Lean by construction

A single binary and a single engine, with no microservices, CRDTs, or consensus.

Context

Agent infrastructure tends to accumulate processes: a queue, a search service, a worker fleet, a coordination layer. Each addition is individually reasonable and collectively unshippable on a NAS by one person.

Decision

Stay lean by construction. One binary, one engine, no microservices, no CRDTs, and no custom distributed consensus. Where a feature would require a new process, prefer a smaller design inside the binary.

Consequences

• The storage facade and the single engine keep the data story simple.
• Per-session single-writer semantics remove the need for a coordination layer.
• Search, artifacts, and the feed all live in the same process and engine.
• A future feature that genuinely needs a distributed design has to justify itself against this decision rather than being added by default.