SocialPub/CLAUDE.md

# CLAUDE.md

Guidance for working in this repository. `docs/ROADMAP.md` holds the owner's decisions and the phased plan to full
ActivityPub interop; read it before changing anything federation-, privacy- or API-shaped.

## What this is

**PrivaPub** (repo name SocialPub) is a self-hosted ActivityPub server in C#, live at https://privapub.thepra.dev.
It is meant as a Pleroma-like microblogging server for privacy-minded people and small communities, federating with
Mastodon, GoToSocial, Pleroma/Akkoma, Misskey and Lemmy.

Its defining idea: **one private login owns several public personas.**

- **`RootUser` is the private login.** Username, password, optional email (used only for recovery), policies.
- **`Avatar` is a public persona.** Each one is an ActivityPub actor with its own RSA keys at `/peasants/{username}`.
  Root and avatar are linked only through `RootToAvatar`.
- **Personas must stay unlinkable** to other users and servers; only the instance admin can see the link.
- **`Group` is an ActivityPub Group actor.** It has members, an invitation code and an optional password. Groups are
  becoming two kinds: a public **community** (FEP-1b12, Lemmy-compatible) and a private, invitation-only **circle**.
- **`DmGroup` is a direct-message conversation.**
- **`privapub` is the instance actor** (type Application). It signs fetches no persona should be tied to.

Privacy features in the model:
- location-ranged posts (`Post.Location`, `RangeKm`), to become local-only and never federated;
- contacts a persona can share (`Avatar.SharedPersonalContacts`);
- private notes (`RootUserNote`, `PersonalNote`).

The intended client is the Mastodon client API (Tusky, Elk, Phanpy, Ivory), where each avatar logs in as its own
account. The private `/clientapi` covers what Mastodon can't express. `thepra/decePubClient`
(https://decepub.thepra.dev) is the owner's own Pleroma-FE-like PWA. It still shows mock data and is not wired to the
server.

## Route names are deliberate

The odd names are the owner's and part of the project's character. **Never "fix" them to conventional ones.** A new
actor-scoped route gets a name in the same spirit, agreed with the owner, and a name is frozen once it has federated.

| Thing | Route |
|---|---|
| Actor | `/peasants/{name}` (`/users/{name}` 301-redirects here; browsers are sent to `/@{name}`) |
| Inbox | `/peasants/{name}/mouth` |
| Outbox | `/peasants/{name}/anus` (`?page=true[&max_id=]` for pages) |
| Shared inbox | `/human-centipede` (also `/peasants/{name}/human-centipede`) |
| Followers | `/peasants/{name}/groupies` |
| Following | `/peasants/{name}/stalking` |
| Notes | `/peasants/{name}/scribbles/{id}` |
| Activities | `/peasants/{name}/grunts/{id}` (`create-{postId}` resolves) |
| DM context | `/peasants/{name}/whispers/{id}` |
| Token refresh | `/clientapi/user/sniff/again` |

Agreed for later phases: `/gossip`, `/drool`, `/echoes` (replies, likes, shares), `/trophies` (featured), `/tattoos`
(featured tags), `/flock` and `/wardens` (group members and moderators).

Routes other software looks up by name stay conventional:
- `/.well-known/*` and `/nodeinfo/*`;
- `/api/v1/*` and `/oauth/*`;
- `/@{name}` pages;
- `/media/*`.

