Notifications aren't showing up without a page refresh

[allilevine]

User report: 9203237-zd-a8c
Slack thread: p1734864094501249-slack-C029GN3KD

Screen.Recording.2024-12-22.at.8.44.48.PM.mov

Notifications aren't showing up without a page refresh. This is happening for some users but not others, and sometimes with posts, sometimes with comments. Notifications are implemented both in Calypso and for wp-admin (iframed). I see network requests being fired from both when I open the notifications panel.

In Calypso see: https://github.com/Automattic/wp-calypso/blob/trunk/apps/notifications/src/panel/rest-client/index.js#L485

[github-actions]

OpenAI suggested the following labels for this issue:

• [Feature Group] User Interaction & Engagement: The issue involves notifications, which are a key part of how users interact with and engage with the content on the platform.
• [Feature] Notifications: This label is directly relevant as the issue specifically addresses a problem with notifications not appearing.
• [Feature] Calypso & wp-admin Navigation: Notifications are implemented in both Calypso and wp-admin, making this feature relevant to the issue at hand.

[github-actions]

This issue could use some more labels, to help prioritize and categorize our work. Could you please add at least a [Type], a [Feature], and a [Pri] label?

[github-actions]

Support References

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• 9203237-zen

[ariel-maidana]

The site in 9203237-zd-a8c is a simple site on the Premium plan.

[ariel-maidana]

Using a test site, I was able to replicate this in:

• Sites screen.
• Calypso home.
• WP Admin home. This one was inconsistent: in one of the tests, the notification appeared without reloading the page, while in the second test, I had to reload the page to see it.

[allilevine]

I'm testing in Calypso with localStorage.debug = 'notifications:panel' enabled in the console, and I see comment notifications showing up without a refresh, but post notifications needing a refresh. The debug is showing the correct values. I'll keep investigating.

[allilevine]

Today comment notifications aren't always showing up. With more debugging I see that we're supposed to get new notification messages in real-time via a WebSocket connection to wss://public-api.wordpress.com/pinghub/wpcom/me/newest-note-data, but the messages aren't coming through. We fall back to polling for new notifications, so that explains why it sometimes works.

Next step is to debug on the server side to find out why the messages aren't coming through. fbhepr%2Skers%2Sjcpbz%2Sjc%2Qpbagrag%2Szh%2Qcyhtvaf%2Sabgrf%2Sabgrf%2Qubbxf.cuc%3Se%3Q7s7s45ro%2349-og

[allilevine]

I'm hitting a wall with debugging this, asked here: p1735662659279979-slack-C03N25JPCE4