Roadmap¶

This document outlines the future development plans for FastAPI Shield, helping both users and contributors understand where the project is headed.

Current Status¶

FastAPI Shield is currently in its early stages of development. The core functionality is stable, but there are many enhancements and features planned for future releases.

Version 0.2.0 (Next Release)¶

High Priority¶

Enhanced Type Handling
Support for more complex type annotations
Better error messages for type validation failures
Improved generics support
Expanded Integration
Deeper integration with Pydantic v2
Better support for FastAPI's dependency system
Documentation Improvements
Add more examples in the documentation
Improve API reference documentation

Medium Priority¶

Performance Optimization
Reduce overhead for shield validation
Optimize interceptor chain execution
Testing Enhancements
Expand test coverage
Add more integration tests with real-world scenarios

Version 0.3.0¶

High Priority¶

Cache System
Implement a caching system for validation results
Add configurable cache strategies
Aspect-Oriented Programming
Provide a more comprehensive AOP implementation
Enable aspect composition and inheritance
Annotation Plugins
Support for custom annotations that modify shield behavior
Plugin system for extending shield capabilities

Medium Priority¶

Shield Factories
More factory patterns for shield creation
Conditional shield generation based on context
Security Hardening
Enhanced protection against common security vulnerabilities
Input sanitization and validation utilities

Low Priority¶

Admin Interface
Optional admin dashboard for monitoring shield usage
Visual configuration of shields

Future Vision (1.0 and beyond)¶

Core Capabilities¶

Full Static Analysis Support
Deeper integration with static type checkers
Custom plugins for mypy, pyright, etc.
Framework Agnostic
Make core shield functionality usable outside of FastAPI
Adapters for other web frameworks
Machine Learning Integration
Anomaly detection in API usage patterns
ML-powered input validation

Ecosystem¶

Shield Library
Collection of pre-built shields for common use cases
Community-contributed shield repository
Enterprise Features
Advanced authentication and authorization patterns
Rate limiting and quota management
Compliance with security standards (OWASP, GDPR, etc.)
IDE Support
Better syntax highlighting and autocomplete for shields
Custom LSP for shield development

How to Contribute to the Roadmap¶

We welcome community input on our roadmap. If you have suggestions or would like to help implement any of these features:

Open an Issue: Share your ideas on GitHub issues
Start a Discussion: Propose major features or changes through discussions
Submit a PR: Implement features or improvements aligned with the roadmap

Prioritization Criteria¶

Features are prioritized based on:

User Impact: How many users will benefit from the feature
Strategic Alignment: How well it aligns with project goals
Implementation Complexity: Effort required vs. benefit
Community Interest: Level of interest from the community

Release Schedule¶

Minor Releases: Every 2-3 months
Patch Releases: As needed for bug fixes
Major Releases: When significant changes or features are ready

Breaking Changes¶

We follow these principles for breaking changes:

Minimize breaking changes whenever possible
Provide clear migration paths when breaking changes are necessary
Follow semver principles strictly
Use deprecation warnings before removing features

Experimental Features¶

Some features may be released as experimental before being finalized:

Experimental features will be clearly marked
APIs for experimental features may change between minor versions
Feedback is actively solicited for experimental features

Long-term Support¶

Once FastAPI Shield reaches 1.0:

We will establish a long-term support (LTS) policy
Major versions will receive security updates for at least 18 months
Deprecation notices will be given well in advance