RFC 9404 PROPOSED STANDARD EMAIL · JMAP · BLOBS

JSON Meta Application Protocol (JMAP) Blob Management Extension

JMAP extension for creating and reading blobs inside ordinary method calls, plus a reverse lookup of where blobs are used.

On rfc-editor.org ↗
PUBLISHED
August 2023
AUTHORS
B. Gondwana
STREAM
IETF
BUILDS ON
RFC 8620 — JMAP
CAPABILITY URI
urn:ietf:params:jmap:blob
MINIMUM DATA SOURCES PER CREATION
64
NEW METHODS
Blob/upload, Blob/get, Blob/lookup
NEW ERROR CODE
unknownDataType
REGISTRY POLICY
Specification Required
DOI
10.17487/RFC9404

RFC text

Contents
Original text · RFC Editor View on rfc-editor.org ↗
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                  B. Gondwana, Ed.
Request for Comments: 9404                                      Fastmail
Updates: 8620                                                August 2023
Category: Standards Track
ISSN: 2070-1721


    JSON Meta Application Protocol (JMAP) Blob Management Extension

Abstract

   The JSON Meta Application Protocol (JMAP) base protocol (RFC 8620)
   provides the ability to upload and download arbitrary binary data via
   HTTP POST and GET on a defined endpoint.  This binary data is called
   a "blob".

   This extension adds additional ways to create and access blobs by
   making inline method calls within a standard JMAP request.

   This extension also adds a reverse lookup mechanism to discover where
   blobs are referenced within other data types.

Status of This Memo

   This is an Internet Standards Track document.

   This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
   (IETF).  It represents the consensus of the IETF community.  It has
   received public review and has been approved for publication by the
   Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG).  Further information on
   Internet Standards is available in Section 2 of RFC 7841.

   Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
   and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
   https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9404.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2023 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
   (https://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
   publication of this document.  Please review these documents
   carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
   to this document.  Code Components extracted from this document must
   include Revised BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of the
   Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as described
   in the Revised BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction
   2.  Conventions Used in This Document
   3.  Addition to the Capabilities Object
     3.1.  urn:ietf:params:jmap:blob
       3.1.1.  Capability Example
   4.  Blob Methods
     4.1.  Blob/upload
       4.1.1.  Blob/upload Simple Example
       4.1.2.  Blob/upload Complex Example
     4.2.  Blob/get
       4.2.1.  Blob/get Simple Example
       4.2.2.  Blob/get Example with Range and Encoding Errors
     4.3.  Blob/lookup
       4.3.1.  Blob/lookup Example
   5.  Security Considerations
   6.  IANA Considerations
     6.1.  JMAP Capability Registration for "blob"
     6.2.  JMAP Error Codes Registration for "unknownDataType"
     6.3.  Creation of "JMAP Data Types" Registry
   7.  References
     7.1.  Normative References
     7.2.  Informative References
   Acknowledgements
   Author's Address

1.  Introduction

   Sometimes JMAP [RFC8620] interactions require creating a blob and
   then referencing it.  In the same way that IMAP literals were
   extended by [RFC7888], embedding small blobs directly into the JMAP
   method calls array can be an option for reducing round trips.

   Likewise, when fetching an object, it can be useful to also fetch the
   raw content of that object without a separate round trip.

   Since raw blobs may contain arbitrary binary data, this document
   defines a use of the base64 coding specified in [RFC4648] for both
   creating and fetching blob data.

   When JMAP is proxied through a system that applies additional access
   restrictions, it can be useful to know which objects reference any
   particular blob; this document defines a way to discover those
   references.

2.  Conventions Used in This Document

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
   "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in
   BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all
   capitals, as shown here.

   The definitions of JSON keys and datatypes in the document follow the
   conventions described in [RFC8620].

3.  Addition to the Capabilities Object

   The capabilities object is returned as part of the JMAP Session
   object; see [RFC8620], Section 2.

   This document defines an additional capability URI.

3.1.  urn:ietf:params:jmap:blob

   The presence of the capability urn:ietf:params:jmap:blob in the
   accountCapabilities property of an account represents support for
   additional API methods on the Blob datatype.  Servers that include
   the capability in one or more accountCapabilities properties MUST
   also include the property in the capabilities property.

   The value of this property in the JMAP Session capabilities property
   MUST be an empty object.

   The value of this property in an account's accountCapabilities
   property is an object that MUST contain the following information on
   server capabilities and permissions for that account:

   *  maxSizeBlobSet: "UnsignedInt|null"

      The maximum size of the blob (in octets) that the server will
      allow to be created (including blobs created by concatenating
      multiple data sources together).

      Clients MUST NOT attempt to create blobs larger than this size.

      If this value is null, then clients are not required to limit the
      size of the blob they try to create, though servers can always
      reject creation of blobs regardless of size, e.g., due to lack of
      disk space or per-user rate limits.

   *  maxDataSources: "UnsignedInt"

      The maximum number of DataSourceObjects allowed per creation in a
      Blob/upload.

      Servers MUST allow at least 64 DataSourceObjects per creation.

