Foundation application backbone papers

This directory contains two LaTeX papers describing how xt.substrate, xt.db.node and postgres.core can be used as a tested data and RPC backbone for AI-assisted web, mobile and edge applications.

• business-analyst.tex explains the delivery model, programme controls and business value.
• senior-developer.tex explains the architecture for developers familiar with PostgreSQL, TypeScript, mobile, edge and native ecosystems but not necessarily Clojure or Lisp.

Both papers include diagrams and comparisons with REST/OpenAPI, GraphQL, gRPC, ORMs, backend-as-a-service platforms, CQRS/event sourcing, local-first frameworks and a direct Bun/Rust rewrite. The Bun/Rust section is an architectural comparison rather than a claim about an identified Foundation rewrite branch.

Install dependencies

On macOS, the installer uses TinyTeX. On Debian or Ubuntu, it installs TeX Live and the Inter/Roboto fonts:

docs/application-backbone/install-deps.sh

Build

From the repository root:

make -C docs/application-backbone

Build one paper:

make -C docs/application-backbone business-analyst
make -C docs/application-backbone senior-developer

Publish locally

Build the PDFs and stage a clean distribution directory under target/documents/application-backbone/:

make -C docs/application-backbone publish

The staged files are:

target/documents/application-backbone/
├── INDEX.md
├── README.md
├── business-analyst.pdf
└── senior-developer.pdf

Continuous integration

.github/workflows/application-backbone-docs.yml runs when these sources or the workflow change. It:

1. installs XeLaTeX, latexmk and the required fonts;
2. builds both papers with warnings treated as LaTeX build failures where applicable;
3. stages the publish directory;
4. uploads the complete directory as the foundation-application-backbone-pdfs workflow artifact.

The workflow also supports manual dispatch.

Cleanup

Remove intermediate files while retaining PDFs:

make -C docs/application-backbone clean

Remove generated PDFs and the staged distribution directory:

make -C docs/application-backbone distclean