rigdoctor/docs/DECISIONS.md

# RigDoctor — Decisions & Open Questions

Format: each item is **OPEN** (needs a call) or **DECIDED** (with date + rationale).
Decisions D1–D15 were all settled on 2026-05-21; the original open questions are kept below
with their resolutions so the reasoning is traceable. No tracked decisions are currently open.

## Decided

### D1 — Project name — *DECIDED 2026-05-21*
**RigDoctor.** Confirmed as the final name (repo, package, and CLI command `rigdoctor`).
Alternatives (RigWatch, GameDoc, Penguin Pit Crew, LGD) dropped.

### D2 — Language / runtime — *DECIDED 2026-05-21*
**Python 3 + Qt (PySide6).**
- *Why Python:* fastest AI-assisted development (largest codegen corpus) and a perfect fit
  for the real workload — parsing `nvidia-smi`/sysfs/`journalctl`, CSV/JSON, subprocess.
- *Why Qt/PySide6:* one toolkit covers **both** the desktop GUI and the system-tray applet.
- *Layering that preserves "low overhead":* the **core engine, CLI, and crash-logger daemon
  stay stdlib-only** (no hard deps, tiny footprint); **only the GUI and tray modules pull in
  PySide6**. This maps cleanly onto the modular installer — a headless/server user never
  installs Qt.
- *Trade-off accepted:* the GUI carries a Qt runtime dependency (not a single static binary).
  Mitigated by shipping a `.deb` that declares `python3` + `python3-pyside6` (see D8).

### D3 — Distro priority order — *DECIDED 2026-05-21*
**Ubuntu first**, by an explicit margin. Debian comes along for free via `apt`. Arch
(`pacman`) / Fedora (`dnf`) / openSUSE (`zypper`) are best-effort later. The package-manager
and distro abstraction stays in the design so other distros can be added, but all primary
development, testing, and packaging target Ubuntu.

### D4 — GPU vendor priority — *DECIDED 2026-05-21*
**NVIDIA first.** It's the seed hardware (RTX 3070) and the source of the motivating crash.
AMD and Intel come later behind the vendor abstraction; nothing should hard-code NVIDIA in a
way that blocks them.

### D5 — MVP scope — *DECIDED 2026-05-21*
**M1 + M3 + M4 (the *Essential* bundle), NVIDIA-only**, CLI-first. This is the first build
target — it captures the seed crash and explains the logs before any installer, GUI, tray,
or multi-vendor work.

### D6 — Crash-logger trigger model — *DECIDED 2026-05-21*
**Let the user choose.** All three modes are supported and selectable (installer + config):
1. **Always-on** `systemd --user` service.
2. **Game-launch-triggered** (auto-start when a game/Steam session starts, stop after).
3. **Manual** (CLI command, or the tray applet's "start recording" button).
*Still open:* the exact game-launch detection mechanism — see D12.

### D7 — Stress / repro module — *DECIDED 2026-05-21*
**Out of scope. Module M7 is dropped.** RigDoctor will not build or bundle stress/load
generators. Users who want to reproduce load can run existing tools (gpu-burn, vkmark,
stress-ng) themselves alongside the logger.

### D8 — Distribution / packaging — *DECIDED 2026-05-21*
**`.deb` package** as the primary distribution channel (matches the Ubuntu-first focus). The
`.deb` declares dependencies per module group; the interactive installer (M9) handles module
selection on top. AUR / Flatpak / COPR are possible later, not now.

### D9 — Scope of action (read-only vs apply-fixes) — *DECIDED 2026-05-21*
**Read-only + suggestions.** RigDoctor diagnoses, monitors, and **suggests** actions in
plain language (with the exact command where possible), but does **not** apply changes
itself in this stage. Auto-applying fixes (governor, power profile, etc.) is a deliberate
later milestone, gated behind explicit user consent when it lands.