## Repo map

```
PrivaPub.sln
PrivaPub/                         ASP.NET Core Web API, net10.0
  Program.cs                      host, Mongo init (GUIDs Standard), pipeline, /build.json
  Middleware/SocialPubConfigurations.cs   every DI registration (auth, federation, services, swagger, CORS)
  Controllers/ClientToServer/     /clientapi/*: RootUser (signup/login/invitations/recovery), PrivateAvatar,
                                  Group, Post (posts + DMs), Admin, Data
  Infrastructure/
    Http/                         FederationHttp + SafeHttpHandlerFactory + IpRangeGuard: the only way out
    Jobs/                         JobQueue (leases), JobWorker, Backoff, HostCircuitBreaker
    Ids/                          PrivacyIds (day-only ids for personas and groups, published-time ids for remote posts)
    Data/                         Indexes (created at start), EntityMaps.Warm, Migrations/_NNN_*.cs
    Cli/                          AdminCommands (`PrivaPub admin promote|demote <root>`)
    RateLimiting.cs               accounts (per client address) and inbox (per sending origin) policies
  Federation/
    Controllers/                  PeasantsController (actor, outbox, followers, following, posts, inboxes),
                                  WellKnownController (webfinger, nodeinfo), UsersController (redirect)
    Actors/                       LocalActorService (LocalActor, Keys, ReservedName), RemoteActorService
                                  (authoritative fetch, key verification, WebFinger), ActorDocument (parser)
    Objects/                      Origin, ActivityJson, NoteParser, Addressing, ContentSanitizer
    Moderation/                   DomainBlocks (suspend / silence / reject media)
    Signing/                      HttpSignatures (draft-cavage sign/verify)
    Inbox/                        InboxReceiver (verify, queue, 202) → InboxProcessor (job) → Handlers/{Follow,Accept,Reject,
                                  Undo,Create,Update,Delete,Like,Announce}; RemotePosts (build, fetch parents, FetchAncestors)
    Outbox/                       OutboxPublisher (who a post goes to), DeliveryService (queues jobs) + DeliveryJobHandler
    Rendering/                    ActivityPubRenderer (Mastodon @context, actors, notes, collections)
  Domain/
    Content/                      ContentRenderer (Markdown or plain text → HTML with h-card mentions and hashtags)
    Social/                       FollowService (local in-process, remote Follow/Accept), Notifications
    Timelines/                    Fanout (TimelineEntry rows, Mastodon's home rules), TimelineService
    Privacy/                      VisibilityPolicy (IsPublic expression, CanSee)
  Web/Pages/                      Razor: /@{user}, /@{user}/{id} (public posts only, strict CSP, noindex)
  Services/                       RootUsersService, GroupUsersService, PostsService, AppConfigurationService, …
  Models/                         Mongo entities: User/, Group/, Post/, Federation/, Jobs/, AppConfiguration
  StaticServices/                 DbEntities (Find<T> accessors), AuthTokenManager (JWT), PasswordHasher
  Data/InitDb.cs                  first-run seeding (languages)
PrivaPub.ClientModels/            DTOs + validation resources shared with clients
PrivaPub.Tests/                   xUnit v3; Support/ has a fake two-origin peer and a throwaway-database fixture
deploy/                           nginx vhost, systemd units (privapub, privapub-mongod), max/setup.sh
.gitea/workflows/                 build.yml (push) · deploy.yml (tag v*)
docs/ROADMAP.md                   decisions + phased plan
```

The roadmap moves code towards `Infrastructure/`, `Federation/`, `Domain/`, `Api/{ClientApi,Mastodon}` and `Web/`,
one pure-move commit at a time.

## Commands

```bash
dotnet build PrivaPub.sln -c Release
dotnet test PrivaPub.sln                                  # unit tests; integration tests skip
PRIVAPUB_TEST_MONGOD=1 dotnet test PrivaPub.sln           # all of them, against mongod on 127.0.0.1:27017
                                                          # (PRIVAPUB_TEST_MONGO overrides; a fresh database per run, dropped after)
cd PrivaPub && ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT=Development \
  Kestrel__Endpoints__Http__Url=http://127.0.0.1:6970 Kestrel__Endpoints__Http__Protocols=Http1AndHttp2 \
  AppConfiguration__BackendBaseAddress=http://127.0.0.1:6970 MongoSettings__Database=PrivaPubTest \
  dotnet run                      # needs a local mongod on 27017; swagger at /swagger
```

Development config (`appsettings.Development.json`) binds HTTPS 7195 with HTTP/2 only; the overrides above make it
curl-able. Outbound fetches only go to https DNS names resolving to public addresses; a test network (Pasture) sets
`Federation__AllowPrivateNetworks=true` and `Federation__AllowPlainHttp=true`, which startup refuses in Production.

