development-strategy.md

Development Strategy for NeoGM

This document outlines our incremental implementation strategy for the NeoGM library. Each implementation phase represents a specific "brick" of the overall architecture and should be committed separately to maintain a clear development history.

Implementation Phases and Commit Strategy

1. Data Access Layer

Principle: Start with the lowest layer of our architecture and build upward.

Phase 1.1: Connection Management

• Implement connection configuration interface
• Create connection factory and pooling
• Build connection state management
• Commit: "Implement Neo4j connection management foundation"

Phase 1.2: Session Handling

• Create session abstraction
• Implement automatic session cleanup
• Add session pooling
• Commit: "Add session management and pooling"

Phase 1.3: Query Execution

• Create query runner
• Implement parameter binding
• Add result transformation utilities
• Commit: "Implement base query execution infrastructure"

2. Domain Model Layer

Principle: Build the core domain model on top of the data access layer.

Phase 2.1: Base Entity Classes

• Implement GraphEntity base class
• Create Node class
• Create Relationship class
• Commit: "Add core domain model base classes"

Phase 2.2: Schema System

• Implement Schema class
• Create PropertyConfig interface
• Build validation infrastructure
• Commit: "Implement schema definition and validation system"

Phase 2.3: Type System

• Create type definitions
• Implement type conversion
• Build type validation
• Commit: "Add type system and conversion utilities"

3. Decorator Layer

Principle: Create the declarative API on top of the domain model.

Phase 3.1: Core Decorators

• Implement @Node decorator
• Create @Property decorator
• Build metadata registry
• Commit: "Add core decorators for Node and Property"

Phase 3.2: Relationship Decorators

• Implement @Relationship decorator
• Create bidirectional relationship handling
• Add relationship cardinality support
• Commit: "Implement relationship decorators and mapping"

Phase 3.3: Validation Decorators

• Add validation decorators
• Implement custom validators
• Create validation hooks
• Commit: "Add validation decorators and hooks"

4. Query API Layer

Principle: Build the query interface on top of the domain model.

Phase 4.1: Query Builder

• Create fluent query builder
• Implement query conditions
• Add sorting and pagination
• Commit: "Implement fluent query builder API"

Phase 4.2: Raw Queries

• Add raw query execution
• Implement parameter binding
• Create result mapping
• Commit: "Add raw query execution with type mapping"

Phase 4.3: Advanced Queries

• Implement graph traversal queries
• Add aggregation support
• Create projection utilities
• Commit: "Implement advanced query capabilities"

5. Public API Layer

Principle: Create a clean, consistent public interface.

Phase 5.1: Model API

• Implement model factory functions
• Create registry access methods
• Build convenience utilities
• Commit: "Create public model API and utilities"

Phase 5.2: Transaction API

• Implement transaction functions
• Add transaction hooks
• Create transaction utilities
• Commit: "Add public transaction API"

Phase 5.3: Configuration API

• Create global configuration
• Implement option management
• Add logging and debugging support
• Commit: "Implement configuration and logging infrastructure"

Branching Strategy

For our development, we'll use the following branching strategy:

1. main - Stable production code
2. develop - Integration branch for feature work
3. feature/[name] - Individual feature branches
4. bugfix/[name] - Bug fix branches
5. release/[version] - Release preparation branches

Each implementation phase should be developed in a feature branch and merged into develop upon completion, with comprehensive tests.

Testing Strategy

Each implementation "brick" should include:

1. Unit tests for isolated functionality
2. Integration tests for interactions between components
3. Documentation in the form of JSDoc comments
4. Example usage code where appropriate

Tests should be committed alongside the implementation code to ensure everything is properly validated before integration.