Reject banned users at freebuff session endpoints so queueDepth stops flickering

Banned bots with valid API keys were POSTing /session every few
seconds and re-entering the queue between the 15s admission-tick
`evictBanned` sweeps, making the user-facing queue counter jump
between ticks. Add a terminal `banned` status (403, mirroring
`country_blocked`) so banned accounts never create a queued row, and
filter banned users out of `queueDepthsByModel` / `queuePositionFor`
so the displayed position/depth stays stable.

Author: jahooma

cli/src/app.tsx

@@ -375,6 +375,7 @@ const AuthedSurface = ({
   //   'none'   → no seat yet; show model-picker landing
   //   'queued' → waiting our turn
   //   'country_blocked' → terminal region-gate message
+  //   'banned' → terminal account-banned message
   //
   // 'ended' deliberately falls through to <Chat>: the agent may still be
   // finishing work under the server-side grace period, and the chat surface
@@ -384,7 +385,8 @@ const AuthedSurface = ({
     (session === null ||
       session.status === 'queued' ||
       session.status === 'none' ||
-      session.status === 'country_blocked')
+      session.status === 'country_blocked' ||
+      session.status === 'banned')
   ) {
     return <WaitingRoomScreen session={session} error={sessionError} />
   }

cli/src/components/waiting-room-screen.tsx

@@ -242,6 +242,21 @@ export const WaitingRoomScreen: React.FC<WaitingRoomScreenProps> = ({
               </text>
             </>
           )}
+
+          {/* Account banned. Terminal — polling has stopped. Blocking here
+              stops banned bots from re-entering the queue every few seconds
+              and inflating queueDepth between admission-tick sweeps. */}
+          {session?.status === 'banned' && (
+            <>
+              <text style={{ fg: theme.secondary, marginBottom: 1 }}>
+                ⚠ Account unavailable
+              </text>
+              <text style={{ fg: theme.muted, wrapMode: 'word' }}>
+                This account can't use freebuff. If you think this is a
+                mistake, contact support@codebuff.com. Press Ctrl+C to exit.
+              </text>
+            </>
+          )}
         </box>
       </box>
 

cli/src/hooks/use-freebuff-session.ts

@@ -60,17 +60,18 @@ async function callSession(
   if (resp.status === 404) {
     return { status: 'disabled' }
   }
-  // 403 with a country_blocked body is a terminal signal, not an error — the
-  // server rejects non-allowlist countries up front (see session _handlers.ts)
-  // so users don't wait through the queue only to be rejected at chat time.
-  // The 403 status (rather than 200) is deliberate: older CLIs that don't
-  // know this status treat it as a generic error and back off on the 10s
-  // error-retry cadence instead of tight-polling an unrecognized 200 body.
+  // 403 with a country_blocked or banned body is a terminal signal, not an
+  // error — the server rejects non-allowlist countries and banned accounts up
+  // front (see session _handlers.ts) so they don't wait through the queue only
+  // to be rejected at chat time. The 403 status (rather than 200) is
+  // deliberate: older CLIs that don't know these statuses treat them as a
+  // generic error and back off on the 10s error-retry cadence instead of
+  // tight-polling an unrecognized 200 body.
   if (resp.status === 403) {
     const body = (await resp.json().catch(() => null)) as
       | FreebuffSessionResponse
       | null
-    if (body && body.status === 'country_blocked') {
+    if (body && (body.status === 'country_blocked' || body.status === 'banned')) {
       return body
     }
   }
@@ -116,6 +117,7 @@ function nextDelayMs(next: FreebuffSessionResponse): number | null {
     case 'disabled':
     case 'superseded':
     case 'country_blocked':
+    case 'banned':
     case 'model_locked':
       return null
   }

common/src/types/freebuff-session.ts

@@ -92,3 +92,10 @@ export type FreebuffSessionServerResponse =
       currentModel: string
       requestedModel: string
     }
+  | {
+      /** Account is banned. Returned from every endpoint so banned bots can't
+       *  join the queue at all (otherwise they inflate `queueDepth` until the
+       *  15s admission tick's `evictBanned` sweeps them). Terminal — CLI
+       *  stops polling and shows a banned message. */
+      status: 'banned'
+    }

