OpenBlade

OpenBlade is a simulator-first DIY tape archive controller inspired by iBlade-style workflows for Quantum Scalar i3 and LTFS media handling. It provides a safe default mock backend, a FastAPI control plane, a Typer CLI, a SQLite-backed catalog, and regression tests for safety-critical operations.

Features

• Simulator-first backend with deterministic library, drive, changer, and LTFS behavior
• Explicit safety gates for real hardware enablement and tape formatting
• Catalog persistence for archived files, file instances, and volume groups
• CLI and API for inventory, formatting, archive, restore, and job inspection
• Property, integration, fault-injection, and end-to-end tests

OpenBlade goals

1. Safety-first operations: keep destructive and hardware-sensitive workflows gated and explicit.
2. Simulator-first reliability: make the Quantum i3 emulator deterministic enough for archive/restore/inventory/fault regression work.
3. Quantum compatibility: maintain AML/API/state behavior aligned with the documented i3/i6 Web Services surface in strict scope.
4. Operator control plane clarity: provide a focused API/UI/CLI for fleet and library workflows without out-of-scope feature leakage.
5. Continuous verification: enforce compatibility and regression evidence in CI/CD before changes land on master.

Layered CI/CD (targeted)

OpenBlade CI/CD is intentionally split by layer so each change runs only relevant checks:

Layer	Primary workflow/jobs	Trigger scope
API + backend domain	CI: backend-lint, backend-typecheck, backend-tests, api-aml-integration	openblade/**/*.py, AML integration tests, backend config
Simulator/emulator parity	CI: i3-smoke; i3-emulator-compliance; emulator-change-gates	simulator, AML routes, emulator contract/tools, i3 tests, compose/runtime wiring
Frontend/UI	CI: frontend-build-test	frontend/**
CI/CD policy layer	CI: cicd-workflow-validate	.github/workflows/**

This keeps checks up to date and targeted while preserving full coverage on workflow dispatch and on emulator-specific workflows.

Quick start

pip install -e '.[dev]'
pytest -m 'not real_hardware'
cd frontend && npm install && npm run test && npm run build
openblade inventory
uvicorn openblade.api.main:app --reload
# Flask-style WSGI deployment option (same API behavior):
gunicorn openblade.api.wsgi:application

Multi-Library Setup

• Start the API + frontend with make up
• Start the standalone Quantum i3 emulators with make emulator-up
• Start both together with make fleet-up
• Seed catalog records for library-1, library-2, and library-3 with make seed-libraries
• Emulator ports map as 8010=library-1, 8011=library-2, and 8012=library-3
• Override controller-to-emulator targets with OPENBLADE_EMULATOR_URLS (comma-separated URLs)
• Add a fourth or fifth library later by calling POST /api/libraries with a new name and emulator_url

Standalone emulator service workflow (external image)

• Validate standalone emulator compose config with make emulator-config
• Start standalone emulator services (external image + deterministic i3 defaults) with make emulator-up
• Build full fleet assets with make fleet-build
• Run OpenBlade API/web against standalone emulator services with make fleet-up
• Override runtime values with EMULATOR_ENV_FILE=/path/to/env make emulator-up using openblade/emulator_contract/standalone-runtime.env.example as the template
• Access the standalone Quantum i3 UI at http://localhost:5174 (or http://localhost:${EMULATOR_UI_PORT} if overridden)
• Override UI proxy targets with EMULATOR_UI_TARGET_LIBRARY{1,2,3}_URL in the standalone env file
• Override OpenBlade controller routing with OPENBLADE_EMULATOR_URLS when targeting the standalone emulator endpoints

Safety defaults

• Mock backend is the default
• Real hardware requires OPENBLADE_BACKEND=real and OPENBLADE_REAL_HARDWARE_ENABLED=true
• Use openblade hardware connect-i3 to validate guarded Quantum i3 discovery before attempting live operations
• Use openblade hardware validate-ltfs --device /dev/st0 --barcode ABC123L9 to validate LTFS capabilities explicitly
• Formatting requires barcode confirmation plus a one-time safety token
• Drive unload is blocked if LTFS is mounted or dirty