kebab/CLAUDE.md

CLAUDE.md

This file provides guidance to Claude Code (claude.ai/code) when working with code in this repository.

Project

Single-user local-first knowledge base + RAG. Rust 2024 workspace, 18 crates, single binary (kebab). All inference is local (Ollama + fastembed + whisper.cpp).

The high-level overview, dependency graph, phase roadmap, and directory tree all live in README.md. Don't restate them — link to that and add only what isn't already there.

Build / test / lint

cargo test -p <crate>                          # preferred — workspace has 18 crates
cargo test -p <crate> <test_name>              # single test (substring match)
cargo test --workspace --no-fail-fast -j 1     # full suite — see -j 1 below
cargo clippy --workspace --all-targets -- -D warnings   # CI gate
cargo build --release                          # produces target/release/kebab

-j 1 for the full workspace test isn't optional: 18 integration-test binaries each link lance + datafusion + arrow + tantivy and the parallel link step exhausts memory (linker gets SIGKILL'd, build silently fails partway). Per-crate runs are fine in parallel.

target/ is 6–10 GB after a fresh build (DataFusion + Lance + fastembed + 18 × test-binary debug info). The dev/test profile is already trimmed (debug = "line-tables-only", split-debuginfo = "unpacked" — see workspace Cargo.toml). Run cargo clean after phase merges if disk pressure shows up; backtraces still resolve to function + line.

The facade rule

kebab-app is the only crate UI binaries (kebab-cli, future kebab-tui, kebab-desktop) may touch. Every user-facing entry has a *_with_config(cfg, …) companion that takes an explicit Config:

• kebab-cli calls the *_with_config form so --config <path> is honored.
• The bare kebab_app::ingest(...) / search(...) / ask(...) form re-loads Config::load(None) (XDG default) and silently bypasses any explicit path. Two regressions of exactly this shape are recorded in tasks/HOTFIXES.md (P3-5 + P4-3 follow-ups). When wiring a new CLI subcommand, always thread the Config through.

*_with_config is #[doc(hidden)] pub fn but it's the official config-explicit API, not a test seam.

Spec contract

docs/superpowers/specs/2026-04-27-kebab-final-form-design.md (12 sections) is the single contract for the whole workspace. Every component task spec under tasks/p<N>/ lists which contract_sections it implements.

• Changing the design doc requires updating every referencing task spec in the same PR.
• Task specs themselves stay frozen as the historical contract once the task is merged. Don't edit them retroactively to match what shipped.
• Live deviations from the original contract go in tasks/HOTFIXES.md as dated entries, plus a one-line cross-link in the original spec's Risks / notes. Treat HOTFIXES.md as the live source of truth when behavior and spec disagree.

tasks/INDEX.md is the dashboard for which phases / components are done; update its phase status when a phase epic completes.

Allowed / forbidden deps

Each task spec lists Allowed dependencies and Forbidden dependencies per design §8. The most load-bearing ones:

• kebab-core MUST NOT depend on any other kebab-* crate. Domain types only.
• kebab-eval's metrics and compare modules MUST NOT import retrieval / embedding / LLM crates directly. The runner is allowed to use kebab-app's facade (P5-1 inheritance — see deviations in that task spec).
• UI crates (kebab-cli, future kebab-tui, kebab-desktop) MUST NOT import kebab-store-* / kebab-llm-* / kebab-parse-* directly — only kebab-app.

Read the relevant task spec's deps section before adding an import. New crates inherit the same boundary rules.

Wire schema v1

All --json output carries a schema_version field (ingest_report.v1, search_hit.v1, answer.v1, doctor.v1, …). Schemas live in docs/wire-schema/v1/. The wire shape is the contract for external integrations (Claude Code skills, MCP, etc.); breaking it requires a *.v2 major bump and parallel-running both for one phase.

Versioning cascade

parser_version / chunker_version / embedding_version / prompt_template_version / index_version follow the cascade rule in design §9. Changing any of these invalidates downstream records (chunks, embeddings, eval runs, …). When changing a version: either ship a re-process job or treat it as a breaking schema bump. The eval runner snapshots all five into eval_runs.config_snapshot_json.

Naming + paths

• Crate prefix: kebab- (kebab-case package, kebab_ snake_case in Rust modules).
• Binary: kebab.
• Env var prefix: KEBAB_* (e.g. KEBAB_RAG_SCORE_GATE, KEBAB_EVAL_GOLDEN, KEBAB_COMMIT_HASH).
• XDG paths: ~/.config/kebab/, ~/.local/share/kebab/, ~/.cache/kebab/, ~/.local/state/kebab/.
• SQLite filename: kebab.sqlite (under data_dir).
• Workspace ignore: .kebabignore (per directory).

The migration from the old kb name lives in commits 911fb49 / f1a448d / f9714aa. If you spot a leftover kb reference, treat it as a leftover and fix it (the rename PR sweep covered crates/, docs/, tasks/, README, design doc, fixtures — but workspace root Cargo.toml comments needed a follow-up; assume similar misses are possible).

Smoke + integration

docs/SMOKE.md walks through running the full pipeline against an isolated TempDir KB via --config /tmp/kebab-smoke/config.toml. Use this instead of touching ~/.local/share/kebab/ when verifying a fresh clone or a CLI flag change. Most CLI regressions surface here, not in unit tests (see HOTFIXES.md).

Remote

Git remote is Gitea: https://gitea.altair823.xyz/altair823-org/kebab.git. PRs are created via the Gitea REST API (POST /repos/altair823-org/kebab/pulls) — gh CLI does not work against this host. Auth uses ~/.netrc (populated via git credential fill).