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README 

          





# Chatmail servers for secure instant messaging 



Chatmail servers are interoperable email routing machines optimized for:



- **Convenience:** Low friction instant onboarding



- **Privacy:** No name, phone numbers,  email required or collected 

- **Instant:** Privacy-preserving push notifications for Apple, Google, and Huawei



- **Speed:** Message delivery in well under a second.



- **Security:** Strict TLS, DKIM and OpenPGP with metadata-minimization rules enforced.



- **Reliability:** No spam or IP reputation checks, rate-limits suitable for realtime chats.



- **Efficiency:** Messages are only stored for transit and removed automatically.



This repository contains everything needed to setup a ready-to-use chatmail server

comprised of a minimal setup of the battle-tested 

[Postfix SMTP](https://www.postfix.org) and [Dovecot IMAP](https://www.dovecot.org) services.



The automated setup is designed and optimized for providing chatmail addresses

for immediate permission-free onboarding through chat apps and bots.

Chatmail addresses are automatically created at first login,

after which the initially specified password is required

for sending and receiving messages through them.



Please see [this list of known apps and client projects](https://chatmail.at/apps.html) which offer instant onboarding on chatmail servers

and [this list of known public 3rd party chatmail servers](https://chatmail.at/server).



## Minimal requirements, Prerequisites 



You will need the following: 



- Control over a domain through a DNS provider of your choice.



- A Debian 12 server with reachable SMTP/SUBMISSIONS/IMAPS/HTTPS ports.

  IPv6 is encouraged if available.

  Chatmail servers only require 1GB RAM, one CPU, and perhaps 10GB storage for a

  few thousand active chatmail addresses.



- Key-based SSH authentication to the server's root user.

  You must add a passphrase-protected private key to the local ssh-agent

  because you can't type in your passphrase during deployment.

  (An ed25519 private key is required due to an [upstream bug in paramiko](https://github.com/paramiko/paramiko/issues/2191))



## Getting started 



We use `chat.example.org` as the chatmail domain in the following steps.

Please substitute it with your own domain. 



1. Setup the initial DNS records.

   The following is an example in the familiar BIND zone file format with

   a TTL of 1 hour (3600 seconds).

   Please substitute your domain and IP addresses.



   ```

    chat.example.com. 3600 IN A 198.51.100.5

    chat.example.com. 3600 IN AAAA 2001:db8::5

    www.chat.example.com. 3600 IN CNAME chat.example.com.

    mta-sts.chat.example.com. 3600 IN CNAME chat.example.com.

   ```



2. Clone the repository and bootstrap the Python virtualenv.



   ```

    git clone https://github.com/chatmail/server

    cd server

    scripts/initenv.sh

   ```



3. Create chatmail configuration file `chatmail.ini`:



   ```

    scripts/cmdeploy init chat.example.org  # <-- use your domain 

   ```



4. Verify that SSH root login works:



   ```

    ssh root@chat.example.org   # <-- use your domain 

   ```



5. Deploy to the remote chatmail server:



   ```

    scripts/cmdeploy run

   ```

   This script will check that you have all necessary DNS records.

   If DNS records are missing, it will recommend

   which you should configure at your DNS provider

   (it can take some time until they are public).



### Other helpful commands:



To check the status of your remotely running chatmail service:



```

scripts/cmdeploy status

```



To display and check all recommended DNS records:



```

scripts/cmdeploy dns

```



To test whether your chatmail service is working correctly:



```

scripts/cmdeploy test

```



To measure the performance of your chatmail service:



```

scripts/cmdeploy bench

```



## Overview of this repository



This repository has four directories:



- [cmdeploy](https://github.com/chatmail/server/tree/main/cmdeploy)

  is a collection of configuration files

  and a [pyinfra](https://pyinfra.com)-based deployment script.



- [chatmaild](https://github.com/chatmail/server/tree/main/chatmaild)

  is a Python package containing several small services

  which handle authentication,

  trigger push notifications on new messages,

  ensure that outbound mails are encrypted,

  delete inactive users,

  and some other minor things.

  chatmaild can also be installed as a stand-alone Python package.



- [www](https://github.com/chatmail/server/tree/main/www)

  contains the html, css, and markdown files

  which make up a chatmail server's web page.

  Edit them before deploying to make your chatmail server stand out.



- [scripts](https://github.com/chatmail/server/tree/main/scripts)

  offers two convenience tools for beginners;

  `initenv.sh` installs the necessary dependencies to a local virtual environment,

  and the `scripts/cmdeploy` script enables you

  to run the `cmdeploy` command line tool in the local virtual environment.



