# Core concepts
bloccs is a typed, declarative IR for **Agentic Computation Graphs (ACGs)**. You
describe a workflow as TOML manifests; bloccs validates them and compiles them
into a Broadway supervision tree on the BEAM. This page defines the vocabulary —
read it once and the rest of the docs will make sense.
The two artifacts you write are **node manifests** and **network manifests**.
Everything else is something those manifests refer to.
Each primitive a node can be has a glyph in the bloccs notation — a node that
declares an effect carries a badge, so "touches the outside world" is visible at
a glance:
The [primitives reference](primitives.md) catalogues each one — what it does and
how to declare it.
## Manifest
A **manifest** is a TOML file. It is the *source of truth* — not a config file
that decorates code, but the canonical description of the thing. A future canvas
would be a view onto the manifest; the file is always authoritative.
Two kinds:
- A **node manifest** (`.bloccs`, one node per file) describes a single unit of
work: its ports, the effects it may perform, and the functions that implement
it.
- A **network manifest** describes topology: which nodes participate, how their
ports are wired, how they're supervised, and how much concurrency each gets.
## Node
A **node** is the unit of computation — one step in the graph. Each node has a
`kind`:
| kind | meaning |
|---|---|
| `source` | originates messages (an ingress point) |
| `transform` | the common case: takes input, emits output |
| `router` | fans a message out to different ports by content |
| `sink` | terminal; consumes without emitting |
A node manifest pairs with **one implementation module** that does
`use Bloccs.Node, manifest: "path/to/node.bloccs"`. That macro reads and
validates the manifest *at compile time* — a bad manifest is a `CompileError`,
not a runtime surprise.
## Port
A **port** is a named, typed connection point on a node. Ports are directional:
- **In-ports** (`[ports.in]`) receive messages. An in-port may declare a
`buffer` — the bound on its producer's mailbox (see *back-pressure* below).
- **Out-ports** (`[ports.out]`) emit messages. The effect shell returns
`{:emit, <out-port>, payload}` to send on one.
Every port references a **schema**.
## Schema
A **schema** is a versioned contract for a message's shape, written `Name@N`
(e.g. `Event@1`). The `@N` is a version: a breaking change to the shape is a new
version (`Event@2`), so old and new can coexist on the wire.
Schemas are registered at application start with `Bloccs.Schema.register/2`:
```elixir
Bloccs.Schema.register("Event@1",
id: :string,
type: :string,
payload: :map
)
```
When two ports are wired by an edge, bloccs checks at validation time that their
schemas match — you cannot connect an `Event@1` out-port to an
`EnrichedEvent@1` in-port.
## Effect
An **effect** is a *declared capability* to touch the outside world — not a
function call you happen to make, but a permission stated up front in
`[effects]`. There are four axes:
| axis | declaration | meaning |
|---|---|---|
| `http` | `{ allow = ["host", …], methods = ["GET", …] }` | outbound HTTP, restricted to the listed hosts + methods |
| `db` | `{ allow = ["table:action", …] }` | DB ops, restricted to the listed `table:action` scopes |
| `time` | `"wall_clock"` or `"none"` | reading the clock |
| `random` | `"none"`, `"pseudo"`, or `"crypto"` | randomness |
The guarantee is **capability-based** and has two layers:
1. **Runtime (load-bearing).** At bind time each *declared* axis becomes a real
adapter; each *undeclared* axis becomes a denied-capability stub whose
every method raises `Bloccs.Effects.Denied`. Declared adapters still enforce
the per-call allowlist (an HTTP call to a host not in `allow` is refused).
2. **Compile-time (ergonomics).** `use Bloccs.Node` walks the effect-shell AST
and warns when it sees `ctx.effects.X.*` for an `X` you didn't declare — a
fast "you forgot to declare that effect" signal.
Adapters are swappable (mock by default, real `Req`/`Ecto` behind config) — see
[Effect adapters](effect-adapters.md).
## Pure core and effect shell
Every node's implementation is split in two, by design:
- **pure core** — `pure_core(message, ctx) :: {:ok, intermediate} | {:error, reason}`.
No IO, no clock, no randomness. Pure validation and computation. Easy to test,
deterministic.
- **effect shell** — receives a `%Bloccs.Context{}` whose `effects` field holds
the capability struct. This is the only place the world is touched, and only
through declared effects. Its return value decides what flows downstream:
| return | meaning |
|---|---|
| `{:emit, port, payload}` | emit one message on one out-port |
| `{:emit, [{port, payload}, …]}` | **split**: emit several messages at once (distinct payloads, any ports) |
| `:drop` | **filter**: consume the message, emit nothing |
| `{:error, reason}` | fail the message (retried if the node's policy allows) |
The two are separate functions with separate typespecs, named in the manifest's
`[contract]`. (The names are yours — the examples use `transform`/`execute`.)
