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tapir/DECISIONS.md
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mathias bc79167dfe docs: record rejected alternatives in DECISIONS.md
Adds a consolidated table of approaches considered and deliberately not taken
(Python, Supabase, living in the monolith, shared-lib lift, filesystem brain
package, reusing inbound oauth, global dedup table, Whisper-in-core, SaaS-now,
swarm-delegating the spike), each mapped to the ADR that settles it. Prevents a
later session from re-proposing settled rejections as fresh ideas.
2026-06-02 10:38:41 +00:00

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# Architecture Decision Records — Tapir
Lightweight ADRs. Each records a decision, its context, and its consequences at the time
it was made. Decisions are **append-only**: to reverse one, add a new ADR that supersedes
it (note the supersession in both). This is the reversibility record the VISION guardrails
refer to.
Status values: `Accepted` · `Superseded by ADR-NNN` · `Proposed`.
---
## ADR-001 — Go, not Python
**Status:** Accepted (2026-06-02)
**Context.** The first design draft assumed a Python/FastAPI/arq stack. The homelab is a
Go estate (`template-go-web`, `template-go-agent`, `mcp-chassis`, `hyperguild/ingestion`).
A Python service would be the only one of its kind, outside every shared convention, chassis,
and CI pattern.
**Decision.** Tapir is written in Go. Python is used only where it makes no sense not to
(e.g. if an ML component later genuinely requires it — none does today).
**Consequences.** Reuses homelab Go conventions and the `mcp-chassis` auth pattern if/when
Tapir exposes an MCP surface. Closes the door on the Python async ecosystem (acceptable —
Go's concurrency model fits the watcher/worker shape).
---
## ADR-002 — No Supabase; reuse existing Dex / ESO / Postgres conventions
**Status:** Accepted (2026-06-02)
**Context.** The draft proposed self-hosted Supabase for auth + RLS + secrets (Vault). The
homelab already runs **Dex** (OIDC), **ESO + 1Password** (secrets), and a **postgres18**
instance that the May-2026 architecture review is actively *de*-coupling by blast radius.
Supabase would bundle a second auth system, a second secrets store, and its own Postgres —
three duplications of things just consolidated.
**Decision.** No Supabase. Auth, secrets, and persistence reuse the homelab's existing
primitives: Dex for identity (when external identity is needed), ESO + 1Password for secret
custody, Postgres with per-tenant role/grant and the `tenant=` namespace label scheme for
isolation when Future B/C arrives.
**Consequences.** No new infra to operate or back up. Multi-tenancy uses the architecture
review's SC7/P6 primitives rather than Supabase RLS. For Stage 0 (single user) most of this
is dormant; it activates at Stage 1.
---
## ADR-003 — Standalone-first; brain is one sink behind an interface
**Status:** Accepted (2026-06-02)
**Context.** Tapir was initially framed as both a standalone service and a brain-ingestion
pipeline. The maintainer clarified that **standalone is the more important** of the two.
**Decision.** Tapir is a standalone service. Delivery of summaries is via a **Sink
interface** with multiple implementations. The user's own store is the primary sink; the
brain is *one optional sink among others*. The engine does not know or care which sinks are
attached.
**Consequences.** Brain ingestion can never dictate the core architecture (a named drift
signal in VISION). Homelab mode is "the brain sink is enabled"; it is not a separate build.
---
## ADR-004 — Copy the `llm` package from `hyperguild/ingestion`; do not lift to a shared lib
**Status:** Accepted (2026-06-02)
**Context.** Spike S5 (`infra/docs/superpowers/handoffs/2026-06-02-video-adapter-placement.md`)
examined what Tapir could reuse from `hyperguild/ingestion`. The `internal/llm` package
(`Client` + `Router`) is stdlib-only and its `Router` implements exactly the
Primary→Fallback pattern Tapir needs for local-first → BYO-AI. It is ~3.5 KB and stable.
**Decision.** **Copy** the `llm` package into Tapir and own it. Do not lift it into a shared
module. Lifting would couple Tapir's release cycle to the monolith to save ~100 lines —
a bad trade against the "standalone owes nothing" bias.
**Consequences.** Minor duplication. Tapir owes nothing to `hyperguild/ingestion` at the
dependency level. Primary = local stack via LiteLLM/piguard alias; Fallback = user BYO key.
---
## ADR-005 — Brain sink is an HTTP brain-mcp client, not the filesystem `brain` package
**Status:** Accepted (2026-06-02)
**Context.** `hyperguild/ingestion`'s `internal/brain` package manipulates the brain git
checkout **on the local filesystem** (`os.WriteFile` into `brain/wiki/...`). That assumes
co-location with the brain repo — fine for the monolith, wrong for a standalone service
where brain is one network-reached sink.
**Decision.** Tapir's brain sink is a thin **HTTP adapter calling brain-mcp's `brain_ingest`
tool**. It does not import or replicate the filesystem `brain` package.
**Consequences.** The brain sink works regardless of where Tapir runs. Adds a dependency on
brain-mcp availability when that sink is enabled (acceptable; sinks fail independently).
