IMAP UIDBATCHES Extension
draft-ietf-mailmaint-imap-uidbatches-22

MailMaint                                                 D. Eggert, Ed.
Internet-Draft                                                 Apple Inc
Intended status: Standards Track                        17 February 2026
Expires: 21 August 2026

                       IMAP UIDBATCHES Extension
                draft-ietf-mailmaint-imap-uidbatches-22

Abstract

   The UIDBATCHES extension of the Internet Message Access Protocol
   (IMAP) allows clients to retrieve UID ranges that partition a
   mailbox's messages into equally sized batches.  This enables clients
   to perform operations such as FETCH, SEARCH, and STORE on specific
   message batches, providing better control over resource usage and
   response sizes.  The extension is particularly useful with the
   UIDONLY mode where sequence numbers are unavailable.

Status of This Memo

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   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

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   This Internet-Draft will expire on 21 August 2026.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2026 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

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   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (https://trustee.ietf.org/
   license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document.
   Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights
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   extracted from this document must include Revised BSD License text as
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   provided without warranty as described in the Revised BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   2.  Document Conventions  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   3.  The UIDBATCHES extension  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     3.1.  UIDBATCHES Command  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
       3.1.1.  Example Usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
       3.1.2.  Response Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
       3.1.3.  Batch Sizes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
       3.1.4.  UIDs  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
       3.1.5.  Batch Ranges  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
       3.1.6.  Empty Responses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
       3.1.7.  Large Mailboxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
     3.2.  Interaction with MESSAGELIMIT Extension . . . . . . . . .  11
     3.3.  Interaction with UIDONLY Extension  . . . . . . . . . . .  11
     3.4.  Interaction with SEARCHRES Extension  . . . . . . . . . .  12
   4.  Formal syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
   5.  Operational Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13
   6.  Implementation Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13
     6.1.  Cyrus Server  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
     6.2.  Apple Mail  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
   7.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
   8.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  15
     8.1.  Changes/additions to the IMAP4 capabilities registry  . .  15
     8.2.  Changes/additions to the IMAP response codes registry . .  15
   9.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  15
     9.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  15
     9.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16
   Appendix A.  Comparison with Existing Commands and Extensions . .  16
     A.1.  Similarity to UID SEARCH Command  . . . . . . . . . . . .  16
     A.2.  Similarity to PARTIAL Extension . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
   Author's Address  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17

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1.  Introduction

   This document defines an extension to the Internet Message Access
   Protocol [RFC9051] that enables clients to retrieve UID ranges which
   partition a mailbox's messages into evenly sized batches.  This
   extension is compatible with both IMAP4rev1 [RFC3501] and IMAP4rev2
   [RFC9051].

   The primary purpose of this extension is to allow clients to
   predetermine UID ranges that limit the number of messages each
   command operates on.  This capability is especially beneficial when
   used with the [RFC9586] UIDONLY mode, where sequence numbers are
   unavailable to the client, making it difficult to create message
   batches using traditional methods.

2.  Document Conventions

   In protocol examples , "C:" indicates lines sent by a client that is
   connected to a server.  "S:" indicates lines sent by the server to
   the client.  These prefixes are not part of the protocol.  Long lines
   in examples are wrapped using "The Single Backslash Strategy"
   described in [RFC8792].

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
   "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP
   14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all
   capitals, as shown here.

   Other capitalised words are IMAP keywords [RFC9051] or keywords from
   this document.

3.  The UIDBATCHES extension

   An IMAP server advertises support for the UIDBATCHES extension by
   including the UIDBATCHES capability in the CAPABILITY response /
   response code.

3.1.  UIDBATCHES Command

   Arguments:
      Message count per batch.
      OPTIONAL batch range.

   Responses:
      REQUIRED untagged response: UIDBATCHES

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   Result:
      OK uidbatches completed
      NO command exceeds limits
      BAD command unknown or arguments invalid

   The UIDBATCHES command requests UID ranges that partition the
   messages in the currently selected mailbox into equally sized
   batches.  The server returns these ranges in descending UID order,
   with batch 1 containing the highest UIDs (most recent messages),
   batch 2 containing the next highest set of UIDs, and so on.

