System Architecture - districtpilot-ai
This document is the system-level architecture attachment for the repository. It keeps the technical stack, runtime boundary, data/control flow, deployment surface, and operating assumptions in one place.
Architecture Summary
| Area | Design |
|---|---|
| Repository | districtpilot-ai |
| Primary domain | governed analytics, data contracts, and decision intelligence |
| Primary stack | GitHub Actions validation |
| Architecture axes | cloud architecture, AI engineering, reliability, security, operator experience |
Repository-local proof surface for governed analytics, data contracts, and decision intelligence, backed by GitHub Actions validation.
Runtime And Data Flow
flowchart LR
User["User or public-sector reviewer"] --> Surface["Public demo, CLI, package, or README surface"]
Surface --> Runtime["Runtime boundary: GitHub Actions validation"]
Runtime --> Control["Control plane: configuration, policies, adapters, and jobs"]
Control --> Data["Data and artifacts: fixtures, reports, logs, exports, or model outputs"]
Runtime --> Observability["Observability and validation hooks"]
Observability --> Handoff["Documented handoff and operating boundary"]
Data --> Handoff
Primary domain: governed analytics, data contracts, and decision intelligence.
Stack Surface
| Layer | Current surface | Operating note |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | Public demo, README, CLI, package, or static proof surface depending on repository shape | Keep the first screen or command path inspectable without private credentials. |
| Runtime | GitHub Actions validation | Keep runtime adapters bounded by environment configuration and documented fallbacks. |
| Control plane | Policies, configuration, job orchestration, tests, and release scripts | Keep operator-impacting changes traceable through docs and validation hooks. |
| Data and artifacts | Fixtures, generated reports, screenshots, exports, logs, or model outputs | Keep sample and generated artifacts clearly separated from private or customer data. |
| Operations | CI, local validation, architecture guard, and handoff notes | Keep the architecture docs current when runtime, data, or deployment boundaries change. |
Cloud Or Local Deployment Boundary
Operating model: contracted data zones, warehouse adapters, lineage capture, policy gates, and reproducible deployment modules
Deployment patterns
- Data-contract lane with schema validation, lineage notes, and policy-aware analytics boundaries
Control boundaries
- identity boundary and least-privilege service access
- environment separation for local, staging, and managed runtime paths
- secret storage outside source and deterministic fallback for missing credentials
- observability hooks for logs, metrics, traces, and audit events
- rollback path for deployment, schema, and model changes
Resilience controls
- bounded retries with explicit failure states
- health/readiness checks before operator-facing flows are trusted
- idempotent data or artifact writes where repeat execution is possible
- cost and quota guardrails for hosted services and model adapters
AI And Automation Boundary
Operating model: semantic query planning, schema-aware retrieval, forecast explanation, validation packs, and guarded natural-language interfaces
Engineering patterns
- Bind natural-language interfaces to schema contracts, metric definitions, and query policy checks
- Expose lineage, freshness, and access posture before generated analytics are trusted
- Separate deterministic checks from model-generated output so the system remains testable without external credentials
- Capture prompts, inputs, outputs, and decision metadata as inspectable artifacts instead of hidden side effects
- Gate model-assisted actions with policy, confidence, and fallback states before they reach an operator path
Evaluation and model-risk controls
- deterministic fixtures for CI-safe verification
- golden output or schema checks for generated artifacts
- trace capture for prompts, tool calls, inputs, and outputs
- quality gates that fail closed when evidence is missing
Risks to keep explicit
- schema drift
- ungrounded analytics
- lineage gaps
- policy bypass
Attached Architecture References
Local Architecture Guard
python3 scripts/validate_architecture_blueprint.py
CI workflow: .github/workflows/architecture-blueprint.yml.
Update this document whenever runtime entrypoints, data stores, hosted services, model/provider boundaries, or operating assumptions change.