "selected_source": selected_source,
+            "selected_label": selected_label,
+            "selected_kind": selected_kind,
+            "title_query": title_query,
+            "selected_view": "raw" if request.GET.get("view") == "raw" else "rendered",
+        },
+        request=request,
+    )
+    return JsonResponse(
+        {
+            "count": len(new),
+            "newest": new[0].created_at.isoformat(),
+            "today_label": date_filter(timezone.localdate(), "D, M j Y"),
+            "html": html,
+        }
+    )
+
+
 @login_required
 @xframe_options_sameorigin
 def artifact_view(request, artifact_id):

daybook_project/__init__.py

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 # Single source of truth for the app version. Bump this, commit, then tag the
 # commit `vX.Y.Z` and deploy. Surfaced on Settings -> About and in
 # GET /api/capabilities ("version").
-__version__ = "0.3.2"
+__version__ = "0.4.0"

static/agentfeed.css

@@ -1045,6 +1045,16 @@ kbd {
   color: var(--muted);
 }
 
+/* Newly live-inserted feed rows briefly highlight, then settle. */
+@keyframes agentfeed-row-arrive {
+  from { background: var(--surface-alt); }
+  to { background: transparent; }
+}
+
+.artifact-row.just-arrived {
+  animation: agentfeed-row-arrive 1.5s ease-out;
+}
+
 .api-key-create {
   align-items: end;
   display: flex;

templates/artifacts/_artifact_rows.html

@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+{% for artifact in artifacts %}
+  <a class="artifact-row {% if selected_artifact.id == artifact.id %}selected{% endif %} {% if artifact.is_unread %}unread{% endif %} {% if artifact.is_kept %}kept{% endif %} {% if artifact.is_shared %}shared{% endif %}"
+     href="?{% if selected_source %}source={{ selected_source|urlencode }}&amp;{% endif %}{% if selected_label %}label={{ selected_label|urlencode }}&amp;{% endif %}{% if selected_kind %}kind={{ selected_kind|urlencode }}&amp;{% endif %}{% if title_query %}q={{ title_query|urlencode }}&amp;{% endif %}artifact={{ artifact.id }}&amp;view={{ selected_view }}"
+     data-artifact-id="{{ artifact.id }}"
+     data-title="{{ artifact.title }}"
+     data-kind="{{ artifact.kind }}"
+     data-source="{{ artifact.source }}"
+     data-source-type="{{ artifact.source_type }}"
+     data-source-name="{{ artifact.source_name }}"
+     data-created="{{ artifact.created_at|date:'M j Y, H:i' }}"
+     data-size="{{ artifact.size_bytes|filesizeformat }}"
+     data-kept="{{ artifact.is_kept|yesno:'1,0' }}"
+     data-shared="{{ artifact.is_shared|yesno:'1,0' }}"
+     data-share-url="{% if artifact.is_shared %}{{ request.scheme }}://{{ request.get_host }}{% url 'artifact-shared' artifact.share_token %}{% endif %}"
+     data-tags="{{ artifact.tags|join:', ' }}"
+     data-rendered-url="{% url 'artifact' artifact.id %}"
+     data-raw-url="{% url 'artifact' artifact.id %}?raw=1">
+    <time class="artifact-time" datetime="{{ artifact.created_at|date:'c' }}">{{ artifact.created_at|date:"H:i" }}</time>
+    <span class="artifact-row-main">
+      <span class="artifact-title">{{ artifact.title }}</span>
+      <span class="artifact-kind-text">{% if artifact.kind == "image" %}image{% elif artifact.kind == "pdf" %}pdf{% elif artifact.kind == "markdown" %}markdown{% elif artifact.kind == "deck" %}deck{% elif artifact.kind == "binary" %}binary{% else %}html{% endif %}</span>
+      <span class="kept-badge" data-kept-badge title="Kept — never auto-deleted"{% if not artifact.is_kept %} hidden{% endif %}>K</span>
+      <span class="shared-badge" data-shared-badge title="Shared — anyone with the link can view"{% if not artifact.is_shared %} hidden{% endif %}>🔗</span>
+      {% if artifact.label_chips %}
+        <span class="tag-chips">
+          {% for label in artifact.label_chips %}
+            <span class="tag-chip" style="background:{{ label.color }}">{{ label.name }}</span>
+          {% endfor %}
+        </span>
+      {% endif %}
+    </span>
+    <span class="artifact-source">{{ artifact.source }}</span>
+  </a>
+{% endfor %}

