Notify users about similar found pets within a chosen radius

[ismailbarankarasu]

Background

A community member requested an alert when a dog of the same or similar breed is found within a selected distance. RescueLink already has location data, matching logic, and notifications, making this a useful extension of the existing workflow.

Goal

Allow the owner of an active lost-pet report to opt in to notifications when a sufficiently similar found report appears within a configurable radius.

Proposed Behavior

• The owner enables or disables alerts for an active lost report.
• The owner selects a supported radius rather than entering an unlimited value.
• When a found report is created or becomes eligible for matching, RescueLink evaluates distance and the existing match criteria.
• A notification is created only when the configured conditions are satisfied.
• Duplicate notifications for the same lost/found report pair are prevented.
• Notifications do not expose private owner or exact-location data.

Design Questions to Resolve

Before implementation, propose:

• supported radius values and maximum radius;
• whether the existing match-score threshold is reused;
• when evaluation runs;
• how duplicate notifications are prevented;
• whether the first version is in-app only or also supports external delivery.

The initial implementation should prefer existing in-app notifications. SMS/email/push delivery should be handled separately unless infrastructure already exists and the scope is explicitly approved.

Architecture Guidance

• Domain: model alert preferences and invariants where appropriate.
• Application: commands, handlers, validation, and notification orchestration.
• Persistence: preference storage, migration, and duplicate protection.
• Infrastructure: do not introduce a new external messaging provider without approval.
• API: expose opt-in/configuration endpoints through thin controllers.
• Tests: cover radius boundary, score threshold, disabled alerts, and duplicates.

Acceptance Criteria

• An owner can enable, configure, and disable alerts for an active lost report.
• Radius values are validated and bounded.
• Only eligible found reports trigger evaluation.
• Distance and similarity requirements are both enforced.
• Duplicate notifications for the same report pair are not created.
• Resolved, cancelled, or archived reports do not produce new alerts.
• No private location or contact data is leaked.
• Automated tests cover positive, negative, boundary, and duplicate cases.
• Existing tests continue to pass.
• dotnet build RescueLink.slnx succeeds.
• dotnet test RescueLink.slnx succeeds.

Out of Scope

• Paid SMS providers
• Marketing notifications
• Continuous GPS tracking
• Frontend implementation unless agreed separately

Before Starting

Please comment with the proposed preference model, radius values, trigger point, duplicate-prevention strategy, and test plan. Wait for confirmation before implementation.

Origin

This feature was suggested by a community member who wanted an alert when the same or a similar breed was found within a chosen mileage.