git.stella-ops.org/docs/modules/notify/architecture.md

> **Scope.** Implementation‑ready architecture for **Notify** (aligned with Epic 11 – Notifications Studio): a rules‑driven, tenant‑aware notification service that consumes platform events (scan completed, report ready, rescan deltas, attestation logged, admission decisions, etc.), evaluates operator‑defined routing rules, renders **channel‑specific messages** (Slack/Teams/Email/Webhook), and delivers them **reliably** with idempotency, throttling, and digests. It is UI‑managed, auditable, and safe by default (no secrets leakage, no spam storms).

---

## 0) Mission & boundaries

**Mission.** Convert **facts** from Stella Ops into **actionable, noise‑controlled** signals where teams already live (chat/email/webhooks), with **explainable** reasons and deep links to the UI.

**Boundaries.**

* Notify **does not make policy decisions** and **does not rescan**; it **consumes** events from Scanner/Scheduler/Vexer/Feedser/Attestor/Zastava and routes them.
* Attachments are **links** (UI/attestation pages); Notify **does not** attach SBOMs or large blobs to messages.
* Secrets for channels (Slack tokens, SMTP creds) are **referenced**, not stored raw in Mongo.

---

## 1) Runtime shape & projects

```
src/
 ├─ StellaOps.Notify.WebService/        # REST: rules/channels CRUD, test send, deliveries browse
 ├─ StellaOps.Notify.Worker/            # consumers + evaluators + renderers + delivery workers
 ├─ StellaOps.Notify.Connectors.* /     # channel plug-ins: Slack, Teams, Email, Webhook (v1)
 │    └─ *.Tests/
 ├─ StellaOps.Notify.Engine/            # rules engine, templates, idempotency, digests, throttles
 ├─ StellaOps.Notify.Models/            # DTOs (Rule, Channel, Event, Delivery, Template)
 ├─ StellaOps.Notify.Storage.Mongo/     # rules, channels, deliveries, digests, locks
 ├─ StellaOps.Notify.Queue/             # bus client (Redis Streams/NATS JetStream)
 └─ StellaOps.Notify.Tests.*            # unit/integration/e2e
```

**Deployables**:

* **Notify.WebService** (stateless API)
* **Notify.Worker** (horizontal scale)

**Dependencies**: Authority (OpToks; DPoP/mTLS), MongoDB, Redis/NATS (bus), HTTP egress to Slack/Teams/Webhooks, SMTP relay for Email.

> **Configuration.** Notify.WebService bootstraps from `notify.yaml` (see `etc/notify.yaml.sample`). Use `storage.driver: mongo` with a production connection string; the optional `memory` driver exists only for tests. Authority settings follow the platform defaults—when running locally without Authority, set `authority.enabled: false` and supply `developmentSigningKey` so JWTs can be validated offline.
>
> `api.rateLimits` exposes token-bucket controls for delivery history queries and test-send previews (`deliveryHistory`, `testSend`). Default values allow generous browsing while preventing accidental bursts; operators can relax/tighten the buckets per deployment.

> **Plug-ins.** All channel connectors are packaged under `<baseDirectory>/plugins/notify`. The ordered load list must start with Slack/Teams before Email/Webhook so chat-first actions are registered deterministically for Offline Kit bundles:
>
> ```yaml
> plugins:
>   baseDirectory: "/var/opt/stellaops"
>   directory: "plugins/notify"
>   orderedPlugins:
>     - StellaOps.Notify.Connectors.Slack
>     - StellaOps.Notify.Connectors.Teams
>     - StellaOps.Notify.Connectors.Email
>     - StellaOps.Notify.Connectors.Webhook
> ```
>
> The Offline Kit job simply copies the `plugins/notify` tree into the air-gapped bundle; the ordered list keeps connector manifests stable across environments.

> **Authority clients.** Register two OAuth clients in StellaOps Authority: `notify-web-dev` (audience `notify.dev`) for development and `notify-web` (audience `notify`) for staging/production. Both require `notify.read` and `notify.admin` scopes and use DPoP-bound client credentials (`client_secret` in the samples). Reference entries live in `etc/authority.yaml.sample`, with placeholder secrets under `etc/secrets/notify-web*.secret.example`.

