@bobfrankston/mailx-settings 0.1.35 → 0.1.36

package/docs/annotation-registry.md

@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+# Annotation registry — companion annotator for imail (design sketch)
+
+*Status: DRAFT 2026-07-16 — captured from discussion; Bob thinking it over. TODO item C155.*
+
+## Goal
+
+A companion app annotates each letter **before** sorting. imail's sorter (and any
+other consumer — rmfmail UI, agents, future tools) reads the annotations and acts.
+The mechanism should be general — not private to imail the way its `ai/` cache is.
+
+## Decision so far: keywords on the message + a shared JSON registry
+
+Two-layer design, no shared database required:
+
+1. **Data plane — tags on the message itself.** IMAP keywords (core RFC 3501,
+   not Dovecot-specific: any server advertising `\*` in PERMANENTFLAGS). The
+   message carries its own annotations; they survive folder moves; IMAP STORE is
+   atomic per message so concurrency is the server's problem, already solved.
+   Provider mapping for the same concept:
+   | Provider | Mechanism |
+   |---|---|
+   | Dovecot / Cyrus / Fastmail / iCloud / Yahoo IMAP | user keywords (atoms) |
+   | Gmail | API labels (Gmail IMAP ignores custom keywords) |
+   | Outlook / Graph | categories |
+   | JMAP | keywords (unified with IMAP's by design) |
+
+2. **Vocabulary plane — one shared JSON registry** (`annotations.jsonc`, draft
+   next to this doc) with MCP-tool-style entries per keyword: `label`,
+   `description`, `whenToApply`, `exclusiveGroup`, `setBy`, `sortAction`.
+   The registry does triple duty:
+   - the AI annotator's prompt is generated from `description` / `whenToApply`
+     (same way MCP tool descriptions steer an agent);
+   - the sorter maps keyword → action from `sortAction`;
+   - UIs (rmfmail chips, Thunderbird tags) get display names from `label`.
+   Adding a category = editing one file. No schema migration, no API change.
+
+## Constraints / cautions
+
+- **Keyword budget**: Dovecot on maildir caps keywords ~26/mailbox (filename
+  letters). Registry stays small and curated; `exclusiveGroup` keeps categories
+  mutually exclusive instead of accreting.
+- **Atoms only**: no spaces, ASCII, prefix everything `im_` so the vocabulary
+  can't collide with `$Junk`, `$Forwarded`, etc.
+- **Tags, not key-value**: scores get bucketed (`im_spam_high`); anything
+  non-enumerable (extracted dates, reasoning text, summaries) does NOT fit.
+  If rich values are needed later, a sidecar store comes back *only for that
+  residue* — the keyword layer stays as the interoperable spine. (imail's
+  `.ics` writer is precedent: rich results can also just be files.)
+- **Registry distribution**: share it the way accounts.jsonc is shared — GDrive
+  via API with a local cache, never a file on a network path. Slots into
+  rmfmail's existing config-editor/watch machinery; imail (self-contained by
+  policy) keeps its own cached copy.
+- **Shared SQLite over SMB is ruled out** (WAL needs shared memory; SMB locking
+  corrupts). If a shared rich store is ever needed: a small annotation service
+  owning WAL SQLite behind HTTP/MCP (the rmfmail-daemon pattern), or libSQL
+  embedded replicas for multi-machine.
+
+## Fit with existing TODO items
+
+- **Q113 / Q113-AI** (per-message metadata shape): this design answers the
+  cross-app half — message-attached keywords + registry. A local
+  `message_meta` table remains a possible rmfmail-internal cache/residue store.
+- **Q103-AI / C39 / P19** (rules engine + screener): `sortAction` in the
+  registry is a candidate rule shape; imail experiments feed this directly.
+
+## Open questions for Bob
+
+1. Starter vocabulary — which categories actually earn one of the ~26 slots?
+2. Does the annotator mirror keywords → Gmail labels / Graph categories from
+   day one, or Dovecot-only first (bobma is the hot path)?
+3. Where does the annotator run — IDLE-driven daemon on new mail (before
+   imail's scheduled pass), or a stage inside imail's own loop?
+4. Should rmfmail render `im_*` keywords as chips in the message list (it
+   already syncs them in `flags_json` — display-only change)?

package/package.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@bobfrankston/mailx-settings",
-  "version": "0.1.35",
+  "version": "0.1.36",
   "type": "module",
   "main": "index.js",
   "types": "index.d.ts",
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
   },
   "license": "ISC",
   "dependencies": {
-    "@bobfrankston/mailx-types": "^0.1.24",
+    "@bobfrankston/mailx-types": "^0.1.25",
     "jsonc-parser": "^3.3.1"
   },
   "repository": {
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@
   },
   ".transformedSnapshot": {
     "dependencies": {
-      "@bobfrankston/mailx-types": "^0.1.24",
+      "@bobfrankston/mailx-types": "^0.1.25",
       "jsonc-parser": "^3.3.1"
     }
   }