   *  supportedTypeNames: "String[]"

      An array of data type names that are supported for Blob/lookup.
      If the server does not support lookups, then this will be the
      empty list.

      Note that the supportedTypeNames list may include private types
      that are not in the "JMAP Data Types" registry defined by this
      document.  Clients MUST ignore type names they do not recognise.

   *  supportedDigestAlgorithms: "String[]"

      An array of supported digest algorithms that are supported for
      Blob/get.  If the server does not support calculating blob
      digests, then this will be the empty list.  Algorithms in this
      list MUST be present in the "HTTP Digest Algorithm Values"
      registry defined by [RFC3230]; however, in JMAP, they must be
      lowercased, e.g., "md5" rather than "MD5".

      Clients SHOULD prefer algorithms listed earlier in this list.

3.1.1.  Capability Example

   {
     "capabilities": {
       ...,
       "urn:ietf:params:jmap:blob": {}
     },
     "accounts": {
       "A13842": {
         ...
         "accountCapabilities": {
           "urn:ietf:params:jmap:blob": {
             "maxSizeBlobSet": 50000000,
             "maxDataSources": 100,
             "supportedTypeNames" : [
               "Mailbox",
               "Thread",
               "Email"
             ],
             "supportedDigestAlgorithms" : [
               "sha",
               "sha-256"
             ]
           }
         }
       }
     }
   }

4.  Blob Methods

   A blob is a sequence of zero or more octets.

   JMAP [RFC8620] defines the Blob/copy method, which is unchanged by
   this specification and is selected by the urn:ietf:params:jmap:core
   capability.

   The following JMAP methods are selected by the
   urn:ietf:params:jmap:blob capability.

4.1.  Blob/upload

   This is similar to a Foo/set in [RFC8620] in some ways.  However,
   blobs cannot be updated or deleted, so only create is allowed in the
   method call.  Also, blobs do not have state, so there is no state
   field present in the method response.

   *Parameters*

   *  accountId: "Id"

      The id of the account in which the blobs will be created.

   *  create: "Id[UploadObject]"

      A map of creation id to UploadObjects.

   *Result*

   The result is the same as for Foo/set in [RFC8620], with created and
   notCreated objects mapping from the creation id.

   The created objects contain:

   *  id: "Id"

      The blobId that was created.

   *  type: "String|null"

      The media type as given in the creation (if any).  If not
      provided, the server MAY perform content analysis and return one
      of the following: the calculated value, "application/octet-
      string", or null.

   *  size: "UnsignedInt"

      As per [RFC8620], the size of the created blob in octets.

   The created objects will also contain any other properties identical
   to those that would be returned in the JSON response of the upload
   endpoint described in [RFC8620].  This may be extended in the future;
   in this document, it is anticipated that implementations will extend
   both the upload endpoint and the Blob/upload responses in the same
   way.

   If there is a problem with a creation, then the server will return a
   notCreated response with a map from the failed creation id to a
   SetError object.

   For each successful upload, servers MUST add an entry to the
   createdIds map ([RFC8620], Section 3.3) for the request; even if the
   caller did not explicitly pass a createdIds, the value must be
   available to later methods defined in the same Request Object.  This
   allows the blobId to be used via back-reference in subsequent method
   calls.

   The created blob will have the same lifetime and same expiry
   semantics as any other binary object created via the mechanism
   specified in [RFC8620], Section 6.

   Uploads using this mechanism will be restricted by the maxUploadSize
   limit for JMAP requests specified by the server, and clients SHOULD
   consider using the upload mechanism defined by [RFC8620] for blobs
   larger than a megabyte.

   *UploadObject*

   *  data: "DataSourceObject[]"

      An array of zero or more octet sources in order (zero to create an
      empty blob).  The result of each of these sources is concatenated
      in order to create the blob.

   *  type: "String|null" (default: null)

      A hint for media type of the data.

   *DataSourceObject*

   Exactly one of:

   *  data:asText: "String|null" (raw octets, must be UTF-8)

   *  data:asBase64: "String|null" (base64 representation of octets)

   or a blobId source:

   *  blobId: "Id"

   *  offset: "UnsignedInt|null" (MAY be zero)

   *  length: "UnsignedInt|null" (MAY be zero)

   If null, then offset is assumed to be zero.

   If null, then length is the remaining octets in the blob.

   If the range cannot be fully satisfied (i.e., it begins or extends
   past the end of the data in the blob), then the DataSourceObject is
   invalid and results in a notCreated response for this creation id.

   If the data properties have any invalid references or invalid data
   contained in them, the server MUST NOT guess the user's intent and
   MUST reject the creation and return a notCreated response for that
   creation id.

   Likewise, invalid characters in the base64 of data:asBase64 or
   invalid UTF-8 in data:asText MUST result in a notCreated response.

   It is envisaged that the definition for DataSourceObject might be
   extended in the future, for example, to fetch external content.

   A server MUST accept at least 64 DataSourceObjects per create, as
   described in Section 3.1 of this document.

4.1.1.  Blob/upload Simple Example

   The data:asBase64 field is set over multiple lines for ease of
   publication here; however, the entire data:asBase64 field would be
   sent as a continuous string with no wrapping on the wire.