web/src/app/api/v1/freebuff/session/__tests__/session.test.ts

@@ -84,10 +84,17 @@ const LOGGER = {
   debug: () => {},
 }
 
-function makeDeps(sessionDeps: SessionDeps, userId: string | null): FreebuffSessionDeps {
+function makeDeps(
+  sessionDeps: SessionDeps,
+  userId: string | null,
+  opts: { banned?: boolean } = {},
+): FreebuffSessionDeps {
   return {
     logger: LOGGER as unknown as FreebuffSessionDeps['logger'],
-    getUserInfoFromApiKey: (async () => (userId ? { id: userId } : undefined)) as unknown as FreebuffSessionDeps['getUserInfoFromApiKey'],
+    getUserInfoFromApiKey: (async () =>
+      userId
+        ? { id: userId, banned: opts.banned ?? false }
+        : undefined) as unknown as FreebuffSessionDeps['getUserInfoFromApiKey'],
     sessionDeps,
   }
 }
@@ -145,6 +152,22 @@ describe('POST /api/v1/freebuff/session', () => {
     const body = await resp.json()
     expect(body.status).toBe('queued')
   })
+
+  // Banned bots with valid API keys were POSTing every few seconds and
+  // inflating queueDepth between the 15s admission-tick sweeps. Rejecting at
+  // the HTTP layer with 403 (terminal, like country_blocked) keeps them out
+  // entirely. Also verifies no queue row is created as a side effect.
+  test('returns banned 403 without joining the queue for banned user', async () => {
+    const sessionDeps = makeSessionDeps()
+    const resp = await postFreebuffSession(
+      makeReq('ok'),
+      makeDeps(sessionDeps, 'u1', { banned: true }),
+    )
+    expect(resp.status).toBe(403)
+    const body = await resp.json()
+    expect(body.status).toBe('banned')
+    expect(sessionDeps.rows.size).toBe(0)
+  })
 })
 
 describe('GET /api/v1/freebuff/session', () => {
@@ -168,6 +191,17 @@ describe('GET /api/v1/freebuff/session', () => {
     expect(body.countryCode).toBe('FR')
   })
 
+  test('returns banned 403 on GET for banned user', async () => {
+    const sessionDeps = makeSessionDeps()
+    const resp = await getFreebuffSession(
+      makeReq('ok'),
+      makeDeps(sessionDeps, 'u1', { banned: true }),
+    )
+    expect(resp.status).toBe(403)
+    const body = await resp.json()
+    expect(body.status).toBe('banned')
+  })
+
   test('returns superseded when active row exists with mismatched instance id', async () => {
     const sessionDeps = makeSessionDeps()
     sessionDeps.rows.set('u1', {

web/src/app/api/v1/freebuff/session/_handlers.ts

@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ export interface FreebuffSessionDeps {
 
 type AuthResult =
   | { error: NextResponse }
-  | { userId: string; userEmail: string | null }
+  | { userId: string; userEmail: string | null; userBanned: boolean }
 
 async function resolveUser(req: NextRequest, deps: FreebuffSessionDeps): Promise<AuthResult> {
   const apiKey = extractApiKeyFromHeader(req)
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ async function resolveUser(req: NextRequest, deps: FreebuffSessionDeps): Promise
   }
   const userInfo = await deps.getUserInfoFromApiKey({
     apiKey,
-    fields: ['id', 'email'],
+    fields: ['id', 'email', 'banned'],
     logger: deps.logger,
   })
   if (!userInfo?.id) {
@@ -78,7 +78,11 @@ async function resolveUser(req: NextRequest, deps: FreebuffSessionDeps): Promise
       ),
     }
   }
-  return { userId: String(userInfo.id), userEmail: userInfo.email ?? null }
+  return {
+    userId: String(userInfo.id),
+    userEmail: userInfo.email ?? null,
+    userBanned: Boolean(userInfo.banned),
+  }
 }
 
 function serverError(
@@ -130,13 +134,16 @@ export async function postFreebuffSession(
     const state = await requestSession({
       userId: auth.userId,
       userEmail: auth.userEmail,
+      userBanned: auth.userBanned,
       model: requestedModel,
       deps: deps.sessionDeps,
     })
     // model_locked is a 409 so it's distinguishable from a normal queued/active
-    // response on the client. The CLI translates it into a "switch model?"
-    // confirmation prompt.
-    const status = state.status === 'model_locked' ? 409 : 200
+    // response on the client. banned is a 403 (terminal, mirrors country_blocked)
+    // so older CLIs that don't know the status fall into their `!resp.ok` error
+    // path and back off instead of tight-polling on the unrecognized 200 body.
+    const status =
+      state.status === 'model_locked' ? 409 : state.status === 'banned' ? 403 : 200
     return NextResponse.json(state, { status })
   } catch (error) {
     return serverError(deps, 'POST', auth.userId, error)
@@ -161,6 +168,7 @@ export async function getFreebuffSession(
     const state = await getSessionState({
       userId: auth.userId,
       userEmail: auth.userEmail,
+      userBanned: auth.userBanned,
       claimedInstanceId,
       deps: deps.sessionDeps,
     })
@@ -174,7 +182,10 @@ export async function getFreebuffSession(
         { status: 200 },
       )
     }
-    return NextResponse.json(state, { status: 200 })
+    // banned is terminal; 403 for the same reason as country_blocked — older
+    // CLIs that don't know this status treat it as a generic error.
+    const status = state.status === 'banned' ? 403 : 200
+    return NextResponse.json(state, { status })
   } catch (error) {
     return serverError(deps, 'GET', auth.userId, error)
   }

web/src/server/free-session/__tests__/public-api.test.ts

@@ -155,6 +155,19 @@ describe('requestSession', () => {
     expect(offDeps.rows.size).toBe(0)
   })
 
