notification center with per-app grouped stacks

[0xferrous]

wispd should have a notification center for revisiting delivered notifications, similar in spirit to
macOS Notification Center.

Desired behavior

• show delivered notifications in a dedicated notification center view
• group notifications from the same app into a single collapsed stack/entry
• allow expanding/collapsing each app group
• show the latest notification as the preview when a group is collapsed
• sort groups by most recent notification
• allow dismissing:
  • a single notification from the center
  • all notifications from one app/group at once
  • all notifications at once

State model

The live popup stack, notification center, and history should be treated as separate layers:

• a notification leaving the live popup stack does not automatically remove it from the notification
  center
• clearing a notification from the notification center does not automatically remove it from history
• history remains the longer-lived record, subject to retention/persistence policy

Grouping model

Grouping should prefer a stable app identity where possible:

• desktop_entry when available
• otherwise app_name

This should avoid unrelated apps being merged just because they share a display name.

UI form

The notification center should likely be implemented as a dedicated layer-shell surface/panel, with
tray/status-notifier integration as a launcher rather than the primary UI container.

Relationship to history

This should build on top of notification history:

• history stores the delivered notifications and their state
• notification center provides the browsing/interaction UI over that data

Scope

This issue is about the notification center UI/interaction model.

Storage, persistence, and retention belong primarily to the notification history work.

Likely implementation areas

• wispd
  • notification center UI
  • grouped/collapsible list behavior
  • bulk dismiss actions
  • show/hide/toggle handling for the center panel
• wisp-source / shared state
  • APIs/state access needed to query and mutate reviewable notifications/history
• tray/status-notifier integration
  • launcher for opening the notification center

Acceptance criteria

• users can open a notification center and review delivered notifications after they leave the live
  stack
• notifications are grouped by app into collapsible stacks
• collapsed groups show a useful latest-notification preview
• users can expand/collapse app groups
• users can dismiss one notification, one app group, or all notifications from the center
• live popup dismissal, center clearing, and history retention are modeled as separate states/actions

[m13v]

Good spec. Building a notification center with per-app grouped stacks - some implementation notes:

1. Data model - Keep notifications in a flat list with app_id, timestamp, read, and dismissed fields. Grouping is a view concern, not a storage concern. This makes it easy to sort/filter/dismiss without complex nested structures.

2. Group collapse state - Store expand/collapse state per app group in memory only (not persisted). Default to collapsed for all groups, with the most recent notification visible as the preview. This matches macOS behavior.

3. Dismiss semantics:

   • Single: mark as dismissed, remove from view
   • Group: mark all notifications for that app as dismissed
   • "Clear All": mark everything as dismissed
     Keep dismissed notifications in storage for a retention period (7-30 days) so users can recover accidentally dismissed items.

4. Sort order - Sort groups by most recent notification timestamp (descending). Within expanded groups, show newest first. When a new notification arrives for a collapsed group, bump that group to the top and update the preview.

5. Animation - Smooth expand/collapse animations make a big difference in perceived quality. Use spring animations for the group expand (revealing stacked items) and a fade+slide for individual dismiss.

6. Badge count - Consider showing an unread count badge per group when collapsed. This gives users a quick sense of notification volume without expanding.

[m13v]

We built a notification/overlay system for our macOS desktop AI assistant. The floating control bar with notification-style UI: https://github.com/m13v/fazm/blob/main/Desktop/Sources/FloatingControlBar/FloatingControlBarView.swift

Full project: https://fazm.ai/gh

[0xferrous]

Do you have a video of your notification center UI?