   Method Call:

   [
    "Blob/upload",
    {
     "accountId": "account1",
     "create": {
      "1": {
       "data" : [
       {
        "data:asBase64": "iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABAQMAAAAl21bKA
                          AAAA1BMVEX/AAAZ4gk3AAAAAXRSTlN/gFy0ywAAAApJRE
                          FUeJxjYgAAAAYAAzY3fKgAAAAASUVORK5CYII="
       }
      ],
      "type": "image/png"
      }
     }
    },
    "R1"
   ]

   Response:

   [
     "Blob/upload",
     {
       "accountId" : "account1",
       "created" : {
         "1": {
           "id" : "G4c6751edf9dd6903ff54b792e432fba781271beb",
           "type" : "image/png",
           "size" : 95
         }
       }
     },
     "R1"
   ]

4.1.2.  Blob/upload Complex Example

   Method Calls:

   [
    [
     "Blob/upload",
     {
      "create": {
       "b4": {
        "data": [
         {
          "data:asText": "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog."
         }
       ]
      }
     }
    },
    "S4"
   ],
   [
     "Blob/upload",
     {
      "create": {
        "cat": {
          "data": [
            {
              "data:asText": "How"
            },
            {
              "blobId": "#b4",
              "length": 7,
              "offset": 3
            },
            {
              "data:asText": "was t"
            },
            {
              "blobId": "#b4",
              "length": 1,
              "offset": 1
            },
            {
              "data:asBase64": "YXQ/"
            }
          ]
        }
      }
     },
     "CAT"
   ],
   [
     "Blob/get",
     {
      "properties": [
        "data:asText",
        "size"
      ],
      "ids": [
        "#cat"
      ]
     },
     "G4"
    ]
   ]

   Responses:

   [
     [
       "Blob/upload",
       {
         "oldState": null,
         "created": {
           "b4": {
             "id": "Gc0854fb9fb03c41cce3802cb0d220529e6eef94e",
             "size": 45,
             "type": "application/octet-stream"
           }
         },
         "notCreated": null,
         "accountId": "account1"
       },
       "S4"
     ],
     [
       "Blob/upload",
       {
         "oldState": null,
         "created": {
           "cat": {
             "id": "Gcc60576f036321ae6e8037ffc56bdee589bd3e23",
             "size": 19,
             "type": "application/octet-stream"
           }
         },
         "notCreated": null,
         "accountId": "account1"
       },
       "CAT"
     ],
     [
       "Blob/get",
       {
         "list": [
           {
             "id": "Gcc60576f036321ae6e8037ffc56bdee589bd3e23",
             "data:asText": "How quick was that?",
             "size": 19
           }
         ],
         "notFound": [],
         "accountId": "account1"
       },
       "G4"
     ]
   ]

4.2.  Blob/get

   A standard JMAP get, with two additional optional parameters:

   *  offset: "UnsignedInt|null"

      Start this many octets into the blob data.  If null or
      unspecified, this defaults to zero.

   *  length: "UnsignedInt|null"

      Return at most this many octets of the blob data.  If null or
      unspecified, then all remaining octets in the blob are returned.
      This can be considered equivalent to an infinitely large length
      value, except that the isTruncated warning is not given unless the
      start offset is past the end of the blob.

   *Request Properties:*

   Any of:

   *  data:asText

   *  data:asBase64

   *  data (returns data:asText if the selected octets are valid UTF-8
      or data:asBase64)

   *  digest:<algorithm> (where <algorithm> is one of the named
      algorithms in the supportedDigestAlgorithms capability)

   *  size

   If not given, the properties default to data and size.

   *Result Properties:*

   *  data:asText: "String|null"

      The raw octets of the selected range if they are valid UTF-8;
      otherwise, null.

   *  data:asBase64: "String"

      The base64 encoding of the octets in the selected range.

   *  digest:<algorithm>: "String"

      The base64 encoding of the digest of the octets in the selected
      range, calculated using the named algorithm.

   *  isEncodingProblem: "Boolean" (default: false)

   *  isTruncated: "Boolean" (default: false)

   *  size: "UnsignedInt"

      The number of octets in the entire blob.

   The size value MUST always be the number of octets in the underlying
   blob, regardless of offset and length.

   The data fields contain a representation of the octets within the
   selected range that are present in the blob.  If the octets selected
   are not valid UTF-8 (including truncating in the middle of a multi-
   octet sequence) and data or data:asText was requested, then the key
   isEncodingProblem MUST be set to true, and the data:asText response
   value MUST be null.  In the case where data was requested and the
   data is not valid UTF-8, then data:asBase64 MUST be returned.

   If the selected range requests data outside the blob (i.e., the
   offset+length is larger than the blob), then the result is either
   just the octets from the offset to the end of the blob or an empty
   string if the offset is past the end of the blob.  Either way, the
   isTruncated property in the result MUST be set to true to tell the
   client that the requested range could not be fully satisfied.  If
   digest was requested, any digest is calculated on the octets that
   would be returned for a data field.

