alkgit/docs/architecture/overview.md

status, last_updated

status	last_updated
reviewed	2026-09-30

Overview: alkgit

Purpose

alkgit is the git payload service of the alk family: a pure protocol crate (per ADR-010, following the alktty/alktunnels template) implementing the git smart protocol over alkcall channels — the alk/git ALPN. It provides repository storage as backend traits (with a feature-gated gitoxide implementation), the git smart protocol as producer/consumer halves, and nothing else: no binary, no front doors. The original framing of this repo (a monorepo with an alkgitd binary and its own http/ssh crates) was an init-agent artifact corrected by OQ-09/ADR-010; docs/research/vision.md is amended accordingly.

The one-line architecture

One protocol crate: producer + consumer + backend traits, gix behind a feature. Doors (alkhttp, alkssh, alknet) expose it; assembly belongs to downstream consumers.

Crate map

Single crate alkgit:

Half	Contents	POC evidence
Producer	GitAdapter (alk/git ALPN via alkcall ProtocolHandler; parses the ADR-016 request-line preamble), channels register_openable (channels/git/sub — open-op params {repo, service}, the negotiation + service selector + ACL point; ADR-016)	POC-1 verbatim
Consumer	GitSession typed client (connect_direct, open_via_channels) — ADR-017: ls_refs/fetch/push; fetch via gitoxide client machinery over a custom alkcall Transport, push hand-rolled to ADR-013's shapes; the replication/mirroring primitive for alknet	new, specified (grammar capture-grounded: ADR-013/014 + captures)
Substrate	duplex session + stateless request/response layer (ADR-005); wire framing, V2 state machines (ADR-003)	POC-1, POC-3
Backends	GitRegistry (+ write supertrait), GitRefs, GitPackGen, GitPackIngest traits (signatures pinned: ADR-018); impls behind the default-on gix (engine) and registry-file (records) features	POC-2 (gix impl)
Management ops	git/repo/* call ops over GitRegistryStore (ADR-012 §3) — the JSON half alongside the alk/git open op (first dual-kind payload; ADR-012 §5); types/schemas pinned in backend.md §"Registry types and schemas"	thin over the store trait

Feature model: gix (engine impls) and registry-file (record store + ops) are independent default-on seams (ADR-012 §4); default-features = false gives the wire/protocol layer without either (wasm-clean as a side effect, not a goal); the sha256 passthrough and (eventually, in alkhttp) the git door feature ride the same pattern. Doors live in the door crates — see doors.md.

Security invariants (spec-level, carried from vision/principles)

1. Authenticated by default — anonymous fetch only on explicitly- public repos; push always authenticated.
2. Visible-surface = authorized-surface — alkcall ACL end-to-end; internal ops never wire-callable.
3. ACL before advertisement — nothing is emitted before the check (ADR-007); the channels open-op carrying the repo id is the natural enforcement point on the native path.
4. Registry-resolved repo identity — wire names are ids, never paths (ADR-008).
5. No secret material on the wire or at rest outside alkvault — metadata holds vault references; no env-var credential reads. (In v1 alkgit's metadata holds no credential-shaped material at all, so nothing is vault-placed — ADR-011 §5.)
6. No shelling out to git — pure Rust on gix primitives.
7. Bounded resources — every session carries Limits (ADR-009).
8. Honest capability advertisement — advertise exactly what we serve (ADR-003).

What is already validated (POC-backed)

• pkt-line over alkcall BiStream end-to-end (POC-1 → producer half).
• Pack generation pipeline streaming with O(counts) memory (POC-2 → gix backend impl).
• Smart-http streaming both ways (POC-3 → the stateless substrate that alkhttp's future git feature maps onto; docs/research/poc3-findings.md §alkhttp fit is the mounting reference). The full V2 fetch path against real git 2.43 is proven; receive-pack and multi-round negotiation are design-complete against real-client captures (ADR-013, ADR-014 — push-captures.md, negotiation-captures.md).

Design Decisions

ADR	Decision	Summary
001	Crate decomposition	superseded by ADR-010
002	Session boundary	(identity, repo, service, stream, limits) — unchanged, load-bearing; service per ADR-016
003	V2-first protocol	V2-only fetch both doors; push is V0-framed by upstream design (ADR-013); honest advertisement
004	Pack pipeline	data::output gen / data::input ingestion
005	Substrate types	duplex + stateless APIs over one state machine
006	HTTP adapter composition	superseded by ADR-010 (mounting → alkhttp feature)
007	ACL first	no ref/capability line before ACL passes
008	Repo identity	wire names are registry IDs
009	Budgets	every session carries limits
010	Pure protocol crate	single crate, producer/consumer halves, no doors/binary
011	Per-repo authorization	grants in repo records, policy in core, vault-nil (amended: ADR-015)
012	Registry + ops	read/write split, file default, CRUD ops, feature split
013	receive-pack	V0-framed push machine, thin-pack acceptance, unpack-first CAS
014	Negotiation	ack loop, common_haves seam, no ready
015	Manage grant + op gate	manage tier, admin-OR-manage gate, create seeds manage
016	Native session preamble	{repo, service} open-op params, request-line preamble, service in the tuple
017	Consumer half	GitSession typed client, custom alkcall Transport + gix-protocol fetch, hand-rolled push
018	Trait signatures + storage errors	object-storage trait signatures pinned, StorageError for traits 3–5, &RepoRecord repo param

Open Questions

Key questions tracked in open-questions.md:

• OQ-03: publish-time API freeze inventory (the git/repo/* op set and the trait family enter it; ADR-012, ADR-013/014's trait additions; the ADR-015 three-action grant shape must land in it; the ADR-016 native preamble wire shapes — {repo, service} params schema and the request-line grammar — entered it; ADR-017's GitSession public API enters it; ADR-018's trait signatures + shared types + StorageError complete the backend-seam inventory).
• OQ-05: sha256 policy (deferred(scope), low).
• OQ-16: grant-key identity namespace (deferred(scope); blocks nothing in v1 — ADR-015 §7).

Resolved this cycle: OQ-04 (ADR-013 — receive-pack state machine, capture-grounded), OQ-02 (ADR-014 — negotiation ack loop). Earlier: OQ-08 (ADR-011 — per-repo authorization, grants in records, vault-nil), OQ-06 (ADR-012 — registry-file default, persistence adapters additive), OQ-07 (ADR-012 — CRUD ops shipped External with scope+grant ACL, gate amended by ADR-015), OQ-09/OQ-01 (ADR-010 — pure protocol crate).