Kernel Services
Purpose
The ATON Kernel provides the fundamental services required to manage engineering knowledge.
These services are domain-independent and reusable by every capability.
The Kernel provides infrastructure for engineering.
Capabilities provide engineering functionality.
Overview
The Kernel consists of the following services:
- Identity Service
- Artifact Service
- Relation Service
- Version Service
- Review Service
- Baseline Service
- Query Service
- Event Service
- Extension Service
No capability may duplicate these responsibilities.
Identity Service
Responsible for globally unique identities.
Responsibilities
- create identifiers
- resolve identifiers
- maintain identity stability
The identity of an engineering object never changes.
Artifact Service
Responsible for lifecycle management of Artifacts.
Responsibilities
- create Artifacts
- load Artifacts
- update through new Versions
- archive Artifacts
- validate consistency
The service does not understand domain-specific Artifact types.
Relation Service
Responsible for semantic connections.
Responsibilities
- create Relations
- validate Relations
- resolve graph connections
- manage Relation lifecycle
Version Service
Responsible for engineering history.
Responsibilities
- create Versions
- retrieve historical Versions
- compare Versions
- navigate Version history
Versions are immutable.
Review Service
Responsible for engineering governance.
Responsibilities
- create Reviews
- associate Reviews with Versions
- record findings
- record approvals
- maintain Review history
Baseline Service
Responsible for reproducibility.
Responsibilities
- create Baselines
- resolve Baselines
- compare Baselines
- reproduce engineering states
Query Service
Responsible for graph navigation.
Responsibilities
- search Artifacts
- traverse Relations
- execute graph queries
- support traceability
Event Service
Responsible for publishing engineering events.
Examples
- ArtifactCreated
- VersionCreated
- RelationCreated
- ReviewApproved
- BaselineCreated
Capabilities subscribe to these events.
Extension Service
Responsible for capability integration.
Responsibilities
- register Artifact types
- register Relation types
- register validators
- register query extensions
The Kernel remains independent from capabilities.
Architectural Rule
Services communicate through well-defined interfaces.
Capabilities never bypass Kernel Services.
Persistence is an implementation detail.
Summary
Kernel Services provide the stable engineering infrastructure upon which all capabilities are built.