### cmdeploy



The `cmdeploy/src/cmdeploy/cmdeploy.py` command line tool

helps with setting up and managing the chatmail service.

`cmdeploy init` creates the `chatmail.ini` config file.

`cmdeploy run` uses a [pyinfra](https://pyinfra.com/)-based [script](`cmdeploy/src/cmdeploy/__init__.py`)

to automatically install or upgrade all chatmail components on a server,

according to the `chatmail.ini` config.



The components of chatmail are:



- [Postfix SMTP server](https://www.postfix.org) accepts sent messages (both from your users and from other servers)



- [Dovecot IMAP server](https://www.dovecot.org) stores messages for your users until they download them



- [Nginx](https://nginx.org/) shows the web page with your privacy policy and additional information



- [acmetool](https://hlandau.github.io/acmetool/) manages TLS certificates for Dovecot, Postfix, and Nginx



- [OpenDKIM](http://www.opendkim.org/) for signing messages with DKIM and rejecting inbound messages without DKIM



- [mtail](https://google.github.io/mtail/) for collecting anonymized metrics in case you have monitoring



- and the chatmaild services, explained in the next section:



### chatmaild



chatmaild offers several commands

which differentiate a *chatmail* server from a classic mail server.

If you deploy them with cmdeploy,

they are run by systemd services in the background.

A short overview:



- [`doveauth`](https://github.com/chatmail/server/blob/main/chatmaild/src/chatmaild/doveauth.py) implements

  create-on-login account creation semantics and is used

  by Dovecot during login authentication and by Postfix

  which in turn uses [Dovecot SASL](https://doc.dovecot.org/configuration_manual/authentication/dict/#complete-example-for-authenticating-via-a-unix-socket)

  to authenticate users

  to send mails for them.



- [`filtermail`](https://github.com/chatmail/server/blob/main/chatmaild/src/chatmaild/filtermail.py) prevents

  unencrypted email from leaving the chatmail service

  and is integrated into Postfix's outbound mail pipelines.



- [`chatmail-metadata`](https://github.com/chatmail/server/blob/main/chatmaild/src/chatmaild/metadata.py) is contacted by a

  [dovecot lua script](https://github.com/chatmail/server/blob/main/cmdeploy/src/cmdeploy/dovecot/push_notification.lua)

  to store user-specific server-side config.

  On new messages,

  it [passes the user's push notification token](https://github.com/chatmail/server/blob/main/chatmaild/src/chatmaild/notifier.py)

  to [notifications.delta.chat](https://delta.chat/help#instant-delivery)

  so the push notifications on the user's phone can be triggered

  by Apple/Google/Huawei.



- [`delete_inactive_users`](https://github.com/chatmail/server/blob/main/chatmaild/src/chatmaild/delete_inactive_users.py)

  deletes users if they have not logged in for a very long time.

  The timeframe can be configured in `chatmail.ini`.



- [`lastlogin`](https://github.com/chatmail/server/blob/main/chatmaild/src/chatmaild/lastlogin.py)

  is contacted by dovecot when a user logs in

  and stores the date of the login.



- [`echobot`](https://github.com/chatmail/server/blob/main/chatmaild/src/chatmaild/echo.py)

  is a small bot for test purposes.

  It simply echoes back messages from users.



- [`chatmail-metrics`](https://github.com/chatmail/server/blob/main/chatmaild/src/chatmaild/metrics.py)

  collects some metrics and displays them at `https://example.org/metrics`.



### Home page and getting started for users



`cmdeploy run` also creates default static web pages and deploys them

to a Nginx web server with:



- a default `index.html` along with a QR code that users can click to

  create accounts on your chatmail provider



- a default `info.html` that is linked from the home page



- a default `policy.html` that is linked from the home page



All `.html` files are generated

by the according markdown `.md` file in the `www/src` directory.



### Refining the web pages



```

scripts/cmdeploy webdev

```



This starts a local live development cycle for chatmail web pages:



- uses the `www/src/page-layout.html` file for producing static

  HTML pages from `www/src/*.md` files



- continously builds the web presence reading files from `www/src` directory

  and generating HTML files and copying assets to the `www/build` directory.



- Starts a browser window automatically where you can "refresh" as needed.



