tailwart/caddy/README.md
Wayne Hayes 2eb8a0c225 Scaffold tailwart: Stalwart mailbox as a Tailscale sidecar
Over-engineered play stack for infinidim.net — Stalwart wired into the shared
Postgres + Redis + Garage S3 over the tailnet, with no WAN presence. Public
mail ports are fronted by a separate caddy-l4 layer-4 proxy (caddy/) that can
run on any tailnet host tagged tag:reverse-proxy — decoupled from the mailbox.

- docker-compose.yml: ts-stalwart sidecar + stalwart, backends via MagicDNS
- config/config.toml: PG (data/fts) + Redis (lookup) + S3 (blob) strawman
- caddy/: xcaddy build with caddy-l4, JSON layer-4 mail proxy, own compose
- acl-snippet.hujson: tag:stalwart owner + backend/edge grants
- .env.example + gitignored .env (pulled from shared infra)

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-06-03 22:25:38 -04:00

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# tailwart edge — layer-4 mail proxy
A custom Caddy (with the `caddy-l4` app) that pipes the public mail ports to the
Stalwart sidecar over the tailnet. Pure TCP pass-through with PROXY protocol —
Stalwart still terminates all the TLS. **Runs anywhere** with a public IP that's
on the tailnet and tagged `tag:reverse-proxy`; doesn't need to share a host with
the mailbox.
## Why layer 4 and not a normal Caddy vhost
Web apps reverse-proxy at layer 7 (route by Host/SNI, Caddy terminates TLS).
Mail can't: port 25 has no SNI (STARTTLS comes after connect), and you want one
global `:25` listener, not per-domain routing. So the edge is a dumb L4 pipe and
Stalwart owns the TLS. The novelty you spotted: this is the same `stream`-style
proxying nginx/Caddy can do for *any* TCP — it just usually isn't used for it.
## Build & run
```bash
docker compose up -d --build # builds Dockerfile (xcaddy + caddy-l4), runs it
caddy list-modules | grep layer4 # (inside the image) proof the module loaded
```
The build fails loudly if `caddy-l4` isn't in the resulting binary.
## Edit the upstream
`caddy.json` dials `stalwart.tail7b1641.ts.net:<port>`. If your
`STALWART_MAGIC_NAME` / `TS_TAILNET` differ, update the five `dial` lines. (JSON
can't read `.env`; this is the one spot the MagicDNS name is hardcoded — same
trade-off as pgAdmin's `servers.json`.)
## The HTTP side (JMAP / autoconfig / admin) is separate
That part *is* ordinary layer 7. Don't put it here if this box already runs the
main Caddy on :443 — you'll collide. Instead add a vhost to the existing Caddy:
```caddyfile
mail.infinidim.net {
reverse_proxy stalwart.tail7b1641.ts.net:8080
}
```
## Prerequisites on the host running this
- Joined to the tailnet, tagged `tag:reverse-proxy` (so the ACL lets it reach
`tag:stalwart`).
- Public firewall opens for whichever mail ports you expose (`25` minimum).
- Nothing else bound to those ports.