   For a mailbox with M messages, requesting batches of size N returns
   UID ranges corresponding to the following sequence number ranges
   (where sequence numbers are ordered from 1 to M, with M being the
   most recent message):

   Batch 1: M:(M-N+1)     // Most recent N messages
   Batch 2: (M-N):(M-2*N+1)  // Next N messages
   Batch 3: (M-2*N):(M-3*N+1) // Next N messages
   ...and so on

3.1.1.  Example Usage

   The following example demonstrates how a client uses UIDBATCHES to
   partition a mailbox into manageable batches:

   ========== NOTE: '\' line wrapping per RFC 8792 ===========

   C: A142 SELECT INBOX
   S: * 6823 EXISTS
   S: * 1 RECENT
   S: * OK [UNSEEN 12] Message 12 is first unseen
   S: * OK [UIDVALIDITY 3857529045] UIDs valid
   S: * OK [UIDNEXT 215296] Predicted next UID
   S: * FLAGS (\Answered \Flagged \Deleted \Seen \Draft)
   S: * OK [PERMANENTFLAGS (\Deleted \Seen \*)] Limited
   S: A142 OK [READ-WRITE] SELECT completed
   C: A143 UIDBATCHES 2000
   S: * UIDBATCHES (TAG "A143") \
          215295:99696,99695:20351,20350:7830,7829:1
   S: A143 OK UIDBATCHES Completed

   The server's response provides four UID ranges:

   1.  215295:99696

   2.  99695:20351

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   3.  20350:7830

   4.  7829:1

   Each range contains up to 2,000 messages, except the last range,
   which contains the remaining 823 messages.

   As new messages cannot appear within these UID ranges, the number of
   messages in each range will not increase.  It may decrease, though,
   as messages are deleted.

   It is only appropriate to resend UIDBATCHES if one of the following
   conditions is met:

   1.  A different mailbox has been selected

   2.  More than N/2 messages have been expunged from the mailbox (where
       N is the batch size)

   3.  More than N/2 new messages have been received into the mailbox

   To prevent server overload, the client MUST NOT resend UIDBATCHES
   otherwise.

   Computing message batches may be resource-intensive for servers.

   The client can keep track of the number of EXPUNGE or VANISHED
   messages and re-run UIDBATCHES if many messages are deleted.

   As new messages arrive into the mailbox, the client should add these
   to a new message batch (starting at UID 215296 in the above example).
   Once N/2 or more new messages have been added to the mailbox, the
   client MAY ask for updated batches by re-running the UIDBATCHES
   command.

   The server SHOULD reject UIDBATCHES commands with a NO response with
   the LIMIT response code if the client exceeds this limit.  Servers
   MAY choose to track client requests and mailbox state changes to
   enforce these restrictions and prevent resource abuse.

3.1.2.  Response Format

   The server MUST reply with a UIDBATCHES response, even if no ranges
   are returned (see Section 3.1.6).  The UIDBATCHES response MUST
   include the tag of the command it relates to (similar to an ESEARCH
   response defined in [RFC4731]).

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   The UID ranges in the response MUST be ordered in descending
   sequence, from the highest to the lowest UIDs.

3.1.3.  Batch Sizes

   To ensure efficient server operation and prevent abuse, this
   extension enforces constraints on batch sizes.  The design balances
   server efficiency requirements with the primary use case of working
   effectively with the [RFC9586] UIDONLY mode, without creating a
   mechanism that circumvents the sequence number restrictions of that
   mode.

