MSC2654: Unread counts

proposals/2654-unread-counts.md

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+# MSC2654: Unread counts
+
+Homeservers currently send clients counts for missed notifications (and
+highlights) in responses to `/sync` requests, which allows them to display that
+information to clients. However, no count is provided for unread messages. This
+means clients have no way of telling users how many messages they've missed
+since they last read a given room.
+
+This MSC is an alternative to
+[MSC2625](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-doc/pull/2625), which doesn't use
+push rules to calculate unread counts, allowing for simpler implementations.
+
+
+## Proposal
+
+
+### Extended response to `/sync`
+
+This MSC proposes the addition of an `unread_count` parameter in the `Joined
+Room` section of
+[`/sync`](https://matrix.org/docs/spec/client_server/r0.6.1#get-matrix-client-r0-sync)
+responses.
+
+The value of this parameter is a count of every unread event (see below for a
+list of criteria an event needs to match to be marked unread) since the latest
+read receipt (i.e. the latest `m.read` read marker) for the given user in the
+given room. If no read receipt exists for this user in this room, then the value
+of the parameter is a count of every unread event since that user joined it.
+
+In case of a mismatch between this count and the value of `notification_count`
+in the `Unread Notification Counts` section, clients should use the
+`unread_count`.
+
+
+### Unread events
+
+An event should be counted in the unread count only if it matches at least one
+of the following criteria:
+
+* include a non-empty `body` field of type string, in its content
+* be a state event which type is one of:
+    * `m.room.name`
+    * `m.room.topic`
+    * `m.room.avatar`
+    * `m.room.tombstone`
+* be an encrypted message (i.e. have the `m.room.encrypted` type)
+
+Additionally, an event should _not_ be counted in the unread count if it matches
+at least one of the following criteria, even if it is otherwise eligible to be
+included in the count:
+
+* include a `m.relates_to` parameter in its content that includes a `rel_type`
+  parameter, which value is `m.replace`. This matches the definition of an edit
+  in [MSC2676](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-doc/pull/2676).
+* have the type `m.room.message`, no `state_key`, and include a `msgtype`
+  parameter in its content which value is `m.notice`.
+
+Finally, a redaction to an event that was marked as unread should exclude that
+event from the unread count.
+
+When calculating the unread count for a given user in a given room, events sent
+by the requesting user in the room should be ignored.
+
+If the event is an encrypted message, clients should decrypt it and apply the
+rules above to make adjustments to the unread count sent by the homeserver.
+
+
+## Potential issues
+
+This MSC mentions edits, which are specified in
+[MSC2676](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-doc/pull/2676). Therefore, it is
+unclear whether this MSC can be merged before MSC2676.
+
+Unlike notifications, it is not possible to not have the homeserver provide an
+unread count for a given room. A way to do this will be described in a separate
+MSC.
+
+A known limitation of this proposal is that it does not cover highlights: a message
+containing text that is supposed to highlight (i.e. that should impact a
+`highlight_count` counter in sync responses) will be counted in the same way as
+a message that does not highlight. This means that clients cannot rely on the
+`unread_count` field described in this proposal to decide whether there is a
+highlighting message in a room.
+
+
+## Alternatives
+
+As mentioned in the introduction of this proposal,
+[MSC2625](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-doc/pull/2625) proposes an
+alternative implementation of this feature using push rules. However, given the
+complexity of push rules and that MSC2625 requires to implement a new behaviour
+for the `mark_unread` action, using push rules for this feature doesn't seem to
+be adding much values, and seems to add unnecessary complexity to its
+implementation.
+
+
+## Unstable prefix
+
+While this feature is in development, the following names will be in use:
+
+| Proposed final name | Name while in development |
+| --- | --- |
+| `unread_count` | `org.matrix.msc2654.unread_count` |