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BUSINESS POSTURE

Preact is a fast, lightweight alternative to React with a similar API. It aims to provide a smaller library size while maintaining compatibility with the React ecosystem. This suggests a focus on performance and efficiency, likely targeting developers and businesses prioritizing fast load times and a smooth user experience, especially on resource-constrained devices or networks.

Business Priorities:

  • Performance: Minimize library size and maximize rendering speed.
  • Compatibility: Maintain compatibility with the React ecosystem (libraries, tools, etc.).
  • Developer Experience: Provide a familiar and easy-to-use API for developers already familiar with React.
  • Adoption: Encourage widespread adoption by offering a compelling alternative to React.
  • Maintainability: Ensure the codebase is maintainable and easy to contribute to.

Business Goals:

  • Provide a viable, high-performance alternative to React for front-end development.
  • Reduce the overhead of JavaScript libraries in web applications.
  • Enable developers to build fast and interactive user interfaces.
  • Foster a community around Preact and its ecosystem.

Most Important Business Risks:

  • Compatibility Drift: Failing to keep up with changes in the React ecosystem, leading to compatibility issues.
  • Performance Degradation: Introducing changes that negatively impact performance, undermining the core value proposition.
  • Security Vulnerabilities: Introducing security flaws that could be exploited in applications built with Preact.
  • Lack of Adoption: Failing to attract a sufficient number of users and contributors, hindering long-term sustainability.
  • Community Fragmentation: Splitting the community with incompatible forks or extensions.

SECURITY POSTURE

Existing Security Controls:

  • security control: Code Reviews: The project uses pull requests on GitHub, implying that code reviews are part of the development process. (Described in contribution guidelines).
  • security control: Testing: The project has a comprehensive test suite, including unit tests and integration tests. (Described in the repository structure and contribution guidelines).
  • security control: Linting: The project uses ESLint to enforce code style and identify potential issues. (Described in package.json and configuration files).
  • security control: Dependency Management: The project uses npm/yarn to manage dependencies, allowing for updates and security patches. (Described in package.json).
  • security control: Continuous Integration: The project uses GitHub Actions for continuous integration, automating builds and tests. (Described in .github/workflows).

Accepted Risks:

  • accepted risk: Reliance on Community Contributions: The project relies on community contributions, which may introduce varying levels of code quality and security awareness.
  • accepted risk: Third-Party Dependencies: The project depends on third-party libraries, which may have their own security vulnerabilities.
  • accepted risk: XSS Vulnerabilities: While Preact likely mitigates common XSS vectors, the ultimate responsibility for preventing XSS lies with the application developer using Preact.

Recommended Security Controls:

  • security control: Security Audits: Conduct regular security audits, both manual and automated, to identify potential vulnerabilities.
  • security control: Vulnerability Disclosure Program: Establish a clear process for reporting and addressing security vulnerabilities.
  • security control: Content Security Policy (CSP): Provide guidance and examples for implementing CSP in applications built with Preact.
  • security control: Supply Chain Security: Implement measures to secure the software supply chain, such as signing releases and verifying dependencies.
  • security control: SAST (Static Application Security Testing): Integrate SAST tools into the CI/CD pipeline to automatically scan for vulnerabilities.
  • security control: DAST (Dynamic Application Security Testing): Perform regular DAST scans on demo applications or test environments.

Security Requirements:

  • Authentication: Not directly applicable to Preact itself, as it's a front-end library. Authentication is the responsibility of the application using Preact.
  • Authorization: Not directly applicable to Preact itself. Authorization is the responsibility of the application using Preact.
  • Input Validation:
    • Preact should provide mechanisms for sanitizing user input to prevent XSS vulnerabilities.
    • Developers using Preact should be educated on the importance of input validation and sanitization.
    • Preact should escape output by default to prevent XSS.
  • Cryptography:
    • Not directly applicable to Preact itself, as it's a front-end library. Cryptographic operations should be handled on the server-side or using appropriate web APIs.
  • Data Protection:
    • Preact should not store or handle sensitive data directly. Sensitive data management is the responsibility of the application using Preact.

