feat: add SSE keepalive and liveness tracking for resilient connections

Add 30s keepalive pings to prevent proxy/CDN idle timeouts from killing
SSE connections silently. Track lastSeenAt on each SSE connect attempt
so Datastar's retry signals keep contexts alive through the reaper.

context.go

@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ type Context struct {
 	createdAt           time.Time
 	sseConnected        atomic.Bool
 	sseDisconnectedAt   atomic.Pointer[time.Time]
+	lastSeenAt          atomic.Pointer[time.Time]
 	suspended           atomic.Bool
 }
 

internal/examples/nats-chatroom/profile.go

@@ -18,6 +18,12 @@ func ProfilePage(c *via.Context) {
 		via.MaxLen(20, "Must be at most 20 characters"),
 	)
 	selectedEmoji := c.Signal(existingEmoji)
+	previewName := c.Computed(func() string {
+		if name := nameField.String(); name != "" {
+			return name
+		}
+		return "Your Name"
+	})
 
 	saveToSession := func() bool {
 		if !c.ValidateAll() {
@@ -68,18 +74,13 @@ func ProfilePage(c *via.Context) {
 			h.Button(h.Text("Start Chatting"), saveAndChat.OnClick()),
 		)
 
-		previewName := nameField.String()
-		if previewName == "" {
-			previewName = "Your Name"
-		}
-
 		return h.Div(h.Class("profile-page"),
 			h.H2(h.Text("Your Profile"), h.DataViewTransition("page-title")),
 
 			// Live preview
 			h.Div(h.Class("profile-preview"),
 				h.Div(h.Class("avatar avatar-lg"), h.Text(selectedEmoji.String())),
-				h.Span(h.Class("preview-name"), h.Text(previewName)),
+				h.Span(h.Class("preview-name"), previewName.Text()),
 			),
 
 			h.Div(h.Class("profile-form"),

internal/examples/pubsub-crud/main.go

@@ -76,6 +76,12 @@ func main() {
 		titleSignal := c.Signal("")
 		urlSignal := c.Signal("")
 		targetIDSignal := c.Signal("")
+		saveLabel := c.Computed(func() string {
+			if targetIDSignal.String() != "" {
+				return "Update Bookmark"
+			}
+			return "Add Bookmark"
+		})
 
 		via.Subscribe(c, "bookmarks.events", func(evt CRUDEvent) {
 			if evt.UserID == userID {
@@ -205,11 +211,6 @@ func main() {
 			}
 			bookmarksMu.RUnlock()
 
-			saveLabel := "Add Bookmark"
-			if isEditing {
-				saveLabel = "Update Bookmark"
-			}
-
 			return h.Div(h.Class("min-h-screen bg-base-200"),
 				// Navbar
 				h.Div(h.Class("navbar bg-base-100 shadow-sm"),
@@ -225,7 +226,7 @@ func main() {
 					// Form card
 					h.Div(h.Class("card bg-base-100 shadow"),
 						h.Div(h.Class("card-body"),
-							h.H2(h.Class("card-title"), h.Text(saveLabel)),
+							h.H2(h.Class("card-title"), saveLabel.Text()),
 							h.Div(h.Class("flex flex-col gap-2"),
 								h.Input(h.Class("input input-bordered w-full"), h.Type("text"), h.Placeholder("Title"), titleSignal.Bind()),
 								h.Input(h.Class("input input-bordered w-full"), h.Type("text"), h.Placeholder("https://example.com"), urlSignal.Bind()),
@@ -233,7 +234,7 @@ func main() {
 									h.If(isEditing,
 										h.Button(h.Class("btn btn-ghost"), h.Text("Cancel"), cancelEdit.OnClick()),
 									),
-									h.Button(h.Class("btn btn-primary"), h.Text(saveLabel), save.OnClick()),
+									h.Button(h.Class("btn btn-primary"), saveLabel.Text(), save.OnClick()),
 								),
 							),
 						),

via.go

@@ -331,15 +331,18 @@ func (v *V) reapOrphanedContexts(suspendAfter, ttl time.Duration) {
 		if c.sseConnected.Load() {
 			continue
 		}
-		var disconnectedFor time.Duration
+		// Use the most recent liveness signal
-		if dc := c.sseDisconnectedAt.Load(); dc != nil {
+		lastAlive := c.createdAt
-			disconnectedFor = now.Sub(*dc)
+		if dc := c.sseDisconnectedAt.Load(); dc != nil && dc.After(lastAlive) {
-		} else {
+			lastAlive = *dc
-			disconnectedFor = now.Sub(c.createdAt)
 		}
-		if disconnectedFor > ttl {
+		if seen := c.lastSeenAt.Load(); seen != nil && seen.After(lastAlive) {
+			lastAlive = *seen
+		}
+		silentFor := now.Sub(lastAlive)
+		if silentFor > ttl {
 			toReap = append(toReap, c)
-		} else if disconnectedFor > suspendAfter && !c.suspended.Load() {
+		} else if silentFor > suspendAfter && !c.suspended.Load() {
 			toSuspend = append(toSuspend, c)
 		}
 	}
@@ -655,6 +658,8 @@ func New() *V {
 			return
 		}
 		c.reqCtx = r.Context()
+		now := time.Now()
+		c.lastSeenAt.Store(&now)
 
 		sse := datastar.NewSSE(w, r, datastar.WithCompression(datastar.WithBrotli(datastar.WithBrotliLevel(5))))
 
@@ -688,17 +693,22 @@ func New() *V {
 
 		go c.Sync()
 
