Add pluggable server-side TextFilter service (social.md §4 US-4)

Deterministic default (ListBasedTextFilter) backed by a configurable JSON
term list, with normalization (case-fold, leetspeak substitutions,
stripped punctuation/spacing between letters) so trivial evasion doesn't
slip through. Supports both reject (blocking) and redact (asterisk
replacement) modes. TextFilter is a Protocol, leaving an explicit
extension point for a future third-party moderation provider.

Standalone module, not wired into any router/endpoint -- sibling chat
tasks depend on this one. No DB/migration work.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01Y2FESCaMXeJpC9gSctiEeD

backend/app/services/text_filter.py

@@ -0,0 +1,304 @@
+"""Pluggable server-side text filtering, `docs/planning/social.md` §4/§5 (US-4).
+
+social.md §4 calls for a "Pluggable `TextFilter` interface with a
+deterministic default (profanity list + normalization) so it runs without
+external services; third-party hook later". This module is that interface
+plus the default implementation:
+
+- `TextFilter` is a `Protocol` -- the extension point. A future third-party
+  moderation provider (a paid API, an ML classifier, etc.) just needs to
+  implement `check(text) -> FilterResult`; nothing else in this module
+  needs to change, and callers depend on the protocol, not a concrete
+  class.
+- `ListBasedTextFilter` is the deterministic default: a configurable
+  term list (JSON file, see `text_filter_terms.json` next to this module)
+  matched against a normalized form of the input text so that trivial
+  evasion (case changes, leetspeak substitutions, and punctuation/spacing
+  inserted between letters) doesn't slip through.
+
+Nothing here talks to a database, an HTTP client, or the FastAPI app -- it
+is a pure, side-effect-free (aside from reading the term list file once, at
+construction) service so it can be unit tested in isolation. It is NOT
+wired into any router/endpoint by this task; that's for the chat feature
+tasks that depend on it (social.md §6) to do.
+
+Normalization approach
+-----------------------
+Matching naively against raw text misses "sh1t", "@ss", or "s.h.i.t". To
+catch these without a real tokenizer, every character of the input is
+independently normalized to at most one lowercase ASCII alphanumeric
+character (case-folded, then run through a small leetspeak substitution
+table); characters that don't reduce to `[a-z0-9]` (punctuation, spacing,
+symbols, non-ASCII) are dropped entirely rather than kept as separators.
+This collapses "s.h.i.t", "s h i t", and "SHIT" to the same normalized
+string ("shit") that a plain lowercase term list entry matches, while a
+side table (`index_map`) remembers which original character produced each
+surviving normalized character -- so a match found in the normalized
+string can still be translated back into a span of the *original* text for
+redaction.
+
+This is a deliberate precision/recall tradeoff common to list-based
+filters: stripping separators and folding leetspeak increases recall
+against evasion at the cost of occasionally matching a term inside an
+unrelated longer word (e.g. a 3-letter term inside a longer benign word).
+That tradeoff is exactly why this is pluggable -- a deployment that needs
+tighter precision can swap in a smarter `TextFilter` implementation behind
+the same protocol.
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import json
+import re
+from dataclasses import dataclass
+from enum import Enum
+from pathlib import Path
+from typing import Iterable, Protocol, runtime_checkable
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Public result / protocol
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+class FilterAction(str, Enum):
+    """What the caller should do with a checked message."""
+
+    ALLOW = "allow"
+    REDACT = "redact"
+    REJECT = "reject"
+
+
+@dataclass(frozen=True)
+class FilterResult:
+    """Outcome of running a piece of text through a `TextFilter`.
+
+    - `action`: ALLOW (no matches), REDACT (matches replaced in
+      `filtered_text`), or REJECT (matches found; the message should be
+      blocked -- callers should not persist/deliver it even though
+      `filtered_text` is populated for logging/audit purposes).
+    - `filtered_text`: the text to actually store/deliver. Equal to the
+      input for ALLOW and REJECT; has matched spans replaced for REDACT.
+    - `matched_terms`: the distinct matched terms (original, un-normalized
+      list entries), in first-occurrence order. Empty for ALLOW.
+    """
+
+    action: FilterAction
+    filtered_text: str
+    matched_terms: tuple[str, ...] = ()
+
+
+@runtime_checkable
+class TextFilter(Protocol):
+    """Extension point for text filtering/moderation providers.
