Files
ihasmail-inbuxa/server/src/config.ts
T
jcoffey-dev 2c47c0851c Push by subscription: hold no upstream connection per tab
A signed-in tab held two sockets: the browser's, and one from ihasmail to
Stalwart carrying that tab's push stream. The upstream one was most of what a
tab cost, and the only reason Stalwart's connection limit applied to ihasmail
at all.

RFC 8620 section 7.2 defines the other push transport: a PushSubscription,
where the server POSTs StateChange objects to a URL the client registers.
Stalwart 0.16.20 implements it. ihasmail now registers one subscription per
account at sign-in, and when Stalwart POSTs a change, fans it out to that
account's open tabs over the browser-facing streams it already holds. A tab
opens on the relay as before and is moved to fan-out the moment its account
verifies -- the upstream request is ended, the browser stream is untouched,
and nothing keeps a reference to what was torn down. After that there is no
upstream connection at all. The shapes are the RFC's; nothing here is taken
from any other client.

Measured at a 256 MiB cap over a private plain-HTTP route, against a real
Stalwart with 6,144 accounts verifying during the ramp and no failures:

                                 tabs   client   Stalwart   system  KiB/tab
  raw relay (before)            5,000     48.2       46.4     94.6
  push by subscription          6,144     33.3        4.8     38.0
  a direct-to-server client   12,389      4.8       53.8     58.6

Descriptors per tab: one, the browser's. Stalwart pays 4.8 KiB per tab and
holds no connection for it, so its per-listener connection limit no longer
applies to ihasmail. What remains per tab on the client is Node's cost for a
held HTTP/1.1 connection.

PUSH_URL is the https origin Stalwart can reach ihasmail at. The RFC requires
https and Stalwart enforces it, so Stalwart must trust that certificate: a
public TLS front already does; a private segment needs an internal CA in
Stalwart's trust store. An account whose subscription cannot be verified
stays on the relay, so nothing breaks -- only the saving needs the
certificate. PUSH_MODE=relay disables the subscription path entirely.

/api/push/:token accepts only a JSON body under 64 KiB for a known 32-byte
token, answers 200 or 404, and echoes nothing. /api/health reports how many
accounts are verified, pending or failed and how many tabs are on each path.
2026-09-06 13:30:34 -07:00

