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+# Feature spec: journaling
+
+Status: **draft, for approval**. The questions under [For John](#for-john)
+come with a recommendation each; nothing is built until they're answered.
+Not a rebuild of an upstream feature, so it has no line in SPEC.md §4's table.
+Rule IDs: **JR-**.
+
+## Provenance
+
+Written for the record SPEC.md §3 rule 3 asks for. Sources, and nothing else:
+
+| Source | License | Used for |
+|---|---|---|
+| This repository at `94a3a76` (2026-09-28): `crates/smtp/src/inbound/data.rs`, `inbound/rcpt.rs`, `queue/spool.rs`, `outbound/delivery.rs`, `crates/common/src/network/mta.rs`, `crates/features/src/{hold,audit,mailflow,undelete}`, `crates/store/src/write/{mod,blob}.rs`, `crates/jmap/src/inbuxa/hold_export.rs` | AGPL-3.0-only | Where every message passes, what the envelope holds, how holds keep blobs, how the audit chain and hold export work |
+| `inbuxa-drafts/queue/journaling.md` | Own | What John asked for, and the gaps to settle |
+| The DLP and mail flow rules spec, the audit-hold-lock spec, the personal-data catalog spec | Own | Conditions, the audit log, legal holds, roles, the catalog check |
+| RFC 5321, RFC 3461 (DSN, ORCPT), RFC 2046 (`message/rfc822`), RFC 5322 | Public | The envelope, the original recipient of an expanded list, the report's shape |
+
+No Enterprise-only file or snippet was used, and no third-party journaling
+product or report format was consulted: the journal report below is our own
+layout of the SMTP envelope around the untouched message.
+
+## What it is
+
+A **journal** is a copy of each message the server handles, captured in
+transit with its **envelope** (the real sender and every recipient, including
+Bcc and the members of lists), kept where nobody can change or remove it
+until its retention ends, or sent to an outside archive. It sits beside two
+things that exist:
+
+- **Legal hold** keeps what's in chosen mailboxes, including what their owners
+  delete. It starts when a hold is placed and can't see Bcc or what was sent
+  from a mailbox that no longer exists.
+- **The audit log** records what people and the server did, never the mail.
+
+A journal answers the question neither can: *what went through, to whom,
+from the day it was turned on*.
+
+**Out of scope**: journaling mail stored before it's turned on, files,
+calendar and contacts, IMAP APPEND (a mail app saving to its own Sent folder
+sends nothing), and mail a mail app sends through another server.
+
+Nothing in code, docs, UI text or output claims the product meets a legal or
+regulatory standard. The pages say what's captured, where it's kept and for
+how long.
+
+## 1. What exists today
+
+Checked by reading the code at `94a3a76`:
+
+| Need | Today |
+|---|---|
+| One place all mail passes | `MessageWrapper::queue` (`queue/spool.rs` ~L375). SMTP, JMAP submission (`jmap/src/submission/set.rs` builds a local session and runs `queue_message`), inbound mail, Sieve redirects and vacation replies, and DSNs all queue through it. Local and remote delivery both start from the queue. |
+| The envelope | At queue time: `mail_from`, every `rcpt_to` (Bcc included), the authenticated account with its groups and tenant, the queue id. Lists are **already expanded** at RCPT (`rcpt_resolve` → `RcptResolution::Expand`, `inbound/rcpt.rs`); the list address survives as each member's ORCPT (`dsn_info`). |
+| A copy out | Sieve at DATA, milters and MTA hooks can send one, but all run **before** DLP and transport rules, so they miss recipients the rules add, and a Sieve copy carries no envelope. |
+| Keeping a blob nobody can delete | No "undeletable" flag. Blobs are content-addressed (can't be edited); a `BlobLink::Temporary { until }` keeps one until `until`. Legal hold uses `until` = year 9999. |
+| A record nobody can quietly change | The audit log's per-node SHA-256 chain (`features/src/audit/log.rs`): each entry carries `prev`, the head is asserted on append, purge leaves a floor hash, `verify` walks it. |
+| Export | Hold export (LH-12): a ZIP of `.eml` files, `manifest.csv` with a SHA-256 per file, `manifest.sha256`, capped at 2 GiB. |
+| Conditions by sender, recipient, group, tenant | The mail flow engine (`features/src/mailflow/engine.rs`), at DATA. |
+
+## 2. Design
+
+### 2.1 Where the copy is taken (JR-1, JR-2)
+
+**JR-1.** The journal is taken in `MessageWrapper::queue`, after the message
+is spooled, behind one `// inbuxa:` marked block. That's after DLP and
+transport rules, so the envelope is the one the message actually leaves or
+arrives with, and it covers every path that queues mail.
+
+**JR-2.** What isn't journaled: journal reports themselves (they carry a
+queue flag, so a report to an outside archive can't journal itself), and the
+server's own DMARC and TLS reports. DSNs and Sieve redirects and vacation
+replies are journaled (question 4). A message **refused** at DATA (DLP block,
+a transport rule's refusal) was never accepted and isn't journaled; the
+audit log already records it. A message **held** for DLP review is journaled
+when it's queued, which is when it's held, with the hold noted in the entry.
