attach-primitive

name: attach-primitive description: Contract and invariants for `attach` composition primitives in `packages/workspace` (side-effectful building blocks like attachIndexedDb, attachSqlite, attachBroadcastChannel, attachBunSqliteMaterializer, attachMarkdownMaterializer, openCollaboration), and when to use `create` (pure construction) instead. Use when writing or reviewing an `attach` or `create` function, naming a new workspace primitive, composing inside a workspace builder, or deciding whether a primitive registers listeners at call time.

Attach Primitives

Every persistence, sync, materializer, and binding in packages/workspace (plus session-shaped primitives in packages/cli) follows one shape. Match the invariants exactly.

Naming

Prefix Meaning

attach* Side-effectful. Registers observers, destroy listeners, or subscription state onto a subject argument. Returns a plain object whose surface is fixed at call time.

create* Pure construction OR module-singleton bootstrap. No subject argument. Cache constructors qualify (e.g. createFileContentDocs returns a createDisposableCache result; nothing attaches until .open(id) is called). Module-singleton factories that bootstrap themselves at construction time (e.g. createManualRecorder registering a global event listener) also use create*: the side effects belong to the singleton itself, not to an external subject.

Prefix	Meaning
`attach*`	Side-effectful. Registers observers, destroy listeners, or subscription state onto a subject argument. Returns a plain object whose surface is fixed at call time.
`create*`	Pure construction OR module-singleton bootstrap. No subject argument. Cache constructors qualify (e.g. `createFileContentDocs` returns a `createDisposableCache` result; nothing attaches until `.open(id)` is called). Module-singleton factories that bootstrap themselves at construction time (e.g. `createManualRecorder` registering a global event listener) also use `create*`: the side effects belong to the singleton itself, not to an external subject.

Both return plain objects. The distinction is whether the call modifies a subject argument, not just whether side effects fire at call time.

Scope of this contract

These rules apply to packages/workspace primitives and other functions that take a subject (a Y.Doc, an attachment, or a comparable composable target) and decorate it. They do not apply to:

Module-level factory singletons in app code (e.g. UI state containers, service clients). Even if those factories perform I/O at construction time, use create*.
Top-level orchestrators that own their own lifecycle and aren't attached to anything external.

The discriminator is "what is being attached to what?" If there's no subject on the left side of that question, it's create*.

The shape

export function attachX(subject: TSubject, opts: XOptions): XAttachment;

One rule. The first argument is the subject being modified. The subject is almost always a Y.Doc. In the rare case where a primitive operates on an existing attachment rather than a ydoc, the subject is that attachment.

Examples of the common form:

attachIndexedDb(ydoc)                   // Y.Doc subject
attachSqlite(ydoc, { filePath })
openCollaboration(ydoc, { url, openWebSocket, replicaId, actions })
attachBroadcastChannel(ydoc)
attachAwareness(ydoc, defs)
attachRichText(ydoc) / attachPlainText(ydoc) / attachTimeline(ydoc)

Table and KV stores are no longer attached one-by-one. They are constructed as a bundle by createWorkspace({ id, tables, kv }), which owns the Y.Doc's lifecycle and exposes workspace.ydoc, workspace.tables, and workspace.kv. Pass workspace.ydoc into the remaining attach* primitives; pass the whole workspace bundle (the { ydoc, tables } pair) into the materializers.

Materializers take the workspace bundle as the subject (not a bare ydoc): attachX(workspace, opts). They read workspace.tables themselves; you do not pass a separate tables slot. The two materializer families select what to mirror differently, on purpose:

SQLite mirrors every table in workspace.tables. A full queryable mirror is cheap and wanted, so there is no selection slot. fts is optional per-table config, keyed by table name.
Markdown mirrors a human-facing subset. Dumping every internal table as .md files is unwanted, so selection is required: perTable[name] presence selects the table, and its value configures it. A table with no perTable entry is skipped. Pass {} to mirror a table with all defaults.

attachMarkdownMaterializer(workspace, {
  dir,
  waitFor,
  perTable: {
    // Presence selects; the value configures. Tables absent here are skipped.
    files: {
      filename: slugFilename('title'),
      // Most real tables store body content in a separate Y.Doc (via
      // createDisposableCache), so toMarkdown / fromMarkdown are typically
      // bespoke callbacks; no sugar helper can abstract the async
      // open/await/dispose cycle usefully.
      toMarkdown: async (row) => {
        using doc = fileContentDocs.open(row.id);
        await doc.whenReady;
        return { frontmatter: { id: row.id, name: row.name }, body: doc.content.read() };
      },
    },
    devices: {}, // selected, all defaults
  },
});

attachBunSqliteMaterializer(workspace, {
  filePath,
  waitFor,
  fts: { posts: ['title'] },
});

Per-table customization lives in perTable: { [tableName]: { ... } } (markdown) and FTS column opt-in lives in fts: { [tableName]: ColumnKey[] } (SQLite). Both slots narrow against keyof workspace.tables, so keys autocomplete and typos error at the call site.

The SQLite result surfaces FTS on a nested namespace: sqlite.fts.search({ table, query }) exists when fts: {...} was passed; when omitted, sqlite.fts is absent from the return type entirely. Single attach call, single whenFlushed barrier; the FTS DDL and triggers run between table DDL and the bulk insert so triggers populate <table>_fts for free.

Non-Ydoc Subject (rare)

When a primitive operates on a sibling attachment rather than the Y.Doc itself (cross-package coordination, for example), the subject is that attachment and the call shape stays attachX(subject, opts). No examples currently in the repo; the pattern is documented in case it ever surfaces.

