Added 12 more feature candidates: M) message threading, N) cross-signing, O) offline queue priorities, P) audit log/compliance, Q) bot framework, R) Tor/I2P transport, S) plugin marketplace, T) stress testing, U) view-once media, V) emoji presence, W) rich text, X) invite links. Updated selection guide with 6 priority tracks.
14 KiB
Next Sprint Planning — quicproquo
Pick 8 of the 24 features below for the next sprint cycle. Created: 2026-03-04 | Status: PENDING SELECTION
Completed Sprints (this cycle)
| # | Sprint | Commit | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Rich Messaging | 81d5e2e |
Read receipts, typing, reactions, edit/delete |
| 5 | File Transfer | 3350d76 |
Chunked blob upload/download, /send-file |
| 6 | Disappearing + Groups | fd21ea6 |
TTL messages, /group-info, deleteAccount |
| 7 | Go SDK | 65ff262 |
QUIC + Cap'n Proto, 24 RPC methods, 14 API functions |
| 8 | TypeScript SDK | 28ceaaf |
175KB WASM crypto, WebSocket transport, browser demo |
| 9 | Mesh Networking | 1b61b7e |
MeshIdentity, store-and-forward, broadcast channels |
| 10 | Privacy Hardening | 9244e80 |
--redact-logs, traffic padding, /privacy suite, /verify-fs |
| 11 | Multi-Device | 9244e80 |
Device registry (3 RPCs), /devices, max 5 per identity |
Current Codebase Stats
- 27 Cap'n Proto RPCs (@0–@26) on NodeService
- 10 AppMessage types (0x01–0x09 + file ref)
- ~40 REPL commands
- Tests: 72 core + 35 server + 28 P2P + 14 E2E = 149
- SDKs: Rust (native), Go, TypeScript/WASM, C FFI, Python ctypes
- Crates: core, proto, server, client, p2p, bot, gen, kt, plugin-api, gui, mobile, ffi
Feature Candidates (pick 8)
A. Federation Wiring
Effort: Medium | Area: Server
Wire the existing outbound federation relay into the actual delivery flow. When a message targets user@remote.domain, the server routes via FederationClient::relay_enqueue() instead of local store. Add /federate <domain> admin command to configure peers. Test with two server instances. Currently all federation code exists but is marked #[allow(dead_code)].
B. Contact Management & Blocking
Effort: Medium | Area: Client + Server
Contact list with add/remove/block/unblock. Server-side: addContact @27, removeContact @28, blockUser @29, listContacts @30 RPCs + contacts table. Client: /contacts, /block <user>, /unblock <user>. Blocked users can't enqueue messages to you (server enforces). Import/export contacts as JSON.
C. Voice/Video Call Signaling
Effort: High | Area: Core + Client
WebRTC signaling over MLS for E2E encrypted calls. Add CallOffer, CallAnswer, CallIce, CallHangup AppMessage types (0x0A–0x0D). Client REPL: /call <user>, /answer, /hangup. The actual media (audio/video) uses WebRTC peer-to-peer; qpq only handles the encrypted signaling. Include SDP offer/answer exchange and ICE candidate relay.
D. Encrypted Backup & Restore
Effort: Medium | Area: Client + Core
Export all local state (message history, keys, group state) as an encrypted archive. Key derivation from user password via Argon2id. Format: encrypted SQLite dump + identity seed + MLS group states. /backup <path> and /restore <path> commands. Verify integrity on restore. Critical for device migration and disaster recovery.
E. Group Permissions & Roles
Effort: Medium | Area: Server + Client
Admin/moderator/member roles within MLS groups. Server-side role storage per channel. Admins can: remove members, rename group, set TTL policy. Moderators can: mute members. Members can: send messages. /role <user> admin|mod|member, /mute <user> <duration>. Enforced at both server (RPC level) and client (MLS proposal validation).
F. Key Transparency Audit Client
Effort: Medium | Area: Client + KT crate
Client-side verification of the KT Merkle log. The KT crate (quicproquo-kt) already has the Merkle tree and audit log. Add: /kt audit <username> to verify a user's key history is consistent, /kt monitor to continuously watch for key changes, /kt proof <username> to fetch and verify inclusion proofs. Alert on unexpected key changes (TOFU violation).
