Decoupling API Standards from Logic to Accelerate HPC Service Development
TL;DR
Fabrica decouples the API’s structural standards from its application logic, allowing the team to generate working prototypes for immediate testing at Los Alamos National Laboratory while retaining the flexibility to regenerate the service to match pending architectural decisions.
Abstract
In HPC system management, the transition to modular architectures like OpenCHAMI requires standardization to ensure long-term interoperability. However, the consensus-building process required by open-source projects often operates on a different timeline than the deadline-driven operational needs of site administrators. This creates a synchronization challenge: teams must deliver functional software for immediate machine bring-up while ensuring alignment with future community standards. This paper details how the OpenCHAMI project utilized Fabrica, a custom code generator, to bridge this gap during the development of a Field Replaceable Unit Inventory Service. Fabrica decouples the API’s structural standards from its application logic, allowing the team to generate working prototypes for immediate testing at Los Alamos National Laboratory while retaining the flexibility to regenerate the service to match pending architectural decisions. We demonstrate how this approach enables parallel workflows and discuss its implications for improving Research Software Engineering productivity and facilitating AI-assisted development.