# LocalPort Roadmap

> **⚠️ Important Disclaimer**: This roadmap represents our vision for LocalPort's future development. Features will be prioritized based on community demand, contributor availability, and technical feasibility. **There are no commitments to specific timelines or delivery sequences.** This document serves as a guide for potential contributors and users interested in LocalPort's direction.

## How to Influence the Roadmap

- **🗳️ Vote on features** by commenting on or reacting to GitHub issues
- **💬 Join discussions** in GitHub Discussions or issues
- **🛠️ Contribute** by implementing features you need
- **📝 Request features** by creating detailed GitHub issues
- **💡 Share use cases** to help us understand real-world needs

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## Core Vision

LocalPort aims to become the universal port forwarding and service connectivity solution for developers and DevOps teams, providing:

- **Universal Connectivity**: Support for any technology (kubectl, SSH, cloud services, containers)
- **Enterprise-Grade Reliability**: Production-ready with monitoring, health checks, and automation
- **Developer Experience**: Intuitive CLI, configuration management, and AI-powered assistance
- **Extensibility**: Plugin architecture for custom adapters and integrations

---

## Feature Categories

### 🌐 Connectivity & Routing

#### Reverse Proxy Support
**Status**: Planned | **Complexity**: Medium | **Impact**: High

- HTTP/HTTPS reverse proxy capabilities
- Load balancing across multiple backend services
- SSL termination and certificate management
- Custom routing rules and path-based routing
- Integration with existing port forwarding

**Use Cases**:
- Expose multiple local services through a single endpoint
- Load balance across development instances
- SSL termination for local development
- API gateway functionality

#### Advanced Routing System
**Status**: Planned | **Complexity**: High | **Impact**: High

- Multi-hop routing through forward and reverse proxy chains
- Cross-cluster service mesh capabilities
- Dynamic service discovery and routing
- Traffic splitting and canary deployments
- Network topology visualization

**Use Cases**:
- Complex multi-environment setups
- Service mesh integration
- Advanced deployment strategies
- Cross-cloud connectivity

#### Enhanced SSH Tunnels
**Status**: In Progress (v0.4.0) | **Complexity**: Medium | **Impact**: High

- Full SSH tunnel support with authentication
- Jump host and bastion server support
- SSH key management and agent integration
- Dynamic port allocation
- SSH connection pooling and multiplexing

**Use Cases**:
- Secure access to remote services
- Multi-hop SSH connections
- Legacy system integration
- Secure development environments

### 📊 Observability & Monitoring

#### Enhanced Logging System
**Status**: Planned | **Complexity**: Medium | **Impact**: Medium

- Configurable log retention with ring buffer storage
- Real-time log streaming and filtering
- Log aggregation across multiple services
- Export capabilities (JSON, CSV, syslog)
- Log analytics and search

**Use Cases**:
- Debugging complex service interactions
- Compliance and audit requirements
- Performance analysis
- Troubleshooting automation

#### Advanced Metrics & Monitoring
**Status**: Planned | **Complexity**: High | **Impact**: High

- Resource utilization metrics (CPU, memory, network)
- Service dependency mapping and visualization
- Performance metrics and alerting
- Integration with monitoring systems (Prometheus, Grafana)
- Custom dashboards and reporting

**Use Cases**:
- Performance optimization
- Capacity planning
- Proactive issue detection
- SLA monitoring

#### Distributed Tracing
**Status**: Planned | **Complexity**: High | **Impact**: Medium

- Integration with tracing systems (Jaeger, Zipkin)
- Request flow visualization
- Performance bottleneck identification
- Cross-service correlation

**Use Cases**:
- Microservices debugging
- Performance optimization
- Service dependency analysis
- Request flow understanding

### 🔧 Configuration & Management

#### Interactive Configuration Management
**Status**: Planned | **Complexity**: Medium | **Impact**: High

- Interactive configuration wizard
- Configuration validation and suggestions
- Template system for common setups
- Configuration drift detection
- Import/export configurations with transformation

**Use Cases**:
- Simplified onboarding for new users
- Standardized team configurations
- Configuration compliance
- Environment migration

#### Enhanced Cluster Metadata
**Status**: Planned | **Complexity**: Medium | **Impact**: Medium

- Extended Kubernetes resource information
- Cloud provider metadata integration
- Service health and status aggregation
- Resource relationship mapping
- Custom metadata collection

**Use Cases**:
- Better service discovery
- Enhanced monitoring
- Automated configuration
- Resource optimization

### 🤖 AI & Automation

#### AI-Powered Assistant (MCP Integration)
**Status**: Planned | **Complexity**: High | **Impact**: High

- Natural language service management
- Intelligent troubleshooting assistance
- Automated configuration optimization
- Predictive scaling recommendations
- Integration with AI chat systems via MCP (Model Context Protocol)

**Use Cases**:
- "Start my development environment"
- "Why is service X failing?"
- "Optimize my configuration for performance"
- "Set up load balancing for service Y"

#### Intelligent Automation
**Status**: Planned | **Complexity**: High | **Impact**: Medium

- Auto-scaling based on metrics
- Intelligent load balancing algorithms
- Predictive failure detection
- Automated recovery procedures
- Smart configuration suggestions

**Use Cases**:
- Self-healing infrastructure
- Performance optimization
- Proactive maintenance
- Reduced manual intervention

