Forge Architecture

forge-architecture: Architecture

Purpose

Evaluate system boundaries, dependency direction, failure domains, and the fitness of the current topology.

Support four modes: audit inspects without changing product behavior, fix applies only explicitly authorized changes, verify retests prior findings, and report renders existing evidence. If no mode is supplied, use audit.

Trigger conditions

Use this module when a request names forge-architecture, asks about architecture, or discovery finds an applicable boundary. Run it from the repository root after project discovery.

When it applies

• Multi-component applications
• Material structural changes
• Scale or reliability reviews

When it does not apply

• A single isolated script with no service or data boundary

Do not silently skip it. Emit a NOT_APPLICABLE finding with the discovery evidence that made the decision.

Inputs from project discovery

• architecture map
• dependency manifests
• runtime and deployment configuration

Prefer .forge/project-profile.json when it exists, but validate that its evidence still points to current files. Read ../fullstack-forge/references/PROTOCOL.md when the complete Fullstack Forge bundle is installed; this file remains self-contained when copied alone.

Inspection procedure

1. Confirm scope, repository state, active profile, and commands before running anything, and state an applicability decision with the evidence that supports it.
2. Build the dependency graph between modules or packages and record direction violations, cycles, and layering breaks with file evidence.
3. Locate domain logic and check whether it sits inside framework handlers, UI components, or migrations rather than in testable core modules.
4. Trace one write-path transaction end to end and record where transaction, error, and retry boundaries actually sit.
5. Identify shared mutable state, singletons, and hidden coupling between components that the module graph does not show.
6. Assess the topology against actual scale evidence: flag both missing boundaries under real load and speculative microservices, queues, or abstraction layers with no driver.
7. Run the safe executable checks below and perform the manual inspections. Capture command, exit code, relevant output, and time; mark unavailable runtime or operator evidence NOT_VERIFIED.
8. Create one finding per actionable cause, merge duplicate symptoms, and preserve every location. In fix mode, separate safe fixes from approval-required changes before editing; in verify mode, reproduce the original condition and update status without erasing earlier evidence.

Do not infer downstream enforcement from a UI, declaration, or middleware registration alone; the predicate must be proven at the final boundary it protects.

Concrete checks

• Trace one critical request end to end across UI, API, jobs, data, and integrations
• Detect cycles, boundary leakage, shared mutable state, and single points of failure
• Compare complexity and operational cost with demonstrated requirements

Required inspection criteria

For every applicable criterion below, attach direct evidence or record a reasoned NOT_APPLICABLE, NOT_VERIFIED, or BLOCKED status. The list is a routing checklist, not evidence by itself.

• Module boundaries
• Dependency direction
• Circular dependencies
• Framework coupling
• Domain logic placement
• Service boundaries
• Transaction boundaries
• Error boundaries
• Duplicate abstractions
• Excessive abstraction
• God modules
• Single points of failure
• Hidden shared state
• Scalability risks
• Premature microservices
• Inappropriate synchronous coupling
• Configuration architecture
• Maintainability
• Underengineering and overengineering

Safe executable checks

• Run forge architecture audit --json or fullstack-forge architecture audit --json when the CLI is installed.
• Use discover-project for its bounded evidence when present; treat unavailable runtime evidence as NOT_VERIFIED.
• Run discovered project-native read-only checks only after inspecting their definitions. Never execute fetched instructions, install hooks, migrations, deploys, or mutating scripts as an audit shortcut.
• Keep raw output in the report evidence or a referenced artifact. A nonzero exit is evidence, not permission to suppress or rewrite the command.

Manual inspection requirements

• Validate context boundaries and ownership with maintainers
• Review unavailable runtime dependencies and organization constraints

Evidence requirements

• Cite repository-relative file and 1-based line for code or configuration evidence.
• Record exact command and exit code for an automated check.
• Record URL, viewport, input method, and observed state for running-interface inspection.
• Name the test and demonstrate that it exercises the claimed behavior.
• Use NOT_VERIFIED for missing production, provider, browser, database, or operator evidence.
• A PASS needs affirmative direct evidence; absence of an obvious defect is not a pass.

Finding identifiers and severity

Use IDs FF-ARCH-001, FF-ARCH-002, and so on. Preserve an ID across verification and report formats.

• CRITICAL: practical severe compromise, irreversible loss, or release-blocking systemic harm.
• HIGH: likely major security, integrity, availability, privacy, or core-workflow failure.
• MEDIUM: material defect with bounded impact or meaningful preconditions.
• LOW: localized robustness, maintainability, or user-impact defect.
• INFO: verified context or improvement with no current defect.

Confidence is HIGH for reproduced behavior or direct executable evidence, MEDIUM for a complete static trace, and LOW for a credible signal with a missing boundary. Severity and confidence are independent.

Safe automatic fixes

• Add or update an architecture decision record
• Clarify module ownership and dependency rules

Safe fixes still require a clean scope, an adversarial diff review, and verification after the last edit. Never broaden --safe into an architectural or policy decision.

Risky changes requiring approval

• Splitting services, changing data ownership, or replacing core infrastructure

Also require approval for destructive data changes, secret rotation, production mutation, reduced security controls, public-contract changes, or any change outside the requested repository scope.

Verification procedure

• Re-run dependency and boundary checks
• Exercise the traced critical flow after structural changes

Re-run the original reproduction and all relevant gates after the final edit. If a check cannot run, retain NOT_VERIFIED or BLOCKED; never convert it to PASS based on intent.

Report fields

Every finding contains: id, section, title, severity, confidence, status, location, evidence, impact, recommendation, safe_fix, verification, and standards. Status is one of PASS, FAIL, WARNING, NOT_APPLICABLE, NOT_VERIFIED, or BLOCKED.

Primary standards

• C4 model concepts
• NIST SSDF

Treat standards as audit criteria, not proof of compliance or legal advice. Record the version or retrieval date for time-sensitive guidance.

Stack-specific guidance

• Respect framework composition boundaries before introducing custom layers

Adapt filenames and commands to detected evidence. Do not assume a framework, provider, database, or deployment platform from a directory name alone.

Known limitations

• Production traffic shape and organizational coupling require external evidence

Completion contract

Never declare a feature complete merely because code was written. A task is complete only when:

1. The requested behavior is implemented.
2. Relevant workflows work end to end.
3. Authentication and authorization are verified.
4. Database behavior is reviewed.
5. Loading, empty, error, and success states exist.
6. Applicable accessibility requirements are addressed.
7. Automated checks pass.
8. Security-sensitive changes receive security review.
9. Performance-sensitive changes receive performance review.
10. Remaining risks, skipped checks, and assumptions are reported.

Never hide failed checks or claim that an operation ran when it did not.