templates/artifacts/_day_groups.html

@@ -1,43 +1,10 @@
 {% for group in day_groups %}
-  <div class="day-group">
+  <div class="day-group"{% if group.day == today %} data-today="1"{% endif %}>
     <div class="day-separator">
       <span>{{ group.day|date:"D, M j Y" }}{% if group.day == today %} <em class="today-badge">Today</em>{% endif %}</span>
       <span class="day-separator-count">{{ group.artifacts|length }}</span>
     </div>
-    {% for artifact in group.artifacts %}
+    {% include "artifacts/_artifact_rows.html" with artifacts=group.artifacts %}
-      <a class="artifact-row {% if selected_artifact.id == artifact.id %}selected{% endif %} {% if artifact.is_unread %}unread{% endif %} {% if artifact.is_kept %}kept{% endif %} {% if artifact.is_shared %}shared{% endif %}"
-         href="?{% if selected_source %}source={{ selected_source|urlencode }}&amp;{% endif %}{% if selected_label %}label={{ selected_label|urlencode }}&amp;{% endif %}{% if selected_kind %}kind={{ selected_kind|urlencode }}&amp;{% endif %}{% if title_query %}q={{ title_query|urlencode }}&amp;{% endif %}artifact={{ artifact.id }}&amp;view={{ selected_view }}"
-         data-artifact-id="{{ artifact.id }}"
-         data-title="{{ artifact.title }}"
-         data-kind="{{ artifact.kind }}"
-         data-source="{{ artifact.source }}"
-         data-source-type="{{ artifact.source_type }}"
-         data-source-name="{{ artifact.source_name }}"
-         data-created="{{ artifact.created_at|date:'M j Y, H:i' }}"
-         data-size="{{ artifact.size_bytes|filesizeformat }}"
-         data-kept="{{ artifact.is_kept|yesno:'1,0' }}"
-         data-shared="{{ artifact.is_shared|yesno:'1,0' }}"
-         data-share-url="{% if artifact.is_shared %}{{ request.scheme }}://{{ request.get_host }}{% url 'artifact-shared' artifact.share_token %}{% endif %}"
-         data-tags="{{ artifact.tags|join:', ' }}"
-         data-rendered-url="{% url 'artifact' artifact.id %}"
-         data-raw-url="{% url 'artifact' artifact.id %}?raw=1">
-        <time class="artifact-time" datetime="{{ artifact.created_at|date:'c' }}">{{ artifact.created_at|date:"H:i" }}</time>
-        <span class="artifact-row-main">
-          <span class="artifact-title">{{ artifact.title }}</span>
-          <span class="artifact-kind-text">{% if artifact.kind == "image" %}image{% elif artifact.kind == "pdf" %}pdf{% elif artifact.kind == "markdown" %}markdown{% elif artifact.kind == "deck" %}deck{% elif artifact.kind == "binary" %}binary{% else %}html{% endif %}</span>
-          <span class="kept-badge" data-kept-badge title="Kept — never auto-deleted"{% if not artifact.is_kept %} hidden{% endif %}>K</span>
-          <span class="shared-badge" data-shared-badge title="Shared — anyone with the link can view"{% if not artifact.is_shared %} hidden{% endif %}>🔗</span>
-          {% if artifact.label_chips %}
-            <span class="tag-chips">
-              {% for label in artifact.label_chips %}
-                <span class="tag-chip" style="background:{{ label.color }}">{{ label.name }}</span>
-              {% endfor %}
-            </span>
-          {% endif %}
-        </span>
-        <span class="artifact-source">{{ artifact.source }}</span>
-      </a>
-    {% endfor %}
   </div>
 {% endfor %}
 {% if has_more %}

templates/artifacts/feed.html

@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@
         <span>{{ artifacts|length }} artifact{{ artifacts|length|pluralize }}</span>
       </div>
 
