coulomb-social/docs/architecture/spike-checklist.md

Spike checklist — content plane & assets

Field	Value
Blueprint	ArchitectureBlueprint.md
Goal	Falsify or confirm options A/B/C and asset extraction before ADR-0003/0004
Time box	Prefer ≤2–3 working days per major spike; stop when decision quality is enough

Scoring legend for each spike: Pass / Partial / Fail / Skip with one-line evidence.

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Spike 0 — Shared page document fixture

Owner: coulomb-social
Depends on: none

• Define one stage-1 page markdown fixture:
  • frontmatter: id, type, title, abstract, visual, space
  • body: short markdown
  • backmatter: e.g. relations or provenance stub
• Define one space container convention (page-type vs directory).
• Define export package layout (pages/**, assets/**, MANIFEST.json).
• Commit fixtures under docs/space-fixtures/ or docs/architecture/fixtures/.

Pass when: fixture is stable enough that all later spikes use the same bytes.

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Spike 1 — markitect-tool as structure lib

Owner: coulomb-social (+ markitect-tool if API gaps)
Depends on: Spike 0

• From Python in coulomb (or throwaway script): parse fixture with markitect-tool public API.
• Round-trip serialize without losing title/abstract/visual fields.
• Validate required frontmatter fields (even minimal schema).
• Note missing APIs (backmatter support, field maps) as markitect-tool gaps.

Pass when: coulomb can treat markitect-tool as dependency for read/write structure without shelling out to mkt for the happy path.

Fail when: only CLI works or public API cannot preserve frontmatter stably.

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Spike 2 — Thin folder/git store (Option A)

Owner: coulomb-social
Depends on: Spike 0–1

• Layout: spaces/<slug>/pages/<page>.md + assets/.
• Implement throwaway PageOps: list, get, put, copy, transfer (filesystem).
• Reindex card projection into SQLite/Postgres (title, abstract, visual path, space).
• Export = tar/zip of tree; reimport without DB.
• Measure: copy/transfer LOC and failure modes (broken links, name collision).

Pass when: stage-1 verbs work on files alone; export/import demonstrated.

Decision input: Is A enough for 3–6 months without federation?

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Spike 3 — shard-wiki thin slice (Option B)

Owner: coulomb-social + shard-wiki
Depends on: Spike 0

• Boot one InformationSpace with single FolderAdapter or native engine shard.
• Ingest/edit stage-1 page; read via headless API (no UI).
• Implement or map: list, get, put; prototype copy/transfer (engine op or app-level).
• Attach fake Actor from static OIDC-like subject; confirm authz hooks exist or gap list.
• Document API surface coulomb would depend on (count endpoints/concepts).
• Stress “structure tax”: can card UI ignore federation/overlays entirely?

Pass when: thin slice delivers page CRUD without coulomb importing federation UX concepts.

Fail when: product code must understand multi-shard resolution for basic CRUD.

Decision input: structure surface area vs future multi-shard value.

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Spike 4 — kontextual-engine page + markdown SoR (Option C)

Owner: coulomb-social + kontextual-engine
Depends on: Spike 0–1

• Create KnowledgeAsset for stage-1 page; store source representation as markdown bytes (BlobStorage).
• Put title/abstract/visual in metadata and/or inside markdown frontmatter (document which is authoritative for export).
• Get content stream; reconstruct .md file bit-identical (or document lossiness).
• Run markitect-tool adapter on stored markdown (existing boundary tests as reference).
• Prototype copy = new asset + blob refs; transfer = metadata/relationship change to space context entity.
• Export package: write assets + markdown to filesystem from engine API.

Pass when: user-visible export is clean markdown+assets; engine IDs are additive not mandatory for reuse.

Fail when: content is only queryable as opaque registry rows without faithful markdown export.

Decision input: governance/lineage value vs stage-1 complexity.

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Spike 5 — NetKingdom / PolicyGateway wiring

Owner: coulomb + kontextual (and/or flex-auth)
Depends on: Spike 3 or 4

• Map live or mocked OIDC claims → Actor(external_ref=issuer|sub, groups=...).
• Implement deny-by-default PolicyGateway stub that allows only same-tenant resource metadata.
• Optional: call flex-auth check with coulomb vocabulary (if service available).
• Prove fail-closed: missing policy → no content bytes.
• Document gap list for production adapter ownership.

Pass when: written design + failing/passing test for cross-tenant deny.

Fail when: only AllowAll can run the stack.

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Spike 6 — Asset / Visual path

Owner: coulomb (+ kontextual or extracted store)
Depends on: Spike 2 or 4

• Store a cover image via content-addressed put; reference from page frontmatter visual: sha256:… or asset:….
• Serve image for card UI (signed URL, app proxy, or static mount — pick one).
• GC/unreferenced dry-run once.
• Compare effort: in-process kontextual BlobStorage vs copy port to shared package.

Pass when: card shows visual without storing image bytes in Postgres.

Decision input for extraction: is a second consumer ready? If no → keep in kontextual for now.

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Spike 7 — Asset-store extraction feasibility

Owner: platform / kontextual
Depends on: Spike 6

• Inventory kontextual BlobStorage + adapters (fs/s3/memory) public surface.
• Inventory markitect-main markitect/assets/ for ideas only (dedupe, packaging); do not port wholesale.
• Draft package name + repo boundary: bytes only vs registry.
• Estimate extraction PR: move port+adapters, leave KnowledgeAsset in kontextual.
• List consumers: coulomb, kontextual, shard-wiki (optional).

Pass when: one-page extraction proposal with “extract now / later / never” recommendation.

Default bias: later until two consumers need it.

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Spike 8 — Decision workshop → mostly closed 2026-08-13

Recorded in ArchitectureBlueprint §0 (D1–D4):

Item	Decision
Content plane start	A thin dir + git
Upgrades	→ shard-wiki → kontextual (supported)
asset-store	Later
Authz ownership	NetKingdom consolidation (avoid parallel PolicyGateway fiefdom)
Structure UX	Outline explode/implode; live default; pin exception

Remaining workshop work:

• File ADR-0003 / ADR-0004 reflecting D1–D4.
• Sketch export/import round-trip notes for B and C upgrades (feasibility only).
• Explode/implode UX prototype on thin tree (Spike 2 + markitect).

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Suggested order

0 fixture → 1 markitect → 2 thin store (always, baseline)
                ├→ 3 shard-wiki thin
                └→ 4 kontextual page+blob
         → 5 authz on winner(s)
         → 6 visual
         → 7 extraction feasibility
         → 8 decision / ADRs

Spike 2 is the control experiment: even if B or C wins, A defines the export contract users feel.

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Exit criteria for this checklist

Stop spiking when:

1. One primary content plane is chosen for stage 1 with explicit residuals, and
2. Asset strategy is chosen (where Visual bytes live), and
3. NetKingdom policy gap is owned (who implements PolicyGateway adapter), and
4. ADR-0003/0004 drafts exist or are scheduled.