   Servers SHOULD store the size for blobs in a format that is efficient
   to read, and clients SHOULD limit their request to just the size
   parameter if that is all they need, as fetching blob content could be
   significantly more expensive and slower for the server.

4.2.1.  Blob/get Simple Example

   In this example, a blob containing the string "The quick brown fox
   jumped over the lazy dog." has blobId
   Gc0854fb9fb03c41cce3802cb0d220529e6eef94e.

   The first method call requests just the size for multiple blobs, and
   the second requests both the size and a short range of the data for
   one of the blobs.

   Method Calls:

   [
     [
       "Blob/get",
       {
         "accountId" : "account1",
         "ids" : [
           "Gc0854fb9fb03c41cce3802cb0d220529e6eef94e",
           "not-a-blob"
         ],
         "properties" : [
           "data:asText",
           "digest:sha",
           "size"
         ]
       },
       "R1"
     ],
     [
       "Blob/get",
       {
         "accountId" : "account1",
         "ids" : [
           "Gc0854fb9fb03c41cce3802cb0d220529e6eef94e"
         ],
         "properties" : [
           "data:asText",
           "digest:sha",
           "digest:sha-256",
           "size"
         ],
         "offset" : 4,
         "length" : 9
       },
       "R2"
     ]
   ]

   Responses:

   [
    [
     "Blob/get",
     {
      "accountId": "account1",
      "list": [
       {
        "id": "Gc0854fb9fb03c41cce3802cb0d220529e6eef94e",
        "data:asText": "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.",
        "digest:sha": "wIVPufsDxBzOOALLDSIFKebu+U4=",
        "size": 45
       }
     ],
     "notFound": [
      "not-a-blob"
     ]
    },
    "R1"
   ],
   [
    "Blob/get",
    {
     "accountId": "account1",
     "list": [
      {
       "id": "Gc0854fb9fb03c41cce3802cb0d220529e6eef94e",
       "data:asText": "quick bro",
       "digest:sha": "QiRAPtfyX8K6tm1iOAtZ87Xj3Ww=",
       "digest:sha-256": "gdg9INW7lwHK6OQ9u0dwDz2ZY/gubi0En0xlFpKt0OA=",
       "size": 45
       }
      ]
     },
     "R2"
    ]
   ]

4.2.2.  Blob/get Example with Range and Encoding Errors

   The b1 value is the text "The quick brown fox jumped over the
   \x81\x81 dog.", which contains an invalid UTF-8 sequence.

   The results have the following properties:

   *  G1: Defaults to data and size, so b1 returns isEncodingProblem and
      a base64 value.

   *  G2: Since data:asText was explicitly selected, does not attempt to
      return a value for the data, just isEncodingProblem for b1.

   *  G3: Since only data:asBase64 was requested, there is no encoding
      problem, and both values are returned.

   *  G4: Since the requested range could be satisfied as text, both
      blobs are returned as data:asText, and there is no encoding
      problem.

   *  G5: Both blobs cannot satisfy the requested range, so isTruncated
      is true for both.

      |  Note: Some values have been wrapped for line length.  There
      |  would be no wrapping in the data:asBase64 values on the wire.

   Method Calls:

   [
     [
       "Blob/upload",
       {
         "create": {
           "b1": {
             "data": [
               {
                 "data:asBase64": "VGhlIHF1aWNrIGJyb3duIGZveCBqdW1wZW
                                   Qgb3ZlciB0aGUggYEgZG9nLg=="
               }
             ]
           },
           "b2": {
             "data": [
               {
                 "data:asText": "hello world"
               }
             ],
             "type" : "text/plain"
           }
         }
       },
       "S1"
     ],
     [
       "Blob/get",
       {
         "ids": [
           "#b1",
           "#b2"
         ]
       },
       "G1"
     ],
     [
       "Blob/get",
       {
         "ids": [
           "#b1",
           "#b2"
         ],
         "properties": [
           "data:asText",
           "size"
         ]
       },
       "G2"
     ],
     [
       "Blob/get",
       {
         "ids": [
           "#b1",
           "#b2"
         ],
         "properties": [
           "data:asBase64",
           "size"
         ]
       },
       "G3"
     ],
     [
       "Blob/get",
       {
         "offset": 0,
         "length": 5,
         "ids": [
           "#b1",
           "#b2"
         ]
       },
       "G4"
     ],
     [
       "Blob/get",
       {
         "offset": 20,
         "length": 100,
         "ids": [
           "#b1",
           "#b2"
         ]
       },
       "G5"
     ]
   ]

   Responses:

