Prerequisites

Prerequisites

Before installing Message Center, ensure all dependencies and configuration requirements are in place.

Runtime Dependencies

Node.js

• Version: Node.js 20 or later (LTS recommended)
• Verify: node -v — must show v20.x or higher
• The build process requires Node.js 20+ for native fetch, experimental flags, and performance characteristics that the BFF relies on.

Yarn

• Version: Yarn 1.x (Classic) — installed via npm install -g yarn
• Used for dependency installation and script execution.

Docker

• Required for running MongoDB locally in development (via make dev).
• Required for building the production Docker image (make docker-build).

MongoDB

• Version: MongoDB 6.0 or later
• Deployment: A dedicated MongoDB cluster (not shared with Core or other services)
• Database name: Configurable via MONGODB_DB (default: core_admin)
• Authentication: Root credentials for production (MONGO_ROOT_USER, MONGO_ROOT_PASSWORD)

Network access: The MongoDB instance must be reachable from the Message Center pod/container. In Kubernetes, restrict access via NetworkPolicy — only the message-center pod should reach port 27017.

mTLS Certificates

Message Center communicates with Proxy and Core over mutual TLS. You need the following certificate files from your sms-sender/core certificate authority:

The certs/ directory is git-ignored. In Kubernetes, mount these as a read-only Secret volume at /app/certs.

Certificate rotation: Message Center hot-reloads certificates without restart. See mTLS Certificates for the rotation procedure.

BFF Service Account

Message Center authenticates to Proxy using a dedicated service account. Before deploying:

1. Create a service account in Proxy (or ask the Proxy administrator).
2. Note the credentials: email and password.
3. Set BFF_PROXY_EMAIL and BFF_PROXY_PASSWORD in the environment.

This account is not an end-user account — it is used exclusively for service-to-service JWT acquisition.

Network Requirements

Verify connectivity before deploying:

Optional: Grafana

To enable the embedded monitoring dashboard:

• Grafana 9.x or later
• GF_SECURITY_ALLOW_EMBEDDING=true set in Grafana's configuration
• Dashboard URL accessible from users' browsers (not just from the server)

See Monitoring & Alerts for the full Grafana integration guide.

Optional: Aerospike

If your Core deployment uses Aerospike for recipient caching, the Message Center Diagnostics page can query Aerospike statistics. No configuration is required in Message Center — it reads Aerospike data through Core's admin API.

Production Sizing (Minimum)

Memory consumption is dominated by MongoDB driver connection pooling and Next.js server-side rendering. Heap usage for file uploads is O(chunk size) regardless of file size due to streaming.

Next Steps

• Installation — install Message Center
• mTLS Certificates — set up mTLS certificates