3.1.3.1.  Batch Size Summary

   The following table provides a quick reference for batch size
   constraints:

    +============+================+==================================+
    | Constraint | Client Request | Server Response                  |
    +============+================+==================================+
    | Minimum    | 500 messages   | Aim for >= 90% of requested size |
    +------------+----------------+----------------------------------+
    | Maximum    | No limit       | Never exceed requested size      |
    +------------+----------------+----------------------------------+
    | Exception  | -              | May be smaller during mailbox    |
    |            |                | changes                          |
    +------------+----------------+----------------------------------+

                     Table 1: Batch Size Constraints

   Key principles:

   *  Clients MUST request at least 500 messages per batch (see
      Section 3.1.3.4 and Section 3.3)

   *  Servers MUST NOT return more messages than requested

   *  Servers SHOULD return batches close to the requested size (>= 90%
      when possible)

   *  Exact batch sizes may vary due to implementation efficiency or
      mailbox changes

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3.1.3.2.  Minimum Batch Size

   The server MUST support batch sizes of 500 messages or larger.  This
   minimum size prevents clients from misusing the extension to
   effectively reconstruct sequence numbers while still allowing
   reasonable batch operations.

   Note that clients MUST be prepared to handle batches smaller than
   requested, as detailed in Section 3.1.3.3.

   The server MUST respond with NO and a response code TOOFEW if the
   client uses a batch size smaller than the minimum allowed by the
   server:

   S: A302 NO [TOOFEW] Minimum batch size is 500

3.1.3.3.  Server Response Flexibility

   While servers SHOULD return batches that correspond exactly to the
   requested size, they have flexibility in specific circumstances to
   enable efficient implementations.

3.1.3.3.1.  Hard Constraints

   The server MUST NOT return ranges that contain more than the number
   of messages per batch requested by the client.  This is a strict
   upper bound that cannot be exceeded.

   If the requested batch size equals or exceeds the total number of
   messages in the mailbox, the server MUST return a single UID range
   spanning all messages.

3.1.3.3.2.  Permitted Variations

   Servers MAY return fewer messages per range in two specific
   circumstances:

   1.  When doing so makes the implementation substantially simpler and/
       or more efficient

   2.  When there are changes in mailbox state during the execution of
       the UIDBATCHES command, particularly when messages are expunged

   However, servers SHOULD NOT return batches that are substantially
   smaller than requested and SHOULD aim to stay within 90% of the
   requested size.  This guideline reflects the fact that clients
   typically choose batch sizes based on their intended use, such as
   displaying a specific number of messages to users.

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3.1.3.3.3.  Dynamic Changes

   Mailbox state changes during UIDBATCHES execution can result in
   servers returning substantially fewer messages in each batch,
   particularly when message expungement reduces the overall mailbox
   size.  Clients can detect these situations through the EXPUNGE,
   VANISHED, or EXISTS responses they receive.

3.1.3.3.4.  Practical Implications

   Due to these flexibility provisions, servers may return batches of
   varying sizes.  For instance, when returning 3 batches of a requested
   size of 1,000, one might contain 990 messages, another 977, and the
   third 1,000 messages.  Clients MUST be prepared to handle such
   variations.

   When the total number of messages is not evenly divisible by the
   requested batch size, the final batch will contain the remainder.
   Therefore, the last batch in the mailbox (containing the lowest UIDs)
   will typically have fewer messages than requested.

3.1.3.4.  Design Rationale

   These restrictions provide servers with implementation flexibility
   while preventing clients from misusing the extension to effectively
   reconstruct sequence numbers.  Appendix A.1 also outlines some
   reasoning for these limitations.

   The flexibility regarding batch sizes is designed to enable efficient
   server implementations while maintaining predictable behavior for
   clients.  This leeway is not intended as a general permission to
   return arbitrarily sized batches, but rather to accommodate
   implementation constraints and dynamic mailbox changes.

3.1.4.  UIDs

   The server MAY return UID ranges with UIDs that do not exist on the
   server.  The client as a result MUST NOT make assumptions about the
   existence of messages.  If the server returns the response

   ========== NOTE: '\' line wrapping per RFC 8792 ===========

   S: * UIDBATCHES (TAG "A302") \
          163886:99703,99696:20358,20351:7841,7830:1
   S: A302 OK UIDBATCHES Completed

   there may not be any messages on the server with the UIDs such as
   163886, 99703, 99696, etc.