### 🔒 Security & Authentication

#### Enhanced Security Features
**Status**: Planned | **Complexity**: High | **Impact**: High

- mTLS support for service-to-service communication
- Integration with identity providers (OAuth, SAML)
- Network policies and access control
- Audit logging and compliance reporting
- Certificate management and rotation

**Use Cases**:
- Enterprise security requirements
- Compliance and audit needs
- Zero-trust networking
- Secure multi-tenant environments

#### Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)
**Status**: Planned | **Complexity**: High | **Impact**: Medium

- Multi-tenancy support
- Fine-grained permissions
- Team and project isolation
- Integration with existing identity systems
- Audit trails for access control

**Use Cases**:
- Enterprise deployments
- Team collaboration
- Compliance requirements
- Secure shared environments

### 🚀 Developer Experience

#### IDE Integration
**Status**: Planned | **Complexity**: Medium | **Impact**: Medium

- VS Code extension
- IntelliJ/PyCharm plugins
- Real-time service status in IDE
- One-click service management
- Configuration editing with validation

**Use Cases**:
- Seamless development workflow
- Reduced context switching
- Integrated debugging
- Enhanced productivity

#### Development Environment Templates
**Status**: Planned | **Complexity**: Medium | **Impact**: High

- Pre-configured environment templates
- Project-specific configurations
- Team sharing and collaboration
- Version control integration
- Environment provisioning automation

**Use Cases**:
- Standardized development environments
- Faster onboarding
- Consistent team setups
- Project templates

#### Hot-Reload Enhancements
**Status**: Planned | **Complexity**: Medium | **Impact**: Medium

- Intelligent configuration change detection
- Selective service reloading
- Configuration validation before application
- Rollback capabilities
- Change impact analysis

**Use Cases**:
- Faster development cycles
- Safer configuration changes
- Reduced downtime
- Better change management

### 🏢 Enterprise Features

#### Advanced Deployment Options
**Status**: Planned | **Complexity**: High | **Impact**: Medium

- Container and Kubernetes deployment
- Helm charts and operators
- Cloud provider integrations
- High availability configurations
- Disaster recovery capabilities

**Use Cases**:
- Production deployments
- Enterprise infrastructure
- Cloud-native environments
- Mission-critical applications

#### Performance & Scalability
**Status**: Planned | **Complexity**: High | **Impact**: Medium

- Connection pooling and multiplexing
- Edge caching and CDN integration
- Horizontal scaling capabilities
- Performance optimization tools
- Resource usage optimization

**Use Cases**:
- High-traffic environments
- Performance-critical applications
- Large-scale deployments
- Resource optimization

---

## Community Contributions

### How to Contribute to the Roadmap

1. **Feature Requests**: Create detailed GitHub issues with use cases
2. **Implementation**: Pick up features that interest you
3. **Feedback**: Comment on existing roadmap items
4. **Use Cases**: Share your specific needs and scenarios
5. **Testing**: Help test new features and provide feedback

### Contribution Guidelines

- **Start Small**: Begin with smaller features to understand the codebase
- **Discuss First**: Open an issue or discussion before major work
- **Follow Architecture**: Maintain the hexagonal architecture pattern
- **Write Tests**: Include comprehensive tests with your contributions
- **Document**: Update documentation for new features

### Current Contribution Opportunities

#### Beginner-Friendly
- Additional health check types (Redis, MongoDB, etc.)
- CLI output format improvements
- Configuration validation enhancements
- Documentation improvements

#### Intermediate
- SSH tunnel implementation
- Reverse proxy basic functionality
- Enhanced logging features
- IDE plugin development

#### Advanced
- AI/MCP integration
- Advanced routing system
- Security and authentication features
- Performance optimization

---

## Technical Considerations

### Architecture Evolution

The roadmap considers LocalPort's hexagonal architecture and aims to:

- **Maintain Clean Architecture**: New features follow domain-driven design
- **Preserve Extensibility**: Plugin architecture for custom adapters
- **Ensure Testability**: Comprehensive test coverage for all features
- **Support Backwards Compatibility**: Smooth upgrade paths

### Performance Goals

- **Startup Time**: < 1 second for basic operations
- **Memory Usage**: < 50MB for typical configurations
- **Connection Latency**: Minimal overhead over direct connections
- **Scalability**: Support for 100+ concurrent services

### Quality Standards

- **Test Coverage**: > 90% for all new features
- **Documentation**: Complete user and developer documentation
- **Security**: Security review for all network-facing features
- **Performance**: Benchmarking for performance-critical features

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## Feedback and Discussion

We value community input on this roadmap. Please:

- **📝 Create Issues**: For specific feature requests or bugs
- **💬 Join Discussions**: Participate in GitHub Discussions
- **🗳️ Vote**: React to issues to show interest
- **🛠️ Contribute**: Implement features you need

**Remember**: This roadmap is a living document that evolves based on community needs and contributions. Your input helps shape LocalPort's future!

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## Disclaimer

This roadmap is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute a commitment to deliver any specific features or functionality. Development priorities may change based on community feedback, technical constraints, and contributor availability. Features may be added, modified, or removed from this roadmap at any time without notice.

For the most current information about LocalPort development, please refer to:
- [GitHub Issues](https://github.com/dawsonlp/localport/issues)
- [GitHub Discussions](https://github.com/dawsonlp/localport/discussions)
- [Release Notes](../CHANGELOG.md)
