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Research Documentation

This directory contains research, analysis, and strategic insights generated during the development and improvement of Teams for Linux.

Research Context

These documents capture in-depth analysis and strategic insights that inform development decisions and provide context for major features.

Contents​

Everything listed here describes work that has not fully shipped. Once a piece of research is fully implemented or rejected, its decision moves to an ADR and the research document is deleted, with git history preserving the investigation.

Open Work​

  • Documentation, Contributing, and Config UX, app/config/options.js as the single source of truth feeding generated docs, an in-app settings UI, and startup validation (#2597)

    • Phases 0 to 2 shipped (v2.12.0): drift fixes (PR #2602), generated config reference plus config-schema.json with CI drift guard (PR #2604), interactive config explorer in the docs site (PR #2606)
    • Phases 3a and 4 implemented: per-option applyMode and nested-field metadata with a hard-failing generator lint, plus warn-only startup validation in app/config/validator.js
    • Remaining: Phase 3b, the in-app settings window, now unblocked by the 3a schema metadata

  • Graph API Integration Research, Microsoft Graph API for enhanced features

    • Phase 1 shipped (v2.7.4): token acquisition plus 7 IPC channels. People search and send chat power Quick Chat (ADR-014, ADR-015)
    • Phases 2 and 3 not started: calendar widget, mail preview, presence, settings UI

  • Custom Stickers, External Sources, follow-up to the v1 ship (#2476, PR #2550)

    • URL paste shipped in v1. Telegram sticker pack import is the proposed next phase, AI generation via a user-configured backend is the speculative one
    • AI path mirrors the customBackground pattern, so the wrapper holds no opinion about which backend sits at the other end

  • FIDO2 Touch Prompt UI, surface a "touch your security key now" prompt during the user-presence wait (#2631, PR #2779)

    • The FIDO2 beta only built the PIN-entry UI, so the touch wait was silent (fido2Backend.js blocks at spawn until the key is touched)
    • Honest limit: a prompt spanning the whole security-key call, not a touch-instant signal
    • Shipped for the auth.webauthn.enabled path; the flag-off path is still open

Implemented Features (Research Removed)​

Research documents are deleted once a feature is fully shipped and the document provides no ongoing reference value. The ADRs and git history preserve the decisions and context.

FeatureVersionReference
System Performance Audit---Ten findings closed as fixed, fixed differently, or not planned. Decision in ADR-026
Configuration Organization---Decision-only closeout (no feature shipped): naming convention and the resolved flat-to-nested rename mapping now live in ADR-025; migration stays opportunistic, docs-site/static/config-schema.json is the live inventory
Smartcard / NSS PIN Dialogv2.14.0Opt-in PIN dialog behind auth.clientCertificate.pinDialog.enabled, built on app/_shared/securePrompt.js. Decision in ADR-024 (#2639)
Custom Notification Systemv2.6.16Phase 1 toast shipped, Phase 2 notification centre dropped as unverifiable. Decision in ADR-022
Release Automation Tooling---release-please adopted, release-it and Beads rejected. Decision in ADR-023
WebAuthn / FIDO2 Hardware Keys---Opt-in beta behind auth.webauthn.enabled; the implementation plan is superseded by ADR-021
MQTT Extended Statusv2.10.0 onwardsMicrophone, camera, screen-sharing and incoming-call topics plus Home Assistant auto-discovery all shipped; the roadmap carries the per-PR status
Join Meeting Window Takeover---Same-origin navigation plus the Return to Teams menu item (app/menus/index.js) (#2322)
MQTT Microphone Statev2.10.0Speaking-indicator driven microphone state (speaking/silent/muted/off) published to MQTT. See PR #2497
Notification Sound Player (inline replacement for node-sound)v2.7.10Phase 1 of the notification-sound research shipped — paplay/pw-play/aplay/afplay detection in app/audio/player.js. See PR #2306
Cross-Distro CI Smoke Testv2.7.xWorkflow .github/workflows/cross-distro-smoke.yml ships the design proposed in the original research. Umbrella decision in ADR-016
Electron 41 Upgradev2.8.0Repo skipped Electron 40 entirely and jumped 39.8.2 → 41.x via dependabot PR #2347, with follow-up bumps to 41.5.0; the Electron 40 migration research is therefore obsolete
Issue-PR Release Linkingv2.7.11GraphQL closingIssuesReferences query; closes: metadata in changelog files. See PR #2317
Codebase Review (March 2026)v2.7.xCode quality, maintainability, performance, and DX review; findings addressed incrementally
Issue Triage Botv2.7.xAll four phases implemented; migrated to standalone Go service. See ADR-018 and github-issue-triage-bot
Dependency Cleanupv2.7.10Removed node-sound, lodash, electron-positioner; project now has 6 production deps
Speaking Indicatorv2.7.11WebRTC getStats() for three-state mute/speaking detection. See PR #2299
Electron-Updater Auto-Updatev2.7.6ADR-011; research covered electron-updater integration
External Changelog Generationv2.7.xADR-005; fork detection + release automation shipped
Screen Lock Media Privacy---Closed (#2106); no user interest; work preserved in branch
Tray Icon Logout Indicator---Archived (#1987); user not responding; work preserved in branch
External Browser Authentication---Not feasible; Teams manages OAuth internally (#2017)
GNOME Search Provider---Not recommended; latency too high for acceptable UX (#2075)
Code Quality Hardening (Phases 1-3)v2.7.5Logging hygiene, resilience, input handling, IPC hardening, CI/CD gates
Wayland/X11 Ozone Platformv2.7.4Force X11 by default due to Electron 38+ Wayland regressions
Quick Chat / Chat Modalv2.7.4ADR-014, ADR-015
PII Log Sanitizationv2.7.2ADR-013
DOM Access Restorationv2.5.2Hybrid API + DOM approach for React compatibility
Architecture Modernization---Rejected (DDD too complex) --- incremental refactoring adopted instead
MQTT Commandsv2.6.xBidirectional MQTT support for toggle-mute, toggle-video, etc.
Calendar Data Exportv2.6.xMQTT get-calendar command
useSystemPicker---Rejected --- ADR-008

Purpose​

These documents capture strategic insights, comprehensive analysis, research findings, and context that inform development decisions and provide rationale for major features.

Document Lifecycle​

Research documents follow this lifecycle:

  1. Active Research Phase: Document findings, analysis, and recommendations
  2. Decision Phase: Use research to inform final decisions (implemented or rejected)
  3. Archive Phase: Move content to appropriate location after decision:
    • Implemented features: Create ADR if significant, update feature docs, delete research
    • Rejected features: Create/update ADR with concise decision record, delete research
    • Superseded research: Close with reference to superseding document
  4. History: Git commit history preserves full investigation context

Contributing Research​

When adding new research documents:

  1. Follow naming convention: Use descriptive, kebab-case filenames
  2. Include context: Date, scope, and purpose of analysis
  3. Link related documents: Cross-reference relevant files
  4. Update this index: Add entries for new research documents
  5. Provide actionable outcomes: Include clear recommendations or decisions