Constructor bundles (the workspace case)

When several sibling handles must be constructed atomically (one Y.Doc and N stores activated together), that work lives in createWorkspace, not in an attach* primitive. The factory takes definition records as named slots and returns the constructed handles as a bundle:

const workspace = createWorkspace({
  id: 'my-app',
  tables: { posts },
  kv: {},
});

workspace.ydoc;                    // Y.Doc bundled in
workspace.tables.posts;            // constructed table helper
workspace.kv;                      // constructed KV bag
workspace[Symbol.dispose]();       // cascades to ydoc.destroy()

The workspace bundle owns the stores' lifecycle: using workspace = createWorkspace(...) triggers cascade disposal. One call gives atomic registration, with no temporal window for mid-session attachment.

The materializer primitives are the remaining "subject in, constructed handle out" attach* shape: see the materializer block above. They take the workspace bundle as the subject, read workspace.tables themselves, and accept a perTable (markdown) or fts (SQLite) sibling slot for per-table customization.

Invariants

Synchronous return. Construction never awaits. Startup work goes into semantic when* promises on the returned object. Genuine async teardown exposes a whenDisposed promise field resolved from the ydoc.destroy() cascade.
Teardown hooked to the subject's lifecycle.
- Y.Doc subject: ydoc.once('destroy', ...). Never expose a .destroy() method on the attachment.
- Attachment subject: use the subject attachment's disposal signal; or no teardown if there are no listeners.
Idempotent cleanup. If the underlying library also registers a destroy handler (like y-indexeddb), your handler must be safe to run alongside it.
Plain data returned. The attachment is a record of promises, functions, and occasionally mutable state. No ES classes, no getters that lazy-init.
No id option on ydoc-bound primitives. ydoc.guid is the identity. Read it off the doc.
Barrier naming is semantic, not mechanical. Pick the name that describes the actual event:
- whenLoaded: local state replayed into the ydoc (IDB, SQLite)
- whenConnected: remote transport up + first exchange done (sync)
- whenChecked: configuration action settled (session-unlock; resolves even if nothing was applied)
- whenFlushed: initial side-effect pass done (materializer)
- whenReady: bundle-level aggregate only; not on individual attachments

Composition inside a workspace builder

Primitives compose inside a build closure:

const cache = createDisposableCache((id: string) => {
  const workspace = createWorkspace({
    id,
    tables: schema,
    kv: kvDefs,
  });
  const { ydoc, tables, kv } = workspace;
  const idb        = attachIndexedDb(ydoc);
  const collaboration = openCollaboration(ydoc, {
    url, openWebSocket, replicaId, actions,
    waitFor: idb.whenLoaded,
  });
  const markdown   = attachMarkdownMaterializer(workspace, {
    dir,
    waitFor: collaboration.whenConnected,
    perTable: { posts: { filename: slugFilename('title') } },
  });

  return {
    workspace, ydoc, tables, kv, idb, collaboration, markdown,
    whenReady: Promise.all([idb.whenLoaded, collaboration.whenConnected]),
    async wipe() {
      workspace[Symbol.dispose]();
      await collaboration.whenDisposed;
      await idb.whenDisposed;
      await idb.clearLocal();
    },
    [Symbol.dispose]() { workspace[Symbol.dispose](); },
  };
});

export const bundle = cache.open('my-app');

The bundle aggregates child whenLoaded / whenConnected / whenChecked into one whenReady. Browser bundles expose wipe() for reset flows that must dispose and delete local storage in the right order. Daemon bundles expose [Symbol.asyncDispose]() as the trigger and await attachment whenDisposed barriers before process exit.

The `waitFor` convention

Primitives that perform a gated startup (collaboration, session-unlock) accept waitFor?: Promise<unknown> in their options. The primitive awaits it before taking its first action. This replaces the old extension-chain "init pipeline": sequencing is now explicit at the call site, visible in one file, with no hidden ordering.

Use it whenever a primitive's startup must follow another's. Examples:

openCollaboration after local hydrate: waitFor: idb.whenLoaded
attachSessionUnlock after hydrate (so stored keys don't clobber freshly-hydrated plaintext mid-replay): waitFor: persistence.whenLoaded
openCollaboration after both hydrate AND unlock: waitFor: Promise.all([idb.whenLoaded, unlock.whenChecked])

Anti-patterns

Don't revive ExtensionContext / RawExtension / defineExtension. Those were deleted for a reason: the lifecycle framework added a registration indirection that primitives don't need.
Don't wrap attachments in a createWorkspace().with(...) chain. Compose inline in the factory.
Don't expose dispose() on a ydoc-bound attachment. Destroy the Y.Doc.
Don't duck-type an attachment. If you need to brand it, use a Symbol.for marker. See skills/typescript: runtime shape-checking is a code smell.
Don't take an id on a ydoc-bound primitive. Use ydoc.guid.
Don't use createX for a side-effectful primitive that takes a subject argument. If it registers listeners on a subject passed in, it's attach*. Module-singleton factories that bootstrap themselves are still create*; see scope section.
Don't attach tables or KV stores one-by-one on a raw Y.Doc. Construct them as a bundle via createWorkspace; pass workspace.ydoc into the remaining attach* primitives.

Reference implementations

packages/workspace/src/document/attach-indexed-db.ts ; the canonical 40-line example.
packages/workspace/src/document/open-collaboration.ts ; document collaboration surface with sync, presence, peers, and action dispatch.
packages/workspace/src/create-workspace.ts ; the bundle factory; takes { id, tables, kv } and returns { ydoc, tables, kv, [Symbol.dispose] } after one atomic construction.
packages/workspace/src/document/materializer/markdown/materializer.ts ; workspace subject, perTable presence both selects and configures, keyed by table name.
apps/whispering/src/lib/client.ts: full singleton composition.