   [
     [
       "Blob/upload",
       {
         "oldState": null,
         "created": {
           "b2": {
             "id": "G2aae6c35c94fcfb415dbe95f408b9ce91ee846ed",
             "size": 11,
             "type": "application/octet-stream"
           },
           "b1": {
             "id": "G72cfa4804194563685d9a4b695f7ba20e7739576",
             "size": 43,
             "type": "text/plain"
           }
         },
         "updated": null,
         "destroyed": null,
         "notCreated": null,
         "notUpdated": null,
         "notDestroyed": null,
         "accountId": "account1"
       },
       "S1"
     ],
     [
       "Blob/get",
       {
         "list": [
           {
             "id": "G72cfa4804194563685d9a4b695f7ba20e7739576",
             "isEncodingProblem": true,
             "data:asBase64": "VGhlIHF1aWNrIGJyb3duIGZveCBqdW1wZW
                               Qgb3ZlciB0aGUggYEgZG9nLg==",
             "size": 43
           },
           {
             "id": "G2aae6c35c94fcfb415dbe95f408b9ce91ee846ed",
             "data:asText": "hello world",
             "size": 11
           }
         ],
         "notFound": [],
         "accountId": "account1"
       },
       "G1"
     ],
     [
       "Blob/get",
       {
         "list": [
           {
             "id": "G72cfa4804194563685d9a4b695f7ba20e7739576",
             "isEncodingProblem": true,
             "size": 43
           },
           {
             "id": "G2aae6c35c94fcfb415dbe95f408b9ce91ee846ed",
             "data:asText": "hello world",
             "size": 11
           }
         ],
         "notFound": [],
         "accountId": "account1"
       },
       "G2"
     ],
     [
       "Blob/get",
       {
         "list": [
           {
             "id": "G72cfa4804194563685d9a4b695f7ba20e7739576",
             "data:asBase64": "VGhlIHF1aWNrIGJyb3duIGZveCBqdW1wZW
                               Qgb3ZlciB0aGUggYEgZG9nLg==",
             "size": 43
           },
           {
             "id": "G2aae6c35c94fcfb415dbe95f408b9ce91ee846ed",
             "data:asBase64": "aGVsbG8gd29ybGQ=",
             "size": 11
           }
         ],
         "notFound": [],
         "accountId": "account1"
       },
       "G3"
     ],
     [
       "Blob/get",
       {
         "list": [
           {
             "id": "G72cfa4804194563685d9a4b695f7ba20e7739576",
             "data:asText": "The q",
             "size": 43
           },
           {
             "id": "G2aae6c35c94fcfb415dbe95f408b9ce91ee846ed",
             "data:asText": "hello",
             "size": 11
           }
         ],
         "notFound": [],
         "accountId": "account1"
       },
       "G4"
     ],
     [
       "Blob/get",
       {
         "list": [
           {
             "id": "G72cfa4804194563685d9a4b695f7ba20e7739576",
             "isTruncated": true,
             "isEncodingProblem": true,
             "data:asBase64": "anVtcGVkIG92ZXIgdGhlIIGBIGRvZy4=",
             "size": 43
           },
           {
             "id": "G2aae6c35c94fcfb415dbe95f408b9ce91ee846ed",
             "isTruncated": true,
             "data:asText": "",
             "size": 11
           }
         ],
         "notFound": [],
         "accountId": "account1"
       },
       "G5"
     ]
   ]

4.3.  Blob/lookup

   Given a list of blobIds, this method does a reverse lookup in each of
   the provided type names to find the list of Ids within that data type
   that reference the provided blob.

   Since different datatypes will have different semantics of
   "contains", the definition of "reference" is somewhat loose but
   roughly means "you could discover this blobId by looking at this
   object or at other objects recursively contained within this object".

   For example, with a server that supports [RFC8621], if a Mailbox
   references a blob and if any Emails within that Mailbox reference the
   blobId, then the Mailbox references that blobId.  For any Thread that
   references an Email that references a blobId, it can be said that the
   Thread references the blobId.

   However, this does not mean that if an Email references a Mailbox in
   its mailboxIds property, then any blobId referenced by other Emails
   in that Mailbox are also referenced by the initial Email.

   *Parameters*

   *  accountId: "Id"

      The id of the account used for the call.

   *  typeNames: "String[]"

      A list of names from the "JMAP Data Types" registry or defined by
      private extensions that the client has requested.  Only names for
      which "Can reference blobs" is true may be specified, and the
      capability that defines each type must also be used by the overall
      JMAP request in which this method is called.

      If a type name is not known by the server, or the associated
      capability has not been requested, then the server returns an
      "unknownDataType" error.

   *  ids: "Id[]"

      A list of blobId values to be looked for.

   *Response*

   *  list: "BlobInfo[]"

      A list of BlobInfo objects.

   *BlobInfo Object*

   *  id: "Id"

      The blobId.

   *  matchedIds: "String[Id[]]"

      A map from type name to a list of Ids of that data type (e.g., the
      name "Email" maps to a list of emailIds).

   If a blob is not visible to a user or does not exist on the server at
   all, then the server MUST still return an empty array for each type
   as this doesn't leak any information about whether the blob is on the
   server but not visible to the requesting user.

