feat(messages): search conversations by message content (#3922)

public/locales/en.json

@@ -367,7 +367,7 @@
   "messages.nodes_header": "Nodes",
   "messages.mark_all_read_title": "Mark all direct messages as read",
   "messages.mark_all_read_button": "Mark All Read",
-  "messages.filter_placeholder": "Filter nodes...",
+  "messages.filter_placeholder": "Filter nodes or messages...",
   "messages.filter_conversations_title": "Filter conversations",
   "messages.all_conversations": "All Conversations",
   "messages.unread_only": "Unread Only",

src/components/MessagesTab.tsx

@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ import { isDeviceDbWarningMitigatable } from '../utils/deviceDbWarning';
 import { applyHomoglyphOptimization } from '../utils/homoglyph';
 import { calculateDistance, formatDistance, getDistanceToNode } from '../utils/distance';
 import { renderMessageWithLinks } from '../utils/linkRenderer';
+import { getMessageContentMatchNodeIds } from '../utils/messageContentFilter';
 import { isNodeComplete, isInfrastructureNode, hasValidPosition, parseNodeId } from '../utils/nodeHelpers';
 import { getEffectiveHops } from '../utils/nodeHops';
 import { scrollInputIntoView } from '../utils/scrollInputIntoView';
@@ -524,6 +525,15 @@ const MessagesTab: React.FC<MessagesTabProps> = ({
     [messages]
   );
 
+  // Issue #3922: let the conversation filter match on message *content*, not
+  // just the partner's name/id. Precompute the set of node IDs whose DM
+  // history contains the current filter term so both node-list renderers can
+  // do an O(1) membership check instead of rescanning messages per node.
+  const messageContentMatchNodeIds = useMemo(
+    () => getMessageContentMatchNodeIds(messages, messagesNodeFilter),
+    [messages, messagesNodeFilter]
+  );
+
   // Handle relay node click - opens modal to show potential relay nodes
   const handleRelayClick = useCallback(
     async (msg: MeshMessage) => {
@@ -747,7 +757,9 @@ const MessagesTab: React.FC<MessagesTabProps> = ({
     return (
       node.user?.longName?.toLowerCase().includes(searchTerm) ||
       node.user?.shortName?.toLowerCase().includes(searchTerm) ||
-      node.user?.id?.toLowerCase().includes(searchTerm)
+      node.user?.id?.toLowerCase().includes(searchTerm) ||
+      // Issue #3922: also match conversations by message content.
+      (node.user?.id ? messageContentMatchNodeIds.has(node.user.id) : false)
     );
   });
 
@@ -1029,7 +1041,9 @@ const MessagesTab: React.FC<MessagesTabProps> = ({
                 return (
                   node.user?.longName?.toLowerCase().includes(searchTerm) ||
                   node.user?.shortName?.toLowerCase().includes(searchTerm) ||
-                  node.user?.id?.toLowerCase().includes(searchTerm)
+                  node.user?.id?.toLowerCase().includes(searchTerm) ||
+                  // Issue #3922: also match conversations by message content.
+                  (node.user?.id ? messageContentMatchNodeIds.has(node.user.id) : false)
                 );
               })
               .map(node => {