G. Message Search
Effort: Low-Medium | Area: Client
Full-text search over local encrypted message history. Add FTS5 virtual table to the conversation SQLite DB. /search <query> returns matching messages with context, timestamps, and conversation names. /search <query> in:<conversation> for scoped search. Highlight matching terms. Index on message insert.
H. Server Clustering & HA
Effort: High | Area: Server + Infra
Run multiple qpq-server instances behind a shared state layer. Options: shared PostgreSQL backend (replace SQLite for clustered mode), or Raft consensus for delivery queue. Add --cluster-peers flag, health-based leader election, delivery queue synchronization. Docker Compose with 3-node cluster. This is the path to production-scale deployment.
I. Protocol Compliance Testing
Effort: Medium | Area: Testing Comprehensive MLS RFC 9420 compliance test suite. Verify: TreeKEM operations, epoch advancement, proposal/commit sequences, welcome message handling, group context extensions, PSK injection, external joins. Cross-test with other MLS implementations (OpenMLS test vectors). Add to CI. Target: 50+ protocol-level tests covering edge cases.
J. User Profiles & Status
Effort: Low | Area: Server + Client
Profile pictures (stored as blobs), display names, status messages ("Available", "Away", custom text), about/bio text. updateProfile @27 and fetchProfile @28 RPCs. Profile data is signed by the identity key for authenticity. /profile set-name <name>, /profile set-status <text>, /profile set-avatar <path>, /profile <username> to view. Cache profiles locally.
K. Notification Framework
Effort: Medium | Area: Server + Client
Per-conversation notification settings: all, mentions-only, muted. Server-side WebPush integration for browser clients (using the TS SDK). Add updateNotificationSettings @27 RPC. Client: /mute <conversation>, /unmute, /notify mentions-only. Push notification payload: encrypted sender + conversation hint (no message content). APNs/FCM gateway as a separate microservice.
L. Mobile App Shell
Effort: High | Area: Mobile + FFI
React Native app using the C FFI bindings (quicproquo-ffi). Screens: login, conversation list, chat view, settings. Bridge FFI functions to React Native via NativeModules. Use the existing qpq_connect, qpq_login, qpq_send, qpq_receive C API. iOS + Android targets. Alternatively: Flutter with dart:ffi. Includes push notification registration.
M. Message Threading & Replies
Effort: Low-Medium | Area: Client + Core
Threaded conversations within channels. Add thread_id field to Chat AppMessage — replies to a message inherit its thread_id (or create one). /thread <msg-index> enters a thread view showing only that thread's messages. /threads lists active threads with last activity. Thread-aware notification counts. Local storage: add thread_id column to messages table, filter queries by thread.
N. Cross-Signing & Identity Verification
Effort: Medium | Area: Core + Client
Out-of-band identity verification via QR codes and emoji comparison. Generate a short verification code from both parties' identity keys (similar to Signal's safety numbers but interactive). /verify <user> starts a verification session, displays emoji sequence or QR payload. /verify confirm marks the contact as verified. Verified contacts show a checkmark. Store verification state locally. Alert if a verified contact's key changes.
O. Offline Message Queue with Priorities
Effort: Low-Medium | Area: Client
Smart offline queue that prioritizes messages when reconnecting. Messages queued while offline get priority levels: critical (key rotation, group ops), normal (chat), low (typing, read receipts). On reconnect, send critical first, then normal, drop stale low-priority. /outbox shows pending messages. /outbox flush forces immediate send. /outbox clear discards unsent. Exponential backoff with jitter for reconnection.
P. Audit Log & Compliance Export
Effort: Medium | Area: Server
Persistent server-side audit log for compliance. Every RPC call logged to a dedicated audit_events table: timestamp, identity, operation, result, metadata. Configurable retention policy (30/60/90 days). qpq-admin audit --from --to --user CLI to query. Export to JSON/CSV. GDPR data export: /export-my-data RPC returns all data the server holds about a user. Separate from redact-logs (this is structured, queryable).
Q. Bot Framework Enhancements
Effort: Medium | Area: Bot SDK + Server
Enhance the existing quicproquo-bot crate into a full bot platform. Add: slash command registration (/weather, /poll, etc.), interactive message components (buttons/selects as structured AppMessage extensions), bot permissions (scoped access tokens), webhook delivery (HTTP POST on events). BotBuilder pattern: Bot::new().command("ping", handle_ping).on_message(handle_msg).run(). Example bots: echo, reminder, RSS feed.
