Captures up-front design decisions for RDBMS Playground: stack (Rust + Ratatui + SQLite), input modes, project file format, type vocabulary, undo snapshots and replay log, sharing/export, and testing approach. ADR-0000 establishes the ADR practice itself and mandates index upkeep alongside any ADR change.
1.7 KiB
ADR-0001: Language and TUI framework
Status
Accepted
Context
RDBMS Playground is a cross-platform terminal application aimed at learners. It needs to feel fast, polished, and colourful, install cleanly on Linux, macOS, and Windows, and ship as a single binary with no runtime dependencies.
Beyond TUI rendering, the application has substantial SQL-handling needs: syntax highlighting, parsing user input to distinguish app DSL commands from SQL, rewriting simplified types into backend types, and analysing query plans for the teaching features.
Two stacks were realistic candidates:
- Rust + Ratatui + Crossterm — strong cross-platform terminal
support, single static binary, mature ecosystem. Crucially,
sqlparser-rsis a high-quality dialect-aware SQL parser directly applicable to the parsing, highlighting, and query analysis features. - Go + Bubble Tea (Charm) — excellent default aesthetics,
single static binary, easy distribution. Lacks an equivalent to
sqlparser-rs; SQL parsing would need to be written from scratch or wrap a less suitable library.
Decision
Use Rust with Ratatui and Crossterm for the TUI, with
sqlparser-rs for SQL parsing and rusqlite for the database
layer. Distribute as prebuilt binaries via GitHub releases plus
package managers (cargo binstall, Homebrew, Scoop, winget).
Consequences
- Single static binary on all three target platforms.
- Strong fit between SQL-heavy features and the Rust SQL ecosystem
(
sqlparser-rs,rusqlite). - Slightly steeper contributor on-ramp for developers unfamiliar with Rust compared to Go.
- TUI styling will require explicit work to match the polish that Bubble Tea / Lipgloss give for free; budget for it in the design pass.