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docs: correct multi-worker scaling claims in deployment docs#445

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arabold merged 2 commits into
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claude/github-issue-443-review-f51e2c
Jul 19, 2026
Merged

docs: correct multi-worker scaling claims in deployment docs#445
arabold merged 2 commits into
mainfrom
claude/github-issue-443-review-f51e2c

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@arabold arabold commented Jul 18, 2026

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Summary

  • deployment-modes.md and pipeline-architecture.md claimed you can load-balance across multiple worker replicas, or run embedded + external workers together ("hybrid deployment"). Neither is implemented, and it directly contradicted ARCHITECTURE.md's "shared worker" language.
  • Verified against the code: PipelineManager's job queue is in-process memory (PipelineManager.ts), only one worker process owns the SQLite-backed document store at a time, and enableWorker/--server-url are mutually exclusive (mcp.ts, web.ts, worker.ts) — so a coordinator always talks to exactly one worker.
  • Rewrote the scaling sections in both docs to reflect what's actually true: the stateless web/mcp coordinator tier scales horizontally behind a load balancer; the worker does not (scale it vertically via maxConcurrency instead), in part because SQLite's WAL locking assumes one host's local filesystem, not multiple hosts sharing a file over a network volume.

Test plan

  • npm ci (Node 22) + npx biome check on the two changed files — both are excluded from Biome's markdown checks, so no formatting drift
  • Pre-commit hook (lint-staged) ran clean
  • Manually cross-checked every claim in the reworded sections against PipelineManager.ts, PipelineFactory.ts, mcp.ts, web.ts, worker.ts, and AppServer.ts

Fixes #443

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

deployment-modes.md and pipeline-architecture.md described load
balancing across multiple worker replicas and hybrid embedded/external
worker deployments. Neither is implemented: PipelineManager's job
queue is in-process memory, only one worker owns the SQLite-backed
document store at a time, and enableWorker/--server-url are mutually
exclusive. Only the stateless web/mcp coordinator tier scales
horizontally today. Aligns both docs with ARCHITECTURE.md.

Fixes #443

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings July 18, 2026 14:08

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Pull request overview

Updates deployment documentation to remove inaccurate claims about multi-worker/hybrid deployments and align the docs with the current single-worker architecture (in-memory job queue + SQLite-backed store), emphasizing that only the coordinator tier scales horizontally.

Changes:

  • Rewrites distributed-mode architecture and scaling guidance to describe horizontal scaling for web/mcp coordinators only.
  • Clarifies that the worker process does not scale horizontally and should be scaled vertically (e.g., via maxConcurrency and resources).
  • Removes/rewrites “hybrid deployment” guidance to reflect that embedded-worker and external-worker modes are treated as mutually exclusive in normal deployments.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated 4 comments.

File Description
docs/infrastructure/deployment-modes.md Reframes distributed-mode architecture and scaling guidance around a stateless coordinator tier + single worker.
docs/concepts/pipeline-architecture.md Updates scaling patterns section to clarify horizontal scaling applies to coordinators, not workers, and removes hybrid deployment claims.

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Comment thread docs/infrastructure/deployment-modes.md
Comment thread docs/infrastructure/deployment-modes.md Outdated
Comment thread docs/infrastructure/deployment-modes.md
Comment thread docs/concepts/pipeline-architecture.md Outdated
Addresses Copilot review feedback on PR #445: the Distributed Mode
intro, Worker Management, and Job Recovery sections still used plural
"workers", contradicting the single-worker architecture the PR
establishes. Also clarifies that --server-url is a coordinator flag
that points at the worker, not a flag the worker itself takes.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
@arabold
arabold merged commit 0fcf621 into main Jul 19, 2026
4 checks passed
@arabold
arabold deleted the claude/github-issue-443-review-f51e2c branch July 19, 2026 15:45
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Successfully merging this pull request may close these issues.

Are multiple workers supported and why SQLite?

2 participants