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   The range 163886:99703 will span approximately the requested number
   of messages (may be less, see Section 3.1.3), but its start and end
   UIDs may not correspond to messages on the server.

   This gives the server implementation some flexibility as to which UID
   ranges to return.  They might, e.g., return 163886:99697 and
   99696:20358 instead of 163886:99703 and 99696:20358 -- assuming that
   there are no messages in the range 99702:99697.

   If there are fewer messages in the mailbox than the requested batch
   size, the server would return a single batch that contains all
   messages in the mailbox.

   When applying the flexibility described above to the last batch in
   the mailbox, ending that batch with UID 1 makes it unambiguous to the
   client that this range is in fact the last range.  For example, if
   the message with the lowest UID is 302, the server can return 7829:1
   instead of 7829:302.

3.1.5.  Batch Ranges

   A client can optionally provide a batch range.  The server limits its
   response to UID ranges corresponding to the specified batch indices.
   For example, if the client sends

   C: A302 UIDBATCHES 2000 10:20

   for a mailbox with 100,000 messages, the server would return the 10th
   to 20th batches.  The 10th batch would correspond to message sequence
   numbers `82000:80001` and the 20th batch would correspond to message
   sequence numbers `62000:60001`.

   Batches start at the highest UIDs: batch 1 is the batch with the
   highest UIDs.

   The UID ranges that the server returns would still split the
   mailbox's messages into batches of the requested size (2,000 in the
   example).

   If the client requests more batches than exist on the server, the
   server would return those that do exist.  For example if the client
   sends

   C: A302 UIDBATCHES 2000 1:5

   and the selected mailbox has 7,000 messages, the server would then
   return a UIDBATCHES response with only 4 UID ranges.

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   Batch ranges such as 1:4 in the above example MUST be ordered lowest
   to highest, i.e. be sent as 1:4 and not as 4:1.  Servers MUST reject
   batch ranges that are in the wrong order with BAD and a response code
   CLIENTBUG:

   C: A302 UIDBATCHES 2000 4:1
   S: A302 BAD [CLIENTBUG] Invalid batch range

   If the client requests a range of batches that do not exist on the
   server, the server MUST still return an empty response.  See
   Section 3.1.6.

   The number of messages per batch returned by the server may be
   approximate as detailed in Section 3.1.3.  As a result, if the client
   needs to request consecutive batch ranges such as 1:100, 101:200,
   201:300, and so on, the client may want to make these batch ranges
   overlap by e.g. requesting 1:100, 100:200, and 200:300.  While the
   UIDs returned may not correspond to existing messages (as described
   in Section 3.1.4) and mailbox state can change between requests,
   checking whether the returned UID ranges overlap can help clients
   detect potential inconsistencies, though how to handle such
   situations depends on the specific client implementation
   requirements.

   Clients MUST NOT request batch ranges that span more than 100,000
   messages, i.e. the number of batches multiplied by the batch size
   MUST NOT be larger than 100,000.  This restriction applies only when
   a batch range is specified; when no batch range is provided, the
   client is requesting all batches but the server may limit its
   response as described in Section 3.1.7.  The server MAY reject
   UIDBATCHES commands with a NO response with the TOOMANY response code
   if the client exceeds this limit.

   C: A302 UIDBATCHES 2000 1:100
   S: A302 NO [TOOMANY] Too many messages

3.1.6.  Empty Responses

   When the client issues any valid UIDBATCHES command and the mailbox
   is empty, the server MUST reply with a UIDBATCHES response, e.g.

   S: * UIDBATCHES (TAG "A302")
   S: A302 OK UIDBATCHES Completed

   If the client requests a range of batches that do not exist, the
   server MUST reply with an empty UIDBATCHES response.  If the mailbox
   has 7,000 messages, and the client sends

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   C: A302 UIDBATCHES 2000 6:8

   the server would respond with

   S: * UIDBATCHES (TAG "A302")
   S: A302 OK UIDBATCHES Completed

3.1.7.  Large Mailboxes

   The server may not be able to return all UID ranges if the mailbox
   contains an extremely large number of messages.

