gh-christianlouis-inboxconverge/docs/ROADMAP.md

Roadmap

Vision

Create a robust, scalable, and user-friendly InboxConverge email-forwarding solution that serves as a complete replacement for Gmail's discontinued POP3 import feature.

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Current Status: MVP Complete ✅

The MVP includes:

• Multiple POP3 account support
• Gmail forwarding via SMTP
• Error notifications via Postmarkapp
• Docker deployment
• Rate limiting and throttling
• Comprehensive documentation

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Short Term (Next 3 months)

v1.1 - Enhanced Reliability

Priority: High

• Persistent State Management

  • SQLite database to track processed emails
  • Prevent duplicate forwarding
  • Resume after failures

• Advanced Retry Logic

  • Exponential backoff for failed forwards
  • Dead letter queue for repeatedly failed emails
  • Configurable retry attempts

• Health Monitoring

  • Health check endpoint for container orchestration
  • Prometheus metrics export
  • Status dashboard (simple web UI)

• Enhanced Error Handling

  • Categorize errors (transient vs permanent)
  • Different notification strategies per error type
  • Circuit breaker for failing POP3 accounts

v1.2 - User Experience

Priority: Medium

• Web Configuration UI

  • Add/remove POP3 accounts without editing files
  • Test connections before saving
  • View forwarding statistics
  • Simple React/Vue.js frontend

• Better Logging

  • Structured JSON logging
  • Log rotation
  • Searchable log viewer
  • Export logs for analysis

• Email Filtering

  • Basic rules (sender, subject, size)
  • Whitelist/blacklist
  • Regular expression matching
  • Forward only matching emails

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Medium Term (3-6 months)

v2.0 - Advanced Features

Priority: Medium

• Multiple Destinations

  • Route different POP3 accounts to different Gmail addresses
  • CC/BCC support
  • Conditional routing based on rules

• OAuth2 Support

  • Gmail OAuth2 instead of App Passwords
  • More secure authentication
  • Better user experience

• Attachment Handling

  • Preserve attachments properly
  • Size limits
  • Virus scanning integration
  • Cloud storage integration (Google Drive)

• Advanced Throttling

  • Per-account rate limits
  • Time-of-day scheduling
  • Burst mode support
  • Gmail quota monitoring

v2.1 - Email Management

Priority: Low

• Email Archiving

  • Optional local backup before forwarding
  • Export to mbox format
  • Search archived emails
  • Retention policies

• HTML Email Support

  • Preserve HTML formatting
  • Inline images
  • CSS processing

• Email Threading

  • Maintain conversation threads
  • In-Reply-To headers
  • References preservation

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Long Term (6-12 months)

v3.0 - Enterprise Features

Priority: Low

• Multi-tenancy

  • Support multiple users/teams
  • Per-user configuration
  • User management
  • API for integration

• High Availability

  • Kubernetes deployment manifests
  • Horizontal scaling
  • Leader election for distributed deployment
  • Failover support

• Advanced Security

  • Secrets management (Vault integration)
  • Encryption at rest
  • Audit logging
  • SSO/SAML support

• Compliance

  • GDPR compliance features
  • Email retention policies
  • Data export capabilities
  • Privacy controls

v3.1 - Integration & Extensibility

Priority: Low

• Webhook Support

  • Notify external systems on events
  • Custom notification channels (Slack, Discord, Teams)
  • Integration with monitoring systems

• Plugin System

  • Custom email processors
  • Custom notification handlers
  • Custom storage backends

• API

  • RESTful API for all operations
  • Webhook configuration
  • Stats and metrics
  • Email search

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Future Considerations

Performance Optimizations

• Parallel processing of multiple POP3 accounts
• Connection pooling
• Caching layer
• Batch processing

Additional Protocols

• IMAP support (not just POP3)
• Exchange/EWS support
• Microsoft Graph API
• Direct Gmail API integration

Cloud Native Features

• Helm charts for Kubernetes
• Terraform modules
• Cloud provider integrations (AWS SES, SendGrid)
• Serverless deployment option (Lambda, Cloud Functions)

Machine Learning

• Smart spam filtering
• Email categorization
• Priority detection
• Anomaly detection

Mobile Support

• React Native mobile app
• Push notifications to mobile devices
• Mobile configuration
• On-the-go management

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Community & Ecosystem

Documentation

• Video tutorials
• Interactive setup wizard
• Migration guides from Gmail POP3 import
• Best practices guide
• Performance tuning guide

Community

• Discord/Slack community
• Regular release schedule
• Contributor guidelines
• Code of conduct
• Security disclosure policy

Compatibility

• Support for more email providers
• Test suite for major POP3 providers
• Compatibility matrix
• Provider-specific configurations

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Release Schedule

• v1.1: +1 month (Enhanced Reliability)
• v1.2: +2 months (User Experience)
• v2.0: +3 months (Advanced Features)
• v2.1: +4 months (Email Management)
• v3.0: +6 months (Enterprise Features)
• v3.1: +9 months (Integration & Extensibility)

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Contributing

We welcome contributions! Areas where help is needed:

1. Testing: Help test with different email providers
2. Documentation: Improve guides and tutorials
3. Features: Implement items from the roadmap
4. Bug Fixes: Fix issues as they arise
5. Performance: Optimize slow operations
6. Security: Security audits and improvements

See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

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Feedback

This roadmap is a living document. We welcome feedback:

• Open an issue with suggestions
• Join discussions in GitHub Discussions
• Propose new features via pull requests
• Vote on existing feature requests

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Decision Framework

Features are prioritized based on:

1. User Impact: How many users benefit?
2. Complexity: Development and maintenance effort
3. Security: Does it improve security?
4. Reliability: Does it improve reliability?
5. Community Requests: What are users asking for?

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Last Updated: 2026-02-01