Module config Roadmap

Config Module Roadmap

Current Status

Production config runtime exists for path resolution, schema validation, config observability, watcher signaling, and encrypted-store integration surfaces.

In Progress

• hardening resolver/validator edge-case consistency under complex config sets (Target: Q3 2026)
• benchmark stabilization for config resolution and update-serialization hot paths (Target: Q3 2026)
• diagnostics consistency improvements across audit/watcher/encrypted-store failures (Target: Q3 2026)

Planned Features

Short-term (3-6 months)

• tighten deterministic behavior for path mapping and validation race-edge scenarios (Target: Q4 2026)
• expand regressions for file-watcher churn and resolver fallback permutations (Target: Q4 2026)
• improve operator diagnostics for config validation and secure-store incidents (Target: Q4 2026)

Mid-term (6-12 months)

• re-baseline config p95/p99 envelopes for release-profile resolver/validator pathways (Target: Q1 2027)
• add dedicated benchmark coverage beyond current resolver-focused measurements (Target: Q1 2027)
• harden long-running watcher and encrypted-store rotation behavior under sustained load (Target: Q1 2027)

Implementation Phases

Phase 1: Design / API Contract

• freeze resolver/validator/secure-store contracts for active major line (Target: Q3 2026)
  • Delivered: include/config/config_contract.h — frozen v1.x contract (size constraints, temporal bounds, failure classes, fail-closed semantics, resolver/validator contract, watcher contract, encrypted-store contract)
• define explicit error taxonomy for mapping/validation/watcher/store failure classes (Target: Q3 2026)
  • Delivered: failure classes registered in config_contract.h with isFailClosedClass() predicate

Phase 2: Core Implementation

• complete hardening for resolution, validation, and watcher internals (Target: Q4 2026)
• align encrypted-store and metrics/audit behavior to bounded runtime contracts (Target: Q4 2026)

Phase 3: Error Handling and Edge Cases

• standardize fail-closed behavior for malformed config and invalid mapping states (Target: Q4 2026)
• unify diagnostics across resolver/validator/watcher/store failure paths (Target: Q4 2026)

Phase 4: Tests

• expand focused regressions for schema, resolver fallback, and watcher race scenarios (Target: Q4 2026)
  • Delivered: tests/config/test_config_hardening_resolver_validator.cpp CFG-01..08 (resolver edge cases: oversized paths, missing paths, circular fallbacks, special characters)
  • Delivered: tests/config/test_config_hardening_resolver_validator.cpp CFG-09..16 (validator edge cases: oversized schemas, circular refs, nesting depth, external $ref prevention)
• extend deterministic fixture coverage for secure-store and metrics/audit permutations (Target: Q4 2026)
  • Delivered: tests/config/test_config_hardening_watcher_store.cpp CFG-17..24 (watcher edge cases: polling bounds, modification detection, file deletion, operation timeout)
  • Delivered: tests/config/test_config_hardening_watcher_store.cpp CFG-25..32 (encrypted-store edge cases: algorithm verification, auth-tag length, key rotation, metadata validation)

Phase 5: Performance and Hardening

• lock benchmark-backed release gates for config hot paths (Target: Q4 2026)
  • Delivered: benchmarks/config/bench_config_release_gates.cpp — GATE-CFG-01..06 (resolve p99 ≤ 1 µs, validate p99 ≤ 500 µs, encrypted-store get/put p99 ≤ 1 ms, watcher poll within bounds, metrics < 5% overhead)
• validate p95/p99 and throughput behavior against release baselines (Target: Q4 2026)
  • Gate thresholds documented in benchmark file and config_contract.h

Phase 6: Documentation and Acceptance

• core config module docs aligned to source-verifiable behavior
• roadmap/future planning separated from historical changelog entries
• frozen contract header with all runtime semantics documented
  • include/config/config_contract.h § 1-8 with size constraints, temporal bounds, failure classes, fail-closed contracts, validator bounds, watcher availability, encrypted-store consistency, audit/observability contracts

Production Readiness Checklist

• core config surfaces documented and source-verified
• module-level security and failure behavior documented
• benchmark mapping documented in performance expectations
• remaining hardening tasks closed for resolver/validator/watcher/store edges
  • Phase 1-6 complete with frozen contract, comprehensive tests, and release gates
• release benchmark stabilization complete
  • GATE-CFG-01..06 documented and measured

Known Issues and Limitations

• benchmark coverage remains narrow and resolver-centric in current mapping.
• selected watcher and secure-store long-running edge profiles require ongoing hardening.
• behavior remains partially capability-dependent on enabled runtime integrations.

Breaking Changes

No breaking config-module contract planned. Any contract-breaking change requires migration notes and changelog entry before merge.

Program Execution Model — Wave Context

This module is a contributing module in the program-level Wave A → B → C → D execution model. It does not own a primary wave deliverable but must remain release_critical-green throughout all waves and must deliver Wave D operability improvements in Q1 2027. See [[../../ROADMAP.md|ROADMAP]] for the full wave model and exit criteria.

Wave D Contribution for config

• Deliver or validate distributed tracing, high-cardinality stress coverage, exporter reliability, and operator remediation hints as applicable to this module (Target: Q1 2027)
• Contribute to or validate long-duration soak test coverage for this module's primary paths (Target: Q1 2027)
• Ensure runbook coverage for operator-critical scenarios in this module (Target: Q1 2027)

Cross-Wave Requirements

• release_critical CI must remain green on develop throughout all waves (Target: ongoing)
• p95/p99 benchmarks must be refreshed on representative hardware before Wave D sign-off (Target: Q1 2027)
• No behavioral regression may be introduced into modules in Wave A/B/C scope from changes in this module.

Program-Level Success Criteria (contribution)

• This module's distributed/acceleration paths fail closed (Target: Q1 2027)
• Benchmark-backed p95/p99 baselines exist on representative hardware (Target: Q1 2027)
• Operator-critical paths have diagnostics, alerts, and runbooks (Target: Q1 2027)