---
## ADR-006 — Outbound OAuth (YouTube/Vimeo) written fresh
**Status:** Accepted (2026-06-02)
**Context.** `hyperguild/ingestion`'s `internal/oauth` package is the MCP **server's
inbound** auth (client_credentials, authenticating claude.ai). Tapir needs **outbound**
authorization-code OAuth to YouTube/Vimeo with per-user token custody — a different concern
that happens to share a name.
**Decision.** Write the YouTube/Vimeo OAuth client fresh using `golang.org/x/oauth2`. Store
per-user refresh tokens via the homelab's ESO/1Password convention (ADR-002), not a new
secrets system.
**Consequences.** No reuse from the monolith here. Token custody is the highest-value
secret surface (see VISION Stage 2); it gets the existing, vetted secret path.
---
## ADR-007 — Captions-first; audio-download + speech-to-text deferred
**Status:** Accepted (2026-06-02)
**Context.** YouTube's Data API does not expose transcripts. Options: official captions
(clean, limited coverage) vs. audio download + local Whisper (broad coverage, ToS-grey,
GPU-contending with the JEPA PoC on koala, breakage-prone via yt-dlp).
**Decision.** The core path is **captions-only**. When a video has no usable transcript,
Tapir records "no transcript" and moves on. Audio-download + speech-to-text is a deferred,
clearly-bounded *optional* component, not part of the core path or Stage 0.
**Consequences.** Some videos won't be summarized at Stage 0 — accepted. The "is this
useful to me?" hypothesis is testable on captioned videos alone. Avoids GPU contention and
ToS risk in the validated path.
---
## ADR-008 — Future C (public multi-tenant SaaS) deferred behind the Stage 0 gate
**Status:** Accepted (2026-06-02)
**Context.** "Real users soon" was initially asserted, which would load Google OAuth
verification, billing, and hardened multi-tenant custody early. Lowered to Future B (15
trusted users), with the maintainer as the real first customer.
**Decision.** Build for Stage 0 then Stage 1 (Future B). Public SaaS machinery (sign-up,
billing, Google OAuth app verification at scale) is **not built** until the Stage 0
self-use gate passes **and** real external demand appears.
**Consequences.** Smaller, faster first build. The staged Definition of Success in VISION
governs advancement. Reversible: if demand appears, a new ADR opens the Future C scope.
---
## ADR-009 — Trunk-Based Development
**Status:** Accepted (2026-06-02)
**Context.** Platform-wide convention (homelab architecture review invariant; gitea-mcp #27):
commit directly to `main`, one logical change per commit, every commit deployable.
**Decision.** Tapir follows TBD. Commit directly to `main`. No feature branches or PRs for
solo/agent work; short-lived `agent/<desc>` branches only when parallel agents are active on
the repo simultaneously. CI is the quality gate, not branch protection.
**Consequences.** Consistent with the rest of the estate. Depends on the direct-to-main write
path tracked in gitea-mcp #35 (item #1).
---
## Rejected alternatives
Approaches considered during the 2026-06-02 planning + grill session and **deliberately not
taken**. Recorded so a later session doesn't re-propose them as if they were fresh ideas. Each
maps to the ADR that settles it.
| Rejected | Why rejected | Settled by |
|----------|-------------|-----------|
| Python / FastAPI / arq stack | Would be the only non-Go service in the estate, outside every shared chassis/convention/CI pattern | ADR-001 |
| Self-hosted Supabase (auth + RLS + Vault) | Duplicates Dex, ESO+1Password, and the postgres instance being actively de-coupled; three new things to run and back up | ADR-002 |
| Living inside the `hyperguild/ingestion` monolith | The only worthwhile reuse is ~100 lines (`llm`) that get copied anyway; standalone-first wants the service to owe the monolith nothing | ADR-003, ADR-004 |
| Lifting shared packages into a `brain-common` module | Couples Tapir's release cycle to the monolith for negligible code savings | ADR-004 |
| Importing/replicating the filesystem `brain` package | Assumes co-location with the brain git checkout; wrong for a standalone networked service | ADR-005 |
| Reusing `ingestion`'s `oauth` package for YouTube/Vimeo | Same name, opposite direction — it's inbound MCP-server auth, not outbound provider OAuth | ADR-006 |
| Global cross-tenant `videos`/`transcripts` table (dedup) | Reintroduces the cross-domain DB coupling the homelab review is removing; at 15 users, re-summarizing is cheaper than the coupling | data-model.md |
| Audio-download + Whisper STT in the core path | ToS-grey, breakage-prone (yt-dlp), contends for koala GPU with the JEPA PoC; captions alone test the core hypothesis | ADR-007 |
| Building multi-tenant SaaS / Google OAuth verification now | "Real users soon" was lowered to Future B; SaaS machinery before the Stage 0 self-use gate is the primary documented anti-goal | ADR-008, VISION |
| Delegating the S5 reuse spike to an agent swarm | A 1-hour sequential read-and-judge with a single coupled conclusion; orchestration overhead exceeds the work, and it's Diamond-1 judgment the maintainer wanted to own | (process note) |
If a future case genuinely reopens one of these, that's a new ADR superseding the relevant one —
not a silent reversal.