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Thomas SharedInboxandClaude Sonnet 4.6 a6ad4183f6 docs: add SYNC.md describing the full email action lifecycle (D3)
Documents the IMAP IDLE loop, JMAP push/poll, pending-change queue,
exponential backoff, and undo/cancel mechanism in one place. Covers
the path from UI tap to server confirmation with ASCII flow diagrams
and a key invariants section.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-05-14 11:31:26 +02:00
7 changed files with 206 additions and 158 deletions
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# Email Sync Architecture
This document describes the full lifecycle of an email action — from the moment the user taps
a button to server confirmation — covering the IMAP IDLE loop, JMAP push/poll, the pending-change
queue, exponential backoff, and the undo/cancel mechanism.
For the database schema and protocol-level implementation details see [DB-SYNC.md](DB-SYNC.md).
---
## 1. Components
| Component | File | Role |
|-----------|------|------|
| `AccountSyncManager` | `lib/core/sync/account_sync_manager.dart` | Owns one `_SyncLoop` per account; starts, stops, and wakes sync loops |
| `_AccountSync` | same file | IMAP sync loop (IDLE + incremental fetch) |
| `_JmapAccountSync` | same file | JMAP sync loop (SSE push + poll fallback) |
| `EmailRepositoryImpl` | `lib/data/repositories/email_repository_impl.dart` | All DB reads/writes and network calls |
| `pending_changes` table | `lib/data/db/database.dart` | Protocol-agnostic outbound mutation queue |
| `UndoService` | `lib/core/services/undo_service.dart` | Persisted undo history; cancel-or-reverse logic |
---
## 2. Lifecycle of an email mutation (e.g. "Mark as read")
```
User taps "Mark as read"
EmailRepository.setFlag(id, seen: true)
├─ 1. Write optimistic update to local DB
│ emails.is_seen = true
└─ 2. Insert row into pending_changes
{ type: 'flag_seen', email_id: id, payload: {seen: true} }
(IMAP: includes uid + mailboxPath for the STORE command)
(JMAP: includes just the flag map for Email/set)
[UI immediately reflects the change via Drift's reactive streams]
▼ (next sync cycle, triggered by IMAP IDLE / JMAP push / wakeUp)
_SyncLoop._flush() / flushPendingChanges()
├─ IMAP: open connection → STORE uid +FLAGS (\Seen) → close
└─ JMAP: Email/set { update: { id: { keywords: { "$seen": true } } } }
If stateMismatch → clear checkpoint → full re-sync
pending_changes row deleted on success
(on permanent error: retry count incremented; evicted after 5 failures)
```
---
## 3. IMAP sync loop
The IMAP loop runs one coroutine per account (`_AccountSync`):
```
start()
[forever loop]
├─ flushPendingChanges() ← drain outbound queue first
├─ syncMailboxes() ← detect new/removed mailboxes
├─ for each mailbox:
│ syncEmails() ← incremental: fetch only UIDs > lastUid
│ deletion reconciliation: remove rows
│ whose UID is absent from the server
└─ _idle() ← IMAP IDLE for up to 25 min (RFC 2177)
│ Wakes on: server EXISTS/EXPUNGE/FLAGS
│ or syncNow() signal from UI
└─ repeat
```
**Incremental sync checkpoint**`sync_state` table stores `(accountId, mailbox, lastUid, uidValidity)`.
On each run, only UIDs greater than `lastUid` are fetched. If `uidValidity` changes the full
folder is re-scanned and the checkpoint is reset.
**IDLE cap** — IDLE sessions are limited to 25 minutes per the RFC. The loop also wakes
immediately if `syncNow()` is called (e.g. user pulls-to-refresh).
---
## 4. JMAP sync loop
The JMAP loop (`_JmapAccountSync`) follows a similar structure but uses HTTP:
```
start()
[forever loop]
├─ flushPendingChanges() ← Email/set for queued mutations
├─ syncMailboxes() ← Mailbox/get or Mailbox/changes
├─ for each mailbox:
│ syncEmails() ← Email/query + Email/get (first run)
│ Email/changes (subsequent runs, state token)
└─ _wait()
├─ If server advertises eventSourceUrl: subscribe to SSE push
│ wake on "Email" change event
└─ Otherwise: sleep 30 s (poll fallback)
```
**State tokens** — each `Mailbox/changes` / `Email/changes` call uses the server-provided
`state` token stored in `sync_state`. A `stateMismatch` error clears the token and triggers
a full re-fetch.
