EchoHub/docs/changelog/v0.2.3.md

v0.2.3 - Moderation, Private Channels & UI Overhaul

Features

Moderation System

• Added server roles: Owner, Admin, Mod, Member — first registered user is automatically Owner
• New /kick, /ban, /unban, /mute, /unmute, /role, /nuke commands for moderators and admins
• ModerationController with full REST API for role assignment, kicks, bans, mutes, message deletion, and channel nuking
• Mutes support optional duration (auto-expire) and blocked users cannot log in
• Role claim included in JWT tokens; role badges shown in the online users panel

Private Channels

• Channels can be created as public or private via a checkbox in the Create Channel dialog
• Public channels are visible to all users; private channels only appear for members who joined them
• Persistent channel membership tracked in the database (ChannelMembership table)
• GET /api/channels returns the combined list: public channels + user's joined private channels
• Channel creators are automatically added as members

Online Users Panel

• Collapsible right-side panel showing online users in the current channel (toggle with F2)
• Users displayed with status indicators, role badges, and their custom nickname colors
• Panel updates on join, leave, and status change events

@mention Highlighting

• @username text rendered in orange accent color in all messages
• Messages mentioning the current user get a full-line amber background highlight
• Works across multi-line messages and continuation lines

ASCII Art Improvements

• Half-block character rendering (▀/█) with separate foreground + background colors for 2x vertical resolution
• Switched from ANSI escape codes to printable color tags ({F:RRGGBB}, {B:RRGGBB}, {X}) — no control bytes in stored content
• Optional size parameter for /send command: -s (40x40), -m (80x80, default), -l (120x120)
• IRC gateway converts color tags back to ANSI for IRC client compatibility

Client UI

• Version number shown in the status bar
• Custom colored rendering for channel list (active indicator, unread count badges)
• Avatar upload field added to the profile edit dialog (file path or URL)
• Update check notification on connect — shows a system message if a newer GitHub release exists
• Chat messages no longer show selection/focus highlight
• Exit shortcut changed from Ctrl+C to Alt+Q — frees Ctrl+C for copy
• Default history increased from 50 to 100 messages on channel join

Fixes

• Fixed #general channel not visible after adding the IsPublic column — migration default changed to true and startup service ensures it
• Fixed channels disappearing when creating a new channel — replaced full re-fetch with incremental updates
• Wired OnChannelUpdated SignalR event so new public channels appear for all connected users in real time
• Fixed color tag parser using wrong regex group numbers (6,7,8 instead of 1,2,3) — new ASCII art was rendering without colors
• Full Unicode/emoji support — renderers use Terminal.Gui v2 grapheme cluster API (GraphemeHelper, AddStr) for proper wide character handling
• Fixed /send and /avatar commands not handling file paths with spaces correctly, even when quoted
• Profile avatar now renders with full color tag support instead of showing raw tags
• Server-side newline spam protection — consecutive blank/whitespace-only lines collapsed to 1 and total lines capped at 30

Infrastructure

• Startup DataMigrationService automatically converts old ANSI-format messages to the new color tag format on server boot, logging the count of migrated records
• Three new EF Core migrations: AddModerationRoles, AddChannelIsPublic, AddChannelMembership
• ChannelMembership table with cascade delete on both channel and user removal