   The server MUST at least support returning UID ranges spanning
   100,000 messages.  See Section 3.1.5 for details on this limit.

   If the server can not return all of the requested UID ranges, it MUST
   respond with a NO response with the TOOMANY response code.  Notably,
   when the client requests all UID ranges and the mailbox has more than
   100,000 messages, the server MAY reply with a NO response.  For
   example:

   C: A302 UIDBATCHES 2000
   S: A302 NO [TOOMANY] Too many messages in mailbox

   The client should know what the message count in the mailbox is, and
   if the message count exceeds 100,000 it may choose to always request
   batch ranges as discussed in Section 3.1.5 instead of requesting all
   batches.

3.2.  Interaction with MESSAGELIMIT Extension

   When the server supports both the [RFC9738] MESSAGELIMIT and
   UIDBATCHES extension, the client SHOULD request batches no larger
   than the specified maximum number of messages that can be processed
   in a single command.  The client MAY choose to use a smaller batch
   size.

   Additionally, since servers MAY limit the number of UIDs returned in
   response to UIDBATCHES, it is reasonable to assume that they would at
   most return N UIDs where N is the limit the server announced as its
   MESSAGELIMIT.

3.3.  Interaction with UIDONLY Extension

   The UIDBATCHES extension allows clients to create UID ranges for
   message batches even when the connection operates in UIDONLY mode,
   which otherwise doesn't allow for using message sequence numbers.

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   This interaction is particularly important because the UIDONLY
   extension disallows the use of sequence numbers.  While the PARTIAL
   extension [RFC9394] provides paged SEARCH and FETCH operations, some
   clients need to predetermine UID ranges for batches upfront.
   UIDBATCHES enables such clients to use the same overall batching
   strategy regardless of whether the server supports UIDONLY, PARTIAL,
   or neither, making client implementations simpler and more
   consistent.

   When operating in UIDONLY mode, clients SHOULD use UIDBATCHES to
   determine appropriate UID ranges for batch operations rather than
   attempting to construct batches using sequence-number-based
   approaches that would violate UIDONLY restrictions.

   The batch size constraints defined in Section 3.1.3 serve dual
   purposes: ensuring server efficiency and preventing UIDBATCHES from
   becoming a mechanism to effectively reconstruct sequence numbers.
   Without these constraints, clients could request very small batch
   sizes to obtain fine-grained positional information about messages,
   which would circumvent the sequence number restrictions of UIDONLY
   mode.  The extension is designed specifically to support the
   legitimate need of predetermining message batches upfront, while
   maintaining the architectural intent of UIDONLY mode.

3.4.  Interaction with SEARCHRES Extension

   UIDBATCHES is not a SEARCH nor UID SEARCH command.  Servers that
   support SEARCHRES [RFC5182] MUST NOT store the result of UIDBATCHES
   in the $ variable.

4.  Formal syntax

   The following syntax specification uses the Augmented Backus-Naur
   Form (ABNF) notation as specified in [RFC5234].

   Non-terminals referenced but not defined below are as defined by
   IMAP4 [RFC9051].

   Except as noted otherwise, all alphabetic characters are case-
   insensitive.  The use of upper or lower case characters to define
   token strings is for editorial clarity only.  Implementations MUST
   accept these strings in a case-insensitive fashion.

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   capability          =/ "UIDBATCHES"
                          ;; <capability> from [RFC9051]

   command-select      =/ message-batches

   message-batches     = "UIDBATCHES" SP nz-number
                         [SP nz-number ":" nz-number]

   uidbatches-response = "UIDBATCHES" search-correlator
                         [SP uid-range *("," uid-range) ]

   mailbox-data        =/ uidbatches-response

   resp-text-code      =/ "TOOFEW" / "TOOMANY"

5.  Operational Considerations

   This document defines an optimization that can reduce both the amount
   of work performed by the server and the amount of data returned to
   the client.  Use of this extension is likely to cause the server and
   the client to use less memory than when the extension is not used.
   However, as this is going to be new code in both the client and the
   server, rigorous testing of such code is required in order to avoid
   the introduction of new implementation bugs.