4.3.1.  Blob/lookup Example

   Method Call:

   [
     "Blob/lookup",
     {
       "typeNames": [
         "Mailbox",
         "Thread",
         "Email"
       ],
       "ids": [
         "Gd2f81008cf07d2425418f7f02a3ca63a8bc82003",
         "not-a-blob"
       ]
     },
     "R1"
   ]

   Response:

   [
     "Blob/lookup",
     {
       "list": [
         {
           "id": "Gd2f81008cf07d2425418f7f02a3ca63a8bc82003",
           "matchedIds": {
             "Mailbox": [
               "M54e97373",
               "Mcbe6b662"
             ],
             "Thread": [
               "T1530616e"
             ],
             "Email": [
               "E16e70a73eb4",
               "E84b0930cf16"
             ]
           }
         }
       ],
       "notFound": [
         "not-a-blob"
       ]
     },
     "R1"
   ]

5.  Security Considerations

   All security considerations for JMAP [RFC8620] apply to this
   specification.  Additional considerations specific to the data types
   and functionality introduced by this document are described here.

   JSON parsers are not all consistent in handling non-UTF-8 data.  JMAP
   requires that all JSON data be UTF-8 encoded, so servers MUST only
   return a null value if data:asText is requested for a range of octets
   that is not valid UTF-8 and set isEncodingProblem: true.

   Servers MUST apply any access controls, such that if the
   authenticated user would be unable to discover the blobId by making
   queries, then this fact cannot be discovered via a Blob/lookup.  For
   example, if an Email exists in a Mailbox that the authenticated user
   does not have access to see, then that emailId MUST NOT be returned
   in a lookup for a blob that is referenced by that email.

   The server MUST NOT trust that the data given to a Blob/upload is a
   well-formed instance of the specified media type.  Also, if the
   server attempts to parse the given blob, only hardened parsers
   designed to deal with arbitrary untrusted data should be used.  The
   server SHOULD NOT reject data on the grounds that it is not a valid
   specimen of the stated type.

   With carefully chosen data sources, Blob/upload can be used to
   recreate dangerous content on the far side of security scanners
   (anti-virus or exfiltration scanners, for example) that may be
   watching the upload endpoint.  Server implementations SHOULD provide
   a hook to allow security scanners to check the resulting blob after
   concatenating the data sources in the same way that they do for the
   upload endpoint.

   Digest algorithms can be expensive for servers to calculate.  Servers
   that share resources between multiple users should track resource
   usage by clients and rate-limit expensive operations to avoid
   resource starvation.

6.  IANA Considerations

6.1.  JMAP Capability Registration for "blob"

   IANA has registered the "blob" JMAP capability as follows:

   Capability Name:  urn:ietf:params:jmap:blob
   Specification document:  RFC 9404
   Intended use:  common
   Change Controller:  IETF
   Security and privacy considerations:  RFC 9404, Section 5

6.2.  JMAP Error Codes Registration for "unknownDataType"

   IANA has registered the "unknownDataType" JMAP error code as follows:

   JMAP Error Code:  unknownDataType
   Intended use:  common
   Change Controller:  IETF
   Reference:  RFC 9404
   Description:  The server does not recognise this data type, or the
      capability to enable it is not present in the current Request
      Object.

6.3.  Creation of "JMAP Data Types" Registry

   IANA has created a new registry called "JMAP Data Types".  Table 1
   shows the initial contents of this new registry.

   +================+=====+=======+=========================+=========+
   |Type Name       |Can  |Can Use|Capability               |Reference|
   |                |Ref  |for    |                         |         |
   |                |Blobs|State  |                         |         |
   |                |     |Change |                         |         |
   +================+=====+=======+=========================+=========+
   |Core            |No   |No     |urn:ietf:params:jmap:core|[RFC8620]|
   +----------------+-----+-------+-------------------------+---------+
   |PushSubscription|No   |No     |urn:ietf:params:jmap:core|[RFC8620]|
   +----------------+-----+-------+-------------------------+---------+
   |Mailbox         |Yes  |Yes    |urn:ietf:params:jmap:mail|[RFC8621]|
   +----------------+-----+-------+-------------------------+---------+
   |Thread          |Yes  |Yes    |urn:ietf:params:jmap:mail|[RFC8621]|
   +----------------+-----+-------+-------------------------+---------+
   |Email           |Yes  |Yes    |urn:ietf:params:jmap:mail|[RFC8621]|
   +----------------+-----+-------+-------------------------+---------+
   |EmailDelivery   |No   |Yes    |urn:ietf:params:jmap:mail|[RFC8621]|
   +----------------+-----+-------+-------------------------+---------+
   |SearchSnippet   |No   |No     |urn:ietf:params:jmap:mail|[RFC8621]|
   +----------------+-----+-------+-------------------------+---------+
   |Identity        |No   |Yes    |urn:ietf:params:jmap:    |[RFC8621]|
   |                |     |       |submission               |         |
   +----------------+-----+-------+-------------------------+---------+
   |EmailSubmission |No   |Yes    |urn:ietf:params:jmap:    |[RFC8621]|
   |                |     |       |submission               |         |
   +----------------+-----+-------+-------------------------+---------+
   |VacationResponse|No   |Yes    |urn:ietf:params:jmap:    |[RFC8621]|
   |                |     |       |vacationresponse         |         |
   +----------------+-----+-------+-------------------------+---------+
   |MDN             |No   |No     |urn:ietf:params:jmap:mdn |[RFC9007]|
   +----------------+-----+-------+-------------------------+---------+

                                 Table 1

   The registration policy for this registry is "Specification Required"
   [RFC8126].  Either an RFC or a similarly stable reference document
   defines a JMAP Data Type and associated capability.

