Pipeline Developer Guide

Version: 2.0.0 Date: October 08, 2025 SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause License File: See the LICENSE file in the project root. Copyright: © 2025 Michael Gardner, A Bit of Help, Inc. Authors: Michael Gardner Status: Draft

Welcome

This is the comprehensive technical guide for the Adaptive Pipeline. Whether you're learning advanced Rust patterns, contributing to the project, or using the pipeline in production, this guide provides the depth you need.

How to Use This Guide

This guide follows a progressive disclosure approach - each section builds on previous ones:

Start Here: Fundamentals

If you're new to the pipeline, start with Fundamentals. This section introduces core concepts in an accessible way:

  • What pipelines do and why they're useful
  • Key terminology and concepts
  • How stages work together
  • Basic configuration
  • Running your first pipeline

Time commitment: 30-45 minutes

Building Understanding: Architecture

Once you understand the basics, explore the Architecture section. This explains how the pipeline is designed:

  • Layered architecture (Domain, Application, Infrastructure)
  • Domain-Driven Design concepts
  • Design patterns in use (Repository, Service, Adapter, Observer)
  • Dependency management

This section bridges the gap between basic usage and implementation details.

Time commitment: 1-2 hours

Going Deeper: Implementation

The Implementation section covers how specific features work:

  • Stage processing details
  • Compression and encryption
  • Data persistence and schema management
  • File I/O and chunking
  • Metrics and observability

Perfect for contributors or those adapting the pipeline for specific needs.

Time commitment: 2-3 hours

Expert Level: Advanced Topics

For optimization and extension, the Advanced Topics section covers:

  • Concurrency model and thread pooling
  • Performance optimization techniques
  • Creating custom stages and algorithms

Time commitment: 2-4 hours depending on depth

Reference: Formal Documentation

The Formal Documentation section contains:

  • Software Requirements Specification (SRS)
  • Software Design Document (SDD)
  • Test Strategy (STP)

These are comprehensive reference documents.

Documentation Scope

Following our "reasonable" principle, this guide focuses on:

✅ What you need to know to use, contribute to, or extend the pipeline ✅ Why decisions were made with just enough context ✅ How to accomplish tasks with practical examples ✅ Advanced Rust patterns demonstrated in real code

We intentionally do not include:

❌ Rust language tutorials (see The Rust Book) ❌ General programming concepts ❌ Third-party library documentation (links provided instead) ❌ Exhaustive algorithm details (high-level explanations with references)

Learning Path Recommendations

I want to use the pipeline

→ Read Fundamentals → Skip to Implementation for specific features

I want to learn advanced Rust patterns

→ Focus on Architecture section (patterns) → Review Implementation for real-world examples → Study Advanced Topics for concurrency/performance

I'm building something similar

→ Read Architecture + Implementation → Study formal documentation (SRS/SDD) → Review source code with this guide as reference

Conventions Used

Throughout this guide:

  • Code examples are complete and runnable unless marked otherwise
  • File paths use format module/file.rs:line for source references
  • Diagrams are in PlantUML (SVG rendered in book)
  • Callouts highlight important information:

Note: Additional helpful information

Warning: Important caveats or gotchas

Example: Practical code demonstration

Ready to Start?

Choose your path:

Let's dive in!