fix(persons): search WhatsApp participant identities

packages/api/src/services/__tests__/persons.test.ts

@@ -88,6 +88,28 @@ describe('PersonService', () => {
     service = new PersonService(mockDb as unknown as Database, mockEventBus);
   });
 
+  describe('search()', () => {
+    test('returns people whose WhatsApp name only exists on chat participants', async () => {
+      const participantBackedPerson = {
+        id: 'person-cadu',
+        displayName: 'Cadu Cassau',
+        primaryPhone: null,
+        primaryEmail: null,
+        avatarUrl: null,
+        metadata: null,
+        createdAt: new Date('2026-04-10T06:36:32Z'),
+        updatedAt: new Date('2026-06-02T09:36:18Z'),
+      };
+
+      (mockDb as unknown as { execute: ReturnType<typeof mock> }).execute = mock(async () => [participantBackedPerson]);
+
+      const result = await service.search('Cadu Cassau', 5);
+
+      expect((mockDb as unknown as { execute: ReturnType<typeof mock> }).execute).toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(result).toEqual([participantBackedPerson]);
+    });
+  });
+
   describe('getIdentityForChannel()', () => {
     test('returns identity when person has single identity on channel', async () => {
       const identity = createMockIdentity({

packages/api/src/services/persons.ts

@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ import {
   persons,
   platformIdentities,
 } from '@omni/db';
-import { and, desc, eq, ilike, isNotNull, ne, or, sql } from 'drizzle-orm';
+import { and, desc, eq, isNotNull, ne, or, sql } from 'drizzle-orm';
 
 export interface PersonWithIdentities extends Person {
   identities: PlatformIdentity[];
@@ -76,22 +76,76 @@ export class PersonService {
   }
 
   /**
-   * Search persons by name, email, or phone
+   * Search persons by name, email, phone, platform identity, or chat participant display name.
+   *
+   * WhatsApp LID DMs frequently have the useful contact name only on chat_participants,
+   * while the canonical person row is intentionally sparse. Searching persons alone makes
+   * the identity graph useless for the main operational task: "find my chat with X".
    */
   async search(query: string, limit = 20): Promise<Person[]> {
     const searchPattern = `%${query}%`;
 
-    return this.db
-      .select()
-      .from(persons)
-      .where(
-        or(
-          ilike(persons.displayName, searchPattern),
-          ilike(persons.primaryEmail, searchPattern),
-          ilike(persons.primaryPhone, searchPattern),
-        ),
+    const result = await this.db.execute(sql`
+      WITH candidates AS (
+        SELECT
+          p.id,
+          CASE
+            WHEN p.display_name ILIKE ${searchPattern} ESCAPE '' THEN p.display_name
+            WHEN pi.platform_username ILIKE ${searchPattern} ESCAPE '' THEN pi.platform_username
+            WHEN cp.display_name ILIKE ${searchPattern} ESCAPE '' THEN cp.display_name
+            ELSE COALESCE(NULLIF(p.display_name, ''), NULLIF(pi.platform_username, ''), NULLIF(cp.display_name, ''))
+          END AS "displayName",
+          p.primary_phone AS "primaryPhone",
+          p.primary_email AS "primaryEmail",
+          p.avatar_url AS "avatarUrl",
+          p.metadata,
+          p.created_at AS "createdAt",
+          p.updated_at AS "updatedAt",
+          GREATEST(
+            COALESCE(pi.last_seen_at, 'epoch'::timestamptz),
+            COALESCE(cp.last_seen_at, 'epoch'::timestamptz),
+            COALESCE(p.updated_at, 'epoch'::timestamptz)
+          ) AS rank_ts
+        FROM persons p
+        LEFT JOIN platform_identities pi ON pi.person_id = p.id
+        LEFT JOIN chat_participants cp ON cp.person_id = p.id OR cp.platform_identity_id = pi.id
+        WHERE
+          p.display_name ILIKE ${searchPattern} ESCAPE ''
+          OR p.primary_email ILIKE ${searchPattern} ESCAPE ''
+          OR p.primary_phone ILIKE ${searchPattern} ESCAPE ''
+          OR pi.platform_username ILIKE ${searchPattern} ESCAPE ''
+          OR pi.platform_user_id ILIKE ${searchPattern} ESCAPE ''
+          OR cp.display_name ILIKE ${searchPattern} ESCAPE ''
+          OR cp.platform_user_id ILIKE ${searchPattern} ESCAPE ''
+      ), distinct_candidates AS (
+        SELECT DISTINCT ON (id)
+          id,
+          "displayName",
+          "primaryPhone",
+          "primaryEmail",
+          "avatarUrl",
+          metadata,
+          "createdAt",
+          "updatedAt",
+          rank_ts
+        FROM candidates
+        ORDER BY id, rank_ts DESC
       )
-      .limit(limit);
+      SELECT
+        id,
+        "displayName",
+        "primaryPhone",
+        "primaryEmail",
+        "avatarUrl",
+        metadata,
+        "createdAt",
+        "updatedAt"
+      FROM distinct_candidates
+      ORDER BY rank_ts DESC
+      LIMIT ${limit}
+    `);
+
+    return result as unknown as Person[];
   }
 
   /**

packages/cli/src/commands/persons.ts

@@ -36,14 +36,16 @@ export function createPersonsCommand(): Command {
         const persons = results as Array<{
           id: string;
           displayName: string | null;
-          email: string | null;
-          phone: string | null;
+          primaryEmail?: string | null;
+          primaryPhone?: string | null;
+          email?: string | null;
+          phone?: string | null;
         }>;
         const items = persons.map((p) => ({
           id: p.id,
           displayName: p.displayName ?? '-',
-          email: p.email ?? '-',
-          phone: p.phone ?? '-',
+          email: p.primaryEmail ?? p.email ?? '-',
+          phone: p.primaryPhone ?? p.phone ?? '-',
         }));
 
         output.list(items, { emptyMessage: 'No persons found.' });