feat(website): a visitor's channel rides on into the bot link

apps/website/qa/traffic-arrival-contract.mjs

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 // once, untagged visits never, and a failure never reaches the page.
 // Run: node --experimental-strip-types qa/traffic-arrival-contract.mjs
 import assert from 'node:assert/strict'
-import { arrivalFromSearch, reportArrival, ARRIVAL_URL } from '../src/lib/trafficArrival.ts'
+import { arrivalFromSearch, reportArrival, ARRIVAL_URL, carrySource, SOURCE_KEY } from '../src/lib/trafficArrival.ts'
 
 // The form the agents publish: the query BEFORE the hash route.
 const blog = new URL('https://t27.ai/?utm_source=x&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=blog&utm_content=gf-t#/blog/gf-t')
@@ -26,4 +26,16 @@ assert.deepEqual(calls, [[ARRIVAL_URL, { source: 'reddit' }]])
 const failing = async () => { throw new Error('offline') }
 assert.equal(await reportArrival('?utm_source=threads', failing, { getItem: () => null, setItem: () => {} }), false)
 
-console.log('traffic-arrival contract: 9 checks passed')
+// The channel rides on into the bot: remembered at the arrival...
+assert.equal(store.get(SOURCE_KEY), 'reddit', 'the visit remembers its channel')
+// ...and put at the end of OUR bot's /start payload, the way the bot reads it.
+assert.equal(carrySource('https://t.me/t27ai_bot?start=website', 'x'), 'https://t.me/t27ai_bot?start=website__x')
+assert.equal(carrySource('https://t.me/t27ai_bot?start=foundry', 'Reddit'), 'https://t.me/t27ai_bot?start=foundry__reddit')
+assert.equal(carrySource('https://t.me/other_bot?start=website', 'x'), 'https://t.me/other_bot?start=website', 'never somebody else\'s bot')
+assert.equal(carrySource('https://t.me/t27_lang', 'x'), 'https://t.me/t27_lang', 'a channel link is not a bot start')
+assert.equal(carrySource('https://t.me/t27ai_bot?start=website__x', 'reddit'), 'https://t.me/t27ai_bot?start=website__x', 'a channel already there stays')
+assert.equal(carrySource('https://t.me/t27ai_bot?start=website', null), 'https://t.me/t27ai_bot?start=website', 'no channel, no tag')
+const long = 'a'.repeat(62) // + '__x' = 65 > 64
+assert.equal(carrySource(`https://t.me/t27ai_bot?start=${long}`, 'x'), `https://t.me/t27ai_bot?start=${long}`, 'never past 64 characters')
+
+console.log('traffic-arrival contract: 16 checks passed')

apps/website/src/components/QueenLanes.css

@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
   min-height: 0;
   height: 100%;
   border: 1px solid var(--hud-line, rgba(0, 255, 136, 0.22));
-  background: var(--hud-panel, rgba(2, 8, 6, 0.86));
+  background: var(--hud-panel, rgba(2, 8, 6, 0.88));
   clip-path: polygon(10px 0, 100% 0, 100% calc(100% - 10px), calc(100% - 10px) 100%, 0 100%, 0 10px);
 }
 

apps/website/src/lib/trafficArrival.ts

@@ -51,6 +51,12 @@ export async function reportArrival(
 ): Promise<boolean> {
   const tags = arrivalFromSearch(search)
   if (!tags) return false
+  try {
+    // The channel of this visit, for the links into our bot (carrySource).
+    if (!storage?.getItem(SOURCE_KEY)) storage?.setItem(SOURCE_KEY, tags.source)
+  } catch {
+    /* no storage: the bot link goes untagged */
+  }
   try {
     if (storage?.getItem(ONCE_KEY)) return false
     storage?.setItem(ONCE_KEY, '1')
@@ -69,3 +75,65 @@ export async function reportArrival(
     return false
   }
 }
+
+/*
+ * THE CHANNEL RIDES ON INTO THE BOT (owner, 2026-09-26: "end-to-end
+ * conversion from t27.ai").
+ *
+ * A visitor from X who presses "open in Telegram" used to reach the bot as
+ * nobody from nowhere: the visit was counted, the start was not tied to it.
+ * The bot reads the channel at the end of its /start payload after `__`
+ * (999-multibots-telegraf src/navigation/helpers/appLinks.ts
+ * splitStartSource) and counts the start by channel; this puts it there, at
+ * the moment of the click, for OUR bot's links only, never past Telegram's
+ * 64 characters, never over a channel already in the link.
+ */
+export const SOURCE_KEY = 'traffic:source'
+export const OUR_BOTS = ['t27ai_bot']
+const START_MAX = 64
+
+/** The bot link carrying this visit's channel; anything else as given. Pure. */
+export function carrySource(href: string, source: string | null): string {
+  const tag = String(source ?? '')
+    .toLowerCase()
+    .replace(/[^a-z0-9-]+/g, '-')
+    .replace(/^-+|-+$/g, '')
+    .slice(0, 32)
+  if (!tag) return href
+  let u: URL
+  try {
+    u = new URL(href)
+  } catch {
+    return href
+  }
+  if (!['t.me', 'telegram.me'].includes(u.hostname.toLowerCase())) return href
+  if (!OUR_BOTS.includes(u.pathname.replace(/^\//, '').toLowerCase())) return href
+  const start = u.searchParams.get('start')
+  if (!start || start.includes('__')) return href
+  const next = `${start}__${tag}`
+  if (next.length > START_MAX || !/^[A-Za-z0-9_-]+$/.test(next)) return href
+  u.searchParams.set('start', next)
+  return u.toString()
+}
+
+/** Tag our bot links as they are pressed. Never throws, never blocks a click. */
+export function installBotLinkCarry(
+  doc: Pick<Document, 'addEventListener'> | null = typeof document !== 'undefined' ? document : null,
+  storage: Pick<Storage, 'getItem'> | null = typeof sessionStorage !== 'undefined'
+    ? sessionStorage
+    : null
+): void {
+  if (!doc) return
+  const tag = (e: Event) => {
+    try {
+      const a = (e.target as Element | null)?.closest?.('a[href]') as HTMLAnchorElement | null
+      if (!a) return
+      const next = carrySource(a.href, storage?.getItem(SOURCE_KEY) ?? null)
+      if (next !== a.href) a.href = next
+    } catch {
+      /* a link stays as it was */
+    }
+  }
+  doc.addEventListener('click', tag, true)
+  doc.addEventListener('auxclick', tag, true)
+}

apps/website/src/main.tsx

@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ import GlobalStarfield from './components/GlobalStarfield.tsx'
 import { handExplorerLinksToQueen } from './lib/queenFrame'
 import { redirectLegacyQueen } from './lib/legacyQueenRedirect'
 import { triIdentity } from './lib/triIdentity'
-import { reportArrival } from './lib/trafficArrival'
+import { installBotLinkCarry, reportArrival } from './lib/trafficArrival'
 
 // THE QUEEN MOVED to https://app.t27.ai/queen/, which now builds this same
 // bundle and serves the board on the app's own origin. #/queen here is the old
@@ -31,7 +31,10 @@ const leaving = redirectLegacyQueen()
 // A visitor from a tagged link (utm_source=x, reddit, threads...) is counted
 // once, by channel, where the agents' links land. Not for a page that is on
 // its way to another address. See src/lib/trafficArrival.ts.
-if (!leaving) void reportArrival()
+if (!leaving) {
+  void reportArrival()
+  installBotLinkCarry()
+}
 
 // In a Queen tab's frame, a link to another Explorer switches the Queen's tab instead
 // of navigating the frame under a rail that names a different one.