proffesor-for-testing__agentic-qe/docs/guides/adapter-configuration.md

Adapter Configuration Guide

Overview

The Agentic QE Fleet uses an explicit adapter configuration architecture to ensure production systems always use the correct database adapter. This guide explains how to configure adapters for different environments.

Why Explicit Configuration?

Problem: Previous versions used runtime adapter selection with silent fallbacks. If the real AgentDB adapter failed to initialize, the system would silently use a mock (in-memory) adapter, leading to data loss.

Solution: Explicit adapter configuration with fail-fast validation ensures:

• Production systems never accidentally use mock adapters
• Configuration errors are caught immediately at startup
• Clear error messages guide troubleshooting

Adapter Types

AdapterType.REAL (Production)

Uses the real AgentDB package for persistent storage.

When to use:

• Production deployments
• Development with real database
• Integration testing with actual database

Requirements:

• agentdb package installed
• Valid database file path
• Write permissions to database directory

Example:

import { createAgentDBManager, AdapterType } from '@/core/memory';

const manager = createAgentDBManager({
  adapter: {
    type: AdapterType.REAL,
    dbPath: '.agentic-qe/agentdb.db',
    dimension: 384,
    failFast: true
  }
});

await manager.initialize();

AdapterType.MOCK (Testing)

Uses an in-memory mock adapter for testing.

When to use:

• Unit tests
• Integration tests without database
• Quick prototyping
• CI/CD environments without database

Characteristics:

• No persistence (data lost when process terminates)
• No file system dependencies
• Fast initialization
• Simplified test setup

Example:

import { createAgentDBManager, AdapterType } from '@/core/memory';

const manager = createAgentDBManager({
  adapter: {
    type: AdapterType.MOCK,
    dimension: 384
  }
});

await manager.initialize();

AdapterType.AUTO (Deprecated)

Auto-detection based on environment. DO NOT USE - will be removed in v2.0.0.

Configuration Methods

1. Helper Functions (Recommended)

Use AdapterConfigHelper for common scenarios:

Production

import { createAgentDBManager, AdapterConfigHelper } from '@/core/memory';

const manager = createAgentDBManager({
  adapter: AdapterConfigHelper.forProduction('/data/agentdb.db')
});

Development

const manager = createAgentDBManager({
  adapter: AdapterConfigHelper.forDevelopment('.agentic-qe/dev.db')
});

Testing

const manager = createAgentDBManager({
  adapter: AdapterConfigHelper.forTesting()
});

2. Environment Variables

Set explicit adapter type via environment:

# Production
export AQE_ADAPTER_TYPE=real
export AGENTDB_PATH=/data/agentdb.db

# Testing
export AQE_ADAPTER_TYPE=mock

import { createAgentDBManager, AdapterConfigHelper } from '@/core/memory';

const manager = createAgentDBManager({
  adapter: AdapterConfigHelper.fromEnvironment()
});

3. Explicit Configuration

Full control with explicit config object:

import { createAgentDBManager, AdapterType } from '@/core/memory';

const manager = createAgentDBManager({
  adapter: {
    type: AdapterType.REAL,
    dbPath: process.env.AGENTDB_PATH || '.agentic-qe/agentdb.db',
    dimension: parseInt(process.env.AGENTDB_DIMENSION || '384'),
    failFast: process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production',
    validateOnStartup: true
  },
  enableQUICSync: false,
  enableLearning: true,
  cacheSize: 10000
});

Environment-Specific Setup

Local Development

# .env.development
AQE_ADAPTER_TYPE=real
AGENTDB_PATH=.agentic-qe/dev.db
AGENTDB_FAIL_FAST=true

Testing

# .env.test
AQE_ADAPTER_TYPE=mock
NODE_ENV=test

Production

# .env.production
AQE_ADAPTER_TYPE=real
AGENTDB_PATH=/data/agentdb.db
AGENTDB_FAIL_FAST=true
AGENTDB_VALIDATE=true

Docker Deployment

Dockerfile

FROM node:20-alpine

WORKDIR /app

# Install dependencies
COPY package*.json ./
RUN npm ci --production

# Copy application
COPY . .

# Set adapter configuration
ENV AQE_ADAPTER_TYPE=real
ENV AGENTDB_PATH=/data/agentdb.db
ENV AGENTDB_FAIL_FAST=true

# Create data directory
RUN mkdir -p /data && chown node:node /data

USER node

# Mount volume for database
VOLUME /data

CMD ["npm", "start"]

Docker Compose

version: '3.8'

services:
  aqe-fleet:
    build: .
    environment:
      AQE_ADAPTER_TYPE: real
      AGENTDB_PATH: /data/agentdb.db
      AGENTDB_FAIL_FAST: "true"
    volumes:
      - agentdb-data:/data
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  agentdb-data:
    driver: local

Kubernetes Deployment

ConfigMap

apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
  name: agentdb-config
  namespace: agentic-qe
data:
  AQE_ADAPTER_TYPE: "real"
  AGENTDB_PATH: "/data/agentdb.db"
  AGENTDB_FAIL_FAST: "true"
  AGENTDB_DIMENSION: "384"