+  test('banned user is rejected before joinOrTakeOver runs', async () => {
+    const state = await requestSession({
+      userId: 'u1',
+      model: DEFAULT_MODEL,
+      userBanned: true,
+      deps,
+    })
+    expect(state).toEqual({ status: 'banned' })
+    // No row should be created — the point is to keep banned bots out of
+    // queueDepthsByModel entirely, not just until the next evictBanned tick.
+    expect(deps.rows.size).toBe(0)
+  })
+
   test('first call puts user in queue at position 1', async () => {
     const state = await requestSession({ userId: 'u1', model: DEFAULT_MODEL, deps })
     expect(state.status).toBe('queued')
@@ -284,6 +297,15 @@ describe('getSessionState', () => {
     expect(state).toEqual({ status: 'disabled' })
   })
 
+  test('banned user returns banned without hitting the DB', async () => {
+    const state = await getSessionState({
+      userId: 'u1',
+      userBanned: true,
+      deps,
+    })
+    expect(state).toEqual({ status: 'banned' })
+  })
+
   test('no row returns none with empty queue-depth snapshot', async () => {
     const state = await getSessionState({ userId: 'u1', deps })
     expect(state).toEqual({ status: 'none', queueDepthByModel: {} })

web/src/server/free-session/public-api.ts

@@ -144,10 +144,17 @@ export async function requestSession(params: {
   userId: string
   model: string
   userEmail?: string | null | undefined
+  /** True if the account is banned. Short-circuited here so banned bots never
+   *  create a queued row — otherwise they inflate `queueDepth` between the
+   *  15s admission ticks that run `evictBanned`. */
+  userBanned?: boolean
   deps?: SessionDeps
 }): Promise<RequestSessionResult> {
   const deps = params.deps ?? defaultDeps
   const model = resolveFreebuffModel(params.model)
+  if (params.userBanned) {
+    return { status: 'banned' }
+  }
   if (
     !deps.isWaitingRoomEnabled() ||
     isWaitingRoomBypassedForEmail(params.userEmail)
@@ -224,10 +231,14 @@ export async function requestSession(params: {
 export async function getSessionState(params: {
   userId: string
   userEmail?: string | null | undefined
+  userBanned?: boolean
   claimedInstanceId?: string | null | undefined
   deps?: SessionDeps
 }): Promise<FreebuffSessionServerResponse> {
   const deps = params.deps ?? defaultDeps
+  if (params.userBanned) {
+    return { status: 'banned' }
+  }
   if (
     !deps.isWaitingRoomEnabled() ||
     isWaitingRoomBypassedForEmail(params.userEmail)

web/src/server/free-session/store.ts

@@ -164,12 +164,26 @@ export async function queueDepth(params: { model: string }): Promise<number> {
  * covers every model's queue depth, so the UI stays cheap to refresh.
  * Models with no queued rows are absent from the map; callers should default
  * missing keys to 0.
+ *
+ * Excludes rows whose user is banned: `evictBanned` only runs on the 15s
+ * admission tick, so between ticks a flood of banned bots would inflate
+ * queueDepth by their count and then snap back down. Filtering here keeps
+ * the user-facing counter stable.
  */
 export async function queueDepthsByModel(): Promise<Record<string, number>> {
   const rows = await db
     .select({ model: schema.freeSession.model, n: count() })
     .from(schema.freeSession)
-    .where(eq(schema.freeSession.status, 'queued'))
+    .where(
+      and(
+        eq(schema.freeSession.status, 'queued'),
+        sql`NOT EXISTS (
+          SELECT 1 FROM ${schema.user}
+          WHERE ${schema.user.id} = ${schema.freeSession.user_id}
+            AND ${schema.user.banned} = true
+        )`,
+      ),
+    )
     .groupBy(schema.freeSession.model)
   const out: Record<string, number> = {}
   for (const row of rows) out[row.model] = Number(row.n)
@@ -224,6 +238,14 @@ export async function queuePositionFor(params: {
         eq(schema.freeSession.status, 'queued'),
         eq(schema.freeSession.model, params.model),
         sql`(${schema.freeSession.queued_at}, ${schema.freeSession.user_id}) <= (${params.queuedAt.toISOString()}::timestamptz, ${params.userId})`,
+        // Exclude banned users ahead of us — matches queueDepthsByModel so the
+        // "Position N / M" counter doesn't briefly jump when banned rows are
+        // swept by the admission tick.
+        sql`NOT EXISTS (
+          SELECT 1 FROM ${schema.user}
+          WHERE ${schema.user.id} = ${schema.freeSession.user_id}
+            AND ${schema.user.banned} = true
+        )`,
       ),
     )
   return Number(rows[0]?.n ?? 0)