fix: compact timestamps, historical alias resolution, wider ts column

- Timestamps now show "Jun 28 10:58" for older messages (dropped
  "Yesterday" which overflowed the fixed-width column)
- Timestamp column widened from 52px to 72px to fit date+time
- state_snapshot now includes known_peers (historically seen, not
  currently connected) so the UI can resolve aliases in history
- MessagePane aliasFor falls back to knownPeers map

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

cmd/tui/main.go

@@ -383,7 +383,7 @@ func (m model) refreshViewport() model {
 	w := m.vpContentWidth()
 	var sb strings.Builder
 	for _, e := range m.messages[room] {
-		ts := styleMsgTime.Render(e.at.Format("15:04"))
+		ts := styleMsgTime.Render(formatMsgTime(e.at))
 		var from string
 		if e.fromMe {
 			from = styleMsgMe.Render(e.from)
@@ -614,6 +614,17 @@ func filterIDs(ids []proto.PeerID, remove proto.PeerID) []proto.PeerID {
 	return out
 }
 
+func formatMsgTime(t time.Time) string {
+	now := time.Now()
+	if t.Year() == now.Year() && t.YearDay() == now.YearDay() {
+		return t.Format("15:04")
+	}
+	if t.Year() == now.Year() && t.YearDay() == now.YearDay()-1 {
+		return "Yesterday " + t.Format("15:04")
+	}
+	return t.Format("Jan 2 15:04")
+}
+
 func min(a, b int) int {
 	if a < b {
 		return a

internal/ipc/ipc.go

@@ -459,6 +459,22 @@ func stateSnapshot(mgr *netmgr.Manager) proto.IpcMessage {
 				msg.Rooms = append(msg.Rooms, r)
 			}
 		}
+		// Include all historically-known peers so the UI can resolve aliases in history.
+		if known, err := all[0].Store.KnownPeers(); err == nil {
+			connected := map[proto.PeerID]bool{}
+			for _, p := range msg.ConnectedPeers {
+				connected[p.ID] = true
+			}
+			for id, alias := range known {
+				if connected[id] {
+					continue // already in ConnectedPeers
+				}
+				msg.KnownPeers = append(msg.KnownPeers, proto.PeerInfo{
+					ID:    id,
+					Alias: alias,
+				})
+			}
+		}
 	}
 
 	return msg

internal/proto/proto.go

@@ -350,6 +350,7 @@ type IpcMessage struct {
 	MasterID       string        `json:"master_id,omitempty"`    // daemon's master public key hex
 	LocalPeer      *PeerInfo     `json:"local_peer,omitempty"`
 	ConnectedPeers []PeerInfo    `json:"connected_peers,omitempty"`
+	KnownPeers     []PeerInfo    `json:"known_peers,omitempty"` // historically seen, not currently connected
 	Rooms          []string      `json:"rooms,omitempty"`
 	// multi-network: all joined networks (additive)
 	Networks       []NetworkInfo `json:"networks,omitempty"`

web/src/App.css

@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ details summary { color: var(--muted); font-size: 12px; cursor: pointer; }
 .messages { flex: 1; overflow-y: auto; padding: 8px 0; display: flex; flex-direction: column; }
 .message { display: flex; align-items: baseline; gap: 0; padding: 2px 16px; line-height: 1.5; }
 .message:hover { background: rgba(255,255,255,0.02); }
-.message-ts { color: var(--muted); font-size: 11px; white-space: nowrap; flex-shrink: 0; width: 52px; }
+.message-ts { color: var(--muted); font-size: 11px; white-space: nowrap; flex-shrink: 0; width: 72px; }
 .message-alias { font-weight: 600; font-size: 13px; text-align: left; white-space: nowrap; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; flex-shrink: 0; width: 90px; padding-right: 10px; }
 .message.mine .message-alias { color: var(--accent); }
 .message-text { word-break: break-word; font-size: 14px; color: var(--text); }

web/src/components/MessagePane.tsx

@@ -1,13 +1,34 @@
 import { useEffect, useRef, useState } from 'react'
 import { useWaste } from '../store'
 