---

## 2) Responsibilities

1. **Ingest** platform events from internal bus with strong ordering per key (e.g., image digest).
2. **Evaluate rules** (tenant‑scoped) with matchers: severity changes, namespaces, repos, labels, KEV flags, provider provenance (VEX), component keys, admission decisions, etc.
3. **Control noise**: **throttle**, **coalesce** (digest windows), and **dedupe** via idempotency keys.
4. **Render** channel‑specific messages using safe templates; include **evidence** and **links**.
5. **Deliver** with retries/backoff; record outcome; expose delivery history to UI.
6. **Test** paths (send test to channel targets) without touching live rules.
7. **Audit**: log who configured what, when, and why a message was sent.

---

## 3) Event model (inputs)

Notify subscribes to the **internal event bus** (produced by services, escaped JSON; gzip allowed with caps):

* `scanner.scan.completed` — new SBOM(s) composed; artifacts ready
* `scanner.report.ready` — analysis verdict (policy+vex) available; carries deltas summary
* `scheduler.rescan.delta` — new findings after Feedser/Vexer deltas (already summarized)
* `attestor.logged` — Rekor UUID returned (sbom/report/vex export)
* `zastava.admission` — admit/deny with reasons, namespace, image digests
* `feedser.export.completed` — new export ready (rarely notified directly; usually drives Scheduler)
* `vexer.export.completed` — new consensus snapshot (ditto)

**Canonical envelope (bus → Notify.Engine):**

```json
{
  "eventId": "uuid",
  "kind": "scanner.report.ready",
  "tenant": "tenant-01",
  "ts": "2025-10-18T05:41:22Z",
  "actor": "scanner-webservice",
  "scope": { "namespace":"payments", "repo":"ghcr.io/acme/api", "digest":"sha256:..." },
  "payload": { /* kind-specific fields, see below */ }
}
```

**Examples (payload cores):**

* `scanner.report.ready`:

  ```json
  {
    "reportId": "report-3def...",
    "verdict": "fail",
    "summary": {"total": 12, "blocked": 2, "warned": 3, "ignored": 5, "quieted": 2},
    "delta": {"newCritical": 1, "kev": ["CVE-2025-..."]},
    "links": {"ui": "https://ui/.../reports/report-3def...", "rekor": "https://rekor/..."},
    "dsse": { "...": "..." },
    "report": { "...": "..." }
  }
  ```

  Payload embeds both the canonical report document and the DSSE envelope so connectors, Notify, and UI tooling can reuse the signed bytes without re-serialising.

* `scanner.scan.completed`:

  ```json
  {
    "reportId": "report-3def...",
    "digest": "sha256:...",
    "verdict": "fail",
    "summary": {"total": 12, "blocked": 2, "warned": 3, "ignored": 5, "quieted": 2},
    "delta": {"newCritical": 1, "kev": ["CVE-2025-..."]},
    "policy": {"revisionId": "rev-42", "digest": "27d2..."},
    "findings": [{"id": "finding-1", "severity": "Critical", "cve": "CVE-2025-...", "reachability": "runtime"}],
    "dsse": { "...": "..." }
  }
  ```

* `zastava.admission`:

  ```json
  { "decision":"deny|allow", "reasons":["unsigned image","missing SBOM"],
    "images":[{"digest":"sha256:...","signed":false,"hasSbom":false}] }
  ```

---

## 4) Rules engine — semantics

**Rule shape (simplified):**

```yaml
name: "high-critical-alerts-prod"
enabled: true
match:
  eventKinds: ["scanner.report.ready","scheduler.rescan.delta","zastava.admission"]
  namespaces: ["prod-*"]
  repos: ["ghcr.io/acme/*"]
  minSeverity: "high"            # min of new findings (delta context)
  kev: true                      # require KEV-tagged or allow any if false
  verdict: ["fail","deny"]       # filter for report/admission
  vex:
    includeRejectedJustifications: false    # notify only on accepted 'affected'
actions:
  - channel: "slack:sec-alerts"  # reference to Channel object
    template: "concise"
    throttle: "5m"
  - channel: "email:soc"
    digest: "hourly"
    template: "detailed"
```

**Evaluation order**

1. **Tenant check** → discard if rule tenant ≠ event tenant.
2. **Kind filter** → discard early.
3. **Scope match** (namespace/repo/labels).
4. **Delta/severity gates** (if event carries `delta`).
5. **VEX gate** (drop if event’s finding is not affected under policy consensus unless rule says otherwise).
6. **Throttling/dedup** (idempotency key) — skip if suppressed.
7. **Actions** → enqueue per‑channel job(s).