DESIGN

C4 CONTEXT

graph LR
    subgraph Preact Ecosystem
        A[User] --> B(Preact Application);
        B --> C{Preact Library};
        B --> D[Third-Party Libraries];
        B --> E[Browser APIs];
    end
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  • Elements Description:
    • Element:
      • Name: User
      • Type: Person
      • Description: A person interacting with a web application built using Preact.
      • Responsibilities: Interacts with the user interface, provides input, and receives output.
      • Security controls: Browser security features, user-provided security measures.
    • Element:
      • Name: Preact Application
      • Type: Software System
      • Description: A web application built using the Preact library.
      • Responsibilities: Renders the user interface, handles user interactions, manages application state, and communicates with external services.
      • Security controls: Input validation, output encoding, secure coding practices, application-specific security measures.
    • Element:
      • Name: Preact Library
      • Type: Software System
      • Description: The Preact library itself, providing the core functionality for building user interfaces.
      • Responsibilities: Provides components, virtual DOM rendering, state management, and other core features.
      • Security controls: Code reviews, testing, linting, secure development practices.
    • Element:
      • Name: Third-Party Libraries
      • Type: Software System
      • Description: External libraries used by the Preact application, such as routing libraries, state management libraries, or utility libraries.
      • Responsibilities: Provide specific functionalities not covered by Preact itself.
      • Security controls: Dependency management, security audits of third-party libraries.
    • Element:
      • Name: Browser APIs
      • Type: Software System
      • Description: APIs provided by the web browser, such as DOM manipulation, network requests, and local storage.
      • Responsibilities: Provide access to browser functionalities.
      • Security controls: Browser security features, sandboxing, same-origin policy.

C4 CONTAINER

graph LR
    subgraph Preact Application
        A[Virtual DOM] --> B(Components);
        B --> C{JSX};
        B --> D[State Management];
        B --> E[Event Handling];
    end
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  • Elements Description:
    • Element:
      • Name: Virtual DOM
      • Type: Container
      • Description: An in-memory representation of the user interface.
      • Responsibilities: Efficiently updates the real DOM based on changes in application state.
      • Security controls: Internal consistency checks.
    • Element:
      • Name: Components
      • Type: Container
      • Description: Reusable building blocks of the user interface.
      • Responsibilities: Render specific parts of the UI, manage their own state, and handle user interactions.
      • Security controls: Input validation, output encoding, secure coding practices within components.
    • Element:
      • Name: JSX
      • Type: Container
      • Description: A syntax extension for JavaScript that allows writing HTML-like code within JavaScript.
      • Responsibilities: Provides a more readable and concise way to define UI structures.
      • Security controls: Proper escaping of user input to prevent XSS.
    • Element:
      • Name: State Management
      • Type: Container
      • Description: Mechanisms for managing the data that drives the user interface.
      • Responsibilities: Stores and updates application state, triggers re-renders when state changes.
      • Security controls: Secure handling of sensitive data, if any.
    • Element:
      • Name: Event Handling
      • Type: Container
      • Description: Mechanisms for responding to user interactions, such as clicks, form submissions, and keyboard input.
      • Responsibilities: Attaches event listeners to DOM elements, executes event handlers when events occur.
      • Security controls: Prevention of event-based attacks, such as clickjacking.

DEPLOYMENT

Possible deployment solutions:

  1. Static Hosting (e.g., Netlify, Vercel, GitHub Pages, AWS S3 + CloudFront, Google Cloud Storage + CDN): Preact applications are typically built into static assets (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) that can be served directly from a CDN or static hosting provider.
  2. Server-Side Rendering (SSR) (e.g., Node.js server with Express, Next.js, custom server): For applications requiring SSR, a server environment is needed to render the initial HTML on the server.
  3. Containerization (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes): Preact applications can be containerized for deployment in various environments, including cloud platforms and on-premise servers.

