backend/docs/ARCHITECTURE.md

Visione Backend Architecture

Purpose

Visione backend is C++20 + Drogon API for municipal urban issue reporting. Citizens create reports. Operators own report workflow on platform. External intervention teams do not log into platform; operators can assign them and generate public read-only intervention links.

Source Of Truth

• Route truth: controllers/*.h
• Business truth: services/*.cc
• Schema truth: migrations/*.sql
• Contract truth: docs/openapi/visione.openapi.yaml merged with route scan
• High-signal human summary: docs/API_SPEC.md and docs/LLM_CONTEXT.md

Code Layout

• controllers/: HTTP input/output only, auth gate, status mapping.
• services/: business rules, workflow, permission checks, orchestration.
• repositories/: SQL serialization helpers and migration runner.
• common/: auth, crypto, validation, HTTP helpers, email, CORS.
• migrations/: ordered SQL schema evolution.
• docs/openapi/: manual OpenAPI layer.
• scripts/generate_openapi.py: extracts Drogon routes and merges manual spec.

Runtime Model

• Auth uses bearer tokens from api_tokens.
• OTP login uses otp_challenges and Mailpit in local dev.
• Password hash uses PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA256. Legacy sha256$ hashes rejected.
• DB access uses raw parameterized SQL through drogon::orm::DbClient.
• No Drogon generated ORM models. No Mapper<T>.

Role Model

• citizen: own reports only, own messages, feedback, notifications.
• operator: can read all reports, manage workflow, assign teams, create flags.
• admin: full admin + report management + moderation approval.

Effective permission helpers:

• auth::canManageReports(user): admin or reports.manage
• auth::canOperateReports(user): non-admin report manager
• auth::mustChangePassword(user): blocks protected operational/admin flows

Workflow Ownership Rules

• reports.assigned_operator_id is single platform owner of report.
• assignments is external team assignment history only.
• Team assignment can claim OPEN report directly: operator becomes assigned_operator_id, report moves to ASSIGNED.
• take exists for OPEN -> UNDER_REVIEW without team assignment.
• External team link is public, revocable, tied to current assignment, hashed in intervention_access_links.

Status Machine

• Allowed statuses: OPEN, UNDER_REVIEW, ASSIGNED, IN_PROGRESS, RESOLVED, REJECTED, CLOSED
• Allowed transitions:
  • OPEN -> UNDER_REVIEW | REJECTED
  • UNDER_REVIEW -> ASSIGNED | REJECTED
  • ASSIGNED -> IN_PROGRESS | REJECTED
  • IN_PROGRESS -> RESOLVED | REJECTED
  • RESOLVED -> CLOSED
  • REJECTED -> CLOSED

Main Persistence Objects

• users, roles, permissions, user_roles, role_permissions
• api_tokens, otp_challenges
• report_categories, areas, team_categories, teams
• reports, report_status_history, assignments, report_photos
• messages, feedback, reward_events, notifications
• moderation_flags
• report_category_team_categories
• intervention_access_links

HTTP/Error Conventions

• 401: missing/invalid auth
• 403: authenticated but forbidden
• 404: missing resource or invalid public intervention token
• 409: workflow/ownership conflict
• 422: semantic payload/reference error

Controllers currently map service error strings heuristically. When adding new service errors, update controller mappers too.

OpenAPI Generation

scripts/generate_openapi.py scans ADD_METHOD_TO(...) in controller headers. Generated route skeletons merge with docs/openapi/visione.openapi.yaml. Build fails if manual spec contains operation without matching route, unless x-manual-only: true.

Output path:

• build/openapi/visione.openapi.json

Current Gaps / Sharp Edges

• No dedicated repository layer split yet; SQL still lives inside services.
• AuthService::editUser() updates fields with dynamic SQL column name from hardcoded allowlist, not user input.
• Public intervention summary currently excludes email and full surname, but still exposes citizen phone by design.
• No frontend doc set here beyond API/OpenAPI docs.