jcoffey
de120ba7ca
INBUXA's webmail built its own source into every image: the whole tree,
web and server, packed as dist/source.tar.gz with an identity string
beside the link naming the exact tree it came from. The sign-in page and
Settings > About offered that download.
It answered the AGPL precisely -- the source of *this* build, uncommitted
work and all -- but it paid for that precision by carrying 2.5 MB of
source into production on every deploy, to a repository that is public
and already has it. The fork is at github.com/inbuxa/ihasmail-inbuxa;
the version shown directly above the link already names the commit the
build came from, so the link and the version together say the same
thing the archive said.
Both links now go there, through the mechanism upstream ihasmail already
has and this fork had replaced: the server's SOURCE_URL, read from
/api/config on the sign-in page and from the session in About, with
web/src/lib/source.ts as the fallback before either answers. That
mechanism is better than a hardcoded URL for the deployer who patches
this tree -- they set SOURCE_URL and both links follow -- which is the
case the AGPL is actually about. The defaults in config.ts, the compose
file and .env.example move from the upstream repo to this one, since a
build from this tree is a modified ihasmail and its offer is ours.
Removed with it: scripts/source-archive.mjs and its type stub, the Vite
plugin that ran it, __SOURCE_ID__, and SOURCE_ARCHIVE/SOURCE_ID. The
build no longer shells out to git or tar, and nothing is written next
to the app.
Links to Coffey-Labs/ihasmail that are credit rather than a source
offer -- the README's "built on", the translation issue link -- are
left alone.
No new strings: "AGPL-3.0 source" is unchanged, and the About line keeps
its existing {source} placeholder, now filled with the host and path
instead of a file name.
4.6 KiB
INBUXA webmail
The webmail of the INBUXA suite: mail, calendars, contacts, files and filters in one app that works as well on a phone as on a desktop. It talks only JMAP to the INBUXA mail server, and keeps nothing of its own: everything durable, settings included, lives on the server, so the container is disposable.
What's in it
- Mail: conversations, labels, search operators, keyboard shortcuts, scheduled and undo send, invitations and RSVP, filters made from a message.
- Calendar: month, week, day and agenda views, recurrence, attendees and free-busy.
- Contacts: address books, groups, vCard import and export.
- Files: browse, upload, move, share.
- Signature checking: S/MIME signed mail verified as you read it.
- Settings that follow the account, stored on the mail server.
- On a phone: swipe to archive or delete, pull to refresh, hold to select.
- Administration: a dashboard, accounts, groups, mailing lists, roles, tenants and domains, each shown only to an account whose role allows it. Everything else is in INBUXA Admin.
- Sign-in on the mail server's own page, two-factor included. The webmail never handles a password to sign someone in, and holds only sealed tokens.
- Ten interface languages and twelve themes.
Configuration
| Variable | Meaning |
|---|---|
MAIL_SERVER_URL |
How this webmail reaches the mail server. |
APP_SECRET |
A long random secret for sealing sessions. Required in production. |
OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRET |
Turns on sign-in through the server's page. The secret of the confidential client the server registers for this webmail: on the server, the same value as INBUXA_WEBMAIL_CLIENT_SECRET. |
OAUTH_CLIENT_ID |
The client's id. Default ihasmail-inbuxa, which is what the server registers. |
PUBLIC_URL |
Where browsers reach the webmail, without BASE_PATH. Required with OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRET. The redirect URI, PUBLIC_URL + BASE_PATH + /api/auth/callback, must match the server's INBUXA_WEBMAIL_URL + /api/auth/callback exactly. |
MAIL_SERVERS_FILE |
Optional: several mail servers, picked by the account's domain. See mail-servers.example.json. |
ADMIN_URL |
Optional: where INBUXA Admin is, for the dashboard's link. |
APP_NAME |
What the webmail calls itself. Default INBUXA, shown as the INBUXA wordmark; any other name shows as text. |
.env.example lists the rest.
On the mail server, set INBUXA_WEBMAIL_URL to the webmail's address (with
BASE_PATH, if any) and INBUXA_WEBMAIL_CLIENT_SECRET to the shared secret.
The server registers the client on start and allows the webmail's origin for
cross-origin requests.
With one mail server, the sign-in page asks for no address, only whether this is the person's own device. The server's page asks for the rest. With several, the address comes first, since its domain picks the server.
A password change revokes the server's tokens, so it signs the person out everywhere, this session included.
Quick start (Docker)
cp .env.example .env
# edit: MAIL_SERVER_URL, APP_SECRET, and for server sign-in OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRET and PUBLIC_URL
docker compose up --build -d
# → http://localhost:8080. Put a reverse proxy in front for TLS.
Source code
INBUXA webmail is a modified ihasmail, so the AGPL's offer is this fork: https://github.com/inbuxa/ihasmail-inbuxa. The sign-in page and Settings › About link there, beside the version, which names the commit the running build came from.
Run your own patched build and that offer becomes yours, not ours: point
SOURCE_URL at your tree and both links follow it.
Development
npm install
npm run dev:mock # the built-in mock mail server ([email protected] / demo)
npm test
The mock also answers OAuth. Start it and the webmail with
OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRET=mock-oauth-secret and a PUBLIC_URL, and its sign-in
page approves the demo user at once.
Architecture, the mock's switches and how versions are numbered are in CONTRIBUTING.md.
Built on ihasmail
The INBUXA webmail is built on ihasmail,
Coffey Labs' own webmail, which stays an independent product. The public
repository is the remote ihasmail, fetch-only, and its main is merged in to
keep up. Nothing here is pushed there.
License
Copyright (C) 2026 Coffey Labs. AGPL-3.0-or-later; see LICENSE.