### D10 — GUI is a first-class deliverable — *DECIDED 2026-05-21*
The app must run **three ways**: (a) **CLI-only / headless** (full functionality from the
terminal, works over SSH), (b) a **desktop GUI**, and (c) a **system-tray / top-menu-bar
applet** with quick actions. This supersedes the original "terminal-first, GUI maybe later"
non-goal. GUI and tray are separate optional modules over the shared core engine.

### D11 — Tray / menu-bar applet — *DECIDED 2026-05-21*
A small always-available applet in the Linux top menu bar (system tray / StatusNotifierItem,
via Qt's `QSystemTrayIcon`; on Ubuntu/GNOME this surfaces through the AppIndicator
extension). Provides quick actions and at-a-glance status.
*Still open:* the exact set of quick actions/indicators — see D13.

### D12 — Game-launch detection mechanism — *DECIDED 2026-05-21*
**Layered approach, no root** (logger stays a `systemd --user` service):
1. **Wrapper (precise, primary):** `rigdoctor wrap %command%` for per-game Steam launch
   options, plus an installer helper that registers RigDoctor as a **global Steam
   compatibility tool** (covers all Proton games without per-game edits). The same wrapper
   field works in Lutris/Heroic. Deterministic start/stop, knows the title, needs no
   watcher daemon. *Build first.*
2. **Zero-config watcher (fallback):** low-frequency poll of Steam's `RunningAppID`
   (`~/.steam/registry.vdf`) plus a `/proc` heuristic for non-Steam launchers, for users
   who won't edit launch options. *Build later.*
3. **GameMode (opportunistic):** if Feral `gamemoded` is present, use its D-Bus
   `GameRegistered`/`GameUnregistered` signals (via `gdbus`/`busctl` — no Python dbus dep).
- *Explicitly rejected:* root-only kernel mechanisms (proc-connector netlink `PROC_EVENTS`,
  eBPF) — they'd force the logger to run as root.
- *Phasing:* wrapper ships with the game-launch trigger mode (Phase 4); watcher + GameMode
  follow.

### D13 — Tray / menu-bar applet: actions & indicators — *DECIDED 2026-05-21*
**Live readouts (from M1) + a Run Diagnostic action.**
- **At-a-glance live data** shown inline in the tray dropdown, refreshed periodically:
  **CPU temp, GPU temp, memory used/total** (e.g. "14 GB / 32 GB"). A status dot
  (normal / throttling / alert) is proposed alongside.
- **Run Diagnostic** — the primary action. Launches the **guided diagnostic session**
  (SPEC §4): prompts *which game to focus on*, starts a focused log collection for that
  game's session (M3, scoped via the D12 game detection), then scans/analyzes (M4) and
  presents the findings.
- **Supporting actions (proposed minimal set):** Open dashboard (M10), Start/Stop recording
  (manual trigger), Snapshot now, Quit.

### D14 — Final installer module list & bundles — *DECIDED 2026-05-21*
**Use the current `MODULES.md` catalog and bundles as final.** Modules: M1, M2, M3, M4, M5,
M6, M8, M9, M10, M11 (M7 dropped). Bundles: Essential / Monitoring / Diagnostics /
Desktop UI (+ Custom). No further additions planned for v1.

### D15 — Distro package-name mapping → apt-only — *DECIDED 2026-05-21*
*What it was:* RigDoctor's optional modules need a few system packages (smartmontools,
lm-sensors, dmidecode, python3-pyside6, AppIndicator). The same tool is named differently
per distro (e.g. `lm-sensors` on apt vs `lm_sensors` on pacman/dnf; Qt is `python3-pyside6`
on apt). Supporting multiple distros would require a table mapping each logical dependency to
the right package name per package manager.
*Decision:* **apt-only.** We maintain package names for **Ubuntu/apt only** and do **not**
build or maintain mappings for other package managers. A thin seam is left in the design so
another package manager *could* be added later, but multi-distro support is **not** a planned
deliverable. Revisit only if Ubuntu-only proves too narrow.

## Open

None currently — all tracked decisions (D1–D15) are resolved. New questions will be added
here as they arise. Remaining detail to flesh out during build: the tray's supporting-action
set (D13 proposed list) and per-module apt package names (filled in as modules land).
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