core/ROADMAP.md

Switchboard Core — Roadmap

Current: v0.2.0 — SDK & Triggers

Fork of chat-switchboard, gutted to a pure extension platform. All AI/chat features removed from the kernel. What remains is the minimum viable platform that extensions build on.

Retained kernel capabilities

• Auth: builtin (simple), mTLS, OIDC
• Identity: users, teams, groups, permissions (RBAC)
• Packages: surfaces, extensions, libraries, workflows
• Starlark sandbox: capability-gated modules
• Storage: object storage (PVC, S3), ext_data tables
• Realtime: WebSocket hub, presence, multi-replica HA
• Ops: audit log, notifications, maintenance goroutine

Phase 0 (complete)

Step	Status	Description
1. Module rename	✅	chat-switchboard → switchboard-core
2. Delete packages	✅	15 Go packages, 29 handler files removed
3. Gut stores/models	✅	40 → 20 store interfaces, kernel-only models
4. Fresh migrations	✅	9 files × 2 dialects, 27 tables
5. Fix compilation	✅	go build ./... clean, 300+ stale route lines cut
6. Fix tests	✅	8 test packages pass, ~12K stale test lines pruned
7. Frontend gut	✅	Shell + SDK only, 50+ files of chat/notes/projects code removed
8. New ICD	✅	Full OpenAPI 3.0.3 spec — 160 operations across 22 tag groups
9. CI/CD + Dockerfile	✅	Single unified image, FE/BE split removed, DB names updated, k8s var alignment fixes (resource quantities, image name, rollout deployment name)
10. Smoke test	✅	K8s deploy live at switchboard.gobha.ai/test, nginx BASE_PATH fixed, login→admin flow verified, branding updated

v0.2.x — SDK & Triggers

The contract that extensions build against. Three trigger primitives, SDK stabilization, and the first rebuilt extension (tasks).

v0.2.0 — RBAC + Settings Cascade (complete)

Step	Status	Description
Admin → RBAC group	✅	surface.admin.access permission + Admins system group replaces role == "admin" checks. Admin bypass removed from permission middleware.
Settings cascade	✅	user_overridable flag, three-tier resolution (global → team → user), team settings API
Settings override model	✅	Shipped with settings cascade above

v0.2.1 — Default Surface + ICD

Step	Status	Description
Default surface routing	✅	/ redirects to configurable default surface. No surfaces → admin. First install becomes default. Changeable in admin settings.
ICD (API contract)	✅	Full OpenAPI 3.0.3 spec — 160 operations, 22 tag groups, reusable component schemas. Served at /api/docs.

v0.2.2 — Event Bus + Triggers

Step	Status	Description
Event bus subscriptions	✅	Extensions register event patterns in manifest. Wired via bus.Subscribe() on startup. Async handler invocation.
Webhook triggers	✅	Inbound HTTP at /api/v1/hooks/:package_id/:slug. HMAC-SHA256 verification. Synchronous Starlark handler response.
Scheduled tasks	✅	User-created cron tasks with restricted sandbox (no raw HTTP, no DB table creation). Runs as creator identity. Templates from extensions. Dedicated schedules API.
Trigger admin API	✅	CRUD for triggers + schedules. Enable/disable, execution logs, per-package listing.

v0.2.3 — SDK + Task Extension

Step	Status	Description
SDK stabilization	✅	sw.api.ext(), sw.storage, sw.theme.tokens, sw.ui, sw.slots, sw.actions — six new SDK modules for extension development
Task extension	✅	Full task surface rebuilt as Starlark extension: CRUD API, kanban/list views, event triggers, webhook integration, notifications on completion

v0.2.4 — Shell Navigation + Schedules

Step	Status	Description
SDK Topbar	✅	sw.shell.Topbar — composable navigation bar (title + extension slot + bell + user menu). Surfaces get consistent nav for free.
Schedules surface	✅	New packages/schedules/ wrapping kernel cron API. Table view, cron preview, enable/disable, manual run, execution logs.
Manifest icons	✅	icon field in manifest.json (emoji). Surfaces API returns icon. UserMenu renders per-surface icons.
UserMenu cleanup	✅	Removed dead Chat/Notes/Projects links. Menu driven by surfaces API. Core surfaces filtered.
isAdmin RBAC fix	✅	can.js isAdmin() now checks surface.admin.access grant instead of deprecated role column.

