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Roadmap

Yew Search will evolve from a self-hosted homelab solution to an enterprise-grade SaaS platform, following the proven business model of GitLab, Mattermost, and N8N.

Strategy Overview​

V1: Self-hosted homelab MVP - prove core value proposition V2: Multi-tenancy foundation - architecture for scale V3: Business SaaS launch - hosted offering for companies V4: Enterprise tier - dedicated infrastructure and compliance

V1 - Self-Hosted MVP (2 weeks)​

Target: Individual users, homelab enthusiasts, proof of concept

Goal: Ship a working self-hosted personal search engine that users can deploy on Raspberry Pi or any Linux system with Docker.

Backend​

  • User authentication system (cookie-based sessions, never JWT)
    • User registration and login endpoints
    • Session management (create, validate, delete)
    • Argon2 password hashing
    • Redis session store for auth lookups
    • PostgreSQL user_session table for session management UI
  • User module
    • User CRUD operations
    • User profile endpoints
    • Active sessions list (view/terminate sessions)
  • Integration architecture
    • Base integration classes and interfaces
    • Integration loader (dynamic plugin loading)
    • OAuth endpoint (unified for all integrations)
    • Task-based execution system
  • Polling system
    • Bull task queue (Redis-backed)
    • Priority-based task scheduling
    • Idempotency checking (contentExists callback)
    • Background worker for executing integration tasks
  • Gmail integration (OAuth)
    • OAuth flow implementation
    • Task types: start, getEmailList, downloadEmail
    • Pagination support
    • Early stop optimization
    • Store email content in user_integration_content table
  • Search system
    • PostgreSQL full-text search on JSONB content
    • Basic query parsing and sanitization
    • Search endpoints (scoped to authenticated user)
    • Result ranking (simple relevance)
  • Database schema
    • user table
    • user_session table
    • user_integration table (with encrypted credentials)
    • user_integration_content table (JSONB content storage)
  • Observability
    • Structured JSON logging
    • Request context (requestId, userId, traceId)
    • Basic error handling and logging
  • Docker setup
    • Backend Dockerfile
    • docker-compose.yml (backend, PostgreSQL, Redis)

Frontend​

  • Next.js app setup
    • App router structure
    • Basic layout and navigation
  • Authentication pages
    • Login page
    • Register page
    • Cookie-based auth
  • Search interface
    • Search input and results display
    • Basic result rendering (title, snippet, source)
    • Loading and error states
  • Integration management
    • "Connect Gmail" button
    • OAuth authorization flow
    • Integration status display
  • Settings page
    • User profile
    • Active sessions (list and terminate)
  • Frontend Dockerfile

Documentation​

  • Getting Started guide (README update)
  • Architecture overview
  • Backend standards (service, controller, DTO, entity)
  • Integration development guide
  • OAuth integration guide
  • Authorization/session management guide
  • Coding style guide
  • Deployment instructions (Docker)

Website​

  • Single-page landing site
    • Project description
    • Key features
    • Link to docs
    • GitHub link

V2 - Multi-Tenancy Foundation (4-6 weeks)​

Target: Teams, small companies (still self-hosted), prepare for SaaS

Goal: Add organizational primitives and scale improvements. Architecture now supports multi-tenant SaaS but still deployed as self-hosted.

Core Features​

  • Database migration system
    • TypeORM migrations
    • Migration CLI commands
    • Rollback support
  • Organizations/companies
    • Organization entity and CRUD
    • User-to-organization relationships
    • Organization settings
  • Teams/groups within organizations
    • Team entity and CRUD
    • Team membership
    • Team-level permissions
  • User permissions system
    • Role-based access control (owner, admin, member, viewer)
    • Permission checks in services
    • Sharing integrations between users
    • Data source access control
  • User invitations
    • Email-based invitations
    • Invitation acceptance flow
    • Pending invitations management

Search Improvements​

  • Elasticsearch integration
    • Elasticsearch Docker container
    • Sync PostgreSQL content to Elasticsearch
    • Background sync worker
    • Full-text search using Elasticsearch
    • Improved relevance scoring
  • Search filters
    • Filter by integration (Gmail, FTP, etc.)
    • Filter by date range
    • Filter by sender/source

Additional Integrations​

  • FTP/sFTP integration
    • Credentials-based auth (not OAuth)
    • Directory traversal
    • File metadata indexing
    • Recursive directory support
  • Slack integration (OAuth)
    • OAuth flow
    • Channel message syncing
    • Direct message syncing

Infrastructure​

  • Raspberry Pi optimization
    • Memory-optimized PostgreSQL config
    • CPU throttling for background tasks
    • Minimal Docker image sizes
    • Performance testing on Pi 4
  • Environment configuration
    • .env.example with all required vars
    • Configuration validation on startup
    • Better error messages for missing config

UI Improvements​

  • Organization switcher
  • Team management UI
  • Permission management UI
  • Integration settings per user/team
  • Better search result display

V3 - Business SaaS Launch (3-6 months)​

Target: Companies that want hosted solution, no self-hosting burden

Goal: Launch Yew Search as a hosted SaaS product. Self-hosted version remains available with core features.