Chosen solution (Static Hosting with Netlify):

graph LR
    subgraph Deployment Environment
        A[Developer Machine] --> B(Git Repository);
        B --> C[Netlify];
        C --> D{CDN};
        D --> E[User Browser];
    end
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  • Elements Description:
    • Element:
      • Name: Developer Machine
      • Type: Infrastructure
      • Description: The local machine where developers write and test code.
      • Responsibilities: Code development, local testing, building the application.
      • Security controls: Local security measures, secure coding practices.
    • Element:
      • Name: Git Repository
      • Type: Infrastructure
      • Description: A version control system (e.g., GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket) storing the application's source code.
      • Responsibilities: Code versioning, collaboration, branching, merging.
      • Security controls: Access control, branch protection rules, code reviews.
    • Element:
      • Name: Netlify
      • Type: Infrastructure
      • Description: A platform for building, deploying, and hosting web applications.
      • Responsibilities: Automated builds, deployment to CDN, SSL/TLS certificates, custom domains.
      • Security controls: Platform-level security measures, DDoS protection, secure infrastructure.
    • Element:
      • Name: CDN
      • Type: Infrastructure
      • Description: A content delivery network that distributes the application's static assets across multiple servers worldwide.
      • Responsibilities: Fast content delivery, reduced latency, improved performance.
      • Security controls: DDoS protection, caching of static assets.
    • Element:
      • Name: User Browser
      • Type: Infrastructure
      • Description: The web browser used by end-users to access the Preact application.
      • Responsibilities: Rendering the UI, executing JavaScript, handling user interactions.
      • Security controls: Browser security features, sandboxing, same-origin policy.

BUILD

graph LR
    A[Developer] --> B(Code Changes);
    B --> C{Git Commit};
    C --> D[GitHub Repository];
    D --> E[GitHub Actions];
    E --> F(Linting - ESLint);
    E --> G(Testing - Jest);
    E --> H(Build - Rollup/Webpack);
    H --> I[Static Assets];
    I --> J[Deployment];
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  • Build Process Description:

    1. Developer: A developer writes code and makes changes to the Preact application.
    2. Code Changes: The changes are staged and prepared for a commit.
    3. Git Commit: The changes are committed to the local Git repository.
    4. GitHub Repository: The commit is pushed to a remote GitHub repository.
    5. GitHub Actions: A GitHub Actions workflow is triggered by the push event.
    6. Linting (ESLint): ESLint checks the code for style and potential errors.
    7. Testing (Jest): Jest runs the test suite to ensure code quality and functionality.
    8. Build (Rollup/Webpack): A bundler like Rollup or Webpack packages the application code and dependencies into static assets (HTML, CSS, JavaScript).
    9. Static Assets: The build process produces optimized static assets ready for deployment.
    10. Deployment: The static assets are deployed to a hosting provider (e.g., Netlify, Vercel, AWS S3).

  • Security Controls:

    • Linting (ESLint): Enforces code style and identifies potential security issues.
    • Testing (Jest): Ensures code quality and helps prevent regressions.
    • Dependency Management (npm/yarn): Allows for updating and patching dependencies to address security vulnerabilities.
    • GitHub Actions: Automates the build and deployment process, ensuring consistency and reducing manual errors.
    • SAST (Static Application Security Testing) - could be integrated into GitHub Actions.

RISK ASSESSMENT

  • Critical Business Processes:

    • Rendering the user interface efficiently and responsively.
    • Maintaining compatibility with the React ecosystem.
    • Providing a smooth developer experience.
    • Ensuring the stability and maintainability of the codebase.

  • Data:

    • Preact itself does not handle sensitive data directly. However, applications built with Preact may handle various types of data, depending on their purpose.
    • Data Sensitivity:
      • User Input: Potentially sensitive, depending on the application. Could include personal information, credentials, or financial data.
      • Application State: May contain data relevant to the application's functionality, but not necessarily sensitive.
      • Configuration Data: May contain API keys or other secrets, which should be protected.

QUESTIONS & ASSUMPTIONS

  • Questions:

    • Are there any specific compliance requirements (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA) that applications built with Preact need to adhere to?
    • What is the expected level of security awareness among developers using Preact?
    • Are there any plans to integrate more advanced security features directly into Preact?
    • What is the process for handling security vulnerabilities reported by the community?
    • Are there any specific performance targets or benchmarks that Preact aims to achieve?

  • Assumptions:

    • Business Posture: Developers prioritize performance and a small bundle size when choosing Preact.
    • Security Posture: The Preact core team is committed to addressing security vulnerabilities in a timely manner.
    • Design: The majority of Preact applications will be deployed as static sites or using server-side rendering with Node.js.
    • Design: Most of the security concerns will be addressed by the developers using Preact, rather than within the library itself.
    • Design: Build process will be automated using CI/CD tools.