Deployment

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: aqe-fleet
  namespace: agentic-qe
spec:
  replicas: 3
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: aqe-fleet
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: aqe-fleet
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: aqe-fleet
        image: aqe-fleet:latest
        envFrom:
        - configMapRef:
            name: agentdb-config
        volumeMounts:
        - name: agentdb-storage
          mountPath: /data
      volumes:
      - name: agentdb-storage
        persistentVolumeClaim:
          claimName: agentdb-pvc

Testing Setup

Jest Configuration

// tests/setup.ts
import { createAgentDBManager, AdapterConfigHelper } from '@/core/memory';

let testManager: AgentDBManager;

beforeAll(async () => {
  // Use mock adapter for all tests
  testManager = createAgentDBManager({
    adapter: AdapterConfigHelper.forTesting()
  });
  await testManager.initialize();
});

afterAll(async () => {
  await testManager.close();
});

export { testManager };

Unit Test Example

import { createAgentDBManager, AdapterType } from '@/core/memory';

describe('MyService', () => {
  let manager: AgentDBManager;

  beforeEach(async () => {
    manager = createAgentDBManager({
      adapter: {
        type: AdapterType.MOCK,
        dimension: 384
      }
    });
    await manager.initialize();
  });

  afterEach(async () => {
    await manager.close();
  });

  it('should store and retrieve patterns', async () => {
    const pattern = {
      id: 'test-1',
      type: 'test',
      domain: 'testing',
      pattern_data: '{}',
      confidence: 0.9,
      usage_count: 0,
      success_count: 0,
      created_at: Date.now(),
      last_used: Date.now()
    };

    await manager.store(pattern);
    // ... test assertions
  });
});

Validation and Error Handling

Configuration Validation

The system validates configuration at startup:

import { AdapterConfigValidator, AdapterType } from '@/core/memory';

const config = {
  type: AdapterType.REAL
  // Missing dbPath!
};

const result = AdapterConfigValidator.validate(config);

if (!result.valid) {
  console.error('Configuration errors:', result.errors);
  // Output: ["dbPath is required for AdapterType.REAL"]
}

Fail-Fast Behavior

By default, invalid configuration throws immediately:

try {
  const manager = createAgentDBManager({
    adapter: {
      type: AdapterType.REAL
      // Missing dbPath
    }
  });
  await manager.initialize();
} catch (error) {
  // AdapterConfigurationError: Invalid adapter configuration:
  //   - dbPath is required for AdapterType.REAL
}

Troubleshooting Common Errors

Error: "dbPath is required for AdapterType.REAL"

Cause: Attempting to use REAL adapter without database path.

Solution:

adapter: {
  type: AdapterType.REAL,
  dbPath: '.agentic-qe/agentdb.db' // Add this
}

Error: "agentdb package not installed"

Cause: Real adapter requires the agentdb package.

Solution:

npm install agentdb

Error: "EACCES: permission denied"

Cause: No write permissions to database directory.

Solution:

mkdir -p .agentic-qe
chmod 755 .agentic-qe

Error: "Database file is locked"

Cause: Another process is using the database file.

Solution:

• Ensure only one process accesses the database
• Close other AgentDBManager instances
• Check for zombie processes

Migration from Legacy Configuration

Before (v1.x)

// Implicit dbPath (DEPRECATED)
const manager = createAgentDBManager({
  dbPath: '.agentic-qe/agentdb.db'
});

// Environment variable (DEPRECATED)
export AQE_USE_MOCK_AGENTDB=true

After (v2.0+)

// Explicit adapter configuration
import { AdapterType } from '@/core/memory';

const manager = createAgentDBManager({
  adapter: {
    type: AdapterType.REAL,
    dbPath: '.agentic-qe/agentdb.db'
  }
});

// Environment variable
export AQE_ADAPTER_TYPE=real

Best Practices

1. Always Use Explicit Configuration: Never rely on auto-detection
2. Fail-Fast in Production: Set failFast: true to catch errors immediately
3. Validate at Startup: Enable validateOnStartup: true
4. Use Helper Functions: Prefer AdapterConfigHelper.forProduction() over manual config
5. Test with Mock Adapter: Use AdapterType.MOCK for unit tests
6. Environment Variables for Deployment: Use AQE_ADAPTER_TYPE in Docker/K8s
7. Separate Data Directories: Use different dbPath for dev/staging/prod
8. Volume Mounts for Persistence: Mount /data volume in containers
9. Monitor Initialization: Log adapter type and path at startup
10. Document Configuration: Include adapter config in deployment docs

Reference

Environment Variables

Variable	Values	Default	Description
AQE_ADAPTER_TYPE	real, mock	real (prod), mock (test)	Adapter type to use
AGENTDB_PATH	File path	.agentic-qe/agentdb.db	Database file path
AGENTDB_DIMENSION	Number	384	Embedding dimension
AGENTDB_FAIL_FAST	true, false	true	Fail immediately on errors
AGENTDB_VALIDATE	true, false	true	Validate configuration at startup

Configuration Options

interface AdapterConfig {
  type: AdapterType;           // Required: 'real' or 'mock'
  dbPath?: string;             // Required for 'real'
  dimension?: number;          // Default: 384
  failFast?: boolean;          // Default: true
  validateOnStartup?: boolean; // Default: true
}

Support

• Documentation: docs/architecture/ADR-001-adapter-configuration.md
• API Reference: docs/api/adapter-config.md
• Issues: https://github.com/proffesor-for-testing/agentic-qe/issues
• Examples: examples/adapter-configuration