+
+### 2.2 The journal report (JR-3, JR-4)
+
+**JR-3.** Each copy is a **journal report**: a new message whose first part
+is `text/plain`, one field a line:
+
+```
+Sender: alice@example.com
+Signed in as: alice@example.com
+Subject: Q3 figures
+Message-ID: <…>
+Queue ID: 1a2b3c…
+Received: 2026-09-28T14:03:11Z
+Direction: outgoing
+To: bank@elsewhere.example
+Cc: bob@example.com
+Bcc: carol@example.com
+Expanded: finance@example.com -> dan@example.com, erin@example.com
+Held for review: yes
+```
+
+and whose second part is the message as queued, **byte for byte**, as
+`message/rfc822`. `Bcc:` lists envelope recipients that aren't in the
+message's To or Cc headers. `Expanded:` groups the members of a list under
+the list address, from their ORCPT. Recipients a transport rule added say so
+(`Added by rule: <name>`). The field names are fixed English (they're a
+record, not interface text), so a script can read them.
+
+**JR-4.** One report per queued message, with the whole envelope, whatever
+the scope matched on (§2.4). A message to 40 recipients is one report, not
+40.
+
+### 2.3 Where reports go (JR-5 to JR-8)
+
+Each journal has a **destination** (question 1):
+
+**JR-5. The built-in journal.** Records under a new prefix `J` in
+`SUBSPACE_INBUXA`: queue id, received time, direction, sender, recipients,
+the tenant(s), which journal matched, the report's blob hash and size, its
+SHA-256, and the time it may be purged. The report blob is kept by a
+`BlobLink::Temporary { until }` set to the end of its retention. There is no
+JMAP `set` or `destroy` for entries: nothing in the product changes or
+removes one before its time.
+
+**JR-6. The chain.** Each entry carries the SHA-256 of the entry before it,
+one chain per node, the same construction as the audit log (and its code,
+generalized rather than copied). The console's **Check the journal** walks
+it, and every blob's hash against its entry, and says what it found. Someone
+with the server's disks can still remove data, and the chain is how that
+shows; the docs say exactly that, and don't say it can't happen.
+
+**JR-7. An outside archive.** The report is queued to an address (the
+archive's journal mailbox) like any mail, with the queue's retries. A report
+the archive refuses permanently, or can't take within the queue's limit, goes
+into the built-in journal instead and raises a warning on the Overview
+(question 6). Delivery is by the ordinary queue, so TLS and routing settings
+apply; a queue route can be chosen for it.
+
+**JR-8. Both**: the built-in journal and an outside archive.
+
+### 2.4 Which mail: journals and their scope (JR-9 to JR-11)
+
+**JR-9.** A **journal** is a named object (`inbuxa:Journal`): on or off, a
+destination, a retention, and a scope. The scope is who: **everyone**, or
+senders and recipients in chosen **accounts, groups, domains or tenants**,
+and which **direction**: outgoing, incoming, internal, any. A message is
+journaled once per journal whose scope any sender or recipient is in; two
+journals with the same destination never write the same message twice.
+
+**JR-10.** **By what's in it**: a new mail flow rule action, **Journal it**,
+names a journal. The rule's conditions (detectors, words, attachments,
+headers) decide; the copy is still taken at queue time (the rule only marks
+the message). This is the rule-based journaling the queue note called
+premium; here it's one more action, not a separate tier (question 2).
+
+**JR-11.** Scope is evaluated from the envelope and directory membership at
+queue time (`Server::member_of`), no message parsing, so journaling
+everything costs a lookup per recipient and one blob write per message.
+
+### 2.5 Retention and legal hold (JR-12 to JR-14)
+
+**JR-12.** Each journal has a retention in days (question 3). An entry keeps
+the retention it was written with: shortening a journal's retention applies
+to new entries only, so nobody can empty the journal by editing a number.
+Lengthening it applies to new entries too, and the console says so.
+
+**JR-13.** Purge runs in the daily maintenance, removes entries past their
+time and drops their blob link, and leaves a floor hash so the chain still
+verifies, as the audit log does. An entry whose sender or any recipient is
+under a **legal hold** isn't purged while the hold lasts (`holds_on`, read
+uncached, as holds are everywhere).
+
+**JR-14.** Deleting an account doesn't remove its journal entries; they end
+with their retention (question 7). The privacy catalog says so.
+
+### 2.6 Search, reading, export (JR-15 to JR-17)
+
+**JR-15.** **Management › Compliance › Journal**: search by sender,
+recipient, date range, direction, subject words (from the report's header
+fields, not the body: no full-text index of the journal in this version).
+Results list the envelope; **Read…** opens the report.
+
+**JR-16.** **Export** a search as a ZIP in the hold export's shape: the
+reports as `.eml`, `manifest.csv` with the envelope columns and a SHA-256
+per file, `manifest.sha256`, the same 2 GiB cap. Export runs as a task and
+the result is a blob owned by the person who asked for it.
+
+**JR-17.** Every search, read and export is in the audit log, with who and
+the search terms; so is every change to a journal.