src/utils/messageContentFilter.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+import { describe, it, expect } from 'vitest';
+import { getMessageContentMatchNodeIds } from './messageContentFilter';
+import type { MeshMessage } from '../types/message';
+
+/** Minimal DM message factory with the fields the filter inspects. */
+function dm(overrides: Partial<MeshMessage>): MeshMessage {
+  return {
+    id: Math.random().toString(36).slice(2),
+    from: '!aaaa0001',
+    to: '!bbbb0002',
+    fromNodeId: '!aaaa0001',
+    toNodeId: '!bbbb0002',
+    text: '',
+    channel: -1,
+    portnum: 1,
+    timestamp: new Date(),
+    ...overrides,
+  };
+}
+
+describe('getMessageContentMatchNodeIds', () => {
+  it('returns an empty set when the term is shorter than minLength', () => {
+    const messages = [dm({ text: 'pizza party tonight' })];
+    expect(getMessageContentMatchNodeIds(messages, 'p').size).toBe(0);
+    expect(getMessageContentMatchNodeIds(messages, '').size).toBe(0);
+    expect(getMessageContentMatchNodeIds(messages, '   ').size).toBe(0);
+  });
+
+  it('matches message body case-insensitively and returns both parties', () => {
+    const messages = [dm({ from: '!aaaa0001', to: '!bbbb0002', text: 'Pizza party tonight' })];
+    const ids = getMessageContentMatchNodeIds(messages, 'PIZZA');
+    expect(ids.has('!aaaa0001')).toBe(true);
+    expect(ids.has('!bbbb0002')).toBe(true);
+    expect(ids.size).toBe(2);
+  });
+
+  it('matches on substrings, not just whole words', () => {
+    const messages = [dm({ text: 'meet at the trailhead' })];
+    expect(getMessageContentMatchNodeIds(messages, 'trail').size).toBe(2);
+  });
+
+  it('ignores broadcast messages (to === !ffffffff)', () => {
+    const messages = [dm({ to: '!ffffffff', text: 'pizza for everyone' })];
+    expect(getMessageContentMatchNodeIds(messages, 'pizza').size).toBe(0);
+  });
+
+  it('ignores channel messages (channel !== -1)', () => {
+    const messages = [dm({ channel: 0, text: 'pizza in channel' })];
+    expect(getMessageContentMatchNodeIds(messages, 'pizza').size).toBe(0);
+  });
+
+  it('ignores non-text portnums', () => {
+    const messages = [dm({ portnum: 3, text: 'pizza telemetry' })];
+    expect(getMessageContentMatchNodeIds(messages, 'pizza').size).toBe(0);
+  });
+
+  it('ignores messages with no matching text', () => {
+    const messages = [dm({ text: 'hello world' })];
+    expect(getMessageContentMatchNodeIds(messages, 'pizza').size).toBe(0);
+  });
+
+  it('handles empty / missing text safely', () => {
+    const messages = [dm({ text: '' }), dm({ text: undefined as unknown as string })];
+    expect(getMessageContentMatchNodeIds(messages, 'pizza').size).toBe(0);
+  });
+
+  it('aggregates matches across multiple conversations', () => {
+    const messages = [
+      dm({ from: '!aaaa0001', to: '!bbbb0002', text: 'pizza tonight' }),
+      dm({ from: '!cccc0003', to: '!aaaa0001', text: 'want pizza?' }),
+      dm({ from: '!dddd0004', to: '!aaaa0001', text: 'tacos instead' }),
+    ];
+    const ids = getMessageContentMatchNodeIds(messages, 'pizza');
+    expect(ids.has('!aaaa0001')).toBe(true);
+    expect(ids.has('!bbbb0002')).toBe(true);
+    expect(ids.has('!cccc0003')).toBe(true);
+    expect(ids.has('!dddd0004')).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it('respects a custom minLength', () => {
+    const messages = [dm({ text: 'ok' })];
+    expect(getMessageContentMatchNodeIds(messages, 'ok', 3).size).toBe(0);
+    expect(getMessageContentMatchNodeIds(messages, 'ok', 2).size).toBe(2);
+  });
+});

src/utils/messageContentFilter.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+import type { MeshMessage } from '../types/message';
+
+/**
+ * Build the set of node IDs whose direct-message history contains a given
+ * search term in the message body.
+ *
+ * Issue #3922: the Messages conversation-list filter historically matched only
+ * on the conversation partner's node name / short name / node ID. This helper
+ * lets the same filter also surface conversations by *what was said*, so a user
+ * can find "that one message about X" without knowing who sent it.
+ *
+ * The match mirrors the DM predicate used by `getDMMessages` in MessagesTab:
+ * only text direct messages (`channel === -1`, `portnum === 1`) that are not
+ * broadcasts are considered. Both the `from` and `to` node IDs of a matching
+ * message are added, because the conversation partner may be either party
+ * depending on whether the message was inbound or outbound.
+ *
+ * The search is a case-insensitive substring match, matching the existing
+ * node-name filter behaviour and the "simple LIKE/ILIKE" approach requested in
+ * the issue. It operates over the in-memory `messages` array only (no network
+ * round-trip); the global Ctrl+K search modal covers exhaustive server-side
+ * full-text search.
+ *
+ * @param messages   In-memory message list held by the Messages view.
+ * @param filter     The raw filter text entered by the user.
+ * @param minLength  Minimum trimmed term length before content matching kicks
+ *                   in, to avoid matching nearly every conversation on a single
+ *                   character. Defaults to 2.
+ * @returns A set of node IDs (e.g. `!abcd1234`) with at least one matching DM.
+ */
+export function getMessageContentMatchNodeIds(
+  messages: MeshMessage[],
+  filter: string,
+  minLength = 2,
+): Set<string> {
+  const matchIds = new Set<string>();
+  const term = filter.trim().toLowerCase();
+  if (term.length < minLength) return matchIds;
+
+  for (const msg of messages) {
+    // Direct text messages only — mirror getDMMessages()'s predicate.
+    if (msg.channel !== -1 || msg.portnum !== 1) continue;
+    if (msg.to === '!ffffffff') continue;
+    if (!msg.text) continue;
+    if (!msg.text.toLowerCase().includes(term)) continue;
+
+    if (msg.from) matchIds.add(msg.from);
+    if (msg.to) matchIds.add(msg.to);
+  }
+
+  return matchIds;
+}