   IANA will appoint designated experts to review requests for additions
   to this registry, with guidance to allow any registration that
   provides a stable document describing the capability and control over
   the URI namespace to which the capability URI points.

7.  References

7.1.  Normative References

   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>.

   [RFC3230]  Mogul, J. and A. Van Hoff, "Instance Digests in HTTP",
              RFC 3230, DOI 10.17487/RFC3230, January 2002,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3230>.

   [RFC4648]  Josefsson, S., "The Base16, Base32, and Base64 Data
              Encodings", RFC 4648, DOI 10.17487/RFC4648, October 2006,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4648>.

   [RFC8174]  Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
              2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,
              May 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8174>.

   [RFC8620]  Jenkins, N. and C. Newman, "The JSON Meta Application
              Protocol (JMAP)", RFC 8620, DOI 10.17487/RFC8620, July
              2019, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8620>.

7.2.  Informative References

   [RFC7888]  Melnikov, A., Ed., "IMAP4 Non-synchronizing Literals",
              RFC 7888, DOI 10.17487/RFC7888, May 2016,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7888>.

   [RFC8126]  Cotton, M., Leiba, B., and T. Narten, "Guidelines for
              Writing an IANA Considerations Section in RFCs", BCP 26,
              RFC 8126, DOI 10.17487/RFC8126, June 2017,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8126>.

   [RFC8621]  Jenkins, N. and C. Newman, "The JSON Meta Application
              Protocol (JMAP) for Mail", RFC 8621, DOI 10.17487/RFC8621,
              August 2019, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8621>.

   [RFC9007]  Ouazana, R., Ed., "Handling Message Disposition
              Notification with the JSON Meta Application Protocol
              (JMAP)", RFC 9007, DOI 10.17487/RFC9007, March 2021,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9007>.

Acknowledgements

   Joris Baum, Jim Fenton, Neil Jenkins, Alexey Melnikov, Ken Murchison,
   Robert Stepanek, and the JMAP Working Group in the IETF.

Author's Address

   Bron Gondwana (editor)
   Fastmail
   Level 2, 114 William St
   Melbourne VIC 3000
   Australia
   Email: brong@fastmailteam.com
   URI:   https://www.fastmail.com

AI ELI5

On this page
PROBLEMThe base JMAP protocol handles binary data (blobs) only through separate HTTP upload and download endpoints, which costs extra round trips, and it gives no way to find which objects reference a blob.
MECHANISMThe extension adds Blob/upload to create blobs from inline text, base64 or slices of other blobs, Blob/get to read blobs with ranges and digests, and Blob/lookup to find the objects that reference a blob.
WHY IT MATTERSClients can create and fetch blob data within a standard JMAP request, and systems that proxy JMAP can discover blob references. It is a Proposed Standard that updates RFC 8620.

§1Why Blob Methods

The JMAP base protocol (RFC 8620) lets clients upload and download arbitrary binary data, called blobs, with HTTP POST and GET on a defined endpoint. Sometimes an interaction needs to create a blob and then reference it. Just as IMAP literals were extended by RFC 7888, embedding small blobs directly in the JMAP method calls array can reduce round trips. Fetching an object together with its raw content can likewise save a round trip.

Because blobs can hold arbitrary binary data, the document uses base64 coding (RFC 4648) for both creating and fetching blob data. When JMAP is proxied through a system that applies extra access restrictions, it can also help to know which objects reference a particular blob, so the document defines a way to discover that.

Normally a mail program uses a special door to hand over files. This extension lets it pass small files in the same message it already sends, which is quicker.

§3The Blob Capability

Support is announced with the capability urn:ietf:params:jmap:blob. A server that lists it in any account's accountCapabilities MUST also list it in the session capabilities, where its value MUST be an empty object.

Inside an account, the value is an object with four properties:

  • maxSizeBlobSet: the largest blob in octets the server will create, or null for no stated limit. Clients MUST NOT try to create bigger blobs.
  • maxDataSources: the most data sources allowed in one creation. Servers MUST allow at least 64.
  • supportedTypeNames: data types supported for Blob/lookup, empty if lookups are not supported. Clients MUST ignore names they do not recognise.
  • supportedDigestAlgorithms: algorithms for Blob/get digests, drawn from the HTTP Digest registry of RFC 3230 but lowercased, such as md5. Clients SHOULD prefer algorithms listed earlier.

Before using the new features, the program asks the server what it can do: the biggest file it takes, how many pieces it can glue together, and which checks it can run.

§4.1Blob/upload: Creating Blobs

Blob/upload resembles Foo/set from RFC 8620, but blobs cannot be updated or deleted, so only create is allowed, and there is no state in the response. Each creation id maps to an UploadObject with a data array of sources and an optional type hint for the media type. The sources are concatenated in order to build the blob, and an empty array creates an empty blob.