+
+### 2.7 Permissions (JR-18)
+
+**JR-18.** New permissions after the DLP set (680 onward):
+`sysJournalGet` / `sysJournalUpdate` (see and change journals),
+`sysJournalSearch` (search and read entries), `sysJournalExport`. Superuser
+only, by default. The officer grant audience adds Get, Search and Export to
+the Compliance Officer; administrators configure journals but don't read
+them unless granted Search (question 5). Journals are server-level, with a
+tenant scope, as DLP rules are; nobody in a tenant reaches them.
+
+### 2.8 Privacy catalog
+
+New objects get catalog entries (`resources/privacy/catalog.toml`):
+`inbuxa:Journal` (none), `inbuxa:JournalEntry` (mail content and envelope,
+kept for the journal's retention, access audited, not erased with the
+account). `privacy-check.py` enforces it.
+
+### 2.9 Mixed versions, clusters, rollback
+
+- Entries and journals live in the shared data store; report blobs in the
+  blob store. A **node-local** blob store (FileSystem, or RocksDB/SQLite as
+  the blob store) on a cluster means a node's journal lives on that node;
+  the console warns when journaling is on and the blob store isn't shared.
+- During a rolling upgrade a node on the old version doesn't journal. The
+  console says so when nodes report different versions; the release notes
+  say to turn journals on after every node is upgraded.
+- Rollback: the new prefix and the queue flag are ignored by an older
+  version; nothing in the queue's archived format changes (the "journal
+  report" flag rides in the existing message flags if one is free, else in
+  a side key by queue id; checked in phase 2 before writing code).
+
+### 2.10 Cost
+
+One extra blob per journaled message (the report wraps the original, so it
+doesn't share its hash), plus one small record. The console shows the
+journal's size and growth per day on the journal page, from the entries.
+
+## 3. Console
+
+- **Management › Compliance › Journaling**: journals (name, scope,
+  destination, retention, on/off), described in words like DLP rules
+  ("Journal all mail to and from Finance into the built-in journal, kept
+  7 years"); **Check the journal**.
+- **Management › Compliance › Journal**: search, read, export.
+- The mail flow rule editor gains **Journal it**.
+- The Overview warns about undelivered outside reports (JR-7) and a
+  node-local blob store (§2.9).
+
+## 4. Webmail
+
+Nothing. People aren't told a message was journaled, as they aren't told
+about legal hold; the docs say journaling exists and what it captures.
+
+## 5. Tests
+
+Unit: the report's fields (Bcc computed from headers, list expansion from
+ORCPT, rule-added recipients), scope matching, retention arithmetic, the
+chain. Integration (`tests/src/system/`): SMTP and JMAP sends, inbound
+mail, internal mail, a list and a Bcc recipient, a DLP-held message, a
+Sieve redirect; the report equals the queued bytes; no `set`/`destroy`;
+shortening retention doesn't touch existing entries; a hold stops purge;
+account deletion leaves entries; an outside archive that refuses falls back
+to the built-in journal; export manifest hashes; audit records for search,
+read, export.
+
+## 6. Phases
+
+1. This spec, approved.
+2. Capture at the queue, the report, the built-in journal with its chain,
+   retention and purge, holds; `inbuxa:Journal` and `inbuxa:JournalEntry`;
+   catalog entries; tests.
+3. Outside archive and the fallback; **Journal it** in mail flow rules.
+4. Search, read and export (a task), audit records.
+5. Console pages; docs; a row in `inbuxa-drafts/divergence-log.md`.
+
+Each phase is its own PR with tests; releases as John decides. Like DLP, it
+stays out of production until John says.
+
+## Known gaps
+
+- A message a person saves to Sent over IMAP, or sends through another
+  server, never reaches the queue.
+- Mail stored before journaling is on isn't journaled (legal hold covers
+  mailboxes).
+- Search reads envelope and header fields, not bodies.
+- Group accounts (`GroupAccount`) resolve as one account, not members; their
+  mail is journaled under the group's address.
+
+## For John
+
+1. **Destinations.** Built-in journal, an outside archive by address, or
+   both, per journal? *Recommend: all three choices (JR-5, JR-7, JR-8).*
+2. **Scope.** Everyone, or chosen accounts, groups, domains and tenants by
+   direction, plus a **Journal it** rule action for journaling by content,
+   with no standard/premium split? *Recommend: yes (JR-9, JR-10).*
+3. **Retention.** No default: whoever turns a journal on picks 30 days to 10
+   years, and existing entries keep theirs when it changes? *Recommend: yes
+   (JR-12).*
+4. **Which mail.** Everything queued, including DSNs and Sieve redirects and
+   vacation replies, except the server's DMARC/TLS reports and journal
+   reports themselves? *Recommend: yes (JR-2).*
+5. **Who reads it.** Administrators configure; Compliance Officers search,
+   read and export; administrators read only if granted Search?
+   *Recommend: yes (JR-18).*
+6. **An outside archive that won't take a report.** Keep it in the built-in
+   journal and warn? *Recommend: yes (JR-7).*
+7. **Deleted accounts.** Their journal entries stay until their retention
+   ends, and the catalog says so? *Recommend: yes (JR-14).*