Legacy Connector
Status: ✅ Decided — grounded in ADR-0009
The kernel doctrine says “no private reality.” For a running product with real customers — SmartInventory, a live .NET 4.8 / Postgres system with ~1626 branches — this cannot mean “rewrite the live product before the kernel has earned trust.” That is the platform-rewrite grave.
The decision (ADR-0009): greenfield kernel; legacy coexists as an external connector. SmartInventory is not migrated initially. The kernel is proven on net-new capability (the as-built loop). SmartInventory runs untouched and becomes just another import source into the kernel’s Data Plane and a writeback target via the integration realm.
“No private reality” governs everything built on the kernel going forward. It is not a mandate to absorb the live product on day one. The migration path stays open for later, on the kernel’s terms, once it has earned trust.
The integration realm’s connector and writeback machinery (ADR-0010) is exercised against legacy SmartInventory early, making the writeback stub real-ish and exercising the connector boundary without a separate test target.
See also
- Concepts — Connector
- Writeback — SmartInventory is the initial writeback stub target
- ADR-0009 — greenfield kernel decision
- ADR-0010 — writeback decision
Open questions
- A future migration of legacy customers onto the kernel requires its own ADR. ADR-0009 deliberately leaves that open rather than deciding it now.
- The specific connector implementation (import cadence, field mapping, incremental vs. full sync) is not yet designed.