-      <div class="artifact-list{% if selected_source %} no-source-col{% endif %}" data-artifact-list>
+      <div class="artifact-list{% if selected_source %} no-source-col{% endif %}" data-artifact-list data-since="{{ feed_since }}">
         {% if day_groups %}
           {% include "artifacts/_day_groups.html" with has_more=older_count next_before=window_start|date:"Y-m-d" %}
         {% else %}
@@ -552,6 +552,95 @@
 
       observeSentinel();
 
+      // --- Live updates: poll for new artifacts and prepend them at the top. ---
+      // Cheap: a small "anything since X?" fetch every few seconds, paused while
+      // the tab is hidden. New rows are inserted without touching the selected
+      // row or the preview, so what you're reading stays put. Respects the
+      // active source/label/kind/q filters (passed through below).
+      const LIVE_POLL_MS = 5000;
+      const NOW_TTL_MS = 3 * 60 * 1000;   // show "now", then age into the real time
+      let liveSince = artifactList.dataset.since || null;
+      let livePolling = false;
+
+      const buildUpdatesUrl = () => {
+        const url = new URL("{% url 'feed-updates' %}", window.location.origin);
+        const p = url.searchParams;
+        if (liveSince) p.set("after", liveSince);
+        p.set("view", feed.dataset.selectedView || "rendered");
+        if (feed.dataset.selectedSource) p.set("source", feed.dataset.selectedSource);
+        if (feed.dataset.selectedLabel) p.set("label", feed.dataset.selectedLabel);
+        if (feed.dataset.selectedKind) p.set("kind", feed.dataset.selectedKind);
+        if (feed.dataset.titleQuery) p.set("q", feed.dataset.titleQuery);
+        return url;
+      };
+
+      const ensureTodayGroup = (todayLabel) => {
+        let group = artifactList.querySelector(".day-group[data-today]");
+        if (group) return group;
+        const empty = artifactList.querySelector(".empty");
+        if (empty) empty.remove();
+        group = document.createElement("div");
+        group.className = "day-group";
+        group.setAttribute("data-today", "1");
+        group.innerHTML =
+          `<div class="day-separator"><span>${escapeHtml(todayLabel)} <em class="today-badge">Today</em></span>` +
+          `<span class="day-separator-count">0</span></div>`;
+        artifactList.insertBefore(group, artifactList.firstChild);
+        return group;
+      };
+
+      const markArrived = (rows) => {
+        rows.forEach((row) => {
+          const timeEl = row.querySelector(".artifact-time");
+          if (timeEl) {
+            timeEl.dataset.realtime = timeEl.textContent;
+            timeEl.textContent = "now";
+            setTimeout(() => {
+              if (timeEl.dataset.realtime) timeEl.textContent = timeEl.dataset.realtime;
+            }, NOW_TTL_MS);
+          }
+          row.classList.add("just-arrived");
+          setTimeout(() => row.classList.remove("just-arrived"), 1500);
+        });
+      };
+
+      const pollUpdates = async () => {
+        if (livePolling || document.hidden || !liveSince) return;
+        livePolling = true;
+        try {
+          const response = await fetch(buildUpdatesUrl(), {headers: {"X-Requested-With": "fetch"}});
+          if (!response.ok) return;
+          const data = await response.json();
+          if (!data.count) return;
+          const group = ensureTodayGroup(data.today_label);
+          const separator = group.querySelector(".day-separator");
+          // Newest-first batch goes immediately below the separator, above prior rows.
+          separator.insertAdjacentHTML("afterend", data.html);
+          const inserted = [];
+          let node = separator.nextElementSibling;
+          while (node && inserted.length < data.count) {
+            if (node.classList.contains("artifact-row")) inserted.push(node);
+            node = node.nextElementSibling;
+          }
+          markArrived(inserted);
+          liveSince = data.newest;
+          const dayCount = group.querySelector(".day-separator-count");
+          if (dayCount) dayCount.textContent = String((parseInt(dayCount.textContent, 10) || 0) + data.count);
+          const header = document.querySelector(".artifact-sidebar .pane-heading span");
+          if (header) {
+            const total = (parseInt(header.textContent, 10) || 0) + data.count;
+            header.textContent = `${total} artifact${total === 1 ? "" : "s"}`;
+          }
+        } catch {
+          // ignore; retry next tick
+        } finally {
+          livePolling = false;
+        }
+      };
+
+      setInterval(pollUpdates, LIVE_POLL_MS);
+      document.addEventListener("visibilitychange", () => { if (!document.hidden) pollUpdates(); });
+
       // Populate the details panel for a server-preselected artifact so the first
       // "Details" click shows content immediately.
       const preselected = selectedRow();