329 lines
15 KiB
TypeScript

import { resolveVersion } from "../../scripts/version.mjs";
import { normalizeBasePath } from "../../scripts/basePath.mjs";
import { randomBytes } from "node:crypto";
import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url";
import { existsSync, readFileSync, unlinkSync, writeFileSync } from "node:fs";
import { resolve } from "node:path";
/** Minimal .env loader (no dependency): first match wins, never overrides real env. */
function loadDotEnv() {
const candidates = [resolve(process.cwd(), ".env"), fileURLToPath(new URL("../../.env", import.meta.url)), fileURLToPath(new URL("../.env", import.meta.url))];
for (const file of candidates) {
if (!existsSync(file)) continue;
for (const line of readFileSync(file, "utf8").split(/\r?\n/)) {
const m = /^\s*(?:export\s+)?([A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_]*)\s*=\s*(.*)\s*$/.exec(line);
if (!m || line.trim().startsWith("#")) continue;
let v = m[2]!;
if ((v.startsWith('"') && v.endsWith('"')) || (v.startsWith("'") && v.endsWith("'"))) v = v.slice(1, -1);
if (process.env[m[1]!] === undefined) process.env[m[1]!] = v;
}
break;
}
}
loadDotEnv();
function env(name: string, fallback?: string): string {
const v = process.env[name];
if (v === undefined || v === "") {
if (fallback === undefined) throw new Error(`Missing required environment variable ${name}`);
return fallback;
}
return v;
}
function bool(name: string, fallback: boolean): boolean {
const v = process.env[name];
if (v === undefined || v === "") return fallback;
return ["1", "true", "yes", "on"].includes(v.toLowerCase());
}
function int(name: string, fallback: number): number {
const v = process.env[name];
if (v === undefined || v === "") return fallback;
const n = Number.parseInt(v, 10);
if (!Number.isFinite(n)) throw new Error(`Invalid integer for ${name}: ${v}`);
return n;
}
const isProd = process.env.NODE_ENV === "production";
let appSecret = process.env.APP_SECRET ?? "";
if (!appSecret || appSecret === "change-me") {
if (isProd) {
throw new Error("APP_SECRET must be set to a strong random value in production");
}
appSecret = randomBytes(32).toString("base64");
console.warn(
"[ihasmail] APP_SECRET not set - using an ephemeral secret (persisted sessions will not survive restarts)",
);
}
const stalwartUrl = env("STALWART_URL", "https://mail.example.com").replace(/\/+$/, "");
/**
* Declares that this instance is running as an immutable container: read-only
* root filesystem, nothing durable of its own, replaceable by its image.
*
* It is a claim the process checks rather than one it takes on trust, because
* the failure it guards against is silent. Left to itself the server survives
* a read-only filesystem perfectly well -- sessions are held in memory and the
* write is best-effort, so the only sign that `SESSION_FILE` is going nowhere
* is one warning at the first login, long after anyone was watching. The
* instance looks healthy right up until it is replaced and everyone is signed
* out. Setting IMMUTABLE turns both halves of that into a refusal to start.
*/
const immutable = bool("IMMUTABLE", false);
const sessionFile = process.env.SESSION_FILE ?? "";
/**
* Refuse to run when the promise IMMUTABLE makes is not one this instance can
* keep. Exported so it can be tested without a read-only filesystem to hand.
*/
export function assertImmutable(sessionFile: string, root: string): void {
// The image sets SESSION_FILE=/data/sessions.json, so this is a deliberate
// refusal rather than a formality: running immutably means clearing it. It
// is not quietly ignored, because a configured path that silently persists
// nothing is exactly the failure this flag exists to surface.
if (sessionFile) {
throw new Error(
`IMMUTABLE is set, but SESSION_FILE is ${sessionFile}. An immutable instance keeps no durable state of its own: ` +
"pass SESSION_FILE= (empty) to hold sessions in memory, or unset IMMUTABLE.",
);
}
// And check the property itself, not just the intention to have it. Setting
// the variable while forgetting `--read-only` is the easy mistake, and it
// leaves an instance claiming a guarantee it does not have.
const probe = resolve(root, ".immutable-probe");
let writable = false;
try {
writeFileSync(probe, "");
writable = true;
unlinkSync(probe);
} catch {
/* EROFS, or EACCES on a root we do not own: either way, not writable by us */
}
if (writable) {
throw new Error(
`IMMUTABLE is set, but ${root} is writable. Run the container with --read-only (and --tmpfs /tmp), or unset IMMUTABLE.`,
);
}
}
if (immutable) assertImmutable(sessionFile, fileURLToPath(new URL("../..", import.meta.url)));
/**
* Settings an installation decides, rather than each reader.
*
* A school turning on "warn about outside senders" for three thousand pupils
* cannot ask three thousand pupils to turn it on -- issue #207. Two sections,
* which are two different powers:
*
* - `defaults` seed an account that has never had settings of its own. The