+
+    Any implementation -- the deterministic default below, or a future
+    third-party service call -- just needs this one method.
+    """
+
+    def check(self, text: str) -> FilterResult:
+        """Check `text` and return the action to take plus filtered text."""
+        ...
+
+
+class FilterMode(str, Enum):
+    """Configures what `ListBasedTextFilter` does when it finds a match."""
+
+    REDACT = "redact"
+    REJECT = "reject"
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Normalization
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+# Common leetspeak / lookalike substitutions, applied after case-folding.
+# Keys are already-lowercased single characters.
+_LEET_MAP: dict[str, str] = {
+    "0": "o",
+    "1": "i",
+    "!": "i",
+    "3": "e",
+    "4": "a",
+    "@": "a",
+    "5": "s",
+    "$": "s",
+    "7": "t",
+    "+": "t",
+    "8": "b",
+    "|": "l",
+}
+
+_ALNUM_RE = re.compile(r"[a-z0-9]")
+
+
+def _normalize(text: str) -> tuple[str, list[int]]:
+    """Fold `text` to a lowercase-alnum-only string plus an index map.
+
+    Returns `(normalized, index_map)` where `index_map[i]` is the index
+    into the *original* `text` that produced `normalized[i]`. Characters
+    that don't reduce to a single `[a-z0-9]` character (punctuation,
+    whitespace, symbols, most non-ASCII) are dropped from both outputs.
+    """
+    normalized_chars: list[str] = []
+    index_map: list[int] = []
+    for i, ch in enumerate(text):
+        folded = ch.casefold()
+        # case-fold can expand to multiple characters for some unicode
+        # (e.g. German "ß" -> "ss"); such characters are not part of the
+        # leetspeak table and are not plain ascii alnum, so just skip them
+        # like any other non-matching character rather than guessing.
+        if len(folded) != 1:
+            continue
+        folded = _LEET_MAP.get(folded, folded)
+        if _ALNUM_RE.fullmatch(folded):
+            normalized_chars.append(folded)
+            index_map.append(i)
+    return "".join(normalized_chars), index_map
+
+
+def _normalize_term(term: str) -> str:
+    normalized, _ = _normalize(term)
+    return normalized
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Default term list loading
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+DEFAULT_TERMS_PATH = Path(__file__).with_name("text_filter_terms.json")
+
+
+def load_terms(path: Path | str | None = None) -> list[str]:
+    """Load a term list from a JSON file shaped `{"terms": [...]}`.
+
+    Any other top-level keys (e.g. `_readme`) are ignored. Defaults to the
+    bundled `text_filter_terms.json` next to this module.
+    """
+    resolved = Path(path) if path is not None else DEFAULT_TERMS_PATH
+    with resolved.open("r", encoding="utf-8") as f:
+        data = json.load(f)
+    terms = data.get("terms", [])
+    if not isinstance(terms, list):
+        raise ValueError(f"{resolved}: 'terms' must be a list")
+    return [str(t) for t in terms]
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Span merging / redaction helpers
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+def _merge_spans(spans: list[tuple[int, int, str]]) -> list[tuple[int, int]]:
+    """Merge overlapping/adjacent (start, end) spans, sorted by start."""
+    if not spans:
+        return []
+    ordered = sorted((s, e) for s, e, _ in spans)
+    merged: list[tuple[int, int]] = [ordered[0]]
+    for start, end in ordered[1:]:
+        last_start, last_end = merged[-1]
+        if start <= last_end:
+            merged[-1] = (last_start, max(last_end, end))
+        else:
+            merged.append((start, end))
+    return merged
+
+
+def _apply_redactions(text: str, merged_spans: list[tuple[int, int]], redaction_char: str) -> str:
+    if not merged_spans:
+        return text
+    pieces: list[str] = []
+    cursor = 0
+    for start, end in merged_spans:
+        pieces.append(text[cursor:start])
+        pieces.append(redaction_char * (end - start))
+        cursor = end
+    pieces.append(text[cursor:])
+    return "".join(pieces)
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Default implementation
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+class ListBasedTextFilter:
+    """Deterministic `TextFilter`: normalized substring match against a term list.