Each source is exactly one of data:asText (raw octets, which must be UTF-8), data:asBase64, or a blobId with optional offset and length to copy a slice of an existing blob. A range that begins or extends past the end of the blob makes that source invalid and yields a notCreated response. The server MUST NOT guess the user's intent about invalid references or data, and invalid base64 or invalid UTF-8 MUST result in notCreated.

A successful creation returns id, type and size. The server MUST add the new id to the request's createdIds map, so later calls in the same request can use it by back-reference. Created blobs have the same lifetime and expiry as blobs from the upload endpoint, and uploads are limited by the server's maxUploadSize for JMAP requests, so clients SHOULD consider the regular upload mechanism for blobs larger than a megabyte.

You can build a new file by gluing pieces together: some typed text, some coded data, and cut-outs from files you already have. If any piece is bad, the server refuses the whole new file instead of guessing.

§4.2Blob/get: Reading Blobs

Blob/get is a standard JMAP get with two extra optional parameters, offset and length, to read part of a blob. The properties you can request are data:asText, data:asBase64, data (text if the selected octets are valid UTF-8, otherwise base64), digest:<algorithm> and size. If none are given, the defaults are data and size.

size is always the number of octets in the whole blob, whatever the range. If text was requested for octets that are not valid UTF-8, including a cut in the middle of a multi-octet sequence, the server MUST set isEncodingProblem to true and return null for data:asText. If data was requested, it MUST return data:asBase64 instead. If the range goes outside the blob, the server returns what exists, or an empty string if the offset is past the end, and MUST set isTruncated to true.

Servers SHOULD store blob sizes in a form that is cheap to read, and clients SHOULD ask for just size if that is all they need, since fetching content can be much more expensive.

When you ask for a file, you can ask for just a slice, or just how big it is. If the slice is not readable as text, the server says so and hands over the coded version.

BLOB/GET RESULT FLAGS
  • isEncodingProblemSelected octets are not valid UTF-8, so data:asText is null.
  • isTruncatedThe requested range could not be fully satisfied.
  • sizeAlways the octets in the whole blob, regardless of range.
  • digest:algorithmBase64 digest of the selected octets, using a supported algorithm.

§4.3Blob/lookup: Finding References

Blob/lookup takes a list of blob ids and a list of type names, and does a reverse lookup: for each type, which objects reference each blob. Only types for which the "Can reference blobs" column of the registry is true may be named, and the capability defining each type must be used in the same request. An unknown type name, or one whose capability was not requested, gets an unknownDataType error.

The notion of reference is loose: roughly, you could discover the blob id by looking at that object or at objects recursively contained in it. With RFC 8621 mail, a Mailbox references a blob if any Email in it does, and a Thread references it if an Email in the Thread does. The reverse does not hold: an Email that points to a Mailbox does not thereby reference blobs of the other Emails there.

The response is a list of BlobInfo objects, each with the blob id and a matchedIds map from type name to a list of object ids. If a blob does not exist or is not visible to the user, the server MUST still return an empty array for each type, so nothing leaks about whether the blob exists.

This is like asking, 'which folders and conversations use this picture?'. If you are not allowed to see the answer, the server just says 'none', so you cannot tell whether the picture even exists.

§5Security Considerations

All security considerations of RFC 8620 apply. Because JMAP requires UTF-8 JSON, servers MUST return null for data:asText on non-UTF-8 ranges and set isEncodingProblem. Access controls MUST also apply to lookups: if the user could not discover a blob id by making queries, a Blob/lookup must not reveal it, so an Email in a Mailbox the user cannot see MUST NOT be returned.

Servers MUST NOT trust that uploaded data is a well-formed instance of the stated media type, SHOULD NOT reject data merely for not being a valid specimen, and should use only hardened parsers if they parse it. Since carefully chosen data sources could recreate dangerous content past scanners watching the upload endpoint, servers SHOULD provide a hook for scanners to check the finished blob. Digests can be expensive, so servers sharing resources between users should track usage and rate-limit expensive operations.

The server must not believe labels on files, must let virus scanners check glued-together files, and must not tell people about things they are not allowed to see.

§6IANA Registrations

IANA registered the urn:ietf:params:jmap:blob capability with intended use common and registered the unknownDataType JMAP error code. It also created a new "JMAP Data Types" registry, with the policy "Specification Required" (RFC 8126).

The registry records, per data type, whether it can reference blobs, whether it can be used for state change, and the capability that defines it. Its initial contents cover Core, PushSubscription, Mailbox, Thread, Email, EmailDelivery, SearchSnippet, Identity, EmailSubmission, VacationResponse and MDN. Of these, only Mailbox, Thread and Email can reference blobs.

The rule book got a new page listing which kinds of things can point to files, and one new error message for 'I do not know that kind of thing'.

SELECTED ROWS OF THE JMAP DATA TYPES REGISTRY (RFC 9404 TABLE 1)
Type nameCan reference blobsCan use for state changeDefined in
CoreNoNoRFC 8620
Mailbox THIS RFCYesYesRFC 8621
Thread THIS RFCYesYesRFC 8621
Email THIS RFCYesYesRFC 8621
EmailDeliveryNoYesRFC 8621
MDNNoNoRFC 9007

§8References