6.  Implementation Status

   This section is to be removed before publishing as an RFC.

   [RFC EDITOR: Please remove this section and the reference to RFC 7942
   before publication.]

   This section records the status of known implementations of the
   protocol defined by this specification at the time of posting of this
   Internet-Draft, and is based on a proposal described in [RFC7942].
   The description of implementations in this section is intended to
   assist the IETF in its decision processes in progressing drafts to
   RFCs.  Please note that the listing of any individual implementation
   here does not imply endorsement by the IETF.  Furthermore, no effort
   has been spent to verify the information presented here that was
   supplied by IETF contributors.  This is not intended as, and must not
   be construed to be, a catalog of available implementations or their
   features.  Readers are advised to note that other implementations may
   exist.

   According to RFC 7942, "this will allow reviewers and working groups
   to assign due consideration to documents that have the benefit of
   running code, which may serve as evidence of valuable experimentation

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   and feedback that have made the implemented protocols more mature.
   It is up to the individual working groups to use this information as
   they see fit".

6.1.  Cyrus Server

   Cyrus Server is a production-level open source scalable enterprise
   mail system from Computing Services at Carnegie Mellon University.
   This implementation supports all of the requirements described in
   this document and is freely distributable under a BSD-style license.
   More information is available at https://cyrusimap.org and
   https://www.cmu.edu/computing/.

6.2.  Apple Mail

   Mail for iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS is an email client included by
   Apple with these operating systems.  As of version 26, this
   production-level implementation from Apple Inc supports all of the
   requirements described in this document.  More information is
   available at https://www.apple.com and
   https://developer.apple.com/documentation/technotes/tn3191-imap-
   extensions-supported-by-mail.

7.  Security Considerations

   This document defines an additional IMAP4 capability.  As such, it
   does not change the underlying security considerations of IMAP4rev1
   [RFC3501] and IMAP4rev2 [RFC9051].  The authors and reviewers believe
   that no new security issues are introduced with this additional IMAP4
   capability.

   One consideration during the design of this extension was the
   potential for clients to cause servers to perform excessive
   computational work by repeatedly requesting batch calculations.  The
   restrictions on when clients may re-run UIDBATCHES (Section 3.1) and
   the batch size constraints (Section 3.1.3) are designed to mitigate
   this concern.  Server implementations are strongly advised to
   implement enforcement of these rate-limiting restrictions rather than
   relying solely on client compliance.  Servers SHOULD track UIDBATCHES
   requests per mailbox and reject requests that violate the conditions
   in Section 3.1, as failure to do so may allow malicious or buggy
   clients to cause resource exhaustion through repeated batch
   calculations.  Servers may reject requests that exceed these limits
   with the LIMIT, TOOFEW, or TOOMANY response codes.

   As this extension involves new code in both clients and servers,
   rigorous testing of such code is required in order to avoid
   introducing new implementation bugs.

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8.  IANA Considerations

8.1.  Changes/additions to the IMAP4 capabilities registry

   The registry is currently located at:

   https://www.iana.org/assignments/imap4-capabilities

   IANA is requested to add registrations of the "UIDBATCHES" capability
   to this registry, pointing to this document.

8.2.  Changes/additions to the IMAP response codes registry

   The registry is currently located at:

   https://www.iana.org/assignments/imap-response-codes

   IANA is requested to add registrations of TOOMANY and TOOFEW to this
   registry, pointing to this document.

9.  References

9.1.  Normative References

   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>.

   [RFC3501]  Crispin, M., "INTERNET MESSAGE ACCESS PROTOCOL - VERSION
              4rev1", RFC 3501, DOI 10.17487/RFC3501, March 2003,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3501>.