v0.2.5 — UI Polish + Dead Code Audit

Step	Status	Description
UI bug pass	✅	Reviewed admin, settings, login, welcome surfaces in light/dark themes. Fixed settings crash (models API undefined). Removed dead chat settings from both user and admin settings.
Dead code sweep	✅	Removed ~700 lines: orphaned CSS, dead Go types, stale event code, unused test helpers, dead settings UI (chat defaults, system prompt, default model, policies, web search, compaction, memory).
Template cleanup	✅	Removed stale CSS link tags and orphaned chat-pane.html. Updated doc comments throughout.
Package proof-of-concept status	✅	Created README.md for tasks + schedules with graduation criteria. Added missing manifest icons.
Welcome surface	✅	New fallback surface when no extensions installed. Topbar + welcome card with admin link. Replaces /admin as final redirect target.
Default surface routing	✅	Resolution chain: user preference → global config → first extension → /welcome. Users can set personal default in Settings > General. Admin sets global default in Admin > Settings.
Admin navigation	✅	Replaced Back button with UserMenu in admin topbar. Eliminates back-button infinite loop.

v0.2.6 — Admin Settings Audit

Step	Status	Description
Admin settings E2E	✅	All 7 admin settings sections verified (default surface, registration, banner, message bar, footer, vault, email). Dead code removed: sectionCategory() pruned of AI/routing/channel vestiges, PublicSettings() stripped of chat-era fields (system_prompt, retention_ttl, paste_to_file, allow_user_personas), dead PolicyDefaults removed (allow_raw_model_access, default_model), dead policy lookups removed (kb_direct_access), test seed data cleaned.
Packages surface	✅	Package list loads (17 total/17 enabled), type filters work, enable/disable visible, settings/export buttons present, core package (admin) protected. Removed dead chat from CORE_IDS.

v0.2.7 — User Settings Audit

Step	Status	Description
User settings E2E	✅	All 6 user settings sections verified (General, Appearance, Profile, Teams, Connections, Notifications). Dead code removed: BYOK nav section + state, personas gate filter, Message Font Size slider, auth.permissions.changed listener. localStorage key renamed cs-appearance → sb-appearance with one-time migration.
Visibility gating	✅	Dead BYOK/personas policy lookups removed from bootstrap and permissions handlers. allow_user_byok removed from PublicSettings. PolicyDefaults cleaned of allow_user_byok and allow_user_personas. Dead msgFont early-apply removed from base template. Stale policy-gating test assertions replaced. No empty nav sections remain.

v0.2.8 — Team Admin Settings Audit (Pass 1)

Step	Status	Description
Team admin E2E	✅	Audited team member management, settings cascade, role assignment. Removed dead code: HasPrivateProviderRequirement (BYOK vestige), UserRole on TeamMember (deprecated role column), allow_team_providers policy default, dead personas/providers/models ICD tests.
Workflow stage UI cleanup	✅	Removed dead personas dropdown, history_mode selector, stale chat_only mode. Updated STAGE_MODES to match backend CHECK constraint (form_only, form_chat, review, custom). Removed stale comments referencing deleted files.

v0.2.9 — Builtin Extension Retirement

Step	Status	Description
Retire builtin seeder	⬚	Stop auto-seeding chat-centric extensions (csv-table, diff-viewer, js-sandbox, katex-renderer, mermaid-renderer, regex-tester). Remove SeedBuiltinPackages, Dockerfile COPY, and extensions/builtin/ directory. These extensions are not OBE — they're dormant until a chat surface exists to consume them.
Convert to regular packages	⬚	Repackage the 6 extensions as standard .pkg archives in packages/. Add chat dependency metadata to manifests so they can be installed when the chat extension ships post-MVP. No auto-install — explicit install only, matching the distribution model.

v0.3.x — Workflow Architecture

Workflows are the core platform capability. This series implements the full multi-step automation system with team role integration and finalizes the extension lifecycle model.

