Essential Reading Guide

Get up to speed on Prism fundamentals through this curated reading path. Each section builds on the previous, taking you from vision to implementation in ~45 minutes of focused reading.

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TL;DR: What is Prism?

The Problem: Netflix-scale organizations need a unified data access layer, but existing solutions (Netflix's Data Gateway) are too slow and hard to self-service.

The Solution: A Rust-based proxy that's 10-100x faster, with client-originated configuration that enables team self-service while maintaining policy guardrails.

The Key Insight: Separate what (client APIs), how (patterns), and where (backends) into three layers. Applications declare needs; Prism handles backend selection, provisioning, and reliability patterns.

Performance: P50 <1ms, P99 <10ms, 200k+ RPS per proxy instance.

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The Learning Journey

Phase 1: The Vision (10 min)

Read: Product Requirements Document (PRD)

Why start here: Understand the problem Prism solves, who it's for, and what success looks like.

Key takeaways:

• 50x team scaling: Infrastructure team of 10 supports 500+ app teams
• Zero-downtime migrations: Swap backends without client changes
• Self-service provisioning: Teams declare needs; platform provisions resources
• Success metrics: <1ms P50 latency, 10k+ RPS, 99.99% uptime

After reading: You'll understand why Prism exists and who benefits.

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Phase 2: Core Decisions (15 min)

Read these four ADRs in order - they establish Prism's technical foundation:

ADR-001: Why Rust for the Proxy (4 min)

The choice: Rust instead of JVM (Go/Java/Scala)

The rationale:

• 10-100x performance improvement (P50: 1ms vs 5-50ms)
• Memory safety without GC pauses
• 20MB idle memory vs 500MB+ JVM

Key quote: "Performance is a feature. Users perceive <100ms as instant; every millisecond counts."

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ADR-002: Client-Originated Configuration (4 min)

The choice: Applications declare requirements; Prism provisions infrastructure

The rationale:

• Applications know their needs best (RPS, consistency, latency)
• Platform team sets policy boundaries (approved backends, cost limits)
• Self-service scales to hundreds of teams

Example:

message UserEvents {
  option (prism.access_pattern) = "append_heavy";
  option (prism.estimated_write_rps) = "10000";
  option (prism.retention_days) = "90";
}
// Prism selects: Kafka with 20 partitions

Read next: Namespace Configuration - See how to actually configure a namespace

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ADR-003: Protobuf as Single Source of Truth (4 min)

The choice: Protobuf definitions with custom tags drive all code generation

The rationale:

• DRY principle: Define once, generate everywhere
• Type safety across languages
• Custom tags drive: indexing, PII handling, backend selection

Example:

message UserProfile {
  string email = 2 [
    (prism.pii) = "email",
    (prism.encrypt_at_rest) = true,
    (prism.mask_in_logs) = true
  ];
}
// Generates: Encryption, masked logging, audit trails

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ADR-004: Local-First Testing Strategy (3 min)

The choice: Real local backends (SQLite, Docker Postgres) instead of mocks

The rationale:

• Mocks hide backend-specific behavior
• Local backends catch integration bugs early
• Testcontainers make this practical

Key practice: If you can't test it locally, you can't test it in CI.

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Phase 2.5: Namespace Configuration Deep Dive (12 min)

After understanding the core decisions, learn how namespace configuration actually works in practice:

RFC-056: Unified Configuration Model (5 min)

Why read this: Understand the complete configuration story with standardized terminology.

Key concepts:

• Four configuration layers: User Request → Platform Selection → Backend Provisioning → Runtime Execution
• Unified terminology: "pattern" (not client_api), "needs" (not requirements)
• Clear authorization boundaries: Guided/Advanced/Expert permission levels
• Multi-tenancy hierarchy: Tenant → Team → Namespace

Key quote: "Users declare what they need, not how to implement it"

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Namespace Configuration Documentation (4 min)

Why read this: Practical guide to creating and configuring namespaces.

What you'll learn:

• Complete namespace configuration schema
• All available patterns (queue, pubsub, keyvalue, reader, transact, etc.)
• Functional requirements ("needs"): durability, consistency, capacity
• Access control and compliance policies
• Real-world configuration examples

Use this when: Actually creating a namespace for your application.

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RFC-047: Namespace Reservation with Lease Management (3 min)

Why skim this: Understand how namespace uniqueness and security work.

Key concepts:

• Global uniqueness: Admin plane ensures namespace names are unique across all proxy instances
• JWT-based authorization: Namespace tokens grant configuration permissions
• Lease lifecycle: TTL-based leases with refresh mechanism prevent abandoned namespaces
• Standalone mode: Single-tenant deployments can skip admin plane coordination

When this matters: Multi-proxy production deployments, security audits.

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Phase 3: System Architecture (10 min)

Read: MEMO-006: Backend Interface Decomposition & Schema Registry

Why read this: Understand the three-layer architecture that makes backend swapping possible.

The three layers:

Layer 3: Client Protocols (Application APIs)
         ↓
Layer 2: Proxy DAL Patterns (KeyValue, Entity, TimeSeries, Graph)
         ↓
Layer 1: Backend Capabilities (45 thin interfaces)

Key insight: Patterns compose backend interfaces to provide higher-level abstractions.

Example: Multicast Registry pattern uses:

• keyvalue_basic (for registration storage)
• pubsub_basic (for event distribution)
• queue_basic (for durability)

Same pattern works with Redis+NATS+Postgres OR DynamoDB+SNS+SQS by swapping Layer 1 backends.

