Bridge Layer

Connectivity & Integration.

The Bridge Layer connects SpineWorkspace to every external system. It is bidirectional — the same systems that provide data can also be acted upon.

Design Principles

1. Bidirectional — Every connector reads and writes
2. Normalized — All data is normalized to Spine entities
3. Resilient — Retries, circuit breakers, graceful degradation
4. Governed — All external interactions go through governance
5. Observable — Every interaction is logged and auditable

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Source & Target Systems

Category	Systems
CRM	Salesforce, HubSpot, Dynamics 365
ERP	NetSuite, QuickBooks
Support	ServiceNow, Zendesk
Communication	Slack, Teams, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365
Databases	Any SQL/NoSQL database via API
Custom	Files, Events, Webhooks, Any System

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Bridge Components

Component	Purpose
Connectors	Pre-built system integrations with authentication
Adapters	Protocol and format translation
APIs	Direct REST/GraphQL API connections
Webhooks	Event-driven inbound data ingestion
Event Streaming	Real-time data feeds (Kafka, SSE, etc.)
File / DB Sync	Batch and incremental synchronization
Transformers	Data normalization and enrichment
Protocol Handlers	Protocol-specific implementations (SOAP, gRPC, etc.)

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Data Flow

Inbound (Source → Spine)

Source System → Connector → Adapter → Transformer → Normalization → Spine Event → Spine Store

1. Source System — Data changes or events occur in the external system
2. Connector — Authenticates and retrieves the data
3. Adapter — Translates protocol and format
4. Transformer — Maps to Spine entity schema
5. Normalization — Resolves entity references, deduplicates
6. Spine Event — Creates a Spine event with evidence
7. Spine Store — Persists to the appropriate Spine store

Outbound (Spine → Target)

Spine Decision → Governance Check → Execution Token → Adapter → Connector → Target System

1. Spine Decision — A decision or action is approved
2. Governance Check — Governance layer validates the action
3. Execution Token — Token issued for the specific action
4. Adapter — Translates to target system format
5. Connector — Authenticates and sends the request
6. Target System — Action is executed in the external system

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Connector Contract

Every connector implements:

interface Connector {
  id: string;
  system: string;
  auth: AuthConfig;
  capabilities: Capability[];
  
  // Read operations
  fetch(entity: string, params: QueryParams): Promise<Entity[]>;
  watch(entity: string, callback: EventCallback): Subscription;
  
  // Write operations
  create(entity: string, data: EntityData): Promise<Entity>;
  update(entity: string, id: string, data: EntityData): Promise<Entity>;
  delete(entity: string, id: string): Promise<void>;
  
  // Health
  health(): Promise<HealthStatus>;
}

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Sync Rules

Rule	Description
Real-time	Webhooks and event streaming for live data
Polling	Configurable polling intervals for systems without webhooks
Batch	Scheduled batch sync for large datasets
On-demand	Pull data when requested by a user or agent
Conflict resolution	Last-write-wins with Spine as source of truth

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Fallback Rules

Failure	Fallback
Connector timeout	Retry with exponential backoff (3 attempts)
Auth failure	Re-authenticate, notify admin
Rate limit	Queue and retry after cooldown
System down	Circuit breaker opens, serve cached data
Data conflict	Spine wins, log discrepancy for reconciliation

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Protocol Support

Protocol	Support
REST	Full CRUD, pagination, rate limiting
GraphQL	Query and mutation support
SOAP	Legacy system support via adapter
gRPC	High-performance service-to-service
WebSocket	Real-time bidirectional streaming
MQTT	IoT and device integration
Custom	Protocol handler extensibility

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Governance

All Bridge Layer interactions are governed:

Rule	Description
Authentication	OAuth, API key, or certificate-based
Authorization	Role-based, per-system permissions
Rate limiting	Per-system and per-tenant limits
Audit logging	Every API call is logged
Data classification	Sensitivity labels propagate across systems
Purpose limitation	Integrations only access data for stated purposes