gh-christianlouis-dmarq/docs/milestones.md

DMARQ Milestones

Last updated: 2026-05-22

DMARQ is now past the original MVP phase. The current product can parse DMARC aggregate reports, import reports from mailboxes, persist data, and present domain/report summaries through the FastAPI/Jinja application. The next work should focus on making ingestion more reliable at production scale and turning the collected data into clearer operational reports.

Milestone 1: Core DMARC Report Processing - Complete

Status: Complete

Delivered:

• DMARC aggregate XML parsing with namespace support.
• ZIP and GZIP report extraction.
• Upload endpoint for XML, ZIP, and GZIP reports.
• Upload safety checks for file type, file size, and compressed archive size.
• Domain/report summary storage and duplicate upload rejection.
• Parser and upload tests for valid, invalid, compressed, namespaced, and oversized reports.

Milestone 2: Mailbox Ingestion - Complete

Status: Complete

Delivered:

• IMAP mail source configuration and connection testing.
• IMAP polling for DMARC attachments.
• Gmail OAuth mail source support.
• Gmail search query tuned for real DMARC report mail, including Google messages with subjects such as Report domain: <domain> Submitter: google.com.
• Gmail import fixed to use the shared parser path.
• Duplicate report protection for both Gmail and IMAP imports.
• Background polling and manual poll hooks for configured mail sources.

Milestone 3: Database Foundation, Domain Management, and Auth Foundation - Complete

Status: Complete

Delivered:

• SQLAlchemy models and Alembic migrations.
• SQLite/PostgreSQL-compatible database configuration.
• Domain management APIs and UI.
• Report and source database models.
• Database-backed persistence for uploaded DMARC reports.
• Database-backed persistence for Gmail and IMAP imported reports.
• Duplicate report detection against persisted report data.
• Report/domain API reads can hydrate their dashboard projection from persisted reports after restart.
• Settings and mail source persistence.
• Logto-based auth integration plus an explicit local development auth-disabled mode.
• Security middleware, safer default secret generation, and security-focused tests.

Implementation note:

• The existing ReportStore remains as a compatibility projection for dashboard/report code, but persisted database rows are now the durable source for uploads and mailbox imports.

Milestone 4: Reporting Quality and Import Confidence - Complete

Status: Complete

Goal: make reports trustworthy for day-to-day administration and make import failures obvious.

Delivered:

• Gmail import now handles real inbox metadata patterns and Google-style ZIP filenames.
• Gmail/IMAP imports skip duplicate report IDs to avoid inflated totals.
• Tests now cover a real Google-style ZIP attachment path rather than only mocked parser behavior.
• Mail source imports now persist sanitized import-history records for manual and scheduled polls.
• Uploaded, Gmail-imported, and IMAP-imported reports are now persisted to report/record tables and can be reloaded into report/domain views.
• Mail source import history is now visible from the Mail Sources UI.
• A single mail source can be manually imported from the Mail Sources UI, with the result recorded in import history.
• Import history now includes per-attachment details for imported reports, duplicates, parse errors, unsupported attachments, and imported report IDs.
• Mail sources can be backfilled from the UI with 7-day, 30-day, 90-day, or custom search windows.
• The current Alpine-based UI can run under the configured CSP, so dynamic tables render in real browsers.
• Source aggregation now keeps per-sender-IP SPF, DKIM, DMARC, and disposition totals instead of overwriting each IP with only the latest result.

Exit criteria:

• A user can connect a mailbox, run a backfill, see exactly what was imported or skipped, and trust that totals are not double-counted.

Milestone 5: Dashboard and Meaningful Reports - In Progress

Status: In progress

Goal: convert raw DMARC data into useful operational reporting.

Delivered:

• Dashboard trend charts for volume, compliance rate, and failure rate.
• Top sender/source reports with pass/fail breakdowns.
• Per-domain report timeline and daily rollups.

Planned:

• Exportable reports for a selected domain and date range.
• Clear recommendations for common cases: unknown source, SPF-only pass, DKIM-only pass, full fail, and policy not enforced.

Exit criteria:

• A domain owner can answer: who is sending as my domain, what is failing, what changed recently, and what should I fix next?

Milestone 6: Production Secret Handling and Deployment Hardening

Status: Planned

Goal: make production deployments safer and easier to operate.

Planned:

• Document a 1Password-based secret injection flow for local and containerized deployments.
• Avoid exposing raw mailbox/OAuth secrets in logs, UI responses, and diagnostics.
• Add startup checks for production-critical configuration.
• Add backup/restore guidance for database deployments.
• Add release checklist covering migrations, tests, and smoke checks.

Exit criteria:

• A self-hosted deployment can be configured without copying secrets into source-controlled files or chat logs.

Milestone 7: Notifications and Alert Rules

Status: Planned

Goal: notify administrators when action is needed.

Planned:

• Apprise notification integration.
• Alert rules for new sender source, compliance drop, DMARC failures above threshold, and missing reports.
• Daily/weekly summary notifications.
• Alert history and test-notification UI.

Exit criteria:

• A user can receive meaningful alerts without opening the dashboard daily.

Milestone 8: DNS Health and Guidance

Status: Planned

Goal: connect report findings with DNS configuration guidance.

Planned:

• DMARC/SPF/DKIM DNS checks with cached results.
• DKIM selector discovery from report data.
• Per-domain DNS health summary.
• Suggestions for moving from p=none to enforcement when compliance supports it.
• Optional Cloudflare read-only integration for DNS record inspection.

Exit criteria:

• A user can see whether DNS records match the actual senders observed in DMARC reports.

Milestone 9: Setup and Operations Polish

Status: Planned

Goal: make first-run setup, maintenance, and troubleshooting straightforward.

Planned:

• Guided setup flow for domains and mail sources.
• Better mailbox test output and recovery suggestions.
• Health page for scheduler status, last successful import, and database connectivity.
• Operator documentation for Docker Compose and manual deployments.

Exit criteria:

• A new user can deploy DMARQ, connect a mailbox, and confirm the system is healthy without reading code.

Milestone 10: Forensic Report Support

Status: Backlog

Goal: support DMARC RUF/forensic reports for individual failure investigation.

Planned:

• Detect forensic report messages.
• Parse safe metadata from ARF/attached email formats.
• Store minimal incident details with privacy controls.
• Add a dedicated forensic report view.

Exit criteria:

• A security analyst can inspect individual failure reports without mixing them into aggregate statistics.