+
+    `mode` controls what happens on a match:
+    - `FilterMode.REDACT` (default): matched spans in the *original* text
+      are replaced with `redaction_char` repeated to the matched span's
+      original length; `action` is REDACT if anything matched, else ALLOW.
+    - `FilterMode.REJECT`: `filtered_text` is returned unchanged but
+      `action` is REJECT if anything matched (callers should treat this as
+      "do not store/deliver"), else ALLOW.
+
+    An empty or whitespace-only string always returns ALLOW with no
+    matches -- there is nothing to filter.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(
+        self,
+        terms: Iterable[str] | None = None,
+        *,
+        mode: FilterMode = FilterMode.REDACT,
+        terms_path: Path | str | None = None,
+        redaction_char: str = "*",
+    ) -> None:
+        if terms is None:
+            terms = load_terms(terms_path)
+        # De-dupe while preserving order; drop blanks.
+        seen: dict[str, None] = {}
+        for t in terms:
+            t = t.strip()
+            if t:
+                seen.setdefault(t, None)
+        self._terms: tuple[str, ...] = tuple(seen)
+        # Pre-normalize once at construction; skip terms that normalize to
+        # nothing (e.g. a term that's pure punctuation).
+        self._normalized_terms: list[tuple[str, str]] = [
+            (normalized, original)
+            for original in self._terms
+            if (normalized := _normalize_term(original))
+        ]
+        self.mode = mode
+        self.redaction_char = redaction_char
+
+    def check(self, text: str) -> FilterResult:
+        if not text or not text.strip():
+            return FilterResult(action=FilterAction.ALLOW, filtered_text=text, matched_terms=())
+
+        normalized, index_map = _normalize(text)
+        if not normalized:
+            return FilterResult(action=FilterAction.ALLOW, filtered_text=text, matched_terms=())
+
+        spans: list[tuple[int, int, str]] = []
+        for normalized_term, original_term in self._normalized_terms:
+            start = 0
+            term_len = len(normalized_term)
+            while True:
+                idx = normalized.find(normalized_term, start)
+                if idx == -1:
+                    break
+                end = idx + term_len
+                orig_start = index_map[idx]
+                orig_end = index_map[end - 1] + 1
+                spans.append((orig_start, orig_end, original_term))
+                start = end  # non-overlapping: resume after this match
+
+        if not spans:
+            return FilterResult(action=FilterAction.ALLOW, filtered_text=text, matched_terms=())
+
+        spans.sort(key=lambda s: s[0])
+        matched_terms = tuple(dict.fromkeys(term for _, _, term in spans))
+
+        if self.mode is FilterMode.REJECT:
+            return FilterResult(action=FilterAction.REJECT, filtered_text=text, matched_terms=matched_terms)
+
+        merged = _merge_spans(spans)
+        filtered_text = _apply_redactions(text, merged, self.redaction_char)
+        return FilterResult(action=FilterAction.REDACT, filtered_text=filtered_text, matched_terms=matched_terms)
+
+
+def default_text_filter(mode: FilterMode = FilterMode.REDACT) -> ListBasedTextFilter:
+    """Convenience factory for the bundled default term list."""
+    return ListBasedTextFilter(mode=mode)

backend/app/services/text_filter_terms.json

@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+{
+  "_readme": "Default deterministic term list for app.services.text_filter.ListBasedTextFilter. This is a minimal, illustrative starter list (common mild-to-strong English profanity, no slurs) meant to be replaced/extended per-deployment -- swap this file, or pass an explicit `terms`/`terms_path` to the filter, rather than editing this list in place for production moderation policy.",
+  "terms": [
+    "fuck",
+    "shit",
+    "ass",
+    "asshole",
+    "bitch",
+    "bastard",
+    "damn",
+    "crap",
+    "dick",
+    "piss",
+    "slut",
+    "whore",
+    "cunt",
+    "douche",
+    "bullshit"
+  ]
+}

backend/tests/test_text_filter.py

@@ -0,0 +1,194 @@
+"""Unit tests for app.services.text_filter (docs/planning/social.md §4/§5 US-4).
+
+Pure, side-effect-free service -- no DB/Redis fixtures needed.