R. Tor/I2P Transport
Effort: High | Area: Server + Client + P2P
Anonymous transport layer for privacy-critical deployments. Server: listen on Tor hidden service (.onion) via arti or tor crate, configurable via --tor-hidden-service. Client: connect through SOCKS5 proxy to .onion address, --tor-proxy socks5://127.0.0.1:9050. P2P mesh: route through Tor for metadata-resistant peer communication. Optional I2P support via SAM bridge. All existing QUIC+TLS works over the tunnel.
S. Plugin Marketplace & Hot-Reload
Effort: Medium | Area: Server + Plugin API
Extend the existing plugin system into a discoverable marketplace. Plugin manifest format (TOML) with name, version, permissions, hooks. qpq-server --plugin-dir ./plugins/ auto-loads .so/.dylib files. Hot-reload: watch plugin directory, reload on change without server restart. Plugin isolation: each plugin runs in its own thread with limited Store access. Add qpq-gen plugin <name> scaffolding. Example: spam filter plugin, message archiver.
T. Stress Testing & Benchmarking Suite
Effort: Medium | Area: Testing + Infra
Production-grade load testing tool. Simulate N concurrent clients: register, login, create channels, send/receive at configurable rate. Measure: messages/sec throughput, p50/p95/p99 latency, memory usage, connection limits. cargo bench integration for micro-benchmarks (already have some). New qpq-loadtest binary: qpq-loadtest --clients 100 --rate 50/s --duration 60s --server localhost:5001. Generate HTML report with charts. Identify bottlenecks before production.
U. Disappearing Media & View-Once
Effort: Low | Area: Client + Core
View-once messages that auto-delete after first viewing. Add ViewOnce flag to FileRef AppMessage — recipient can view the file/image once, then it's deleted locally. Server-side: auto-delete blob after first download. /send-once <path> command. Display "[view-once media]" placeholder until opened. Prevent screenshots (best-effort: clear clipboard, disable screen recording notification). Extends existing file transfer infrastructure.
V. Emoji Status & Presence
Effort: Low | Area: Server + Client
Lightweight presence system. Users set an emoji + short text status ("🏖️ On vacation", "🔴 Do not disturb", "🟢 Available"). Ephemeral — not stored permanently, expires after configurable duration. publishPresence RPC (piggyback on existing publishEndpoint). Client poll or push-based presence updates. /status 🎯 Focusing to set, /status to view, /who shows online contacts with their status. No tracking — presence is opt-in and ephemeral.
W. Markdown & Rich Text Messages
Effort: Low | Area: Core + Client
Rich text formatting in messages. Support a subset of Markdown in chat: bold, italic, code, code blocks, strikethrough, > quotes, links. Parse on display (client-side only — wire format stays plain text with Markdown syntax). TUI renderer: ANSI escape codes for bold/italic/color. Browser demo: render as HTML. Add /format on|off toggle. No changes to MLS or wire protocol — purely presentational.
X. Invitation Links & QR Codes
Effort: Low-Medium | Area: Server + Client
Shareable invitation links for joining the server or a group. createInvite RPC generates a time-limited, usage-limited token. Format: qpq://server:port/invite/TOKEN or QR code encoding. /invite create [--expires 24h] [--uses 10] generates link. /invite list shows active invites. /invite revoke <id> cancels. New users can register via invite: qpq-client --invite qpq://.... Group invites: generate a link that auto-adds the joiner to a specific group after registration.
Selection Guide
Privacy-first (maximum anonymity & security): A (federation), D (backup), F (KT audit), N (cross-signing), R (Tor), U (view-once)
Production-ready (deploy to real users): A (federation), B (contacts), H (clustering), I (compliance), K (notifications), T (stress test)
User experience (make it feel like a real messenger): B (contacts), C (calls), G (search), J (profiles), V (presence), W (rich text), X (invites)
Mobile launch (ship an app): D (backup), J (profiles), K (notifications), L (mobile app), X (invites)
Developer ecosystem (grow the community): Q (bot framework), S (plugin marketplace), T (stress test), I (compliance)
Mesh/Freifunk (offline-first, decentralized): A (federation), N (cross-signing), O (offline queue), R (Tor)
Selected Features (fill in after choosing)
Replace this section with your 8 picks, then we'll plan sprint assignments.
| Sprint | Feature | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 12 | ||
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