**JMAP send** — outgoing mail uses `EmailSubmission/set` when the server advertises the
`urn:ietf:params:jmap:submission` capability; falls back to SMTP otherwise.
---
## 5. Exponential backoff
Both loops share the same backoff policy:
| Outcome | Backoff |
|---------|---------|
| Sync succeeded | Reset to 5 s |
| Network / server error | Double previous backoff, capped at 900 s (15 min) |
The backoff counter (`_backoffSeconds`) is per-account and per-process; it resets to 5 s
on the next successful cycle.
The last error message is written to `sync_log` and surfaced in the UI via
`syncLastErrorProvider` (the red `MaterialBanner` in the email list).
---
## 6. Pending-change queue
`pending_changes` is a protocol-agnostic table that stores every outbound mutation before it
reaches the server:
| Column | Description |
|--------|-------------|
| `id` | Auto-increment primary key |
| `email_id` | The email being mutated |
| `type` | `flag_seen`, `flag_flagged`, `move`, `delete`, `snooze` |
| `payload` | JSON-encoded protocol-specific arguments |
| `retry_count` | Incremented on each failed flush attempt |
| `created_at` | For ordering and debug |
**Optimistic UI** — every mutation writes the local change first, then inserts into
`pending_changes`. The Drift reactive stream delivers the update to the UI before
the network round-trip completes.
**Conflict resolution** — the server always wins. On the next sync cycle the server's
state overwrites local rows. Outbound mutations are retried up to 5 times; after that
they are evicted and a `FailedMutation` record is created. Permanent per-item JMAP
errors (`notFound`, `forbidden`) skip the retry counter and evict immediately.
---
## 7. Undo and cancel
When the user triggers an undoable action the UI calls:
```
ref.read(undoServiceProvider.notifier).pushAction(UndoAction(...))
```
`UndoService` persists the action to the `undo_actions` table (max 10 entries, FIFO).
A `SnackBar` with an **Undo** button appears for a few seconds.
When the user taps Undo, `UndoService.undo()` executes this sequence for each affected email:
```
1. cancelPendingChange(id, originalType)
└─ Deletes the pending_changes row if it has not been flushed yet.
Returns true if cancelled, false if the server already processed it.
2. If the email row was hard-deleted (DELETE action):
restoreEmails([original])
└─ Re-inserts the row with its pre-deletion state,
placed in the correct mailbox (source if cancelled, dest otherwise).
3. moveEmail(id, sourceMailboxPath)
└─ Optimistic local move back to the original folder.
If step 1 returned false (already sent to server), this enqueues
a reverse-move in pending_changes so the server move is undone too.
4. If step 1 returned true (cancelled before flush):
cancelPendingChange(id, 'move')
└─ The reverse-move from step 3 is redundant; remove it.
```
The net result is: if the mutation was still in the queue it is silently cancelled with no
server round-trip; if it had already been flushed, a compensating move is queued.
---
## 8. Key invariants
- **Order**: pending changes are flushed before syncing. This prevents the server from
overwriting an optimistic local state that the server hasn't seen yet.
- **Idempotency**: `flushPendingChanges` is safe to call multiple times. Each row is
deleted only after the server acknowledges the change.
- **No silent data loss**: permanent server errors surface as `FailedMutation` records
visible in the UI (Settings → Failed mutations).
- **UI layer isolation**: `lib/ui/` never imports `lib/data/`; all interaction goes
through `core/` interfaces. The `check-layers` Taskfile task enforces this.