**Aggregation.** A node with a `[batch]` block is an *aggregate*: it processes
messages in batches (count or time windows, via Broadway batchers), so its
`pure_core` receives the **list** of payloads in the batch and reduces them to a
single result. See [`[batch]`](manifest-reference.md) in the manifest reference.
**Join.** A node with a `[join]` block has two or more in-ports with distinct
schemas; arrivals are correlated by the `on` field, and once every in-port has a
payload for the same key, `pure_core` receives the `%{port => payload}` map and
emits the joined result. A partial match that exceeds `timeout_ms` is sent to a
declared `deadletter` out-port. This is the only case where a node may declare
more than one in-port — fan-*in* to a single port (an undifferentiated *merge*)
needs no special block.
**Timing.** A `[rate]` block throttles a node (Broadway rate limiting); a
`[delay]` block holds each message for a fixed time before it enters the node.
*Debounce* — collapse a burst and keep the last — is a time-windowed `[batch]`
rather than its own block.
## Network
A **network** composes nodes into a graph. Its manifest declares:
- `[nodes]` — each entry instantiates a node by `use`-ing its manifest (or
another *network* — see *subgraph* below).
- `[[edges]]` — the wires.
- `[expose]` — which internal ports are the network's own public in/out ports.
- `[supervision]` — strategy + restart policy for the generated supervisor.
- `[deploy]` — per-node concurrency and placement.
## Edge
An **edge** wires one out-port to one *or more* in-ports:
```toml
[[edges]]
from = "route.known"
to = ["persist.event", "notify.event"] # fan-out
```
Endpoints are `node.port`. The validator checks both endpoints exist, the
schemas match end-to-end, and the resulting graph is **acyclic** (v0.1 is
DAG-only).
**Fan-in (merge).** The dual of fan-out works too: several out-ports may target
the *same* in-port, and that port's single producer receives all of them — N
sources merged into one stream. There's no special construct; just point several
edges at one `node.port` (they must all carry that port's schema). Delivery from
the different sources is interleaved and **unordered**.
```toml
[[edges]]
from = "left.out"
to = "collect.in"
[[edges]]
from = "right.out"
to = "collect.in" # merge: both sources feed collect.in
```
Note what merge is *not*: it's an undifferentiated fan-in (several edges into one
in-port — one stream), not a *join* that correlates two or more **distinct typed**
inputs by a key. For that, declare a `[join]` node (see the **Node** section).
## Subgraph
A network can be reused as a node inside a bigger network: a `[nodes]` entry may
`use` a *network* manifest instead of a node manifest. The parser **flattens** it
at parse time into namespaced leaf nodes (dot-separated ids like `pipe.up`), so
the rest of the pipeline only ever sees a flat graph. `[expose]` is what makes a
network presentable as a subgraph — it maps the network's public ports onto its
internal ones.
## Runtime shape
A validated network compiles to **real `.ex` source** under
`_build/<env>/bloccs_generated/<network>/` (debuggable, PR-reviewable — not
in-memory bytecode). At its core:
- a **Broadway pipeline per node** — the processor calls `pure_core` →
`effect_shell`, then hands emitted messages to the router;
- a **`Bloccs.Producer`** per in-port — a bounded, back-pressuring GenStage
producer. When a `buffer` fills, the producer *parks the caller* rather than
dropping the message;
- a **`Bloccs.Router`** — the edge table; `dispatch/4` looks up an out-port's
targets and pushes to each downstream producer, and notifies any sink
listeners (used by tests and the trace recorder).
Declared `[contract]` policies are wired in too: **retry** (backed-off
re-enqueue, matched on failure reason), **timeout** (`timeout_ms` bounds each
attempt), **idempotency** (atomic in-flight reservation by key), and
**telemetry** events on every span.
## Trace and coverage
A run can be recorded to a `.bloccs-trace` (`Bloccs.Trace`, fed by telemetry).
`mix bloccs.coverage` reports **structural coverage** — every in-port, out-port,
and edge against the set actually reached — either live (`--message`) or from a
loaded trace (`--trace`). It's the "which parts of my graph did this input
exercise?" view.
---
Next: walk the whole loop end to end in [Getting started](getting-started.md),
or look up an exact field in the [Manifest reference](manifest-reference.md).