IPC Driver Development

Overview

Build onetcli IPC database drivers from the host contract outward: driver.json declares the surface, extension-protocol defines wire JSON, and the driver routes each declared method to real database behavior.

Keep the driver language-agnostic unless the repository already provides a stronger local pattern. Rust can use extension-driver; other languages must still implement the same JSON-RPC methods, response shapes, and packaging contract.

Workflow

1. Inspect the existing driver and host contract before editing. In this repo, use extensions/ipc/duckdb as the concrete reference; in the host repo, use crates/extension-protocol and crates/db/src/ipc.
2. Design or update driver.json first. Declare only methods that the binary actually handles, set dialect/capabilities so the host knows which generic features are safe to expose, and set top-level category metadata when the driver belongs in a non-default UI group.
3. Split routing into control-plane and connection-scoped methods. Keep init, conn/test, conn/open, and pure DDL builders independent of a live connection when possible; route query, metadata, transaction, import/export, and cursor methods through the opened connection.
4. Implement metadata from database catalog truth, not UI labels, connection names, or hardcoded defaults. If the database has a current catalog/database function, query it and use that value consistently.
5. Prefer explicit NotSupported / method-not-found behavior for missing methods. This lets the host use fallback behavior such as dialect.compatible_database_type.
6. For special connection lifecycle needs, declare them in driver.json.connection before changing host manager logic. The host should consume plugin lifecycle metadata, not hardcode driver ids.
7. For UI grouping such as domestic databases, declare top-level manifest metadata such as "category": "domestic_database". Do not make the host classify external drivers by concrete ids like dm, kingbase, or gbase8s; unclassified external drivers must remain in the normal database group.
8. Add protocol-level tests before broad packaging work. Verify request JSON, response JSON, error codes, cancellation, fallback behavior, and lifecycle policy parsing.
9. Build and package with the repository scripts, then verify the archive contains driver.json, binary, locales, and expected entry command.

Reference Routing

Load only the relevant reference file:

Required Guardrails

• Treat driver.json.methods as a contract. If a method is listed, the binary must route it or intentionally return a typed unsupported error.
• Treat schema/object_view as the custom object-panel table contract. Declare it only when the driver can return {title, columns, rows} for the views it owns; return typed not-supported/method-not-found for unsupported views so the host can fall back to legacy metadata rendering.
• Treat table/column comment support as three independent checkpoints, required in every IPC driver that declares relational-table schema, not just the one currently under test: schema/objects returns schema + comment, schema/columns returns comment, and DDL builders emit COMMENT ON TABLE / COMMENT ON COLUMN for both create and alter (including newly-added columns, with rollback, IS '' clearing, and single-quote escaping). Missing any one silently breaks designer comment echo or produces "No changes detected" when only a comment changes. Do not hardcode comment behavior in the host for one driver — the host only consumes driver output. See references/protocol.md § Table / Column Comment Support and § Every-Driver Audit.
• Treat driver.json.dialect as the host-side SQL generation contract. It controls external plugin identifier quoting, pagination, boolean literals, explain fallback, and compatible DDL fallback.
• Treat driver.json.connection as the host-side physical connection lifecycle contract. Single-file/single-connection engines must announce that policy there; do not special-case names such as duckdb in ConnectionManager or IPC connection code.
• Treat top-level driver.json.category as the host-side external driver grouping contract. Use "domestic_database" for国产数据库 drivers that should appear in the 国产数据库 sidebar group; omit it for ordinary external database drivers.
• Keep catalog/schema semantics database-specific. For default catalogs, treat host compatibility aliases such as main only as filters; do not return fixed strings when the database exposes current catalog metadata.
• Include system schemas such as information_schema and pg_catalog when the target database exposes them and the host asks for schema objects. Filter only for a clear product reason.
• DDL builder methods produce SQL text only. They must not execute DDL.
• ddl/build* may be called as connectionless pure methods or routed through a connection with an injected conn_id; accept both when the builder does not require live state.
• Use structured JSON serializers/parsers for params and results. Avoid stringly-typed JSON construction except in narrow tests.
• For compatible syntax fallback, set dialect.compatible_database_type to an existing host DatabaseType only when the driver's SQL semantics are close enough for host-generated DDL.

Common Mistakes

Minimal Verification

Before claiming an IPC driver change is complete, run the narrowest checks that prove it:

cargo test -p <driver_package> -- --nocapture
node --test tests/scripts.test.mjs
cargo fmt --all --check

For package changes:

HOST_TRIPLE="$(rustc -vV | sed -n 's/^host: //p')"
cargo build --release -p <driver_package> --target "$HOST_TRIPLE"
bash scripts/package-driver.sh <driver-id> "$HOST_TRIPLE" artifacts <version>
bash scripts/verify-package.sh "artifacts/<driver-id>-driver-${HOST_TRIPLE}.tar.gz"