Tine

Tine is a full‑stack, self‑hosted groupware platform built to provide enterprise‑grade collaboration tools—calendar, address book, email, tasks, file storage and more—while remaining open source under AGPLv3. From a developer standpoint, it exposes a REST‑ful API layer and a modular plugin architecture that allows deep customization of core services or the addition of entirely new features. The application is shipped as a collection of OCI images, making it straightforward to deploy in container orchestration environments (Docker Compose, Kubernetes) or on bare metal with minimal manual configuration.

Technical Stack

• Backend: PHP 8.x running on a web server (Apache or Nginx). The core codebase is organized into modules that implement business logic, database access, and API endpoints.
• Frameworks & Libraries: The project uses a lightweight MVC pattern with its own routing and ORM layer. It relies on Composer for dependency management, pulling in libraries such as Doctrine (for DB abstraction), SwiftMailer (or Symfony Mailer) for email handling, and a JWT library for authentication.
• Database: PostgreSQL is the primary data store, with support for MySQL/MariaDB as an alternative. The schema is generated via Doctrine migrations, and the ORM maps entity classes to tables.
• Frontend: A single‑page application built with Vue.js (or a similar reactive framework) communicates with the backend via JSON over HTTPS. The UI is modular, enabling developers to replace or extend components without touching the core.
• Search & Indexing: Optional integration with Elasticsearch or Solr for full‑text search across emails, contacts and documents.
• Containerization: OCI images for each service (web, database, mailer, scheduler) are available on Docker Hub (tinegroupware/tine-<service>). A pre‑built docker-compose.yml is provided in the docs, but developers can spin up services individually.

Core Capabilities & APIs

• REST API: Exposes CRUD operations for all core entities (contacts, events, mailboxes, tasks). Authentication is token‑based; OAuth2 support can be enabled via an extension.
• Webhooks: External systems can subscribe to events such as “event created” or “email received.”
• Plugin System: Developers can write PHP plugins that hook into lifecycle events (pre‑save, post‑delete) or add new modules. The plugin manager is accessible through the admin UI and via API, allowing dynamic enabling/disabling without redeploying.
• CLI Tools: A set of Artisan‑style commands for database migrations, cache clearing, and batch processing.
• Scripting Interface: A sandboxed PHP console (tine shell) lets developers prototype changes against a live instance.

Deployment & Infrastructure

Tine is designed for high‑availability deployments. Each OCI image can run in a replicated stateful set, with persistent volumes for data and logs. The web tier is stateless, enabling horizontal scaling behind a load balancer. PostgreSQL can be configured for streaming replication; optional use of PgBouncer or HAProxy provides connection pooling. For small installations, a single‑node Docker Compose setup suffices; for enterprise deployments, Kubernetes with Helm charts (available in the docs) is recommended. The AGPL license mandates that any modifications be released, which aligns well with open‑source hosting environments.

Integration & Extensibility

• LDAP/Active Directory: Built‑in authentication backends support SSO and user provisioning.
• OAuth2 / OIDC: External identity providers can be configured, facilitating integration with corporate SSO solutions.
• Email Routing: Custom SMTP servers or mail gateways can be plugged in, allowing integration with existing mail infrastructure.
• WebDAV & CalDAV: Standard protocols are supported, enabling clients like Thunderbird or mobile calendars to sync seamlessly.
• API Extensions: Developers can expose new endpoints by creating PHP classes that extend the base API controller, registering them in a routing file.
• Event Bus: A lightweight message bus (Redis Pub/Sub or RabbitMQ) can be used for inter‑service communication, useful for building microservices around Tine.

Developer Experience

The documentation portal (https://tine-docu.s3web.rz1.metaways.net) offers nightly builds, API references, and tutorial videos. The community is active on GitHub discussions, Matrix, Mastodon, and a dedicated issue tracker that separates community contributions from commercial support. The AGPL license encourages collaboration: contributors are expected to share enhancements, and the project maintains a clear contribution guide. Configuration is largely YAML/INI based, with environment variables overriding defaults in containers.

Use Cases

1. Enterprise Collaboration Suite – Replace proprietary office suites with a self‑hosted, open‑source alternative that integrates calendar, mail, tasks and file storage.
2. Secure Data Residency – Deploy on private clouds or on‑premise data centers where GDPR or other regulations prohibit cloud hosting.
3. Custom Workflow Automation – Build plugins that tie Tine events to CI/CD pipelines, ticketing systems (Jira), or IoT devices.
4. Hybrid Cloud – Run core services on Kubernetes while keeping legacy mail servers or LDAP directories in a separate environment, using Tine’s API to bridge the gap.

Advantages

• Full Open Source with AGPL