Promoting an admin on the box (signing up as "admin" grants nothing):

```bash
cd /var/www/privapub.thepra.dev && sudo -u www-data ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT=Production ./PrivaPub admin promote <root>
```

## Federation invariants

1. **Every outbound request goes through `IFederationHttp`.** Its handler resolves the name itself and connects only
   to public addresses; redirects are followed by hand (three at most, each re-checked); bodies are capped at 1 MB;
   only JSON media types are read; a refused URL is not asked again for five minutes. Never create another
   `HttpClient` for federation.
2. **Every fetch is signed by the instance actor** (`privapub`), never by a persona; deliveries are signed by the acting
   avatar or group. Both are draft-cavage rsa-sha256 over `(request-target) host date` (+ `digest` on bodies).
3. **A remote document is believed only from its own address.** `RemoteActorService.FetchObject` requires the
   document's `id` to be the URL it was served from (a same-origin alias is followed once). A key is accepted only if
   the actor lists it, its `owner` is the actor and it shares the actor's origin.
4. **Inbound inboxes verify everything before acting:**
   - the signature covers `(request-target)`, `host`, `digest` and `date` or `(created)`;
   - the Digest matches the body and the date is at most an hour old and fifteen minutes ahead;
   - the signature verifies against the key owner's key, and the activity's `actor` is the key owner;
   - the activity's `id`, and any object it creates, updates or deletes, is on the actor's origin; a cross-origin
     object is refetched from its own origin.
5. **Status codes:**
   - bad or missing signature: **401**;
   - malformed or forged body: **400**;
   - accepted: **202**;
   - over the rate limit: **429**;
   - **never 500** from `/peasants` or an inbox. Peers retry or "double-knock" based on these codes.
6. **Actor documents:**
   - served as `application/activity+json`;
   - `publicKey` is an SPKI PEM at `{actor}#main-key`, with `owner` equal to the actor's id;
   - the shared inbox is advertised in `endpoints.sharedInbox`.
7. **Remote HTML is sanitized before it is stored** (`ContentSanitizer`); `Post.ContentHtml` is what is shown,
   `ContentFormat` says what `Text` holds. Remote names are plain text.
8. **Circles never federate.** A circle's actor, collections, WebFinger and inbox answer 404, and its posts are
   `IsLocalOnly`. Only communities are Group actors.
9. **A DM joins a conversation only by `DmGroup.ParticipantsKey`**, the exact set of its participants; a remote
   `context` decides nothing. DMs are `Post`s with `Visibility = Direct` and a `ConversationId` (`DmPost` is legacy).
10. **Nothing slow happens inside a request.** Deliveries and inbox processing are `Job`s (`Infrastructure/Jobs`):
    leased, retried on Mastodon's curve, at most two per host, paused per host by `RemoteInstance`. The inbox answers
    202 once it has verified and queued; a handler must be idempotent (unique `ObjectURI`, job `DedupeKey`).
11. **Every "may anyone see this" goes through `VisibilityPolicy.IsPublic`;** a persona-specific read uses `CanSee`.
12. **Remote content is stored only when someone here asked for it:** a persona follows the author, is addressed or
    mentioned, it replies to a local post, or it is addressed to a community the author follows; a public parent is
    fetched as context. Followers-only is detected by the author's stored `followers` URL.
13. **Home timelines are written, not computed:** every stored or created post goes through `Fanout.Distribute`, and
    every delete removes its `TimelineEntry` rows. Local deletes are soft (content cleared, 410 Tombstone).

## Privacy invariants

- **No root id in federation output, NodeInfo or logs, no IP next to an identity in logs, and no `ex.Message` to a
  client** ("Something went wrong." instead).
- **Never derive a public name from the root username.** Invitation sign-up takes `AvatarUserName` and refuses one
  equal to the login.
- **One username space:** personas, groups and the instance reserve their name in `ReservedName` (unique index) before
  they are saved; `LocalActorService.TryReserveUserName` is the only way to claim one.
- **Per-avatar state stays per avatar:** blocks, mutes, notifications, follows. Nothing may relate sibling avatars.
- **Location-ranged posts never federate.**

