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OSS Report: TracecatHQ/tracecat


Tracecat Project Advances with Key Integrations and Infrastructure Enhancements

Tracecat's recent development activities have focused on significant integration enhancements and infrastructure improvements, underscoring a commitment to expanding capabilities and streamlining deployment processes.

Tracecat is an open-source platform designed for security engineers, offering automation tools to simplify workflow creation and scaling. It serves as an alternative to commercial SOAR platforms like Tines and Splunk.

Over the past month, Tracecat has seen substantial progress in integrating new features and improving existing infrastructure. Notable pull requests include the migration of UDF integrations into templated actions (#404), which modernizes the integration approach, and the addition of Kubernetes manifests (#396) for easier deployment in cloud-native environments. The introduction of OAuth2 support (#401) enhances Tracecat's integration capabilities with services requiring secure authentication. These developments reflect a strategic focus on enhancing interoperability and user experience while maintaining robust community engagement through active issue discussions.

Recent Activity

Recent issues and pull requests reflect a concerted effort to enhance Tracecat's integration capabilities and deployment processes. The focus on templated actions (#404) and Kubernetes manifests (#396) suggests an emphasis on flexibility and ease of use, aligning with the project's goal of simplifying automation workflows.

Development Team Activity:

Daryl Lim (daryllimyt)

Chris Lo (topher-lo)

Ben (benacumen)

Kevin Robertson (acumen-kevinr)

Dependabot

The development team exhibits strong collaboration, particularly between Daryl Lim and Chris Lo, focusing on feature development and infrastructure improvements. Regular version releases indicate an iterative approach to development.

Of Note

  1. Templated Actions Migration (#404): A significant architectural improvement that enhances integration flexibility.
  2. Kubernetes Manifests Addition (#396): Facilitates easy deployment in containerized environments.
  3. OAuth2 Support Implementation (#401): Expands integration capabilities with secure authentication services.
  4. High Priority Issue on Kubernetes Readiness (#375): Remains unresolved, highlighting potential infrastructure challenges.
  5. Active Community Engagement: Users contribute ideas and solutions through GitHub issues, reflecting robust community involvement.

Quantified Reports

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Recent GitHub Issues Activity

Timespan Opened Closed Comments Labeled Milestones
7 Days 1 2 2 0 1
30 Days 7 5 20 1 1
90 Days 17 10 62 1 1
All Time 87 73 - - -

Like all software activity quantification, these numbers are imperfect but sometimes useful. Comments, Labels, and Milestones refer to those issues opened in the timespan in question.

Quantify commits



Quantified Commit Activity Over 30 Days

Developer Avatar Branches PRs Commits Files Changes
Daryl Lim 2 55/54/1 65 288 25490
Chris Lo 2 19/19/0 89 161 9751
Ben 1 4/4/0 4 9 325
Kevin Robertson (acumen-kevinr) 1 1/1/0 1 1 12
dependabot[bot] 1 1/1/0 1 1 2
lued (lued) 0 1/0/0 0 0 0
Jakob Steiner (kosmoz) 0 1/0/0 0 0 0
Jason Ostrom (iknowjason) 0 0/1/0 0 0 0
Christoph Enne (christophenne) 0 1/0/0 0 0 0

PRs: created by that dev and opened/merged/closed-unmerged during the period

Detailed Reports

Report On: Fetch issues



Recent Activity Analysis

The Tracecat project has recently maintained a steady flow of activity on GitHub, with 14 open issues currently documented. Notably, Issue #398 regarding additional actions for Jira integration was created just four days ago, indicating ongoing feature development and user engagement. A significant theme among the issues includes enhancements to integrations, particularly with tools like Kubernetes and CrowdStrike, which suggests a focus on improving interoperability and user experience. However, there are also critical issues related to documentation and error handling that remain unresolved, reflecting potential gaps in user support and system robustness.

Several issues exhibit patterns of urgency or complexity. For instance, Issue #375 on Kubernetes readiness has been marked as high priority but remains open for over two weeks, highlighting a possible delay in addressing critical infrastructure needs. Additionally, Issue #307 seeks user contributions to improve error messaging, suggesting that the current system may not adequately inform users about issues they encounter.

