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meshcore-analyzer/docs
efitenandClaude Opus 5.5 0737f10a5d feat(notify): optional external node alerts feed and the node.external event (#2177) (#2178)
Closes #2177.

## What

Node notifications can mail alerts computed outside CoreScope. With
`userManagement.notifications.externalAlerts` configured, users can
choose a new event, `node.external`, which is off by default and only
offered when configured:

```json
"notifications": {
  "enabled": true,
  "externalAlerts": { "url": "http://coverage-job/alerts.json", "maxAgeHours": 48, "label": "Coverage" }
}
```

The feed:

```json
{ "generatedAt": "2026-10-11T01:35:12Z",
  "alerts": [ { "pubkey": "<64 hex>", "key": "SE", "text": "never heard to the south-east", "url": "https://example.org/coverage" } ] }
```

Mail lines: `<name>: Coverage: never heard to the south-east, <time>`
when an alert appears, `<name>: Coverage resolved (SE), <time>` when it
is gone from a fresh feed.

## How

- `cmd/server/notify_external.go`: feed types, `parseExternalFeed` (RFC
3339 `generatedAt`, age check, per-alert validation),
`fetchExternalFeed` (200 only, 1 MB cap, 10 s timeout).
- `notify_eval.go`: `evalExternal`. Subjects are `<pubkey>/<key>`; a
`<pubkey>/*` row is the per-node baseline, so the first fresh feed after
watching stores the current alerts without a mail (like `foreign.new`),
and later alerts mail at once. `External == nil` (not configured, nobody
chose it, or stale) leaves every `node.external` state as it is.
- `notify_service.go`: the feed is fetched only when configured and at
least one user chose the event. Each new reason the feed is unusable is
logged once, and so is the recovery. Mail text and link: the alert's
`url`, otherwise the node page.
- `notify_handlers.go`: `availableEvents` and the new `externalLabel`
include the event only when configured; PUT answers 400 for
`node.external` otherwise.
- `internal/users/notify.go`: event constant, `OptionalNodeNotifyEvents`
(canonical order: node, optional, admin), `RemoveWatch` also deletes the
node's `<pubkey>/...` rows.
- Account page label, OpenAPI descriptions, `config.example.json`
comment, `docs/user-guide/accounts.md` section.

Decisions on the three open questions in #2177: the generic name
`node.external`; the resolved mail names the key instead of repeating
the text, so there is **no `users.db` schema change** (a bump would also
make older binaries refuse the file); one feed.

## Invariants

- Read/write separation (#1283): the server only reads the feed over
HTTP. State rows go to `users.db` through `internal/users`, like the
other events.
- A dead, garbled or old feed never mails "resolved":
`TestEvaluateExternalStaleFeedChangesNothing` and
`TestNotifierMailsExternalAlertsAndSkipsAStaleFeed` (HTTP 502 and a 72 h
old feed in a row, then a fresh empty feed resolves).

## Performance

The evaluator adds one pass over the stored states (already read every
tick) plus, per user with the event on and per watched node, the node's
current alerts. Bounded by `maxWatchesPerUser` (50) times the alerts per
node. The feed is fetched once per tick (default 5 minutes) only when
someone chose the event, capped at 1 MB. No packet-store lock is taken
for it. Nothing changes for instances without `externalAlerts`.

## Tests

- `cmd/server`: `go test` green locally (Windows;
`TestSaveGeoFilterPreservesFileMode` skipped as it needs Unix mode
bits). New: `notify_external_test.go` (feed parsing and limits, HTTP
fetch 200/404/oversized, config resolution, evaluator
baseline/new/resolved/returning/stale/not chosen/notifications off,
notifier end to end with a fake feed, account routes).
- `internal/users`: green, 2 new tests (optional event and canonical
order, `RemoveWatch` deletes external subjects only for that node).
- Frontend: `test-all.sh` green, 1 new test in
`test-notifications-ui.js` (label from `externalLabel`, escaped).
- `scripts/check-xss-sinks.sh --file public/notifications.js`: clean.

## Not done

- No E2E test: the account page change is one label, covered by the unit
test.
- Not run against a live instance yet. The first feed in use is the
coverage job of on8ar.eu (`alerts.json`, 29 alerts at the moment).

Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-10-10 20:54:35 +02:00
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