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Phase 3.5: Configuration Model (10 min)

Read: Configuration Overview

Why read this: Understand the 6-layer configuration model that separates user needs from platform implementation.

The six layers:

1. User Request (Layer 1) - Applications declare needs via namespace configuration
2. Platform Policy (Layer 2) - Teams have permission levels (Guided, Advanced, Expert)
3. Pattern Selection (Layer 3) - Prism automatically selects patterns based on requirements
4. Backend Registry (Layer 4) - Operators register available backends
5. Frontend Registry (Layer 5) - API protocol bindings (REST, gRPC, GraphQL)
6. Runtime Execution (Layer 6) - Pattern runners and proxy configuration

Key documents:

• Namespace Configuration - How applications declare needs
• Backend Registry - Available backends and capabilities
• Slot Matching - How patterns bind to backends
• RFC-056: Unified Configuration Model - Complete specification

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Phase 4: Implementation Roadmap (10 min)

RFC-018: POC Implementation Strategy (7 min)

Why read this: See how we're building Prism incrementally with Walking Skeleton approach.

The 5 POCs:

1. KeyValue + MemStore (2 weeks) - Simplest possible end-to-end
2. KeyValue + Redis (2 weeks) - Real backend + acceptance testing
3. PubSub + NATS (2 weeks) - Messaging pattern
4. Multicast Registry (3 weeks) - Composite pattern (KeyValue + PubSub + Queue)
5. Authentication (2 weeks) - Security + multi-tenancy

Key principle: Build thinnest possible slice end-to-end, then iterate.

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MEMO-004: Backend Plugin Implementation Guide (3 min)

Why skim this: See backend priorities and implementability rankings.

Quick reference:

• Highest priority: MemStore, Kafka, NATS, PostgreSQL (internal needs)
• External priorities: Redis, SQLite, S3/MinIO, ClickHouse
• Implementability ranking: MemStore (easiest) → Neptune (hardest)

Use this when: Choosing which backend to implement next.

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Development Practices (5 min)

CLAUDE.md (Repository Root)

Why read this: Your guide to contributing to Prism.

Essential sections:

1. Documentation Validation - Mandatory before committing docs
2. TDD Workflow - Red/Green/Refactor with coverage requirements
3. Git Commit Format - Concise messages with user prompts
4. Monorepo Structure - Where things live

Coverage requirements:

• Core Plugin SDK: 85% minimum, 90% target
• Plugins (complex): 80% minimum, 85% target
• Plugins (simple): 85% minimum, 90% target

Key quote: "Write tests first. If you can't test it locally, you can't test it in CI."

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Your Reading Path

New to Prism? (47 min)

Follow this sequence to build complete understanding:

1. Vision (10 min): PRD
2. Decisions (15 min): ADR-001, ADR-002, ADR-003, ADR-004
3. Namespace Configuration (12 min): RFC-056, Namespace Config, RFC-047
4. Architecture (10 min): MEMO-006
5. Development (5 min): CLAUDE.md

After this: You'll understand Prism's vision, technical foundation, namespace configuration model, architecture, and development practices.

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Implementing a Feature? (20 min)

Start with implementation context:

1. POC Strategy (7 min): RFC-018 - Which POC phase are we in?
2. Namespace Configuration (3 min): Namespace Config - How to configure for your use case
3. Backend Guide (3 min): MEMO-004 - Backend-specific guidance
4. Testing Framework (5 min): MEMO-015 - How to write acceptance tests
5. Observability (5 min): MEMO-016 - Add tracing/metrics

Then: Follow TDD workflow from CLAUDE.md

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Writing an ADR/RFC? (10 min)

Understand the decision-making context:

1. Read existing ADRs: See ADR Index for past decisions
2. Check RFC precedents: See RFC Index for design patterns
3. Use templates: docs-cms/adr/ADR-000-template.md for ADRs

Key principle: Every significant architectural decision gets an ADR. Every feature design gets an RFC.

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Quick Reference

Most Referenced Documents

Document	Purpose	When to Read
PRD	Product vision	Onboarding, strategic decisions
ADR-001 - ADR-004	Core decisions	Understanding technical foundation
RFC-056	Unified configuration model	Understanding namespace configuration
Namespace Config	Practical namespace setup	Creating/configuring namespaces
MEMO-006	Three-layer architecture	Designing patterns, understanding backend abstraction
Configuration Overview	6-layer config model	Understanding namespace configuration
RFC-018	POC roadmap	Planning implementation work
CLAUDE.md	Development guide	Daily development, code reviews

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Additional Deep Dives

Once you're comfortable with foundations, explore these for deeper understanding:

• Namespace Management: RFC-047 - Namespace reservation and leases, RFC-048 - Cross-proxy partition strategies, ADR-006 - Namespace isolation and multi-tenancy
• Testing: MEMO-015 - Cross-backend acceptance testing, MEMO-030 - Pattern-based test migration
• Security: MEMO-031 - RFC-031 security review, ADR-050 - Authentication strategy
• Performance: MEMO-007 - Podman container optimization, ADR-049 - Container strategy
• Observability: MEMO-016 - OpenTelemetry integration, RFC-016 - Local dev infrastructure

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Document Evolution

This guide evolves as the project grows. When adding foundational documents:

1. Place in narrative: Where does it fit in the learning journey?
2. Add time estimate: How long to read/understand?
3. Explain "Why read this": What understanding does it unlock?
4. Update reading paths: Does it change the recommended sequence?

Principle: Every document should have a clear purpose in someone's learning journey.

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Reading time estimates assume focused reading with note-taking. Skim faster if reviewing familiar concepts.

Last updated: 2026-01-02