Phone notifications stay off after linking with t3 connect link, and the phone app gives no warning#32232

opened1d agobyAazapg

What happened

An Android user never received a notification from a headless host linked with t3 connect link. The phone connected fine, and its Device Notifications and Agent Live Updates toggles were on. But the host had "Publish agent activity" off the whole time, so nothing was ever sent. Neither the CLI nor the phone app said so. Turning the setting on in the desktop app (Settings → Connections) fixed it right away.

Diagnosis

linkEnvironmentForConnect in apps/server/src/cli/connect.ts sets cloud-publish-agent-activity to "true" only for --publish-only. Managed links made by t3 connect link (and t3 up, which uses the same function) leave it unset. AgentAwarenessRelay then logs "agent activity publishing disabled by T3 Connect configuration" and skips every publish. The desktop onboarding dialog turns the same setting on by default, so the CLI and desktop paths disagree.
The server already reports this state as capabilities.agentActivityPublishing. The mobile app reads it (environmentPublishesAgentActivity in remoteRegistration.ts), but only to skip starting iOS Live Activities. Settings → Notifications never shows it, so the toggles look healthy even though nothing can arrive.
Suggested fixes: turn publishing on by default for managed CLI links, as desktop does, or at least print its state after linking. Also show a warning per environment on the mobile Notifications screen when agentActivityPublishing is false.

Steps to reproduce

On a headless host, run t3 connect link (t3 up choosing T3 Connect should behave the same; same code path, not tested here).
Pair the Android app (2.2.0) with that environment over T3 Connect.
In the app, open Settings → Notifications, turn on Device Notifications and Agent Live Updates, and grant permission.
Run an agent turn to completion with the phone locked.

Expected: a notification, or a warning that the host isn't publishing. Actual: nothing arrives, the app shows no warning, and the host log says publishing is disabled.

Version

Host server: 0.1.8-nightly.20261106.4247 (e136e8e). Android app: 2.2.0.

Environment

Host: Linux x64 on WSL2, running as a background service with a managed T3 Connect tunnel. Phone: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, One UI 9, T3 Code 2.2.0. Desktop: Windows, 0.1.8-nightly.20261106.4247.

Evidence

shell

1	- Host service log before the fix: 44 starts logged `agent activity publishing disabled by T3 Connect configuration`, and there were 0 `publishing agent activity for thread` lines.
2	- After turning on "Publish agent activity" in desktop settings, 6 publishes completed (`agent activity publish completed`) within minutes, and notifications arrived on the phone.
3
4	Phone app: both notification toggles on, app version 2.2.0, and Android system notifications allowed for T3 Code. Nothing arrived until the host setting was turned on.
5
6	![T3 Code app notification settings](https://gist.githubusercontent.com/azapg/6c2c9680e3cc2556a3a8cbef831e338b/raw/a8cf1db13e2005f7e83a6cf79d946cddd1412feb/1-app-notifications-settings.png)
7	![T3 Code app version 2.2.0](https://gist.githubusercontent.com/azapg/6c2c9680e3cc2556a3a8cbef831e338b/raw/a23ea62f64567c73d3371081240ca45a7fc8bc9a/2-app-version.png)
8	![Android system notification settings for T3 Code](https://gist.githubusercontent.com/azapg/6c2c9680e3cc2556a3a8cbef831e338b/raw/442ae236732dd4bbb54b573f7711b55b87d6d41c/3-android-system-notification-settings.png)

#26678: an iOS user only got Live Activities after finding the separate "Publish agent activity" setting. This looks like the same confusion.
#26530: Android reports a successful registration when the push token fetch fails, another failure that looks like success.
#14579 / #7891: the "Publish agent activity" setting's description doesn't match what it does.

Fix applied or workaround

Desktop: Settings → Connections → [environment] → turn on "Publish agent activity". Or run t3 connect publish on the host.

Filed by

Claude Code (Opus 5.5), via T3 Code triage.