* reader can change any of them afterwards; they are a starting point, not a
* rule.
* - `enforced` are applied on every load and cannot be changed here at all. The
* controls stay visible and go dead, which the issue asked for by name: a
* missing control confuses somebody who has used ihasmail elsewhere.
* - `changes` are applied once each, to everybody, including accounts that
* already exist -- and can be changed back afterwards. Each carries its own
* `version`, which is how an account remembers the ones it has had. The
* reporter's own analogy is a schema migration and this is that shape.
*
* Read from a file or straight from the environment, because ihasmail's own
* production runs read-only with no volume -- an installation that cannot mount
* a file can still set a variable.
*/
function readSettingsPolicy(): { defaults: Record<string, unknown>; enforced: Record<string, unknown>; changes: Array<{ version: string; settings: Record<string, unknown> }> } {
const parse = (raw: string, where: string): Record<string, unknown> => {
try {
const v = JSON.parse(raw) as unknown;
if (!v || typeof v !== "object" || Array.isArray(v)) throw new Error("not a JSON object");
return v as Record<string, unknown>;
} catch (err) {
/* Loud, and fatal. A policy that silently did not apply would look like
the feature not working, and the admin would have no way to tell. */
throw new Error(`Invalid ${where}: ${(err as Error).message}`);
}
};
/**
* A change list, checked rather than trusted.
*
* Every entry needs a `version` that is unique within the file: it is what an
* account stores to say it has had this one, so a duplicate would make two
* changes indistinguishable and a missing one would apply for ever.
*/
const parseChanges = (v: unknown, where: string): Array<{ version: string; settings: Record<string, unknown> }> => {
if (v === undefined) return [];
if (!Array.isArray(v)) throw new Error(`Invalid ${where}: "changes" must be a list`);
const seen = new Set<string>();
return v.map((entry, i) => {
const e = entry as { version?: unknown; settings?: unknown };
const version = typeof e.version === "string" ? e.version.trim() : "";
if (!version) throw new Error(`Invalid ${where}: changes[${i}] has no "version"`);
if (seen.has(version)) throw new Error(`Invalid ${where}: two changes share the version "${version}"`);
seen.add(version);
if (!e.settings || typeof e.settings !== "object" || Array.isArray(e.settings)) {
throw new Error(`Invalid ${where}: changes[${i}] ("${version}") has no "settings" object`);
}
return { version, settings: e.settings as Record<string, unknown> };
});
};
const file = process.env.SETTINGS_POLICY_FILE;
if (file) {
if (!existsSync(file)) throw new Error(`SETTINGS_POLICY_FILE does not exist: ${file}`);
const whole = parse(readFileSync(file, "utf8"), `SETTINGS_POLICY_FILE (${file})`);
return {
defaults: (whole.defaults as Record<string, unknown>) ?? {},
enforced: (whole.enforced as Record<string, unknown>) ?? {},
changes: parseChanges(whole.changes, `SETTINGS_POLICY_FILE (${file})`),
};
}
return {
defaults: process.env.SETTINGS_DEFAULTS ? parse(process.env.SETTINGS_DEFAULTS, "SETTINGS_DEFAULTS") : {},
enforced: process.env.SETTINGS_ENFORCED ? parse(process.env.SETTINGS_ENFORCED, "SETTINGS_ENFORCED") : {},
changes: process.env.SETTINGS_CHANGES ? parseChanges(JSON.parse(process.env.SETTINGS_CHANGES), "SETTINGS_CHANGES") : [],
};
}
/**
* Which Stalwart a domain signs in to.
*
* `STALWART_URL` stays required and stays the default; this only adds domains
* that go somewhere else (#238). An installation that sets nothing behaves
* exactly as it always has.
*
* Read once at boot and never written, so it mounts read-only and costs
* nothing in immutability -- the same shape as the settings policy.
*
* Servers are deliberately **not** probed here. A mapping is a routing table,
* not a health check, and refusing to boot because one of five customers is
* having an outage would take the other four down with it. What happens when
* one is unreachable is a sign-in question, answered in #239.
*/
function readStalwartServers(): Record<string, string> {
const file = process.env.STALWART_SERVERS_FILE;
if (!file) return {};
if (!existsSync(file)) throw new Error(`STALWART_SERVERS_FILE does not exist: ${file}`);
let raw: unknown;
try {
raw = JSON.parse(readFileSync(file, "utf8"));
} catch (err) {
throw new Error(`Invalid STALWART_SERVERS_FILE (${file}): ${(err as Error).message}`);
}
if (!raw || typeof raw !== "object" || Array.isArray(raw)) {
throw new Error(`Invalid STALWART_SERVERS_FILE (${file}): expected an object of domain to URL`);
}
const out: Record<string, string> = {};
for (const [rawDomain, rawUrl] of Object.entries(raw as Record<string, unknown>)) {
/* Lower-cased and stripped of the root dot, because that is how a domain
taken off a username will arrive and comparing them any other way means
a mapping that silently never matches. */
const domain = rawDomain.trim().toLowerCase().replace(/\.$/, "");