   [RFC5234]  Crocker, D., Ed. and P. Overell, "Augmented BNF for Syntax
              Specifications: ABNF", STD 68, RFC 5234,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC5234, January 2008,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5234>.

   [RFC7942]  Sheffer, Y. and A. Farrel, "Improving Awareness of Running
              Code: The Implementation Status Section", BCP 205,
              RFC 7942, DOI 10.17487/RFC7942, July 2016,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7942>.

   [RFC8174]  Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
              2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,
              May 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8174>.

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   [RFC9051]  Melnikov, A., Ed. and B. Leiba, Ed., "Internet Message
              Access Protocol (IMAP) - Version 4rev2", RFC 9051,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC9051, August 2021,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9051>.

   [RFC9738]  Melnikov, A., Achuthan, A. P., Nagulakonda, V., and L.
              Alves, "IMAP MESSAGELIMIT Extension", RFC 9738,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC9738, March 2025,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9738>.

9.2.  Informative References

   [RFC4731]  Melnikov, A. and D. Cridland, "IMAP4 Extension to SEARCH
              Command for Controlling What Kind of Information Is
              Returned", RFC 4731, DOI 10.17487/RFC4731, November 2006,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4731>.

   [RFC5182]  Melnikov, A., "IMAP Extension for Referencing the Last
              SEARCH Result", RFC 5182, DOI 10.17487/RFC5182, March
              2008, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5182>.

   [RFC8792]  Watsen, K., Auerswald, E., Farrel, A., and Q. Wu,
              "Handling Long Lines in Content of Internet-Drafts and
              RFCs", RFC 8792, DOI 10.17487/RFC8792, June 2020,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8792>.

   [RFC9394]  Melnikov, A., Achuthan, A. P., Nagulakonda, V., and L.
              Alves, "IMAP PARTIAL Extension for Paged SEARCH and
              FETCH", RFC 9394, DOI 10.17487/RFC9394, June 2023,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9394>.

   [RFC9586]  Melnikov, A., Achuthan, A. P., Nagulakonda, V., Singh, A.,
              and L. Alves, "IMAP Extension for Using and Returning
              Unique Identifiers (UIDs) Only", RFC 9586,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC9586, May 2024,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9586>.

Appendix A.  Comparison with Existing Commands and Extensions

A.1.  Similarity to UID SEARCH Command

   The UIDBATCHES is in effect nothing more than shorthand for a UID
   SEARCH command of the form

   C: A145 UID SEARCH RETURN () <M>,<M-N>,<M-2*N>,<M-3*N>,...

   where M is the number of messages in the mailbox and N is the
   requested batch count.

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   The special purpose UIDBATCHES command, though, tries to address two
   problems:

   (a)  for many servers, UID SEARCH commands specifying sequence
        numbers are costly, especially for mailboxes with many messages.

   (b)  the UIDONLY extension disallows the use of sequence numbers and
        thus makes it difficult for the client to split its commands
        into batches of a size that works well for the client and
        server.

   By providing a special purpose command, servers can implement a
   different, optimized code path for determining message batches.  And
   servers using the UIDONLY extension can provide a facility to let the
   client determine message batches without using sequence numbers in a
   UID SEARCH command.

   Section 3.1.3 describes some implementation restrictions to ensure
   this.

A.2.  Similarity to PARTIAL Extension

   The PARTIAL extension in [RFC9394] provides a different way for the
   client to split its commands into batches by using paged SEARCH and
   FETCH.

   The intention of the UIDBATCHES command is to let the client pre-
   determine message batches of a desired size.

   This makes it easier for the client to share implementation between
   servers regardless of their support of PARTIAL.  And additionally,
   because the client can issue a corresponding UID SEARCH command to
   servers that do not implement UIDBATCHES, the client can use similar
   batching implementations for servers that support UIDBATCHES and
   those that do not.

Author's Address

   Daniel Eggert (editor)
   Apple Inc
   One Apple Park Way
   Cupertino, CA 95014
   United States of America
   Email: deggert@apple.com

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