**Idempotency key**: `hash(ruleId | actionId | event.kind | scope.digest | delta.hash | day-bucket)`; ensures “same alert” doesn’t fire more than once within throttle window.

**Digest windows**: maintain per action a **coalescer**:

* Window: `5m|15m|1h|1d` (configurable); coalesces events by tenant + namespace/repo or by digest group.
* Digest messages summarize top N items and counts, with safe truncation.

---

## 5) Channels & connectors (plug‑ins)

Channel config is **two‑part**: a **Channel** record (name, type, options) and a Secret **reference** (Vault/K8s Secret). Connectors are **restart-time plug-ins** discovered on service start (same manifest convention as Concelier/Excititor) and live under `plugins/notify/<channel>/`.

**Built‑in v1:**

* **Slack**: Bot token (xoxb‑…), `chat.postMessage` + `blocks`; rate limit aware (HTTP 429).
* **Microsoft Teams**: Incoming Webhook (or Graph card later); adaptive card payloads.
* **Email (SMTP)**: TLS (STARTTLS or implicit), From/To/CC/BCC; HTML+text alt; DKIM optional.
* **Generic Webhook**: POST JSON with HMAC signature (Ed25519 or SHA‑256) in headers.

**Connector contract:** (implemented by plug-in assemblies)

```csharp
public interface INotifyConnector {
  string Type { get; } // "slack" | "teams" | "email" | "webhook" | ...
  Task<DeliveryResult> SendAsync(DeliveryContext ctx, CancellationToken ct);
  Task<HealthResult> HealthAsync(ChannelConfig cfg, CancellationToken ct);
}
```

**DeliveryContext** includes **rendered content** and **raw event** for audit.

**Test-send previews.** Plug-ins can optionally implement `INotifyChannelTestProvider` to shape `/channels/{id}/test` responses. Providers receive a sanitised `ChannelTestPreviewContext` (channel, tenant, target, timestamp, trace) and return a `NotifyDeliveryRendered` preview + metadata. When no provider is present, the host falls back to a generic preview so the endpoint always responds.

**Secrets**: `ChannelConfig.secretRef` points to Authority‑managed secret handle or K8s Secret path; workers load at send-time; plug-in manifests (`notify-plugin.json`) declare capabilities and version.

---

## 6) Templates & rendering

**Template engine**: strongly typed, safe Handlebars‑style; no arbitrary code. Partial templates per channel. Deterministic outputs (prop order, no locale drift unless requested).

**Variables** (examples):

* `event.kind`, `event.ts`, `scope.namespace`, `scope.repo`, `scope.digest`
* `payload.verdict`, `payload.delta.newCritical`, `payload.links.ui`, `payload.links.rekor`
* `topFindings[]` with `purl`, `vulnId`, `severity`
* `policy.name`, `policy.revision` (if available)

**Helpers**:

* `severity_icon(sev)`, `link(text,url)`, `pluralize(n, "finding")`, `truncate(text, n)`, `code(text)`.

**Channel mapping**:

* Slack: title + blocks, limited to 50 blocks/3000 chars per section; long lists → link to UI.
* Teams: Adaptive Card schema 1.5; fallback text for older channels (surfaced as `teams.fallbackText` metadata alongside webhook hash).
* Email: HTML + text; inline table of top N findings, rest behind UI link.
* Webhook: JSON with `event`, `ruleId`, `actionId`, `summary`, `links`, and raw `payload` subset.

**i18n**: template set per locale (English default; Bulgarian built‑in).

---

## 7) Data model (Mongo)

Canonical JSON Schemas for rules/channels/events live in `docs/modules/notify/resources/schemas/`. Sample payloads intended for tests/UI mock responses are captured in `docs/modules/notify/resources/samples/`.