## Emergency Commands to disable automatic account creation



If you need to stop account creation,

e.g. because some script is wildly creating accounts,

login to the server with ssh and run:



```

    touch /etc/chatmail-nocreate

```



Account creation will be denied while this file is present.



### Ports



[Postfix](http://www.postfix.org/) listens on ports 25 (SMTP) and 587 (SUBMISSION) and 465 (SUBMISSIONS).

[Dovecot](https://www.dovecot.org/) listens on ports 143 (IMAP) and 993 (IMAPS).

[Nginx](https://www.nginx.com/) listens on port 8443 (HTTPS-ALT) and 443 (HTTPS).

Port 443 multiplexes HTTPS, IMAP and SMTP using ALPN to redirect connections to ports 8443, 465 or 993.

[acmetool](https://hlandau.github.io/acmetool/) listens on port 80 (HTTP).



chatmail-core based apps will, however, discover all ports and configurations

automatically by reading the [autoconfig XML file](https://www.ietf.org/archive/id/draft-bucksch-autoconfig-00.html) from the chatmail server.



## Email authentication



chatmail servers rely on [DKIM](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc6376)

to authenticate incoming emails.

Incoming emails must have a valid DKIM signature with

Signing Domain Identifier (SDID, `d=` parameter in the DKIM-Signature header)

equal to the `From:` header domain.

This property is checked by OpenDKIM screen policy script

before validating the signatures.

This correpsonds to strict [DMARC](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7489) alignment (`adkim=s`),

but chatmail does not rely on DMARC and does not consult the sender policy published in DMARC records.

Other legacy authentication mechanisms such as [iprev](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8601#section-2.7.3)

and [SPF](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7208) are also not taken into account.

If there is no valid DKIM signature on the incoming email,

the sender receives a "5.7.1 No valid DKIM signature found" error.



Outgoing emails must be sent over authenticated connection

with envelope MAIL FROM (return path) corresponding to the login.

This is ensured by Postfix which maps login username

to MAIL FROM with

[`smtpd_sender_login_maps`](https://www.postfix.org/postconf.5.html#smtpd_sender_login_maps)

and rejects incorrectly authenticated emails with [`reject_sender_login_mismatch`](reject_sender_login_mismatch) policy.

`From:` header must correspond to envelope MAIL FROM,

this is ensured by `filtermail` proxy.



## TLS requirements



Postfix is configured to require valid TLS

by setting [`smtp_tls_security_level`](https://www.postfix.org/postconf.5.html#smtp_tls_security_level) to `verify`.

If emails don't arrive from a chatmail server to your server,

the problem is likely that your server does not have a valid TLS certificate.



You can test it by resolving `MX` records of your server domain

and then connecting to MX servers (e.g `mx.example.org`) with

`openssl s_client -connect mx.example.org:25 -verify_hostname mx.example.org -verify_return_error -starttls smtp`

from the host that has open port 25 to verify that certificate is valid.



When providing a TLS certificate to your server,

make sure to provide the full certificate chain

and not just the last certificate.



If you are running Exim server and don't see incoming connections

from a chatmail server in the logs,

make sure `smtp_no_mail` log item is enabled in the config

with `log_selector = +smtp_no_mail`.

By default Exim does not log sessions that are closed

before sending the `MAIL` command.

This happens if certificate is not recognized as valid by Postfix,

so you might think that connection is not established

while actually it is a problem with your TLS certificate.



## Migrating chatmail server to a new host



If you want to migrate chatmail from an old machine

to a new machine,

you can use these steps.

They were tested with a Linux laptop;

you might need to adjust some of the steps to your environment.



Let's assume that your `mail_domain` is `mail.example.org`,

all involved machines run Debian 12,

your old server's IP address is `13.37.13.37`,

and your new server's IP address is `13.12.23.42`.



Note, you should lower the TTLs of your DNS records to a value

such as 300 (5 minutes) so the migration happens as smoothly as possible.



During the guide you might get a warning about changed SSH Host keys;

in this case, just run `ssh-keygen -R "mail.example.org"` as recommended.



1. First, disable mail services on the old server.



   ```

    cmdeploy run --disable-mail --ssh-host 13.37.13.37

   ```



   Now your users will notice the migration

   and will not be able to send or receive messages

   until the migration is completed.



2. Now we want to copy `/home/vmail`, `/var/lib/acme`, `/etc/dkimkeys`, `/run/echobot`, and `/var/spool/postfix` to the new server.