if (!domain) throw new Error(`Invalid STALWART_SERVERS_FILE (${file}): a domain key is empty`);
if (domain in out) throw new Error(`Invalid STALWART_SERVERS_FILE (${file}): "${domain}" appears twice once normalised`);
if (typeof rawUrl !== "string") throw new Error(`Invalid STALWART_SERVERS_FILE (${file}): "${domain}" is not a URL`);
let parsed: URL;
try {
parsed = new URL(rawUrl);
} catch {
throw new Error(`Invalid STALWART_SERVERS_FILE (${file}): "${domain}" is not an absolute URL`);
}
if (parsed.protocol !== "http:" && parsed.protocol !== "https:") {
throw new Error(`Invalid STALWART_SERVERS_FILE (${file}): "${domain}" must be http or https`);
}
out[domain] = rawUrl.replace(/\/+$/, "");
}
return out;
}
export const config = {
isProd,
appName: env("APP_NAME", "ihasmail"),
settingsPolicy: readSettingsPolicy(),
/**
* What this build calls itself: `2.16.57`. Set by the image build from
* `--build-arg IHASMAIL_VERSION`, since `.dockerignore` keeps `.git` out of
* the build context and nothing in there could work it out. A dev checkout
* has git, so it falls back to asking; see `scripts/version.mjs`.
*/
version: resolveVersion(),
/**
* Where this instance's source can be had, shown to everyone who reaches it.
*
* The AGPL asks whoever *runs* a modified version to offer that version's
* source, not the one it was forked from -- so anyone deploying a patched
* ihasmail should point this at their own tree.
*/
sourceUrl: env("SOURCE_URL", "https://github.com/Coffey-Labs/ihasmail"),
host: env("HOST", "0.0.0.0"),
port: int("PORT", 8080),
/**
* The subpath this instance answers on: `/mail` for a proxy that maps
* `https://example.com/mail/` here, and `""` -- the default -- for the root.
*
* The prefix is expected to arrive intact: a proxy that strips it before
* forwarding should leave BASE_PATH unset, because then as far as this
* process is concerned it *is* at the root. What must match is the web
* build, which bakes the same variable into its asset URLs; a server that
* strips a prefix the bundle still asks for serves an app that cannot load
* its own scripts. `staticHandler` says so at the first request rather than
* leaving a blank page to explain itself.
*/
basePath: normalizeBasePath(process.env.BASE_PATH),
stalwartUrl,
stalwartServers: readStalwartServers(),
appSecret,
trustProxy: bool("TRUST_PROXY", true),
/**
* Peers whose X-Forwarded-* headers are believed. Empty falls back to
* loopback and the private ranges, which covers the usual reverse proxy on
* the same host or Docker network. A peer outside this is attributed by its
* socket address whatever it claims.
*/
trustedProxies: (process.env.TRUSTED_PROXIES ?? "").split(",").map((s) => s.trim()).filter(Boolean),
/** "auto" = Secure when the request arrived over https; "1"/"0" to force. */
secureCookies: (process.env.SECURE_COOKIES ?? "auto").toLowerCase(),
sessionTtl: int("SESSION_TTL", 12 * 60 * 60),
sessionRememberTtl: int("SESSION_REMEMBER_TTL", 30 * 24 * 60 * 60),
sessionFile,
/** True when this instance has asserted, and verified, that it is immutable. */
immutable,
upstreamTimeout: int("UPSTREAM_TIMEOUT", 30_000),
maxUploadBytes: int("MAX_UPLOAD_BYTES", 50 * 1024 * 1024),
imageProxy: bool("IMAGE_PROXY", true),
cookieName: env("COOKIE_NAME", "ihm_session"),
staticDir: process.env.STATIC_DIR ?? fileURLToPath(new URL("../../web/dist", import.meta.url)),
loginRateLimit: int("LOGIN_RATE_LIMIT", 10),
/*
* Requests per minute one session may make on the data path -- JMAP, blobs,
* the image and calendar proxies. The proxy is one Node process and saturates
* a core at roughly 2,000 operations a second, so without this a single
* signed-in user can deny service to everyone else. 1,200 a minute is twenty
* a second sustained: well above what a busy tab does, and an order of
* magnitude below where one tab starts to hurt the rest. 0 disables it.
*/
apiRateLimit: int("API_RATE_LIMIT", 1200),
/* Whether JMAP responses are gzipped. Measured: see the bake-off rerun. */
compressJmap: process.env.COMPRESS_JMAP !== "0",
/*
* How push reaches the browser. "relay" holds one upstream stream per tab
* (today's behaviour). "subscribe" registers one JMAP PushSubscription per
* account and fans Stalwart's POSTs out to that account's tabs, holding no
* upstream connection at all -- see push.ts. It needs PUSH_URL: the https
* origin Stalwart can reach ihasmail at, with a certificate it trusts.
* An account that cannot be verified stays on the relay.
*/
pushMode: (process.env.PUSH_MODE === "relay" ? "relay" : "subscribe") as "relay" | "subscribe",
pushUrl: process.env.PUSH_URL || "",
/* See relayPushRaw(): pipe the push stream socket-to-socket instead of through fetch(). */
rawPushRelay: process.env.RAW_PUSH_RELAY !== "0",
/* See absoluteUpstream(): follow Stalwart's advertised origin instead of pinning to ours. */
followAdvertisedUrls: process.env.STALWART_FOLLOW_ADVERTISED_URLS === "1",
};
export type Config = typeof config;