# Project: Orca ## Vision A minimalist, offline-first, CLI-first orchestration engine inspired by HashiCorp Nomad, prioritizing stability, security, and simplicity over feature richness. ## Objective Build a lightweight system to manage and execute workloads across a set of nodes, keeping complexity far below that of Kubernetes. ## Requirements - **CLI First**: Primary interaction through a CLI tool. - **Offline First**: Functional without constant internet connectivity. - **AI First**: Designed to be easily discoverable and manageable by AI agents. - **Stability & Security**: Prioritize security fixes and bug fixes over new features. - **Language**: Written in Go 1.25+. - **Simplicity**: Minimalist implementation, avoiding the "K8s complexity trap". ## Constraints - No web UI as a primary requirement. - Must not implement K8s-level complexity. - Feature development must move slowly to ensure stability. - Only CI system allowed: CoreCI (git.cloudinit.dev/coreci/coreci). - Gitea remote: git.cloudinit.dev/coreci/orca. ## Clarified Decisions (D-series, full autonomy) | ID | Question | Decision | Rationale | Confidence | |----|----------|----------|-----------|------------| | D-001 | Single binary or multi-binary distribution? | **Single binary** | Simpler distribution; subcommands baked into one `orca` binary. Aligns with simplicity pillar. | 0.95 | | D-002 | Local state store technology? | **modernc/sqlite (pure Go, CGO-free)** | Cross-compile friendly, no CGO dependency, single file on disk, mature. | 0.92 | | D-003 | Inter-node communication? | **Embedded HTTP (net/http) over loopback, mTLS for cross-node** | No external RPC framework needed for v0.1. HTTP suffices. | 0.85 | | D-004 | Scheduling algorithm for v0.1? | **Single-node only (no scheduling)** | Multi-node scheduling is out of scope for v0.1. Tasks run on the node they're submitted to. | 0.90 | | D-005 | CLI output format? | **Human-readable by default, `--json` flag for machine consumption** | Serves both humans and AI agents. | 0.95 | | D-006 | Job/task definition format? | **HCL or YAML in `.hcl`/`.yaml` files** | Familiar to Nomad/HashiCorp users; simpler than JSON for humans. | 0.88 | | D-007 | Authentication? | **mTLS for v0.1, token-based deferred** | mTLS is the most secure default. Tokens can be added later if needed. | 0.80 | | D-008 | Container runtime? | **Direct process execution (no container runtime) for v0.1** | Avoids the Docker/container dependency. Pure process management. | 0.85 | | D-009 | Configuration file location? | **`~/.orca/config.hcl` and `/etc/orca/orca.hcl`** | Standard XDG-style paths. | 0.90 | | D-010 | Logging format? | **Structured JSON via `log/slog`** | Native Go 1.21+ slog, no external dependency. | 0.95 | | D-011 | v0.2 mTLS cert authority model? | **Internal CA with CSR join** | One node bootstraps a local CA; peers generate CSRs and submit them to the CA for signing. CA cert is the trust anchor. More secure than self-signed per-node (single trust root) without the operational complexity of an external PKI. | 0.92 | | D-012 | v0.2 CA bootstrap & cert distribution? | **Operator-mediated, fingerprint-verified** | Bootstrap node writes `~/.orca/ca.crt` and `~/.orca/ca.key` (mode 0600). Operator copies `ca.crt` to peers; peers verify by SHA-256 fingerprint at `orca node join --ca-fingerprint `. No automated secret distribution. | 0.85 | | D-013 | v0.2 cert validity & rotation? | **Server certs 90 days, CA cert 10 years, rotate 30 days before expiry** | Server certs are short-lived (compromise window small); CA is long-lived (manual rotation is expensive). `orca cert renew` reissues server certs automatically. | 0.90 | | D-014 | v0.2 mTLS handshake timing? | **Eager — at `orca node join` time** | Fail fast on bad certs, misconfigurations, or CA mismatches. Lazy handshake would let stale configs run until first request, complicating debugging. | 0.88 | | D-015 | v0.2 minimum TLS version & cipher suites? | **TLS 1.3 only; AEAD cipher allowlist** | MinVersion=tls.VersionTLS13, CipherSuites limited to TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384, TLS_CHACHA20_POLY1305_SHA256, TLS_AES_128_GCM_SHA256. No TLS 1.2 fallback. | 0.92 | | D-016 | v0.2 security-scanning placement? | **`validate` pipeline of `.coreci.yml`, gates merges to main** | `gosec` baseline JSON checked into repo; new findings fail the build. `govulncheck ./...` exit-on-known. Pre-commit hook with `gitleaks` is opt-in (developer machine). | 0.85 | | D-017 | v0.2 `iter.Seq` API surface? | **`orca job list --watch` and `orca node list --watch`** | Pull-based `iter.Seq[Job]` / `iter.Seq[Node]`; cancellation via `context.Context`; `signal.NotifyContext` on ctrl-c. Backpressure is implicit (consumer-driven). | 0.90 | | D-018 | v0.2 multi-node scheduling algorithm? | **Bin-packing by available CPU/memory, FIFO within a node** | Simple, deterministic, matches D-004 minimalism. Cross-node dispatch via ConnectRPC `orca.v1.Dispatch` service. Retry on transient failures with exponential backoff. | 0.85 | ## Out of Scope - Full-blown Kubernetes-compatible API. - Complex cloud-provider integrations. - GUI-based management consoles. - Container runtime integration. - Service mesh / sidecar injection. - Auto-scaling / horizontal pod autoscaler. - External PKI / Let's Encrypt / cert transparency logs. - gRPC framework dependency (ConnectRPC in `config.json` frameworks but not in `go.mod`; v0.2 uses stdlib `net/http` with h2c for `orca.v1.Dispatch` — see ARCHITECTURE.md AD-014). ## v0.2 Scope Summary v0.2 is a focused 4-phase milestone that turns Orca from a single-node process executor into a small cluster engine with strong transport security and richer I/O. The 4 phases are: - **P01 — mTLS handshake + internal CA with CSR join.** Internal CA, CSR join, eager handshake at `node join`, TLS 1.3 + AEAD allowlist. See ARCHITECTURE.md Flow 1 + Flow 2. - **P02 — Multi-node scheduling & job dispatch.** Best-fit bin-packing by CPU/memory, FIFO within a node, `orca.v1.Dispatch` over mTLS. See ARCHITECTURE.md Flow 3. - **P03 — `gosec` + `govulncheck` + `gitleaks` in CI.** `gosec` baseline JSON in repo, `govulncheck ./...` in `validate` pipeline, `gitleaks` in pre-commit (opt-in). - **P04 — `iter.Seq` streaming for `--watch` flags.** Go 1.25+ range-over-func semantics, `context.Context` cancellation, `signal.NotifyContext` on ctrl-c. See ARCHITECTURE.md Flow 4. The vision ("minimalist, offline-first, CLI-first orchestration engine") is unchanged. v0.2 is a hardening + small-cluster extension, not a direction change.