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+# Storage, Push Notifications, and Background Jobs
+
+## Overview
+
+The backend uses an S3-compatible object store for file uploads, background jobs for file cleanup, and Web Push notifications to notify offline users. The implementation supports local development without external storage services while using real signed URLs in production.
+
+## Storage Backend
+
+The object storage layer is implemented through a shared `ObjectStore` that wraps the AWS SDK S3 client. Configuration is provided through environment variables, allowing the same implementation to work with AWS S3, MinIO, or other S3-compatible services.
+
+### Development
+
+In development and test environments, presigned upload and download requests return placeholder URLs. This allows local development and automated tests to run without requiring a live object storage service.
+
+### Production
+
+In production, the backend generates cryptographically signed upload and download URLs using the configured object store. These presigned URLs expire after **15 minutes**.
+
+### Storage Keys
+
+Uploaded objects are stored using keys in the following format:
+
+```text
+uploads/<conversationId>/<hash>
+```
+
+Each upload receives a unique storage key based on the conversation and generated hash.
+
+---
+
+## File Lifecycle
+
+Uploaded files move through several stages during their lifetime.
+
+### Upload
+
+A file is uploaded to object storage and referenced by a database record.
+
+### Soft Delete
+
+When a message containing a file is retracted, the file record is marked with `deletedAt`. The object itself is not removed immediately.
+
+### Reference Counting
+
+Before deleting an object, the cleanup job verifies that no active messages still reference the file. If at least one active reference exists, the object is preserved.
+
+### Hard Delete
+
+If a soft-deleted file has no remaining live references, the cleanup job deletes the object from storage and records the deletion by setting `hardDeletedAt`.
+
+### Garbage Collection
+
+The cleanup job also removes pending uploads that remain unconfirmed for more than **24 hours**, deleting both the stored object and its database record.
+
+---
+
+## Push Notifications
+
+Push notifications are delivered only to eligible offline devices.
+
+### Recipient Selection
+
+The backend skips:
+
+- The message sender
+- Members who have muted the conversation
+- Users currently connected online
+
+Only active devices with push notifications enabled are considered.
+
+### Coalescing
+
+Multiple messages sent within a **2-second** window are combined into a single push notification for each device.
+
+### Rate Limiting
+
+Each device is limited to receiving one push notification every **30 seconds**.
+
+### Dead Subscription Cleanup
+
+Subscriptions returning HTTP **404** or **410** are considered invalid and are removed automatically.
+
+### Temporary Backoff
+
+Transient push failures temporarily disable a subscription for **5 minutes** before it becomes eligible again.
+
+---
+
+## Background Jobs
+
+A background cleanup job runs every **5 minutes**. It performs the following tasks:
+
+- Hard-deletes eligible files from object storage.
+- Removes stale pending uploads older than 24 hours.
+- Re-enables push subscriptions whose temporary backoff period has expired.
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