Samsara/docs/IMPLEMENTATION_PLAN.md

Implementation plan

Repository inspection: empty project directory with reserved environment directories; no existing application or repository instructions.

1. Phase 1 (implemented): offline PySide6 dashboard, six navigation pages, ten inventory tabs, hostname validation, background demo loading, searchable/sortable tables, session history, explicit execution selection, synthetic fixture, local demo exports and preliminary evidence/risk presentation.
2. Phase 2: independent read-only PowerShell modules for system/roles, services, TCP/processes, scheduled tasks, registry software, volumes/shares and public certificate metadata. Versioned JSON envelope with per-check statuses. Optional AD enrichment interface; no AD requirement.
3. Phase 3: Windows execution-host collector using existing authorized Invoke-Command sessions. Resolve trusted script paths; pass validated hostname as an argument to a fixed script via subprocess argument lists (never shell=True). Enforce timeouts, cancellation, process cleanup, bounded output and schema validation. Linux remains offline. No remoting setup.
4. Phase 4: expand transparent weighted rules, role/process mappings, service account and inbound connection correlation; distinguish observed activity from potential dependencies and unknown evidence. Review critical infrastructure role rules before live use.
5. Phase 5: production reports, redaction of sensitive service/task arguments, failed-check visibility, export validation and report metadata. Existing Phase 1 exports contain synthetic records only.
6. Phase 6: collector contract tests, PowerShell validation on Windows, failure/timeout tests, Windows packaging and signed release guidance.

Structure and boundaries

server_buddy/ui: Qt views and background worker. core: input validation and future orchestration. collectors: platform-specific collection backends. models: future typed schema adapters. analyzers: evidence and heuristic rules. reporting: local exports. assets: bundled offline fixture. powershell: future Windows-only scripts. schemas: collection contract. tests: fixture, core and optional Qt tests.

History is session-only; timestamps are original fixture timestamps. No SQLite or remote collection in Phase 1. A missing check never means a negative result. Synthetic demo is bound to a reserved example.test hostname and documentation-only IP addresses. Export pipeline must gain production redaction before any live collection is enabled.

Scope expansion: Linux targets and desktop startup

The target scope now includes Windows Server 2016 onward and RHEL-based Linux, with either Windows or Mint as the reporting desktop. Added a RHEL synthetic dataset, target selector, background schema-validated JSON intake, OS-neutral report labels, NFS/Samba dependency rules, and a pre-Qt diagnostic for the missing Mint xcb cursor library. Live collection remains outside the current Phase 1 implementation. See PLATFORMS.md for transport boundaries, Linux inventory mappings and the required test matrix.

Local Linux testing implementation

Added real read-only local collection for Mint and RPM-based Linux, a direct Analyze This Linux PC action, Settings mode, cancellation, command time/output bounds and headless JSON export. Real local results have distinct banners/history/report labels. Missing service identities, user/cron tasks, share exports, disk capacity, role correlation and certificate checks remain explicit. Both package formats are covered by parser tests; full RHEL and Windows validation remains pending. No remote transport is enabled.