Architecture

This is the living architecture inventory for the current source tree. It intentionally lists only projects and boundaries that exist in the solution.

Runtime flow

flowchart LR
    Contract["Contract + generated descriptor"] --> Plan["LinkBuilder / RuntimePlan"]
    Plan --> Client["Client proxy + outbound filters"]
    Plan --> Server["Inbound route table + server filters"]
    Client --> Transport["Capability-specific transport"]
    Transport --> Server
    Server --> Handler["Scoped handler"]
    Server --> Inbox["Optional inbox store"]
    Contract --> Schema["Optional schema registry"]

RuntimePlan is the immutable composition boundary. Contract shape, selected protocols, ordering, partitioning, native hosting, generated metadata, and serializer requirements are validated before the bus starts. Microsoft DI adds startup gates for protected routes, inbox store registrations, and native host exposure before AnyProtocolHostedService starts subscriptions.

Package boundaries

The solution contains 29 source projects.

  • AnyProtocol.Abstraction owns application contracts, authorization/validation contracts, message metadata, schema contracts, and fault types. The former single-purpose Authorization.Abstraction and Validation.Abstraction assemblies were merged here.
  • AnyProtocol owns runtime composition, routing, dispatch, filters, in-memory inbox/schema providers, lifecycle, and generated-registry integration.
  • Protocol.Abstraction, Serializer.Abstraction, Encoder.Abstraction, Storage.Abstraction, DependencyInjection.Abstraction, and Logging.Abstraction remain independent provider SPIs; Storage.Abstraction owns the provider-neutral inbox/deduplication and large-payload store contracts. Logging.Abstraction is paired with the optional Microsoft logging adapter.
  • MessageIdGenerator.Ulid is an optional provider for ULID message identifiers; the core default remains a GUID-based generator.
  • REST, gRPC, Kafka, RabbitMQ, ZeroMQ, InMemory, and MCP remain independently deployable adapters.
  • Generator and code-fix projects remain netstandard2.0 compiler extensions.

Core, abstraction, serializer, encoder, and InMemory packages target net8.0 and net10.0. Adapters that depend on .NET 10 hosting or third-party runtime surfaces continue to target net10.0 until their compatibility matrix is verified.

Cross-cutting guarantees

  • Protected server methods cannot start without both AuthorizationFilter and an IAuthorizationProvider.
  • InboxDeduplicationFilter acquires a provider-neutral lease, completes it only after handler success, and releases it after failure. In-memory and Redis providers implement the same contract.
  • ISchemaRegistry versions schemas and delegates format-specific compatibility decisions. The built-in JSON Schema checker applies conservative backward, forward, and full object-shape rules.
  • Shared transport conformance tests cover send/subscribe, fan-out, competing consumers, cancellation, readiness, headers, bodies, and declared semantics for InMemory, Kafka, and RabbitMQ. Native REST/gRPC and role-oriented ZeroMQ retain operation-specific suites.
  • Packable projects run .NET package validation. Historical API baseline comparison is intentionally disabled while breaking changes are allowed.

Verification profiles

dotnet test AnyProtocol.slnx starts Kafka, RabbitMQ, and Redis Testcontainers when no external connection is supplied. Set ANYPROTOCOL_REQUIRE_BROKER_TESTS=true to turn unavailable container infrastructure into a failure instead of a skip. dotnet pack runs package validation for packable projects.

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