writeonce/docs/stories/language-runtime-database/16-web-framework.md

Iteration 16 — the web framework: a .wo library, HTTP/1.1 behind a proxy

Format: product/story-iteration-template. Part of Story — one language, one runtime, one database, one binary.

Inserted 2026-08-18. The framework is written IN writeonce and imported like any dependency (iteration 15 is the prerequisite). TLS terminates at a reverse proxy — browsers get TLS+ALPN+h2 from nginx/caddy while the framework speaks HTTP/1.1 keep-alive behind it, so no TLS exists anywhere in the toolchain. h2c is the parked successor (after iterations 8/9f/11, when multiplexing has a scheduler to pay off on).

Spec exists: 2026-08-18-web-framework-design.md sections B (normative) and C (the parked h2c successor). Plan: 2026-08-19-web-framework.md (6 tasks: types/builders; HTTP/1.1 parse+serve; router+interfaces+App; the web-app storefront; the just web-app gate; docs closeout). Two enabling risks retired before planning: interface-field dispatch (probe) and the route-table owned-move double-free (fixed, pinned by run/container-owned-move).

Goals

• The framework, incubated at docs/examples/writeonce-framework/: an HTTP/1.1 keep-alive server core (extracted from the soak-proven log-watcher mcp pattern), a method+path router with :param captures, Req/Resp records with builder helpers, and the no-function-values handler model — Handler / Middleware structural interfaces dispatched by ICALL, with WO-E205 making a non-conforming handler a compile error and ?Resp middleware short-circuiting on the shipped ?T narrowing.
• The consuming app, docs/examples/web-app/: a small storefront (Product/Order as @table classes, list/show/create routes, one auth middleware, JSON responses) that imports the framework through [deps] — the sample exercises the whole chain: fetch → lock → build → serve → durable data across restart.
• Honest limits stated where users read them: single-threaded blocking (concurrency arrives underneath via iterations 8/11), no chunked encoding, no WebSockets, JSON-first (no templates — the removed UI track stays removed).
• Relationship to iteration 10 recorded in both: service blocks later lower onto this library — compiler sugar over the same router, never a rival stack.

Acceptance Criteria

• Given the web-app sample, when just web-app runs, then deps fetch, the app builds, serves list/show/create with @table persistence across a process restart, answers 404/400 correctly, a deliberately trapping handler returns 500 while the server survives, and SIGTERM stops it cleanly — fd- and resident-flat under the opt-in soak.
• Given a handler class missing handle, when the app compiles, then WO-E205 names the class and interface.
• Given nginx in front (documented config), when a browser hits it, then the browser negotiates h2 with the proxy while the backend link is HTTP/1.1 — proving the TLS/h2 story without TLS in writeonce.
• Given the framework extracted to its own repository, when the app's [deps] URL is updated, then nothing else changes (success criterion 4 of the spec).

Out Of Scope

TLS in the toolchain (proxy-terminated by decision); HTTP/2 + the bytes/buffer type (parked to the h2c successor, after 8/9f/11); chunked transfer encoding; WebSockets/SSE; templates/SSR; multipart uploads; performance work beyond the soak's flatness gate (benchmarks belong to 9e's measurement backbone).

Proposed Solution

Framework modules http/, router/, app.wo as spec §B lays out; the web-app acceptance script is the gate (curl matrix + restart + stop + soak); just web-app wires fetch-build-serve-verify into one command. Plan follows after this iteration is approved on the board.