**Database**: `notify`

* `rules`

  ```
  { _id, tenantId, name, enabled, match, actions, createdBy, updatedBy, createdAt, updatedAt }
  ```

* `channels`

  ```
  { _id, tenantId, name:"slack:sec-alerts", type:"slack",
    config:{ webhookUrl?:"", channel:"#sec-alerts", workspace?: "...", secretRef:"ref://..." },
    createdAt, updatedAt }
  ```

* `deliveries`

  ```
  { _id, tenantId, ruleId, actionId, eventId, kind, scope, status:"sent|failed|throttled|digested|dropped",
    attempts:[{ts, status, code, reason}],
    rendered:{ title, body, target },    // redacted for PII; body hash stored
    sentAt, lastError? }
  ```

* `digests`

  ```
  { _id, tenantId, actionKey, window:"hourly", openedAt, items:[{eventId, scope, delta}], status:"open|flushed" }
  ```

* `throttles`

  ```
  { key:"idem:<hash>", ttlAt }   // short-lived, also cached in Redis
  ```

**Indexes**: rules by `{tenantId, enabled}`, deliveries by `{tenantId, sentAt desc}`, digests by `{tenantId, actionKey}`.

---

## 8) External APIs (WebService)

Base path: `/api/v1/notify` (Authority OpToks; scopes: `notify.admin` for write, `notify.read` for view).

*All* REST calls require the tenant header `X-StellaOps-Tenant` (matches the canonical `tenantId` stored in Mongo). Payloads are normalised via `NotifySchemaMigration` before persistence to guarantee schema version pinning.

Authentication today is stubbed with Bearer tokens (`Authorization: Bearer <token>`). When Authority wiring lands, this will switch to OpTok validation + scope enforcement, but the header contract will remain the same.

Service configuration exposes `notify:auth:*` keys (issuer, audience, signing key, scope names) so operators can wire the Authority JWKS or (in dev) a symmetric test key. `notify:storage:*` keys cover Mongo URI/database/collection overrides. Both sets are required for the new API surface.

Internal tooling can hit `/internal/notify/<entity>/normalize` to upgrade legacy JSON and return canonical output used in the docs fixtures.

* **Channels**

  * `POST /channels` | `GET /channels` | `GET /channels/{id}` | `PATCH /channels/{id}` | `DELETE /channels/{id}`
  * `POST /channels/{id}/test` → send sample message (no rule evaluation); returns `202 Accepted` with rendered preview + metadata (base keys: `channelType`, `target`, `previewProvider`, `traceId` + connector-specific entries); governed by `api.rateLimits:testSend`.
* `GET /channels/{id}/health` → connector self‑check (returns redacted metadata: secret refs hashed, sensitive config keys masked, fallbacks noted via `teams.fallbackText`/`teams.validation.*`)

* **Rules**

  * `POST /rules` | `GET /rules` | `GET /rules/{id}` | `PATCH /rules/{id}` | `DELETE /rules/{id}`
  * `POST /rules/{id}/test` → dry‑run rule against a **sample event** (no delivery unless `--send`)

* **Deliveries**

  * `POST /deliveries` → ingest worker delivery state (idempotent via `deliveryId`).
  * `GET /deliveries?since=...&status=...&limit=...` → list envelope `{ items, count, continuationToken }` (most recent first); base metadata keys match the test-send response (`channelType`, `target`, `previewProvider`, `traceId`); rate-limited via `api.rateLimits.deliveryHistory`. See `docs/modules/notify/resources/samples/notify-delivery-list-response.sample.json`.
  * `GET /deliveries/{id}` → detail (redacted body + metadata)
  * `POST /deliveries/{id}/retry` → force retry (admin, future sprint)

* **Admin**

  * `GET /stats` (per tenant counts, last hour/day)
  * `GET /healthz|readyz` (liveness)
  * `POST /locks/acquire` | `POST /locks/release` – worker coordination primitives (short TTL).
  * `POST /digests` | `GET /digests/{actionKey}` | `DELETE /digests/{actionKey}` – manage open digest windows.
  * `POST /audit` | `GET /audit?since=&limit=` – append/query structured audit trail entries.

**Ingestion**: workers do **not** expose public ingestion; they **subscribe** to the internal bus. (Optional `/events/test` for integration testing, admin‑only.)