SaaS Infrastructure​

  • Cloud deployment
    • Production-grade docker-compose or Kubernetes
    • Load balancer setup
    • Database connection pooling
    • Redis clustering
  • Multi-tenant architecture
    • Data isolation per organization
    • Tenant-aware queries (all services check organization)
    • Database per tenant vs shared database decision
  • Billing and subscriptions
    • Stripe integration
    • Subscription plans (Business, Enterprise)
    • Usage tracking (searches, storage, integrations)
    • Resource quotas per plan
    • Billing portal (Stripe Customer Portal)
  • Admin dashboard
    • Organization list and search
    • User activity monitoring
    • System health metrics
    • Feature flag management per customer
  • Onboarding flow
    • Signup for Business tier
    • Organization creation
    • Team setup wizard
    • Integration walkthrough
  • Search collections/groups
    • Group multiple integrations into collections
    • Search within specific collections
    • Share collections with team members
  • Improved search algorithm
    • BM25 or similar (better than TF-IDF)
    • Boosting by recency, source, etc.
    • Query expansion and synonyms
  • Saved searches
    • Save frequently-used searches
    • Search history per user

LLM Integration​

  • LLM configuration system
    • Ollama integration (self-hosted LLM)
    • LangChain/LangGraph architecture
    • Support for OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.
  • Search result summarization
    • Summarize top N results
    • Extract key points
    • Answer questions based on search results
  • Optional LLM features (gated by plan)

More Integrations​

  • Google Drive (OAuth)
  • Dropbox (OAuth)
  • Microsoft 365 (OAuth)
  • At least 3 more integrations based on user demand

UI/UX Improvements​

  • Polish all interfaces
    • Professional design
    • Consistent component library (Shadcn/UI)
    • Mobile responsive
  • Dark mode
  • Keyboard shortcuts
  • Advanced search syntax
  • Result preview/quick view

Marketing Site​

  • Full marketing website (separate from app)
    • Feature pages
    • Pricing page
    • Documentation
    • Blog
    • Customer testimonials

V4 - Enterprise Tier (6-12 months)​

Target: Large companies with custom needs, compliance requirements

Goal: Launch Enterprise tier with dedicated infrastructure, custom integrations, and compliance.

Enterprise Features​

  • Dedicated infrastructure provisioning
    • Per-customer infrastructure
    • Custom resource allocation
    • Dedicated database
    • Isolated workers
  • Custom integrations
    • Build integrations per customer request
    • Private integrations (not available to other customers)
    • Integration development as a service
  • SSO/SAML
    • SAML 2.0 authentication
    • Azure AD integration
    • Okta integration
    • Google Workspace SSO
  • Advanced admin features
    • Audit logs (all actions logged)
    • Data retention policies
    • Export all data (GDPR compliance)
    • Advanced user provisioning (SCIM)

Compliance & Security​

  • SOC2 Type II certification
    • Security audit preparation
    • Compliance documentation
    • Annual audits
  • GDPR compliance enhancements
    • Right to be forgotten
    • Data portability
    • Consent management
  • HIPAA compliance (if needed)
    • BAA agreements
    • Encryption at rest and in transit
    • Access controls
  • Security hardening
    • Penetration testing
    • Vulnerability scanning
    • Incident response plan
    • Security training

Support & Success​

  • Dedicated support
    • Slack channel per customer
    • Response time SLAs
    • Priority bug fixes
  • Customer success manager
    • Regular check-ins
    • Feature adoption tracking
    • Custom training sessions
  • Professional services
    • Integration development
    • Custom feature development
    • Migration assistance

Customer Launch​

  • 1 pilot Enterprise customer
    • Small team (5-10 people)
    • Gather feedback
    • Refine Enterprise offering
  • Case study and testimonial
  • Enterprise sales process documentation

Feature Differentiation​

Self-Hosted (Always Free)​

  • Core search functionality
  • Gmail integration
  • 1-2 additional basic integrations (FTP, Slack)
  • Single user or family use (< 10 users)
  • PostgreSQL full-text search
  • Community support only
  • Docker deployment

Business Tier (SaaS - Paid)​

  • Hosted infrastructure (no self-hosting)
  • Unlimited users per organization
  • Teams and permissions
  • All integrations
  • Elasticsearch search
  • LLM features (summarization)
  • Search collections
  • SSO (Google, Microsoft)
  • Email support
  • 99.9% uptime SLA
  • Usage analytics
  • Admin dashboard

Enterprise Tier (High-Touch - Custom Pricing)​

  • Everything in Business tier
  • Dedicated infrastructure
  • Custom integrations
  • SAML/SSO (any provider)
  • SOC2/HIPAA compliance
  • Dedicated support (Slack channel)
  • Customer success manager
  • Professional services
  • Custom SLAs
  • Data residency options
  • On-premise deployment option

Long-Term Vision​

Business Model: Fair-code / Open-core

  • Self-hosted version remains genuinely useful forever
  • Core functionality always free
  • Advanced features for companies (not individuals)
  • Commercial license required for business use

Deployment Options:

  1. Local/Homelab - Free for personal use, community supported
  2. Business SaaS - Hosted multi-tenant, standard pricing
  3. Enterprise - Dedicated infrastructure, custom pricing

Target Markets:

  • Phase 1 (V1-V2): Homelab enthusiasts, power users, families
  • Phase 2 (V3): Small-medium businesses (10-100 employees)
  • Phase 3 (V4): Large enterprises (100+ employees)

Success Metrics:

  • V1: 100 active self-hosted deployments
  • V2: 1,000 active self-hosted deployments
  • V3: 50 paying Business customers
  • V4: 5 Enterprise customers

Notes​

  • All versions maintain backward compatibility with self-hosted deployments
  • Breaking changes communicated 90 days in advance
  • Community input welcome on feature prioritization
  • Roadmap updated quarterly based on feedback