   Login to the old server while forwarding your SSH agent so you can copy directly from the old server to the new server with

   your SSH key:



   ```

    ssh -A root@13.37.13.37

    tar c - /home/vmail/mail /var/lib/acme /etc/dkimkeys /run/echobot /var/spool/postfix | ssh root@13.12.23.42 "tar x -C /"

   ```



   This transfers all accounts, the TLS certificate, DKIM keys (so DKIM DNS record remains valid), and the echobot's password so it continues to function.

   It also preserves the Postfix mail spool so any messages pending delivery will still be delivered.



3. Install chatmail on the new machine:



   ```

    cmdeploy run --disable-mail --ssh-host 13.12.23.42

   ```

   Postfix and Dovecot are disabled for now; we will enable them later. This ensures all user accounts are provisioned.



3. On the new server, run the following to ensure the ownership is correct in case UIDs/GIDs changed:



   ```

    chown root: -R /var/lib/acme

    chown opendkim: -R /etc/dkimkeys

    chown vmail: -R /home/vmail/mail

    chown echobot: -R /run/echobot

   ```



4. Now, update DNS to the new IP addresses.



   If other servers try to deliver messages to your server they may fail,

   but normally email servers will retry delivering messages

   for at least a week, so messages will not be lost.



5. Finally, you can execute `cmdeploy run --ssh-host 13.12.23.42` to turn on chatmail on the new server.

    Your users will be able to use the chatmail server as soon as the DNS changes have propagated.

    Voilà!



## Setting up a reverse proxy



A chatmail server does not depend on the client IP address

for its operation, so it can be run behind a reverse proxy.

This will not even affect incoming mail authentication

as DKIM only checks the cryptographic signature

of the message and does not use the IP address as the input.



For example, you may want to self-host your chatmail server

and only use hosted VPS to provide a public IP address

for client connections and incoming mail.

You can connect chatmail server to VPS

using a tunnel protocol

such as [WireGuard](https://www.wireguard.com/)

and setup a reverse proxy on a VPS

to forward connections to the chatmail server

over the tunnel.

You can also setup multiple reverse proxies

for your chatmail server in different networks

to ensure your server is reachable even when

one of the IPs becomes inaccessible due to

hosting or routing problems.



Note that your server still needs

to be able to make outgoing connections on port 25

to send messages outside.



To setup a reverse proxy

(or rather Destination NAT, DNAT)

for your chatmail server,

put the following configuration in `/etc/nftables.conf`:

```

#!/usr/sbin/nft -f



flush ruleset



define wan = eth0



# Which ports to proxy.

#

# Note that SSH is not proxied

# so it is possible to log into the proxy server

# and not the original one.

define ports = { smtp, http, https, imap, imaps, submission, submissions }



# The host we want to proxy to.

define ipv4_address = AAA.BBB.CCC.DDD

define ipv6_address = [XXX::1]



table ip nat {

        chain prerouting {

                type nat hook prerouting priority dstnat; policy accept;

                iif $wan tcp dport $ports dnat to $ipv4_address

        }



        chain postrouting {

                type nat hook postrouting priority 0;



                oifname $wan masquerade

        }

}



table ip6 nat {

        chain prerouting {

                type nat hook prerouting priority dstnat; policy accept;

                iif $wan tcp dport $ports dnat to $ipv6_address

        }



        chain postrouting {

                type nat hook postrouting priority 0;



                oifname $wan masquerade

        }

}



table inet filter {

        chain input {

                type filter hook input priority filter; policy drop;



                # Accept ICMP.

                # It is especially important to accept ICMPv6 ND messages,

                # otherwise IPv6 connectivity breaks.

                icmp type { echo-request } accept

                icmpv6 type { echo-request, nd-neighbor-solicit, nd-router-advert, nd-neighbor-advert } accept



                # Allow incoming SSH connections.

                tcp dport { ssh } accept



                ct state established accept

        }

        chain forward {

                type filter hook forward priority filter; policy drop;



                ct state established accept

                ip daddr $ipv4_address counter accept

                ip6 daddr $ipv6_address counter accept

        }

        chain output {

                type filter hook output priority filter;

        }

}

```



Run `systemctl enable nftables.service`

to ensure configuration is reloaded when the proxy server reboots.



Uncomment in `/etc/sysctl.conf` the following two lines:



```

net.ipv4.ip_forward=1

net.ipv6.conf.all.forwarding=1

```



Then reboot the server or do `sysctl -p` and `nft -f /etc/nftables.conf`.



Once proxy server is set up,

you can add its IP address to the DNS.