Preloop Roadmap

Status snapshot: current-state descriptions were checked against public/main (3134b969b) on October 17, 2026. This is an engineering tracker, not a support contract; verify with the linked docs before planning a deployment. Protocol-fidelity campaigns and historical gaps live in Compatibility.

P0 — day-1 blockers

#	Feature	Current state	Evidence	Depends on
1	Run/log viewer (history, per-step logs, search, annotations, artifacts)	CLI-only + minimal public HTML page	`runs.rs::get_public_run` (≈20-line page); `preloop logs` CLI	—
2	Server observability: OTel metrics/traces, `/metrics` for Prometheus, structured access log	Metrics are collected locally; metrics/logs/traces support opt-in OTLP export. `/metrics` is live and protected by the native bearer. Dashboards and structured HTTP access-log output remain missing	`preloop-observability`; `routes.rs`; `http_metrics.rs`	—
3	Cache correctness + ecosystem payload cache	Actions-cache uploads/downloads are file-streamed; staged-file commits avoid whole-archive RAM buffering. Configurable server-wide quota and LRU eviction are implemented (10 GiB default; newly committed oversized entries are temporarily protected). Ecosystem payload caching is separate roadmap work	`cache_artifacts.rs`; `blob_store.rs`; `preloop-cache/src/lib.rs`	#1, #2 (viewer and instrumentation)
12	Runner registration tokens the control plane issues and tracks (mint/redeem split)	Strict GitHub-compatible minting requires the system credential and issues a signed RunnerManage JWT accepted by legacy aliases. Pool provision tokens are a separate ten-minute, one-time credential. Permissive registration is a loopback-only conformance escape; registration JWTs are not one-time redemption records	`oauth.rs`; `auth.rs`; `bootstrap.rs`	—

P1 — team scale

#	Feature	Current state	Evidence	Depends on
4	Multi-user authz (per-user tokens, roles)	Native operator APIs still use one shared system credential; per-user identities and roles are absent. Runner/job surfaces already use scoped credentials and identity-aware guards	`auth.rs`; `runs.rs`	user/role model for native APIs
5	Secrets backends (Vault / AWS SM / SOPS)	Built-in `SecretProvider` supports global/repository/environment configuration secrets, systemd credentials, live updates, and encrypted durable submission-secret run tiers. Vault/AWS SM/SOPS adapters remain missing; the provider seam already exists	`secret_provider.rs`; `secrets_api.rs`	external provider adapters
6	Retention policies (runs/logs/artifacts) + `preloop backup`/`restore`	Retention sweep shipped (90-day default); `preloop backup`/`restore` still missing	`retention.rs` (hourly sweep); storage operations	—
7	Fork-PR trust on the data plane: capability URLs	Cache namespaces/read scopes are server-derived; fork-PR cache writes are denied. Cache v2 uses expiring server-signed, operation- and owner-bound upload/download URLs	`results_twirp.rs`; `auth.rs`; `events/trust_tier.rs`	#3b payload cache
13	Runners on a separate machine from the control plane	Protocol and URL override exist, with authenticated system-token/issued-JWT registration. `PRELOOP_RUNNER_URL` defaults to loopback but accepts an explicit reachable origin. TLS requires configuration; a dedicated runner-only TCP surface remains missing	`oauth.rs`; `auth.rs`; `preloop-cli/src/main.rs`; `bootstrap.rs`	Dedicated runner-only TCP surface

P2 — breadth

#	Feature	Current state	Evidence	Depends on
8	macOS/Windows ephemeral VM backends + image disambiguation	Virtualization.framework / QEMU backends designed, not shipped; `macos-13` vs `macos-14/15` collapse to one host	Compatibility; `docs/contributing/fidelity-gap.md` §1b.4	—
9	Notifications (Slack/email/webhook-out) on run results	Not implemented	[INFERENCE: no code or doc references]	—
10	Protected-environment approval gates	Implemented: GitHub-sourced reviewer rules, authorized Check Run Approve/Reject actions, and a native operator override. Local TOML mode supports at most one shared-credential approval, not distinct-user quorum	`environment_resolver.rs`; `github.rs`; `routes.rs`; `config.rs`	—
11	Complete multi-node HA (leader election, shared queue and node-aware routing)	Shared Postgres control state, cross-node runner wakeups, and outbox-backed event delivery are implemented. Complete HA still requires node-aware handling for local payload/reservation state and a shared secret provider; authoritative runs/jobs no longer diverge through process-local state	`control/`; `control/wake.rs`; `event_feed.rs`; `secret_provider.rs`; API and state	Node-aware payloads and shared secrets
14	Pool agent: microVM pools on hosts other than the control plane	Built-in pool is co-hosted in-process and shares demand, image-selection, preparation, and provision-token state with the server. Label sharing is optional for fixed-image pools; a standalone authenticated remote pool-agent integration is not shipped	`preloop-cli/src/main.rs`; `bootstrap.rs`; `preloop-orchestrator/src/lib.rs`; `runtime_scheduling.rs`	#13

Sequencing (prioritization; not hard technical dependencies)

#2 (OTel instrumentation) ──┐
                            ├─→ #3a cache correctness
#1 (log viewer) ────────────┘       → #3b payload cache
                                          → #7 fork-PR trust

Service seams → #4 authz, #5 secrets
#6 retention/backup → #9 notifications → #10 approvals → #8 macOS/Windows hosts → #11 HA

#12 issued registration tokens ──→ #13 remote runners ──→ #14 pool agent (multi-host pools)

Notes:

#2 supplies the observability needed to measure #3; the log viewer remains CLI-only and dashboards/access logs are absent.
#3’s cache streaming, quota, and eviction behavior is shipped; ecosystem payload caching remains separate work.
#4/#5/#7 are separate capability areas: native per-user roles and external secret adapters remain absent, while fork-PR cache trust is implemented.
#11 remains unfinished: shared Postgres, cross-node wakeups, and outbox event delivery are shipped, but node-local payload/reservation state and shared secrets still need explicit coordination.
#12 must keep a permissive escape for the conformance replays: the goldens send a real GitHub-issued registration token that this control plane can never have minted, so strict-by-default needs an explicit opt-out for the harness.
#13 is mostly #12 plus TLS and pointing PRELOOP_RUNNER_URL/PRELOOP_CONTROL_UPSTREAM at a reachable address; the wire protocol already allows it, which is the whole point of the fidelity work.
#14 depends on #13. The built-in pool is shipped in-process and shares demand, image-selection, preparation, and provision-token state with the server. A standalone remote pool-agent path would need one field replaced: the shared next_job_runs_on lock becomes a request (“what labels are queued?”), which is what would let the orchestrator run anywhere. Guests still never touch the network. The earlier 791 MB bandwidth figure is not part of the current evidence.

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Roadmap

Preloop Roadmap

P0 — day-1 blockers

P1 — team scale

P2 — breadth

Sequencing (prioritization; not hard technical dependencies)

​Preloop Roadmap

​P0 — day-1 blockers

​P1 — team scale

​P2 — breadth

​Sequencing (prioritization; not hard technical dependencies)

Preloop Roadmap

P0 — day-1 blockers

P1 — team scale

P2 — breadth

Sequencing (prioritization; not hard technical dependencies)