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from pathlib import Path
+
+import pytest
+
+from app.services.text_filter import (
+    DEFAULT_TERMS_PATH,
+    FilterAction,
+    FilterMode,
+    FilterResult,
+    ListBasedTextFilter,
+    TextFilter,
+    default_text_filter,
+    load_terms,
+)
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def redact_filter() -> ListBasedTextFilter:
+    return ListBasedTextFilter(terms=["badword", "shoot"], mode=FilterMode.REDACT)
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def reject_filter() -> ListBasedTextFilter:
+    return ListBasedTextFilter(terms=["badword", "shoot"], mode=FilterMode.REJECT)
+
+
+class TestAllowPath:
+    def test_clean_text_is_allowed_unchanged(self, redact_filter: ListBasedTextFilter) -> None:
+        result = redact_filter.check("hello there, how are you today?")
+        assert result.action is FilterAction.ALLOW
+        assert result.filtered_text == "hello there, how are you today?"
+        assert result.matched_terms == ()
+
+    def test_message_with_no_matches(self, reject_filter: ListBasedTextFilter) -> None:
+        # Distinct from the clean-text case above: exercises the reject-mode
+        # filter's no-match path specifically (mode should not matter when
+        # nothing matches).
+        text = "let's meet at the plaza around noon"
+        result = reject_filter.check(text)
+        assert result.action is FilterAction.ALLOW
+        assert result.filtered_text == text
+        assert result.matched_terms == ()
+
+
+class TestRedactPath:
+    def test_exact_match_is_redacted(self, redact_filter: ListBasedTextFilter) -> None:
+        result = redact_filter.check("don't be a badword about it")
+        assert result.action is FilterAction.REDACT
+        assert result.matched_terms == ("badword",)
+        assert "badword" not in result.filtered_text
+        assert result.filtered_text == "don't be a ******* about it"
+
+    def test_multiple_distinct_matches(self, redact_filter: ListBasedTextFilter) -> None:
+        result = redact_filter.check("badword, don't shoot!")
+        assert result.action is FilterAction.REDACT
+        assert set(result.matched_terms) == {"badword", "shoot"}
+        assert "badword" not in result.filtered_text
+        assert "shoot" not in result.filtered_text
+        # Length is preserved (asterisks replace matched spans 1:1).
+        assert len(result.filtered_text) == len("badword, don't shoot!")
+
+    def test_redaction_char_is_configurable(self) -> None:
+        f = ListBasedTextFilter(terms=["badword"], mode=FilterMode.REDACT, redaction_char="#")
+        result = f.check("that's a badword thing to say")
+        assert result.filtered_text == "that's a ####### thing to say"
+
+
+class TestRejectPath:
+    def test_match_is_rejected_and_text_left_intact(self, reject_filter: ListBasedTextFilter) -> None:
+        text = "stop, badword!"
+        result = reject_filter.check(text)
+        assert result.action is FilterAction.REJECT
+        assert result.matched_terms == ("badword",)
+        # Reject mode does not mutate the text -- callers are expected to
+        # not store/deliver it at all, based on `action`.
+        assert result.filtered_text == text
+
+
+class TestNormalization:
+    def test_leetspeak_variant_is_caught(self, redact_filter: ListBasedTextFilter) -> None:
+        # "b4dw0rd" -> normalizes to "badword" via the leet map (4->a, 0->o).
+        result = redact_filter.check("you're being a b4dw0rd right now")
+        assert result.action is FilterAction.REDACT
+        assert result.matched_terms == ("badword",)
+
+    def test_separators_between_letters_are_stripped(self, redact_filter: ListBasedTextFilter) -> None:
+        result = redact_filter.check("that is b.a.d.w.o.r.d behavior")
+        assert result.action is FilterAction.REDACT
+        assert result.matched_terms == ("badword",)
+
+    def test_spacing_between_letters_is_stripped(self, redact_filter: ListBasedTextFilter) -> None:
+        result = redact_filter.check("b a d w o r d, seriously")
+        assert result.action is FilterAction.REDACT
+        assert result.matched_terms == ("badword",)
+
+    def test_case_folding(self, redact_filter: ListBasedTextFilter) -> None:
+        result = redact_filter.check("BADWORD in all caps")
+        assert result.action is FilterAction.REDACT
+        assert result.matched_terms == ("badword",)
+
+    def test_symbol_lookalikes(self) -> None:
+        # @ -> a, $ -> s: "@ss" should normalize to "ass".