@@ -1,158 +0,0 @@
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'package:flutter_riverpod/flutter_riverpod.dart';
import 'package:flutter_test/flutter_test.dart';
import 'package:sharedinbox/core/models/email.dart';
import 'package:sharedinbox/di.dart';
import 'helpers.dart';
// Fixed-date emails so golden files don't change day to day.
final _kDate = DateTime(2024, 6);
Email _email({
String id = 'acc-1:1',
String subject = 'Hello world',
bool isSeen = true,
bool isFlagged = false,
}) =>
Email(
id: id,
accountId: 'acc-1',
mailboxPath: 'INBOX',
uid: int.parse(id.split(':').last),
subject: subject,
receivedAt: _kDate,
sentAt: _kDate,
from: const [EmailAddress(name: 'Bob', email: 'bob@example.com')],
to: const [EmailAddress(email: 'alice@example.com')],
cc: const [],
isSeen: isSeen,
isFlagged: isFlagged,
hasAttachment: false,
);
List<Override> _overrides({
List<Email> emails = const [],
List<Email> searchResults = const [],
String? syncError,
}) =>
[
accountRepositoryProvider.overrideWithValue(
FakeAccountRepository([kTestAccount]),
),
mailboxRepositoryProvider.overrideWithValue(
FakeMailboxRepository([kTestMailbox]),
),
emailRepositoryProvider.overrideWithValue(
FakeEmailRepository(emails: emails, searchResults: searchResults),
),
draftRepositoryProvider.overrideWithValue(FakeDraftRepository()),
searchHistoryRepositoryProvider.overrideWithValue(
FakeSearchHistoryRepository(),
),
syncLastErrorProvider.overrideWith(
(ref, _) => Stream.value(syncError),
),
];
void main() {
group('EmailListScreen goldens', () {
testWidgets('golden: empty state', (tester) async {
await tester.pumpWidget(
buildApp(
initialLocation: '/accounts/acc-1/mailboxes/INBOX/emails',
overrides: _overrides(),
),
);
await tester.pumpAndSettle();
await expectLater(
find.byType(MaterialApp),
matchesGoldenFile('goldens/email_list_empty.png'),
);
});
testWidgets('golden: list with emails', (tester) async {
await tester.pumpWidget(
buildApp(
initialLocation: '/accounts/acc-1/mailboxes/INBOX/emails',
overrides: _overrides(
emails: [
_email(subject: 'Team standup notes', isSeen: false),
_email(id: 'acc-1:2', subject: 'Q3 review', isFlagged: true),
_email(id: 'acc-1:3', subject: 'Welcome to the project'),
],
),
),
);
await tester.pumpAndSettle();
await expectLater(
find.byType(MaterialApp),
matchesGoldenFile('goldens/email_list_with_emails.png'),
);
});
testWidgets('golden: selection mode', (tester) async {
await tester.pumpWidget(
buildApp(
initialLocation: '/accounts/acc-1/mailboxes/INBOX/emails',
overrides: _overrides(
emails: [
_email(subject: 'Team standup notes', isSeen: false),
_email(id: 'acc-1:2', subject: 'Q3 review'),
],
),
),
);
await tester.pumpAndSettle();
await tester.longPress(find.text('Team standup notes'));
await tester.pumpAndSettle();
await expectLater(
find.byType(MaterialApp),
matchesGoldenFile('goldens/email_list_selection.png'),
);
});
testWidgets('golden: search with results', (tester) async {
await tester.pumpWidget(
buildApp(
initialLocation: '/accounts/acc-1/mailboxes/INBOX/emails',
overrides: _overrides(
searchResults: [
_email(id: 'acc-1:5', subject: 'Project proposal'),
],
),
),
);
await tester.pumpAndSettle();
await tester.enterText(find.byType(SearchBar), 'project');
await tester.testTextInput.receiveAction(TextInputAction.search);
await tester.pumpAndSettle();
await expectLater(
find.byType(MaterialApp),
matchesGoldenFile('goldens/email_list_search_results.png'),
);
});
testWidgets('golden: error banner', (tester) async {
await tester.pumpWidget(
buildApp(
initialLocation: '/accounts/acc-1/mailboxes/INBOX/emails',
overrides: _overrides(syncError: 'Connection refused'),
),
);
await tester.pumpAndSettle();
await expectLater(
find.byType(MaterialApp),
matchesGoldenFile('goldens/email_list_error_banner.png'),
);
});
});
}
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