Issue Details

Most Recently Created Issues

  1. Issue #398: Additional actions in itsm/jira

    • Priority: Normal
    • Status: Open
    • Created: 4 days ago
    • Updated: 3 days ago
  2. Issue #375: Kubernetes readiness

    • Priority: High
    • Status: Open
    • Created: 15 days ago
    • Updated: 6 days ago
  3. Issue #371: [DOCS] Missing / outdated section on formulas

    • Priority: Normal
    • Status: Open
    • Created: 20 days ago
  4. Issue #342: [FEATURE IDEA] Add UI to show action if run_if is specified

    • Priority: Normal
    • Status: Open
    • Created: 26 days ago
  5. Issue #336: [FEATURE IDEA] Action to join results from multiple branches

    • Priority: Normal
    • Status: Open
    • Created: 27 days ago

Most Recently Updated Issues

  1. Issue #351: [FEATURE IDEA] Output reshaping built-in to action execution

    • Priority: Normal
    • Status: Closed
    • Created: 25 days ago
    • Updated: 1 day ago
  2. Issue #391: HTTP Request Timeout

    • Priority: High
    • Status: Closed
    • Created: 7 days ago
    • Updated: 7 days ago
  3. Issue #375: Kubernetes readiness

    • (See above)
  4. Issue #371: [DOCS] Missing / outdated section on formulas

    • (See above)
  5. Issue #300: [FEATURE REQUEST] Crowdstrike - Allow member CIDs to be specified in API calls

    • Priority: Normal
    • Status: Open
    • Created: 40 days ago

Summary of Key Issues:

  • The most recent issues reflect ongoing enhancements and integrations with other platforms.
  • There is a notable focus on improving documentation and user experience.
  • Critical infrastructure-related issues are still open and may require immediate attention.
  • The community appears engaged, with users actively contributing ideas and solutions through comments on various issues.

This analysis indicates that while the Tracecat project is progressing well with feature requests and community involvement, it must address critical infrastructure needs and improve its documentation to enhance overall user satisfaction and system reliability.

Report On: Fetch pull requests



Overview

The Tracecat project has a robust set of recent pull requests (PRs) that reflect ongoing enhancements, integrations, and maintenance efforts. The PRs range from feature additions like OAuth2 support in HTTP actions to infrastructure improvements such as adding persistence to EC2 stacks. This activity indicates a healthy development pace and responsiveness to community needs.

Summary of Pull Requests

Open Pull Requests

  • PR #404: Enhancements in integrations by migrating UDF integrations into templated actions. This PR is significant as it modernizes the integration approach within Tracecat, making it more flexible and maintainable.

  • PR #402: A CI/CD improvement that adds a workflow for publishing Glasskube manifests on tagging releases. This is crucial for automating deployment processes and ensuring consistency across environments.

  • PR #396: Adds Kubernetes manifests for Tracecat components, enabling installation via Glasskube. This PR is important for users looking to deploy Tracecat in Kubernetes environments easily.

  • PR #361: Introduces an integration with Sublime Email Security, expanding Tracecat's capabilities in email security automation.

  • PR #306: Tests on Python 3.13 release candidate, ensuring compatibility with the latest Python features and improvements.

  • PR #209: Adds workflow concurrency stress tests, which are vital for ensuring Tracecat can handle high loads and concurrent executions effectively.

Closed Pull Requests

  • PR #403: Merged recently, this PR introduces the first version of template actions, allowing for more complex workflows and better reusability of actions.

  • PR #401: Added support for OAuth2 flows in HTTP core actions, enhancing integration capabilities with services requiring OAuth2 authentication.

  • PR #400: Dropped elastic normalization and list alerts playbooks in favor of templated workflow actions, streamlining the integration process and reducing redundancy.

  • PR #399: Updated expectation API and added configurable input schema, improving the flexibility and usability of workflows.