+const today = new Date()
+today.setHours(0, 0, 0, 0)
+const todayMs = today.getTime()
+
+function formatTs(ts: number): string {
+  const d = new Date(ts)
+  const time = d.toLocaleTimeString([], { hour: '2-digit', minute: '2-digit', hour12: false })
+  if (ts >= todayMs) return time
+  return d.toLocaleDateString([], { month: 'short', day: 'numeric' }) + ' ' + time
+}
+
 export function MessagePane() {
-  const { messages, historyCutoff, activeRoom, activeNetworkId, localPeer, connectedPeers, send } = useWaste()
+  const { messages, historyCutoff, activeRoom, activeNetworkId, localPeer, connectedPeers, knownPeers, send } = useWaste()
   const [draft, setDraft] = useState('')
   const bottomRef = useRef<HTMLDivElement>(null)
   const roomMessages = messages[activeRoom] ?? []
   const cutoff = historyCutoff[activeRoom] ?? 0
 
+  // Find the index of the first live message (ts > cutoff).
+  // The divider appears just before this index, or at the top if all are history.
+  const firstLiveIdx = cutoff > 0
+    ? roomMessages.findIndex(m => m.ts > cutoff)
+    : -1
+  // If all messages are history (no live yet), put divider at the start.
+  const dividerIdx = cutoff > 0
+    ? (firstLiveIdx === -1 ? 0 : firstLiveIdx)
+    : -1
+
   useEffect(() => {
     bottomRef.current?.scrollIntoView({ behavior: 'smooth' })
   }, [roomMessages.length])
@@ -31,7 +52,9 @@ export function MessagePane() {
 
   function aliasFor(fromId: string) {
     if (fromId === localPeer?.id) return localPeer.alias
-    return connectedPeers.find(p => p.id === fromId)?.alias ?? fromId.slice(0, 8)
+    return connectedPeers.find(p => p.id === fromId)?.alias
+      ?? knownPeers[fromId]
+      ?? fromId.slice(0, 8)
   }
 
   const roomLabel = activeRoom.startsWith('dm:')
@@ -43,20 +66,20 @@ export function MessagePane() {
       <div className="message-pane-header">{roomLabel}</div>
 
       <div className="messages">
+        {dividerIdx === 0 && (
+          <div className="history-divider"><span>earlier messages</span></div>
+        )}
         {roomMessages.map((msg, i) => {
           const mine = msg.from === localPeer?.id
-          const alias = aliasFor(msg.from)
-          const time = new Date(msg.ts).toLocaleTimeString([], { hour: '2-digit', minute: '2-digit', hour12: false })
-          const showDivider = cutoff > 0 && i > 0 && roomMessages[i - 1].ts <= cutoff && msg.ts > cutoff
+          const alias = aliasFor(String(msg.from))
+          const ts = formatTs(msg.ts)
           return (
             <div key={msg.mid ?? i}>
-              {showDivider && (
-                <div className="history-divider">
-                  <span>earlier messages</span>
-                </div>
+              {i === dividerIdx && dividerIdx > 0 && (
+                <div className="history-divider"><span>earlier messages</span></div>
               )}
               <div className={`message ${mine ? 'mine' : ''}`}>
-                <span className="message-ts">{time}</span>
+                <span className="message-ts">{ts}</span>
                 <span className="message-alias">{alias}</span>
                 <span className="message-text">{msg.text}</span>
               </div>

web/src/store/index.ts

@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ interface WasteState {
 
   // peers
   connectedPeers: PeerInfo[]
+  knownPeers: Record<string, string> // id → alias for historical peers
 
   // chat — keyed by room
   messages: Record<string, ChatMessage[]>
@@ -87,6 +88,7 @@ export const useWaste = create<WasteState>((set, get) => ({
   networks: [],
   activeNetworkId: null,
   connectedPeers: [],
+  knownPeers: {},
   messages: {},
   historyCutoff: {},
   activeRoom: 'general',
@@ -215,6 +217,8 @@ export const useWaste = create<WasteState>((set, get) => ({
     switch (msg.type) {
       case 'state_snapshot': {
         const networks = msg.networks ?? []
+        const knownPeers: Record<string, string> = {}
+        for (const p of msg.known_peers ?? []) knownPeers[p.id] = p.alias
         set({
           masterAlias: msg.master_alias ?? null,
           masterId: msg.master_id ?? null,
@@ -222,6 +226,7 @@ export const useWaste = create<WasteState>((set, get) => ({
           networks,
           connectedPeers: msg.connected_peers ?? [],
           activeNetworkId: networks[0]?.network_id ?? null,
+          knownPeers,
         })
         break
       }

web/src/types.ts

@@ -117,6 +117,7 @@ export interface IpcMessage {
   master_id?: string
   local_peer?: PeerInfo
   connected_peers?: PeerInfo[]
+  known_peers?: PeerInfo[]
   rooms?: string[]
   networks?: NetworkInfo[]
   error_message?: string