Technical Debt List

[bryce-mcmath]

"Leave the campsite better than you found it"
- Scouts

This is an ongoing list of noted technical debt. If you are a Bifold maintainer, feel free to add to this list, if you are not you should still be able to add a comment with your suggestion and one of the maintainers will add it on your behalf.

Refactor mainStack into it's own file ✅

PR: #1426

• this is a simple one, it is currently unlike all the other stacks and is tightly coupled with its parent RootStack component
• current approach is at risk of causing re-rendering issues

Merge NewQRView.tsx with QRScanner.tsx ✅

PR: #1440

• NewQRView.tsx is essentially the scan screen that is gated behind the developer setting, "Use connection inviter capability"
• Maintaining both views separately requires a bit of doubled effort and they are similar enough that they cause SonarCloud duplication failures.
• Should be merged and handle the different behaviour as one component

Upgrade React Native version

PR: #1439

• We would like to update to the latest RN version
• The architecture changed so this may be some effort
• 0.73.5 might be a good starting point, lots of improvements + native debugging
• later versions may have issues building with current dependencies like aries-askar, indy-vdr

Componentize and rename QRScanner.tsx

• Should be named ScanScreenContent.tsx or something along those lines

Proof request logic

• nested many functions deep across different files
• includes some misnomers
• possibly move some processing to Credo
• currently very fragile while supporting many UI features like revocation notices, missing attributes, unsatisfied predicates, missing credentials, etc.

Refactor useInitializeAgent and use of @credo-ts/react-hooks lib so we can remove the patch

• add walletSecret as a parameter
• remove all the walletSecret dependencies and early returns
• potentially add an optional wallet name parameter
• current patch is here: https://github.com/openwallet-foundation/bifold-wallet/blob/main/.yarn/patches/%40credo-ts-react-hooks-npm-0.6.0-3c59ce13d2.patch
• this is where the react-hooks lib is published from: https://github.com/openwallet-foundation/credo-ts-ext
• this would make reading the Credo hooks code we are actually using and debugging it much easier
• adopting a similar approach to the Paradym wallet would be cleaner, requires placing the AgentProvider at a lower level in the component tree around only the components / stacks that are past auth. Example: https://github.com/animo/paradym-wallet/blob/cc8e5edf35c1b1e7ff86073a020b1392acd94f72/apps/paradym/app/_layout.tsx

State load, onboarding, and initialization logic

• organize into a customizable sequence of steps, preferably an array, with each entry having a fairly uniform structure including metadata of whether a given step is completed
• prefer migrations rather than extra checks eg. rather than handle store values being more than one type, migrate existing users to the latest type that is expected as part of the loadState call / storage service fetch
• simplify the many effect dependencies and messy functions that determine where to pick up if the user has not finished onboarding (this is mostly a problem in the splash screen)

Simplify OCA logic

• generalize useBranding hook and maker wider use of it
• possibly move more of the logic into the oca package

Navigation structure / componentization

• screen components should be very simple and only contain and pass down navigation logic
• reusable components, not reusable screens
• every entry in the Screens enum should only be for one screen, none used more than once in different stacks. eg. Screens.EnterPIN being used in two separate stacks for both wallet unlock and biometrics change confirmation would become Screens.EnterPIN for the former and Screens.VerifyPIN for the latter, with only components in common
• this will make test writing easier and tests more isolated

Folder structure

• replace legacy with just core
• move app to samples folder
• rename App to src

Releases

• Move to @bifold namespace (or @bifold-wallet, whichever is available)
• Add the ability to publish major, minor, and patch stable releases, as well as alpha releases (currently we only publish alpha releases)

Expo Support

• first stage would be adding support for Expo libraries (eg. react-native-keychain replacement)
• possibly fully convert to an Expo app now that native modules are supported
• similar to RN upgrade, Expo may have issues building with current dependencies like aries-askar, indy-vdr

Credential card component should be generalized

• support OCA, OID4VCI metadata, W3C render method, SD-JWT metadata
• currently to support OID4VCI metadata, it is being mapped to OCA

Remove unused / dead components

• ModularView (components/views/ModularView.tsx)
• Label (components/texts/Label.tsx)
• Title (components/texts/Title.tsx)
• NotificationModal (components/modals/NotificationModal.tsx)

[bryce-mcmath]

@MosCD3 @fc-santos @timbl-ont @jcdrouin21 @thiagoromanos FYI. Feel free to add to or comment on this list

[timbl-ont]

Thanks @bryce-mcmath. I think the list captures much of what we are tracking and have raised in Bifold meetings. A couple of notes:

1. With openid4vc and w3c there are other rendering methods. The Bifold card views are heavily dependent on OCA. The current OID4VC PRs map OID4VCI metadata to OCA. This works but is not ideal. The card view should be abstracted to better support the various approaches to provide display metadata - OCA, OID4VCI Metadata, W3C render method, SD-JWT metadata ...
2. Enable support for expo libraries and possible expanded use of expo (not fully a technical debt story)

[bryce-mcmath]

Great items, added to the main list 📋

[fc-santos]

@bryce-mcmath not sure if this would be part of the technical debt list, but one problem with the wallet currently is if the user changes phone, they have to go through the whole process again to obtain the credentials from the issuers they had before.

[bryce-mcmath]

Hmm. I would probably lean towards saying that would be more of a new feature of "backup and restore" that would require net new work in both Bifold and Credo, rather than tech debt per se. But definitely an important feature!

[jleach]

@fc-santos That's somewhat by design. The reason is if you you switch phones, and the credentials follow you, then you have two copies of the credentials. Now you can lend your old phone to your little sister to get into night clubs. We did discuss the concept of leaving a "tomb stone" when you transfer. Essentially a place holder of your old credential that triggers the revocation and re-issuance of a new credential but is not the same credential.

new feature for sure

[fc-santos]

Here is another technical debt: maybe remove any components or views that are not being used anywhere anymore. Here are a few examples:

1. ModularView (components/views/ModularView.tsx)
2. Label (components/texts/Label.tsx)
3. Title (components/texts/Title.tsx)
4. NotificationModal (components/modals/NotificationModal.tsx)

@bryce-mcmath @MosCD3

[bryce-mcmath]

Good eye! Adding to the list