+        f = ListBasedTextFilter(terms=["ass"], mode=FilterMode.REDACT)
+        result = f.check("what an @$$ move")
+        assert result.action is FilterAction.REDACT
+        assert result.matched_terms == ("ass",)
+
+
+class TestEmptyAndWhitespace:
+    def test_empty_string(self, redact_filter: ListBasedTextFilter) -> None:
+        result = redact_filter.check("")
+        assert result.action is FilterAction.ALLOW
+        assert result.filtered_text == ""
+        assert result.matched_terms == ()
+
+    def test_whitespace_only_string(self, redact_filter: ListBasedTextFilter) -> None:
+        text = "   \t\n  "
+        result = redact_filter.check(text)
+        assert result.action is FilterAction.ALLOW
+        assert result.filtered_text == text
+        assert result.matched_terms == ()
+
+    def test_punctuation_only_string_has_nothing_to_normalize(self, redact_filter: ListBasedTextFilter) -> None:
+        # No alnum characters survive normalization at all -- must not
+        # crash on an empty normalized string / empty index_map.
+        result = redact_filter.check("...!!!???")
+        assert result.action is FilterAction.ALLOW
+        assert result.matched_terms == ()
+
+
+class TestConfigurability:
+    def test_custom_term_list_is_used_instead_of_default(self) -> None:
+        f = ListBasedTextFilter(terms=["zzzcustomzzz"], mode=FilterMode.REDACT)
+        result = f.check("this contains zzzcustomzzz right here")
+        assert result.action is FilterAction.REDACT
+        assert result.matched_terms == ("zzzcustomzzz",)
+        # Default list terms should NOT match since we overrode the list.
+        result2 = f.check("this is fucking unrelated")
+        assert result2.action is FilterAction.ALLOW
+
+    def test_duplicate_and_blank_terms_are_deduped(self) -> None:
+        f = ListBasedTextFilter(terms=["badword", "badword", "  ", ""], mode=FilterMode.REDACT)
+        assert f._terms == ("badword",)
+
+    def test_default_terms_file_loads_and_is_nonempty(self) -> None:
+        terms = load_terms()
+        assert isinstance(terms, list)
+        assert len(terms) > 0
+        assert all(isinstance(t, str) and t for t in terms)
+
+    def test_default_terms_path_exists(self) -> None:
+        assert DEFAULT_TERMS_PATH.exists()
+        assert DEFAULT_TERMS_PATH.suffix == ".json"
+
+    def test_load_terms_from_explicit_path(self, tmp_path: Path) -> None:
+        custom = tmp_path / "custom_terms.json"
+        custom.write_text('{"terms": ["foo", "bar"]}', encoding="utf-8")
+        assert load_terms(custom) == ["foo", "bar"]
+
+    def test_default_text_filter_factory_matches_default_list(self) -> None:
+        f = default_text_filter(mode=FilterMode.REJECT)
+        result = f.check("that's fucking ridiculous")
+        assert result.action is FilterAction.REJECT
+        assert "fuck" in result.matched_terms
+
+
+class TestProtocol:
+    def test_list_based_filter_satisfies_text_filter_protocol(self, redact_filter: ListBasedTextFilter) -> None:
+        assert isinstance(redact_filter, TextFilter)
+
+    def test_check_returns_filter_result(self, redact_filter: ListBasedTextFilter) -> None:
+        result = redact_filter.check("hi")
+        assert isinstance(result, FilterResult)
+
+    def test_a_third_party_style_implementation_satisfies_the_protocol(self) -> None:
+        # Demonstrates the extension point: any object with a matching
+        # `check` method satisfies TextFilter without inheriting from
+        # anything -- this is how a future third-party provider would plug
+        # in without touching this module.
+        class AlwaysAllow:
+            def check(self, text: str) -> FilterResult:
+                return FilterResult(action=FilterAction.ALLOW, filtered_text=text, matched_terms=())
+
+        provider: TextFilter = AlwaysAllow()
+        assert isinstance(provider, TextFilter)
+        result = provider.check("anything at all, even fuck")
+        assert result.action is FilterAction.ALLOW