DATABASE TOOLING
Sykes DB Inspector
Sykes DB Inspector is the developer-facing tool for examining and debugging Sykes DB. It makes database state, stored operations, and storage behavior visible without turning the main Application into a low-level database console.
A focused view into Sykes DB
The Inspector is a dedicated database tool rather than a general source-control interface. It gives developers a direct way to examine the state Sykes DB stores and the behavior it exhibits while processing operation history.
- Inspect database state without routing everything through the Application.
- Examine stored CRDT operations and their ordering data.
- Keep database diagnostics separate from normal version-control workflows.
Make invisible storage behavior observable
Operation databases fail in ways that are difficult to understand from the final document alone. The Inspector provides a place to investigate stored records, ordering, replay, and the storage behavior behind a visible result.
- Compare persisted operations with reconstructed state.
- Investigate unexpected ordering or replay behavior.
- Expose enough detail to diagnose database and Engine interactions.
State, operations, and storage
The component is intended to organize low-level database information into views that support development. Its focus is what Sykes DB contains and how that data behaves, not repository review or team collaboration.
- Operation records and associated identifiers.
- Database state and replay results.
- LSM storage behavior relevant to debugging.
Close to the database, separate from the product
The Inspector sits beside Sykes DB in the architecture. The Application presents source-control concepts to users; the Inspector presents database concepts to developers working on correctness and performance.
- Sykes DB remains responsible for storage and recovery.
- The Inspector reads and presents database behavior.
- The shared UI component can support visual tooling without merging product roles.
A named part of the developing system
Sykes DB Inspector is part of the current component architecture. Its detailed feature set will follow the database behavior that needs to be observed and debugged as Sykes DB develops.
- Keep the initial scope focused on database inspection.
- Add views in response to concrete debugging needs.
- Avoid duplicating the user-facing Application.
NEXT STEP
The Inspector makes Sykes DB understandable
Sykes DB Inspector exists so developers can inspect operations, state, and storage behavior directly while keeping low-level diagnostics out of the main Application.