pikasTech-unidesk/docs/reference/arch.md

- Requirements
  - Build a distributed work platform covering research, project development, and project management
  - Deploy the main entry point on a server with a public IP, providing a unified interface
  - Multiple computing resource machines join the platform to execute computing tasks
  - The platform must support task scheduling, state monitoring, versioned code distribution, and large file storage
  - Design goals are high availability, high concurrency, centralized state management, and stateless compute nodes
- Key Assumptions
  - The main server has a public IP and can be accessed from the internet
  - Computing resource machines have no public IP, possibly behind NAT or firewalls
  - Computing resource machines have stable outbound network connectivity (within intranet or internet)
  - Computing resource machines can run Docker and support WSL (some nodes are Windows workstations)
  - Users interact with the platform only through the main server entry point, never directly with compute nodes
  - The main server's availability is higher than that of computing resource machines; compute nodes may go offline frequently due to hardware, network, or human factors
  - Tasks prone to single points of failure are deployed on the main server first, leveraging its high-availability environment to protect the critical path
- UniDesk Distributed Work Platform Architecture
  - Overview
    - The main server hosts all stateless business logic as the unified entry point
    - Computing resource nodes actively connect via lightweight Provider Gateway containers
    - All state is stored centrally in PostgreSQL, never scattered across nodes
    - Code and environments are distributed via GitHub versions; large file storage solution is to be determined
    - The main server also connects itself to the platform as a compute node, using the exact same method as ordinary compute nodes
    - This design allows verification of the full distributed dispatching flow on a single main server
  - Main Server Components
    - UniDesk Stateless Services
      - Run all business microservices as Docker containers
      - Includes frontend gateway, task scheduler, project management, provider ingress, and other stateless modules
      - Instances can scale horizontally; failure recovery requires no state synchronization
      - Only the frontend gateway and provider ingress are public; core REST APIs and PostgreSQL remain on the Docker internal network
    - PostgreSQL Database
      - Deployed as a Docker container with a 10 GB named volume
      - Stores all task metadata, node heartbeats, resource labels, and business state
      - Backed up periodically via `pg_dump`, keeping the last 7 daily snapshots
      - The named volume ensures data survives container recreation or upgrades
  - Code and Environment Distribution
    - Code repositories and execution environment definitions may reside in multiple GitHub repositories
    - When dispatching a task, five metadata items must be specified: `code_repo_url`, `code_commit_id`, `env_repo_url`, `env_commit_id`, and `dockerfile_path`
    - A single env repo can contain multiple Dockerfiles defining different execution environments, distinguished by `dockerfile_path`
    - Compute nodes maintain a local Git cache and only incrementally fetch the specified version each time
    - Docker layer caching accelerates environment builds, making subsequent builds nearly instantaneous after the first
  - Compute Node Connection Scheme
    - Provider Gateway Docker
      - Each computing resource machine runs a Provider Gateway container
      - Acts as the node-side gateway, bridging the main server and the local execution environment
      - The container houses the agent logic, implementing a WebSocket client and local scheduling
    - WebSocket Persistent Connection
      - Provider Gateway actively initiates a WebSocket connection to the main server
      - Commands, heartbeats, and task statuses are exchanged bidirectionally over this persistent connection
      - The main server never initiates connections to nodes, perfectly adapting to environments without public IP and behind NAT
    - Interaction with Local Execution Environment
      - The primary path for automated task dispatching and execution is via the local Docker socket
      - Access to the local environment via WSL SSH is reserved solely as an auxiliary path for emergency maintenance and troubleshooting, exposed only as bounded `host.ssh` probe/exec tasks
      - Automating task deployment or dispatching through the WSL SSH channel is forbidden
    - Connection Management
      - When registering, a node carries an authentication token to verify its identity and declares resources such as GPU/CPU
      - The authentication token is pre-issued by the main server and configured at Provider Gateway startup
      - Heartbeats are sent every 15 seconds; if no heartbeat arrives for 90 seconds, the node is marked offline
      - Automatic reconnection on disconnect with exponential backoff to avoid a thundering herd on the main server
  - Data Flow and State Management
    - Task commands are delivered over WebSocket and never contain large file content
    - All state changes are reported to the main server in real time by Provider Gateway
    - The main server writes state updates to PostgreSQL, completing the unified closed loop
  - Critical Task Deployment Principles
    - Single-point components such as the database, core scheduler logic, and API gateway are deployed on the main server
    - The high-availability environment of the main server ensures the critical scheduling path never breaks
    - Compute nodes are only responsible for task execution; their offline status does not affect overall platform availability
  - Large File Storage Solution
    - The concrete implementation is to be determined, and must meet the following requirements
    - Support automated pull and upload by compute nodes without human intervention
    - Provide a programmable interface for the scheduler to generate temporary access credentials
    - Have sufficient bandwidth so that concurrent reads/writes never become the bottleneck for training tasks
  - Deployment Notes
    - Use `docker-compose` on the main server to orchestrate all services uniformly
    - PostgreSQL uses a named volume to guarantee data persistence
    - The Provider Gateway image is built uniformly and distributed to all compute nodes in a versioned manner