v0.3.0 — Workflow Design + Schema

Step	Status	Description
Extension lifecycle	⬚	Define permanent vs PoC extensions. Package graduation criteria. Dependency policy. What ships with core vs what's installed separately.
Workflow design session	⬚	Define what "workflow" means in the extension-first model. Determine if the existing workflows table/handler survives, gets rebuilt, or gets removed. Document the Starlark contract for multi-step automation. See docs/DESIGN-WORKFLOW-REDESIGN-0.2.6.md.
Team roles	⬚	Different roles per team responsible for different workflow stages. Role-based stage assignment, multi-party validation (2-party sign-off at stage boundaries).
Trigger composition model	⬚	How do triggers, schedules, and workflows compose? Event chains, conditional branching, error handling. Design doc before code.
Settings audit pass 2	⬚	Focused audit of team admin + user settings for workflow/team-role changes applied in this series. Validates new team role UI, stage assignment settings, workflow preferences.

v0.4.0 — Notes Surface

Obsidian-style rich-text notes rebuilt as an installable surface package. Zero platform special-casing. Proves the full extension stack E2E.

• Notes as .pkg archive
• Rich text editor (ProseMirror or similar)
• Folder tree, backlinks, tags — all extension-provided
• Markdown import/export

v0.5.0 — MVP

Extension and operations tracks converge. First externally usable release.

• Package registry (browse, install, update, uninstall)
• Package distribution model (no auto-install; explicit install only)
• Health monitoring dashboard
• Backup/restore tooling
• Documentation site

Post-MVP

• Chat extension (provider registry, streaming, personas, tool system)
• Rich media extensions: image generation, code sandbox, STT/TTS
• Desktop app (Tauri or Electron)
• Sidecar tier: container-based extensions
• Federation: cross-instance package sharing
• Plugin marketplace with signing and review
• Mermaid diagrams extension (nice-to-have)

Design Decisions Log

Decision	Rationale
Tasks → extension	Scheduler was the most entangled kernel component (~3,400 lines). Rebuilding as extension validates the trigger system and removes the worst compilation debt. Three trigger primitives (time, webhook, event) replace the monolithic scheduler.
Sessions removed	Channel-based sessions coupled to deleted chat system. Workflow instances need new storage model — either ext_data tables or a dedicated kernel table.
chat_only → custom	Stage mode chat_only implied chat as a kernel concept. Renamed to custom which delegates to a surface package, proving extension composability.
Providers removed from kernel	Provider configs, model catalog, routing policies — all moved to extension track. Kernel provides credential storage (connections) and the Starlark provider.complete module as the interface.
Kernel permissions simplified	From 16 chat-centric permissions to 6 platform permissions. Extensions define their own capability requirements in manifests.
Preact+htm retained	3KB runtime, no build step, works for extension authors without bundler config. KISS.
Single Docker image	Drop the frontend/backend split. Go binary + assets + migrations in one image. Simpler deployment, fewer moving parts.
Admin → RBAC group	The role column is pre-RBAC. v0.2.0 replaces it with a seeded "Admins" group + surface.admin.access grant. All users auto-join "Everyone" group. Admin middleware becomes a grant check, not a role check.
Settings cascade	RBAC controls scope auth (who can set at what level). user_overridable flag controls whether lower scopes can override higher. Two orthogonal axes, composes cleanly with extension manifests.
No new migrations pre-MVP	Edit existing migration SQL files in place. No migration chains until schema is in production.
Notes over Editor	First surface is Obsidian-style notes (rich text, folders, backlinks) instead of a code editor. Notes is a stronger E2E proof — it exercises ext_data, storage, and the SDK more fully than a pure-browser CM6 editor.
No built-in auto-install	Extensions ship in the repo but are not auto-installed. Distribution model TBD — explicit install only. Keeps the kernel clean and avoids opinionated defaults.
Chat → post-MVP	Chat extension (providers, streaming, personas) is valuable but not MVP-critical. The platform must prove itself with simpler surfaces first. Chat moves to post-MVP track.
Two trigger tiers	Event + webhook triggers are extension-declared (manifest contract, full sandbox). Scheduled tasks are user-created ad-hoc (restricted sandbox — no raw HTTP, no DB table creation, connections-only outbound). Separation keeps extension contracts static and user automation safe.
Scheduled task identity	Tasks run as their creator (RBAC-scoped). Admin-created tasks can opt into system context. Creator deactivation pauses the schedule. Ensures audit trail and permission boundaries.