Messages is the portal's built-in chat system. Persistent, project-linked conversations replace email threads and scattered WhatsApp messages. All roles have access.

Open Messages in the portal sidebar. A gold badge appears when you have unread messages.

URL	What It Opens
/messages	Conversation list + thread
/messages?conv={id}	Specific conversation
/messages?conv=new	New conversation dialog
/messages?conv=new&project_id={id}	New conversation pre-linked to a project

Split panel. Conversation list on the left (320px), message thread on the right. On mobile (<768px), these become full-width single views with a back arrow to toggle between them.

Conversation List

Each entry shows:

• Title (bold when unread)
• Last message preview with sender name
• Unread count — 3
• Type badge — project rfi review
• Status badge — resolved when closed
• Urgent flag (!)
• Timestamp

Sorted by most recent activity. New messages push conversations to the top.

Click + New in the list header.

Field	Required	Description
Subject	Yes	Title shown in the conversation list
Type	Yes	Direct, Project, RFI, or Review
Project ID	No	Links conversation to a project (Project and RFI types)
First Message	No	Sends an initial message on creation

Conversation Types

Type	When to Use
Direct	General team discussion, not tied to a project
Project	Discussion about a specific project — adds "View Project" link in header
RFI	Request for Information — clarifying project requirements
Review	Cert or invoice review discussion

Status & Priority

Status: open (default, no badge), resolved, archived. Priority: urgent, high, normal, low. Urgent shows a red indicator in the list.

Action	How
Send	Enter or click Send
New line	Shift + Enter
Ask Friday	Gold Ask Friday button (next to Send)

Messages are sent via REST for reliability, then broadcast to all viewers via WebSocket. You see an optimistic local copy immediately while the server confirms.

The page maintains a persistent WebSocket connection. Status indicator next to the page title: Connected or Reconnecting... (auto-retries with 3-second backoff).

Feature	How It Works
Typing indicators	Shows "Jacob is typing..." below the thread. Auto-clears after 4 seconds.
Viewing presence	Thread header shows who else is viewing: Jacob viewing
Read receipts	Opening a conversation marks all messages as read. Badges clear.
Unread badges	Gold badge on sidebar + per-conversation counts. Header shows total unread.
Live delivery	New messages appear instantly for all viewers without refresh.

The gold Ask Friday button in the compose area invokes Friday AI within the conversation. Friday reads the full message history, understands the linked project, and responds as a visible participant.

Friday's reply is saved to the database and broadcast via WebSocket — everyone viewing the conversation sees it. Friday messages have a gold left border and an "AI" label.

The portal has two chat interfaces. They are separate systems with one bridge.

	Messages	Friday Bubble
Where	Full page at /messages	Floating eye icon, every page
Purpose	Team collaboration	Personal AI assistant
Storage	Permanent (SQLite)	Session only (lost on tab close)
Multi-user	Yes — broadcasts to all	Single user only
Protocol	WebSocket (live)	REST (request/response)
Typing	Shows who's typing	N/A
Read receipts	Yes	N/A

The Ask Friday button in Messages is the one bridge. When clicked, Friday reads from the Messages database, responds, and saves its reply back as a chat message visible to all. The floating Friday bubble never touches the Messages database — its conversations are completely independent.

What	Where
Conversations & messages	/data/portal-auth/chat.db
WebSocket endpoint	/portal/chat/ws?token={jwt}
REST endpoints	/portal/chat/*
Friday context endpoint	/portal/friday/chat-context

All conversations and messages are stored permanently in SQLite. The WebSocket connection requires a JWT token (re-issued via /portal/chat/ws-token to work around httpOnly cookie constraints).