stack-orchestrator/CLAUDE.md

# CLAUDE.md

This file provides guidance to Claude Code when working with the stack-orchestrator project.

## Some rules to follow
NEVER speculate about the cause of something
NEVER assume your hypotheses are true without evidence

ALWAYS clearly state when something is a hypothesis
ALWAYS use evidence from the systems your interacting with to support your claims and hypotheses
ALWAYS run `pre-commit run --all-files` before committing changes

## Key Principles

### Development Guidelines
- **Single responsibility** - Each component has one clear purpose
- **Fail fast** - Let errors propagate, don't hide failures
- **DRY/KISS** - Minimize duplication and complexity

## Development Philosophy: Conversational Literate Programming

### Approach
This project follows principles inspired by literate programming, where development happens through explanatory conversation rather than code-first implementation.

### Core Principles
- **Documentation-First**: All changes begin with discussion of intent and reasoning
- **Narrative-Driven**: Complex systems are explained through conversational exploration
- **Justification Required**: Every coding task must have a corresponding TODO.md item explaining the "why"
- **Iterative Understanding**: Architecture and implementation evolve through dialogue

### Working Method
1. **Explore and Understand**: Read existing code to understand current state
2. **Discuss Architecture**: Workshop complex design decisions through conversation
3. **Document Intent**: Update TODO.md with clear justification before coding
4. **Explain Changes**: Each modification includes reasoning and context
5. **Maintain Narrative**: Conversations serve as living documentation of design evolution

### Implementation Guidelines
- Treat conversations as primary documentation
- Explain architectural decisions before implementing
- Use TODO.md as the "literate document" that justifies all work
- Maintain clear narrative threads across sessions
- Workshop complex ideas before coding

This approach treats the human-AI collaboration as a form of **conversational literate programming** where understanding emerges through dialogue before code implementation.

## External Stacks Preferred

When creating new stacks for any reason, **use the external stack pattern** rather than adding stacks directly to this repository.

External stacks follow this structure:

```
my-stack/
└── stack-orchestrator/
    ├── stacks/
    │   └── my-stack/
    │       ├── stack.yml
    │       └── README.md
    ├── compose/
    │   └── docker-compose-my-stack.yml
    └── config/
        └── my-stack/
            └── (config files)
```

### Usage

```bash
# Fetch external stack
laconic-so fetch-stack github.com/org/my-stack

# Use external stack
STACK_PATH=~/cerc/my-stack/stack-orchestrator/stacks/my-stack
laconic-so --stack $STACK_PATH deploy init --output spec.yml
laconic-so --stack $STACK_PATH deploy create --spec-file spec.yml --deployment-dir deployment
laconic-so deployment --dir deployment start
```

### Examples

- `zenith-karma-stack` - Karma watcher deployment
- `urbit-stack` - Fake Urbit ship for testing
- `zenith-desk-stack` - Desk deployment stack

## Architecture: k8s-kind Deployments

### One Cluster Per Host
There is **one Kind cluster per host by design**. Multiple deployments (stacks) share this cluster. Never request or expect separate clusters for different deployments on the same host.

- `create_cluster()` in `helpers.py` reuses any existing cluster
- Cluster name in deployment.yml is an identifier, not a cluster request
- All deployments share ingress controller, etcd, certificates

### External Stacks
External stacks are detected by filesystem path existence (`Path(stack).exists()`). Required structure:

```
<repo>/
  stack_orchestrator/data/
    stacks/<name>/stack.yml
    compose/docker-compose-<pod>.yml
  deployment/spec.yml
```

Config/compose resolution: external path first, then internal fallback.

### Deployment Lifecycle
- `deploy create`: Initializes deployment dir, generates cluster-id, processes spec.yml
- `deployment start`: Creates/reuses cluster, deploys K8s resources
- `deployment restart`: Git pulls stack repo, syncs spec, redeploys (preserves data)
- `deployment stop`: Removes K8s resources (cluster persists)

### Secret Generation
`$generate:type:length$` tokens in spec.yml config section:
- Processed during `deploy create`
- Stored in K8s Secret `<deployment>-generated-secrets`
- Injected via `envFrom` with `secretRef`
- Non-secret config goes to `config.env`

### Key Files
- `spec.yml`: Deployment specification (in stack repo)
- `deployment.yml`: Cluster-id, stack-source path (generated)
- `config.env`: Non-secret environment variables (generated)
- `kind-config.yml`: Kind cluster configuration (generated)

## Insights and Observations

### Design Principles
- **When something times out that doesn't mean it needs a longer timeout it means something that was expected never happened, not that we need to wait longer for it.**
- **NEVER change a timeout because you believe something truncated, you don't understand timeouts, don't edit them unless told to explicitly by user.**