## Data

- MongoDB through **MongoDB.Entities 25.1**, instance API: `DB.Default.Find<T>()`, `.SaveAsync(e)`, `.Update<T>()`,
  `.DeleteAsync<T>()`, `.CountAsync<T>()`. `DbEntities` wraps the finds.
- **Pass no cancellation token to `DeleteAsync` outside a transaction;** v25 throws if you do.
- **Collection name = class name, so never rename an entity class.**
- `Entity.ID` is a 24-character lowercase hex string; `GenerateNewID()` returns `object`, so cast it.
- New fields must be additive: a deploy rollback restores the binary, not the database.
- **Startup order:** `EntityMaps.Warm()` (every entity's class map, one at a time; two mapped at once throw "An item
  with the same key has already been added" and stay broken), then `MigrateAsync` (`Infrastructure/Data/Migrations`,
  `_NNN_` order, each runs once), then `Indexes.Create()`. A new entity needs nothing; a new unique index needs a
  dedupe migration before it.
- Production runs its **own mongod** on 127.0.0.1:27022 (unit `privapub-mongod`, no auth, data in
  `/var/lib/privapub/mongo`). The box's shared mongod needs credentials nobody here has.

## Code style

- Tabs, block-scoped namespaces, Allman braces.
- New services use `readonly _camel` fields and constructor injection. Older services use PascalCase fields; leave
  them.
- Services return `WebResult` (`PrivaPub.ClientModels/WebResult.cs`): `result.Invalidate(localizer[...], status)`.
  Controllers turn it into a status code.
- Localised strings go through `IStringLocalizer<GenericRes>`.
- Every `Display`/`ErrorMessage` resource key must exist in `FieldsNameResource`/`ErrorsResource`, including the
  `Designer.cs`, which the CLI build doesn't regenerate. A missing key throws at validation time.
- ActivityPub output is built with `System.Text.Json.Nodes` in `ActivityPubRenderer`, not typed models. Inbound
  documents are read through `InboxService.Id`/`Value`, which handle string, object and array.
- Libraries chosen for the roadmap: HtmlSanitizer, Markdig (`DisableHtml`), NSign (RFC 9421 inbound), OpenIddict +
  OpenIddict.MongoDb, NetVips, Blurhash.Core, FFMpegCore. No ImageSharp (licence key enforced), no MassTransit.

## Testing

`PrivaPub.Tests` (xUnit v3). Unit tests need nothing; tests marked `Category=Integration` need a mongod and skip
without `PRIVAPUB_TEST_MONGOD=1`. CI runs the unit tests only (the box's mongods are production).

- `Support/Peer` is an in-process HTTP server answering on two origins (`127.0.0.1` and `localhost`), so origin rules
  can be tested; `Support/RemoteActor` signs real deliveries with its own key.
- Inbox scenarios go through `InboxService.Receive` with a signed request, not through the private handlers.

Beyond the tests, verify by building, running locally, and exercising:
- the client API (sign up, create an avatar, a group, a post);
- the ActivityPub endpoints with curl and `Accept: application/activity+json`.

Interop is checked against real servers: Fediverse Pasture with podman on the workstation, verify.funfedi.dev, and
the owner's GoToSocial at social.arasaka.software. **Ask before acting from the owner's GoToSocial account.**

## Deploy

- **CI/CD:** push to `master` runs `build.yml` (build + tests) on the instance-wide `build` runner. A `v*` tag runs
  `deploy.yml`: tests, self-contained linux-x64 publish, snapshot and `mongodump` to `/var/backups/privapub.thepra.dev`,
  stop → rsync → start, a `127.0.0.1:6970/build.json` health loop with rollback, then public checks (actor, NodeInfo,
  Swagger 404, inbox junk 400, unsigned 401).
- **The box:** Max (`nuvola.xyz`). Unit `privapub` runs as www-data from `/var/www/privapub.thepra.dev` with
  `ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT=Production`.
- **One-time root setup:** `deploy/max/setup.sh`, run through `../arasaka.software/tools/max/run.sh`.
- **Config:** `appsettings.Production.json` is committed and deployed, **secrets included, by the owner's convention**
  (the same as arasaka.software). A hand edit on the box is lost at the next deploy.
- **Secrets drift:** `AppConfigurationService` copies `AppConfiguration` into Mongo on first boot and reads the stored
  copy afterwards, so changing those keys needs a Mongo update as well.
- **Logs:** `journalctl -u privapub`, plus the `logs` database on the private mongod.