Overview

Transport Layer Overview

The Transport Layer is responsible for establishing connections and moving data between endpoints. It abstracts platform-specific IPC mechanisms and remote networking into a unified NetworkConnection interface.

Core Components

ConnectionManager

The ConnectionManager is the central hub for all network activity. It uses a slot-based architecture (similar to WorkContractGroup) to manage connections lock-free.

• Platform Agnostic: Automatically selects the best backend for the target (e.g., Unix Socket on macOS, Named Pipe on Windows).

• Generational Handles: Returns ConnectionHandles that are safe to use even if the underlying connection is closed and the slot is reused.

• Metrics: Tracks global bandwidth, message counts, and connection health.

• trySend() (Non-blocking with backpressure)

Class Hierarchy

classDiagram
    class NetworkConnection {
        <<interface>>
        +connect()
        +disconnect()
        +send(data)
        +sendUnreliable(data)
    }

    class SharedMemoryConnection {
        +writeRingBuffer
        +readRingBuffer
    }
    
    class UnixSocketConnection {
        +socketFd
    }
    
    class WebRTCConnection {
        +peerConnection
        +dataChannels
    }
    
    class ConnectionManager {
        +createConnection(type)
        +getConnection(handle)
    }

    NetworkConnection <|-- SharedMemoryConnection
    NetworkConnection <|-- UnixSocketConnection
    NetworkConnection <|-- WebRTCConnection
    ConnectionManager ..> NetworkConnection : Manages