RBE / START HERE
Learn who owns the authority before the syntax.
RBE makes more sense when you stop treating .route, .module, .service and server.server as file extensions and start treating them as authority boundaries. Learn the role first, then follow how RELC links those roles into an immutable Runtime Image.
CURRENT TRACK · ACTIVE DEVELOPMENT · RUST HOST + REL/RELC
FIRST PASS
A useful order for your first twenty minutes.
01 / WHY
Understand the authority model.
Start with the RBE philosophy: one REL language, scoped source authority, immutable activation and fail-closed behavior when an authority boundary cannot be proven.
mental model · ~4 min
Open →02 / ROUTE
Begin at the HTTP edge.
A Route receives the bounded request snapshot and builds a response. Keep it thin: it should not quietly inherit managed-process or privileged runtime authority.
request / response authority
Open →03 / MODULE
Move reusable application logic inward.
A Module runs in-process and can own reusable logic, typed Runtime ENV and controlled Service calls. It is the bridge between request handling and managed process work.
in-process application logic
Open →04 / SERVICE
Cross the managed-process boundary deliberately.
A Service runs through Service Mother with lifecycle, restart policy, memory/resource boundaries and Service-only facilities such as quickDB.
managed process authority
Open →05 / LINK
Understand RELC and Runtime Image.
RELC validates imports and policy, resolves source identities and produces the immutable Runtime Image that becomes the activation boundary for the live backend.
link before serve
Open →06 / POLICY
Finish with server-wide composition.
server.server owns listener policy, server status, Runtime ENV defaults/FORCE values, middleware planning, limits and embedded source composition.
whole-server policy
Open →THE SHORT VERSION
Same language. Different authority. Link before activation.
If you remember only one thing, remember that the source role is part of the runtime contract. RELC does not merely parse syntax; it decides whether the requested authority belongs to that role before the program becomes live.
ADVANCED AFTER THE MODEL
Subsystems are useful after you know who is allowed to own them.
quickDB is an accelerator, not truth
Learn Service ownership first. quickDB may prove a synchronized negative and skip an authoritative lookup; a positive membership answer still does not become database truth.
Video Manager keeps process authority out of ordinary REL
Raw FFmpeg/process/filesystem power belongs behind the runtime boundary rather than leaking into normal application source.
Cloud Node is storage/recovery infrastructure
Read Runtime Image and service/runtime ownership first; Cloud Node adds provider sync, local history, backup and recovery semantics underneath that application model.
Fail-closed behavior is intentional
When native/container execution or capability mediation cannot prove the requested boundary, RBE should reject it rather than silently widen authority through a weaker fallback.