+		keepalive := time.NewTicker(30 * time.Second)
+		defer keepalive.Stop()
+
 		for {
 			select {
 			case <-sse.Context().Done():
 				v.logDebug(c, "SSE connection ended")
 				c.sseConnected.Store(false)
-				now := time.Now()
+				dcNow := time.Now()
-				c.sseDisconnectedAt.Store(&now)
+				c.sseDisconnectedAt.Store(&dcNow)
 				return
 			case <-c.ctxDisposedChan:
 				v.logDebug(c, "context disposed, closing SSE")
 				return
+			case <-keepalive.C:
+				sse.PatchSignals([]byte("{}"))
 			case patch := <-c.patchChan:
 				switch patch.typ {
 				case patchTypeElements:

via_test.go

@@ -418,6 +418,7 @@ func TestReaperCleansOrphanedContexts(t *testing.T) {
 func TestReaperSuspendsContext(t *testing.T) {
 	v := New()
 	c := newContext("suspend-1", "/", v)
+	c.createdAt = time.Now().Add(-30 * time.Minute)
 	dc := time.Now().Add(-20 * time.Minute)
 	c.sseDisconnectedAt.Store(&dc)
 	v.registerCtx(c)
@@ -432,6 +433,7 @@ func TestReaperSuspendsContext(t *testing.T) {
 func TestReaperReapsAfterTTL(t *testing.T) {
 	v := New()
 	c := newContext("reap-1", "/", v)
+	c.createdAt = time.Now().Add(-3 * time.Hour)
 	dc := time.Now().Add(-2 * time.Hour)
 	c.sseDisconnectedAt.Store(&dc)
 	c.suspended.Store(true)
@@ -446,6 +448,7 @@ func TestReaperReapsAfterTTL(t *testing.T) {
 func TestReaperIgnoresAlreadySuspended(t *testing.T) {
 	v := New()
 	c := newContext("already-sus-1", "/", v)
+	c.createdAt = time.Now().Add(-30 * time.Minute)
 	dc := time.Now().Add(-20 * time.Minute)
 	c.sseDisconnectedAt.Store(&dc)
 	c.suspended.Store(true)
@@ -500,6 +503,74 @@ func TestCleanupCtxIdempotent(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Error(t, err, "context should be removed after cleanup")
 }
 
+func TestReaperRespectsLastSeenAt(t *testing.T) {
+	v := New()
+	c := newContext("seen-1", "/", v)
+	c.createdAt = time.Now().Add(-30 * time.Minute)
+	// Disconnected 20 min ago, but client retried (lastSeenAt) 2 min ago
+	dc := time.Now().Add(-20 * time.Minute)
+	c.sseDisconnectedAt.Store(&dc)
+	seen := time.Now().Add(-2 * time.Minute)
+	c.lastSeenAt.Store(&seen)
+	v.registerCtx(c)
+
+	v.reapOrphanedContexts(15*time.Minute, time.Hour)
+
+	_, err := v.getCtx("seen-1")
+	assert.NoError(t, err, "context with recent lastSeenAt should survive suspend threshold")
+	assert.False(t, c.suspended.Load(), "context should not be suspended")
+}
+
+func TestReaperFallsBackWithoutLastSeenAt(t *testing.T) {
+	v := New()
+	c := newContext("noseen-1", "/", v)
+	c.createdAt = time.Now().Add(-30 * time.Minute)
+	dc := time.Now().Add(-20 * time.Minute)
+	c.sseDisconnectedAt.Store(&dc)
+	// no lastSeenAt set — should fall back to sseDisconnectedAt
+	v.registerCtx(c)
+
+	v.reapOrphanedContexts(15*time.Minute, time.Hour)
+
+	got, err := v.getCtx("noseen-1")
+	assert.NoError(t, err, "context should still be in registry (suspended, not reaped)")
+	assert.True(t, got.suspended.Load(), "context should be suspended using sseDisconnectedAt fallback")
+}
+
+func TestReaperReapsWithStaleLastSeenAt(t *testing.T) {
+	v := New()
+	c := newContext("stale-seen-1", "/", v)
+	c.createdAt = time.Now().Add(-3 * time.Hour)
+	dc := time.Now().Add(-2 * time.Hour)
+	c.sseDisconnectedAt.Store(&dc)
+	// lastSeenAt is also old — beyond TTL
+	seen := time.Now().Add(-90 * time.Minute)
+	c.lastSeenAt.Store(&seen)
+	c.suspended.Store(true)
+	v.registerCtx(c)
+
+	v.reapOrphanedContexts(15*time.Minute, time.Hour)
+
+	_, err := v.getCtx("stale-seen-1")
+	assert.Error(t, err, "context with stale lastSeenAt beyond TTL should be reaped")
+}
+
+func TestLastSeenAtUpdatedOnSSEConnect(t *testing.T) {
+	v := New()
+	c := newContext("seen-sse-1", "/", v)
+	v.registerCtx(c)
+
+	assert.Nil(t, c.lastSeenAt.Load(), "lastSeenAt should be nil before SSE connect")
+
+	// Simulate what the SSE handler does after getCtx
+	now := time.Now()
+	c.lastSeenAt.Store(&now)
+
+	got := c.lastSeenAt.Load()
+	assert.NotNil(t, got, "lastSeenAt should be set after SSE connect")
+	assert.WithinDuration(t, now, *got, time.Second)
+}
+
 func TestDevModeRemovePersistedFix(t *testing.T) {
 	v := New()
 	v.cfg.DevMode = true