tests/views/test_feed_updates.py

@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+from datetime import timedelta
+
+from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
+from django.test import TestCase
+from django.urls import reverse
+from django.utils import timezone
+
+from artifacts.models import Artifact
+
+User = get_user_model()
+
+
+class FeedUpdatesViewTestCase(TestCase):
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.user = User.objects.create_user(username="alice", password="pw")
+        self.other = User.objects.create_user(username="bob", password="pw")
+        self.client.force_login(self.user)
+        self._n = 0
+
+    def make(self, owner=None, title="Note", source="agent"):
+        self._n += 1
+        return Artifact.objects.create(
+            id=f"upd{self._n:05d}",
+            owner=owner or self.user,
+            source=source,
+            title=title,
+            kind=Artifact.MARKDOWN,
+            day=timezone.localdate(),
+            path=f"{source}/x.html",
+            original_kind=Artifact.MARKDOWN,
+            size_bytes=1,
+        )
+
+    def marker(self, seconds_ago=60):
+        return (timezone.now() - timedelta(seconds=seconds_ago)).isoformat()
+
+    def get(self, **params):
+        return self.client.get(reverse("feed-updates"), params)
+
+    def test_requires_login(self):
+        self.client.logout()
+        response = self.get(after=self.marker())
+        self.assertEqual(response.status_code, 302)
+
+    def test_returns_new_since_marker(self):
+        self.make(title="Fresh Post")
+        response = self.get(after=self.marker())
+        self.assertEqual(response.status_code, 200)
+        data = response.json()
+        self.assertEqual(data["count"], 1)
+        self.assertIn("Fresh Post", data["html"])
+        self.assertIn("newest", data)
+        self.assertIn("today_label", data)
+
+    def test_nothing_newer_than_now(self):
+        self.make()
+        response = self.get(after=self.marker(seconds_ago=-60))  # 60s in the future
+        self.assertEqual(response.json()["count"], 0)
+
+    def test_missing_marker_returns_zero(self):
+        self.make()
+        self.assertEqual(self.get().json()["count"], 0)
+
+    def test_owner_scoped(self):
+        self.make(owner=self.other, title="Not mine")
+        data = self.get(after=self.marker()).json()
+        self.assertEqual(data["count"], 0)
+
+    def test_respects_source_filter(self):
+        self.make(title="Hermes post", source="hermes")
+        self.make(title="Janus post", source="janus")
+        data = self.get(after=self.marker(), source="hermes").json()
+        self.assertEqual(data["count"], 1)
+        self.assertIn("Hermes post", data["html"])
+        self.assertNotIn("Janus post", data["html"])