Code Quality

Code Quality Guardrails

What this skill is for

Use this skill any time you:

• touch core indexing/query code, storage/durability, schema parsing, or the JSON request model
• add/modify CLI flags or HTTP endpoints
• change behavior that could affect correctness, durability, or performance
• add feature-gated functionality (vectors, gpu, zstd, ffi, wasm/IndexedDB storage)

This is not a “nice-to-have.” The point is to make changes reviewable, reproducible, and safe.

Non-negotiables (definition of done)

A change is “done” only when:

1. Formatting is applied to the whole workspace
2. Clippy passes with warnings denied
3. Build passes with --all-features (and ideally default features too)
4. Tests pass with --all-features
5. Perf-sensitive changes have at least one concrete validation (bench, profiling, or a before/after metric)
6. API/schema changes update the artifacts that define the contract (openapi.yaml, search-request.schema.json, and docs/README examples)

Required commands (workspace root)

Canonical Cargo commands

Run these in the repo root:

• Format:

  • cargo fmt --all

• Lint (deny warnings):

  • cargo clippy --all --all-features --all-targets -- -D warnings

• Build:

  • cargo build --all --all-features

• Test:

  • cargo test --all --all-features

• Bench (when touching ranking/index/query hot paths):

  • cargo bench -p searchlite-core

just shortcuts

If you use the workspace Justfile, keep the “one-liner” workflows working and equivalent:

• just fmt
• just lint
• just build
• just test
• just bench

If you update one side (Cargo vs just), update the other.

Toolchain policy (MSRV/pinned toolchain)

• The repo pins a specific Rust toolchain via rust-toolchain.toml and documents that setup explicitly (currently 1.92.0).
• Treat that as the “works everywhere” baseline unless you intentionally raise it.

If you need a newer language/library feature:

• Prefer an alternative implementation compatible with the pinned toolchain.
• If you must bump the toolchain (currently pinned in rust-toolchain.toml to 1.92.0):
  • change the toolchain file
  • update README “Development setup”
  • ensure CI (if any) uses the same toolchain
  • call out the bump explicitly in the changelog/release notes

Feature matrix expectations

Searchlite is explicitly feature-gated in key areas:

• vectors (vector fields + ANN/HNSW behavior)
• gpu (GPU stubs / rerank integration points)
• zstd (docstore compression behavior)
• ffi (C ABI)
• wasm bindings (searchlite-wasm, IndexedDB-backed storage)

Quality bar:

• Don’t break non-default combinations.
• If you add code under a feature flag, add at least one:
  • unit test gated with #[cfg(feature = "...")], and/or
  • integration test that runs only when the feature is enabled.

“Hot path” performance rules

Searchlite advertises small footprint + fast top-k via WAND/BMW pruning and block maxes. That implies real constraints:

When touching query evaluation / ranking

• Avoid allocations in inner loops.
• Prefer reusing buffers (e.g., keep scratch vectors on the struct, clear not reallocate).
• Avoid iterator-heavy abstractions in the deepest loops if they obscure costs.
• Measure with Searchlite’s built-in profiling modes when possible (see debugging-playbook).

Validate pruning modes didn’t regress

Search supports multiple execution strategies:

• bm25 (full evaluation)
• wand (exact WAND pruning)
• bmw (block-max WAND)

When changing ranking/pruning logic, verify correctness/perf by:

• running the pruning example:
  • cargo run -p searchlite-core --example pruning
• and/or comparing the same query under execution=bm25 vs wand vs bmw.

Durability & storage invariants (do not weaken)

Searchlite’s durability story is a core product claim. Preserve it:

Core guarantees

• Segment files/manifests are flushed (fsync) on write.
• WAL is truncated only after the manifest is persisted and synced.
• Manifest updates use atomic rename + directory fsync.
• Crash window is explicitly documented: a crash after manifest write but before WAL truncation causes WAL replay to reapply the last batch (no data loss; compaction cleans it up).

What this means for PRs that touch storage/commit logic

If you change anything in:

• segment writing
• manifest writing
• WAL appending/truncation
• compaction + cleanup
• storage backends (FS vs in-memory vs IndexedDB)

…you must:

• state the durability invariant(s) you preserved in the PR description
• add/adjust tests that cover the crash window / replay behavior
• keep atomic rename + directory fsync semantics for on-disk storage
• keep in-memory storage explicitly “no durability” (don’t accidentally add fsync-ish behavior there)

API contract sync checklist

When you change any of:

• HTTP endpoints, request/response shapes, error format
• CLI flags or subcommand behavior
• JSON request schema (query/filter/aggs/suggest/collapse/etc)

You must update:

• openapi.yaml (HTTP contract)
• search-request.schema.json (JSON request contract)
• at least one runnable example (README or docs) that exercises the new behavior

Also preserve:

• HTTP errors return the structured form:
  • {"error":{"type":"...","reason":"..."}}

Review checklist (copy into PRs)

• cargo fmt --all clean
• cargo clippy --all --all-features --all-targets -- -D warnings clean
• cargo build --all --all-features clean
• cargo test --all --all-features clean
• If perf-sensitive: bench/profiling evidence included
• If API/schema touched: openapi.yaml + schema JSON updated
• If durability touched: atomic rename/fsync/WAL ordering preserved + test coverage updated
• Feature flags respected (vectors/gpu/zstd/ffi/wasm)
• Docs/examples updated and copy/paste runnable

Commit & changelog hygiene

• Prefer Conventional Commit prefixes: feat:, fix:, perf:, refactor:, docs:, test:, chore:.
• If change impacts compatibility or durability semantics, call it out explicitly.

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