---

## 9) Delivery pipeline (worker)

```
[Event bus] → [Ingestor] → [RuleMatcher] → [Throttle/Dedupe] → [DigestCoalescer] → [Renderer] → [Connector] → [Result]
                                                 └────────→ [DeliveryStore]
```

* **Ingestor**: N consumers with per‑key ordering (key = tenant|digest|namespace).
* **RuleMatcher**: loads active rules snapshot for tenant into memory; vectorized predicate check.
* **Throttle/Dedupe**: consult Redis + Mongo `throttles`; if hit → record `status=throttled`.
* **DigestCoalescer**: append to open digest window or flush when timer expires.
* **Renderer**: select template (channel+locale), inject variables, enforce length limits, compute `bodyHash`.
* **Connector**: send; handle provider‑specific rate limits and backoffs; `maxAttempts` with exponential jitter; overflow → DLQ (dead‑letter topic) + UI surfacing.

**Idempotency**: per action **idempotency key** stored in Redis (TTL = `throttle window` or `digest window`). Connectors also respect **provider** idempotency where available (e.g., Slack `client_msg_id`).

---

## 10) Reliability & rate controls

* **Per‑tenant** RPM caps (default 600/min) + **per‑channel** concurrency (Slack 1–4, Teams 1–2, Email 8–32 based on relay).
* **Backoff** map: Slack 429 → respect `Retry‑After`; SMTP 4xx → retry; 5xx → retry with jitter; permanent rejects → drop with status recorded.
* **DLQ**: NATS/Redis stream `notify.dlq` with `{event, rule, action, error}` for operator inspection; UI shows DLQ items.

---

## 11) Security & privacy

* **AuthZ**: all APIs require **Authority** OpToks; actions scoped by tenant.
* **Secrets**: `secretRef` only; Notify fetches just‑in‑time from Authority Secret proxy or K8s Secret (mounted). No plaintext secrets in Mongo.
* **Egress TLS**: validate SSL; pin domains per channel config; optional CA bundle override for on‑prem SMTP.
* **Webhook signing**: HMAC or Ed25519 signatures in `X-StellaOps-Signature` + replay‑window timestamp; include canonical body hash in header.
* **Redaction**: deliveries store **hashes** of bodies, not full payloads for chat/email to minimize PII retention (configurable).
* **Quiet hours**: per tenant (e.g., 22:00–06:00) route high‑sev only; defer others to digests.
* **Loop prevention**: Webhook target allowlist + event origin tags; do not ingest own webhooks.

---

## 12) Observability (Prometheus + OTEL)

* `notify.events_consumed_total{kind}`
* `notify.rules_matched_total{ruleId}`
* `notify.throttled_total{reason}`
* `notify.digest_coalesced_total{window}`
* `notify.sent_total{channel}` / `notify.failed_total{channel,code}`
* `notify.delivery_latency_seconds{channel}` (end‑to‑end)
* **Tracing**: spans `ingest`, `match`, `render`, `send`; correlation id = `eventId`.

**SLO targets**

* Event→delivery p95 **≤ 30–60 s** under nominal load.
* Failure rate p95 **< 0.5%** per hour (excluding provider outages).
* Duplicate rate **≈ 0** (idempotency working).

---

## 13) Configuration (YAML)

```yaml
notify:
  authority:
    issuer: "https://authority.internal"
    require: "dpop"               # or "mtls"
  bus:
    kind: "redis"                 # or "nats"
    streams:
      - "scanner.events"
      - "scheduler.events"
      - "attestor.events"
      - "zastava.events"
  mongo:
    uri: "mongodb://mongo/notify"
  limits:
    perTenantRpm: 600
    perChannel:
      slack:   { concurrency: 2 }
      teams:   { concurrency: 1 }
      email:   { concurrency: 8 }
      webhook: { concurrency: 8 }
  digests:
    defaultWindow: "1h"
    maxItems: 100
  quietHours:
    enabled: true
    window: "22:00-06:00"
    minSeverity: "critical"
  webhooks:
    sign:
      method: "ed25519"           # or "hmac-sha256"
      keyRef: "ref://notify/webhook-sign-key"
```

---

## 14) UI touch‑points

* **Notifications → Channels**: add Slack/Teams/Email/Webhook; run **health**; rotate secrets.
* **Notifications → Rules**: create/edit YAML rules with linting; test with sample events; see match rate.
* **Notifications → Deliveries**: timeline with filters (status, channel, rule); inspect last error; retry.
* **Digest preview**: shows current window contents and when it will flush.
* **Quiet hours**: configure per tenant; show overrides.
* **DLQ**: browse dead‑letters; requeue after fix.