  • PR #397: Bumped version to 0.10.2, indicating regular updates and maintenance of the project.

  • PR #395 & PR #394: Added playbooks for Limacharlie adversary emulation tutorial and JWT token getter to core HTTP action respectively, expanding Tracecat's functionality in threat intelligence and automation.

Analysis of Pull Requests

The recent PR activity in the Tracecat project showcases a strong focus on enhancing integrations, improving CI/CD processes, and expanding deployment options. The migration of UDF integrations into templated actions (#404) represents a significant architectural improvement, allowing for greater flexibility and easier maintenance. This aligns with the project's goal of simplifying workflow creation and scaling through both no-code and code-based automation tools.

The addition of Kubernetes manifests (#396) and improvements in CI/CD workflows (#402) highlight an effort to streamline deployment processes, making it easier for users to adopt Tracecat in various environments, including cloud-native setups. This is particularly important as organizations increasingly move towards containerized applications and microservices architectures.

Furthermore, the introduction of OAuth2 support (#401) and new integrations like Sublime Email Security (#361) demonstrate Tracecat's commitment to expanding its capabilities in security automation. These enhancements not only broaden the scope of what users can achieve with Tracecat but also improve its interoperability with other security tools and platforms.

The focus on testing (#306 & #209) indicates a proactive approach towards ensuring reliability and performance under load, which is critical for any automation platform operating in security contexts where uptime and accuracy are paramount.

Overall, the PR activity reflects a well-rounded development strategy that addresses immediate user needs through new features and integrations while also laying the groundwork for future scalability and robustness through architectural improvements and enhanced deployment options.

Report On: Fetch commits



Repo Commits Analysis

Development Team and Recent Activity

Team Members:

  • Daryl Lim (daryllimyt)

  • Chris Lo (topher-lo)

  • Ben (benacumen)

  • Kevin Robertson (acumen-kevinr)

  • Dependabot

Recent Activity Summary:

Daryl Lim (daryllimyt)

  • Recent Commits: 65 commits, 25,490 changes.
  • Key Activities:
    • Implemented features related to engine and UI improvements, including runtime environments for secrets and error message enhancements.
    • Collaborated with Chris Lo on various features, including the refactor of logging modules and improvements to workflow schedules.
    • Active in fixing bugs related to engine functionality and UI issues.

Chris Lo (topher-lo)

  • Recent Commits: 89 commits, 9,751 changes.
  • Key Activities:
    • Focused on infrastructure improvements, CI/CD enhancements, and integration features such as OAuth2 support.
    • Released multiple versions (0.11.0, 0.10.x series) and made significant contributions to documentation updates.
    • Collaborated with Daryl Lim on several features and fixes, including the addition of JWT token handling in HTTP actions.

Ben (benacumen)

  • Recent Commits: 4 commits, 325 changes.
  • Key Activities:
    • Contributed integration features for Jira and MongoDB, enhancing the platform's capabilities.
    • Collaborated with Chris Lo on integration-related tasks.

Kevin Robertson (acumen-kevinr)

  • Recent Commits: 1 commit, 12 changes.
  • Key Activities:
    • Updated HTTP handling in the core actions module.

Dependabot

  • Recent Activity:
    • Managed dependency updates with a focus on maintaining project health.

Patterns and Themes:

  1. Collaboration: There is a strong collaborative effort between Daryl Lim and Chris Lo, evident in co-authored commits and joint feature development.
  2. Feature Development Focus: The recent activity shows a significant emphasis on enhancing the engine's capabilities, improving user experience through UI updates, and expanding integrations with third-party services.
  3. Continuous Integration/Deployment Improvements: Chris Lo has been actively working on CI/CD processes, indicating a focus on streamlining development workflows.
  4. Version Releases: Regular version bumps suggest an iterative development process with ongoing feature additions and bug fixes.

Conclusions:

The development team is actively engaged in enhancing the Tracecat platform through collaborative efforts, focusing on both feature development and infrastructure improvements. The mix of new features and bug fixes indicates a responsive approach to user needs and project evolution.