---

## 15) Failure modes & responses

| Condition                           | Behavior                                                                              |
| ----------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Slack 429 / Teams 429               | Respect `Retry‑After`, backoff with jitter, reduce concurrency                        |
| SMTP transient 4xx                  | Retry up to `maxAttempts`; escalate to DLQ on exhaust                                 |
| Invalid channel secret              | Mark channel unhealthy; suppress sends; surface in UI                                 |
| Rule explosion (matches everything) | Safety valve: per‑tenant RPM caps; auto‑pause rule after X drops; UI alert            |
| Bus outage                          | Buffer to local queue (bounded); resume consuming when healthy                        |
| Mongo slowness                      | Fall back to Redis throttles; batch write deliveries; shed low‑priority notifications |

---

## 16) Testing matrix

* **Unit**: matchers, throttle math, digest coalescing, idempotency keys, template rendering edge cases.
* **Connectors**: provider‑level rate limits, payload size truncation, error mapping.
* **Integration**: synthetic event storm (10k/min), ensure p95 latency & duplicate rate.
* **Security**: DPoP/mTLS on APIs; secretRef resolution; webhook signing & replay windows.
* **i18n**: localized templates render deterministically.
* **Chaos**: Slack/Teams API flaps; SMTP greylisting; Redis hiccups; ensure graceful degradation.

---

## 17) Sequences (representative)

**A) New criticals after Feedser delta (Slack immediate + Email hourly digest)**

```mermaid
sequenceDiagram
  autonumber
  participant SCH as Scheduler
  participant NO as Notify.Worker
  participant SL as Slack
  participant SMTP as Email

  SCH->>NO: bus event scheduler.rescan.delta { newCritical:1, digest:sha256:... }
  NO->>NO: match rules (Slack immediate; Email hourly digest)
  NO->>SL: chat.postMessage (concise)
  SL-->>NO: 200 OK
  NO->>NO: append to digest window (email:soc)
  Note over NO: At window close → render digest email
  NO->>SMTP: send email (detailed digest)
  SMTP-->>NO: 250 OK
```

**B) Admission deny (Teams card + Webhook)**

```mermaid
sequenceDiagram
  autonumber
  participant ZA as Zastava
  participant NO as Notify.Worker
  participant TE as Teams
  participant WH as Webhook

  ZA->>NO: bus event zastava.admission { decision: "deny", reasons: [...] }
  NO->>TE: POST adaptive card
  TE-->>NO: 200 OK
  NO->>WH: POST JSON (signed)
  WH-->>NO: 2xx
```

---

## 18) Implementation notes

* **Language**: .NET 10; minimal API; `System.Text.Json` with canonical writer for body hashing; Channels for pipelines.
* **Bus**: Redis Streams (**XGROUP** consumers) or NATS JetStream for at‑least‑once with ack; per‑tenant consumer groups to localize backpressure.
* **Templates**: compile and cache per rule+channel+locale; version with rule `updatedAt` to invalidate.
* **Rules**: store raw YAML + parsed AST; validate with schema + static checks (e.g., nonsensical combos).
* **Secrets**: pluggable secret resolver (Authority Secret proxy, K8s, Vault).
* **Rate limiting**: `System.Threading.RateLimiting` + per‑connector adapters.

---

## 19) Roadmap (post‑v1)

* **PagerDuty/Opsgenie** connectors; **Jira** ticket creation.
* **User inbox** (in‑app notifications) + mobile push via webhook relay.
* **Anomaly suppression**: auto‑pause noisy rules with hints (learned thresholds).
* **Graph rules**: “only notify if *not_affected → affected* transition at consensus layer”.
* **Label enrichment**: pluggable taggers (business criticality, data classification) to refine matchers.