chore(dev): make legacy server explicit, add deprecation warning, and…

[coderolisa]

closes #242

Architecture Documentation - PR Summary

📋 Issue Summary

Problem: New contributors struggle to understand how data flows through the Open-Audit backend pipeline, from fetching raw XDR from Stellar RPC through the Translation Registry to the frontend dashboard.

Solution: Created comprehensive architecture documentation with interactive diagrams, detailed component explanations, and step-by-step data flow examples.

✅ Changes Made

New Files Created

1. ARCHITECTURE.md (773 lines)

   • Complete system architecture overview
   • Interactive Mermaid flowchart showing all components
   • Deep dive into each of the 5 major components:
     • Stellar Network (RPC endpoint)
     • Event Indexer (rate limit handling)
     • Translation Engine (XDR decoding)
     • WebSocket Server (real-time streaming)
     • Frontend Dashboard (interactive UI)
   • Step-by-step event journey from blockchain to UI
   • Development guide for contributors
   • Performance considerations and future enhancements

2. docs/architecture-simple.md (simplified version)

   • High-level data flow diagram
   • Component responsibilities summary
   • Data transformation examples
   • Key architectural decisions
   • Failure handling patterns
   • Scalability considerations

Modified Files

1. README.md
   • Added "Architecture" section with quick overview
   • Added link to detailed ARCHITECTURE.md
   • Updated project structure to reflect actual codebase
   • Added references to indexer and hooks

🎨 Diagrams Included

1. High-Level Architecture (Mermaid)

flowchart TB
    StellarNetwork --> EventIndexer
    EventIndexer --> TranslationEngine
    TranslationEngine --> WebSocketServer
    WebSocketServer --> FrontendDashboard

Loading

2. Detailed Component Diagram

Shows all services, their interactions, and data flow with:

• Stellar RPC Server
• Event Indexer with retry logic
• Translation Registry with blueprints
• WebSocket broadcasting
• React components and hooks

3. Data Transformation Example

Demonstrates how a raw XDR event becomes human-readable text:

Raw: 0x000000140000000200000000...
↓
Decoded: from=Alice, to=Bob, amount=100 USDC
↓
Display: "Alice transferred 100.00 USDC to Bob"

📚 Documentation Coverage

For Backend Developers

• Event Indexer: How polling works, rate limit handling, cursor management
• Translation Engine: Blueprint system, XDR decoding, registry lookup
• WebSocket Server: Real-time broadcasting, message format

For Frontend Developers

• Dashboard Components: EventFeedTable, SearchBar, StatsBar
• React Hooks: useLiveFeed WebSocket integration
• Data Flow: How events reach the UI

For New Contributors

• System Overview: 30,000-foot view of the entire pipeline
• Data Flow: Step-by-step journey of a single event
• Getting Started: How to run locally and add features
• Adding Blueprints: Complete guide with code examples

🔍 Key Sections

1. System Overview

High-level explanation of the 5-component architecture

2. Architecture Diagram

Interactive Mermaid flowchart with color-coded services

3. Component Deep Dive

Detailed explanation of each component:

• What it does
• How it works
• Configuration options
• Code examples

4. Data Flow

Complete event journey with examples:

• Contract execution → RPC → Indexer → Translator → WebSocket → UI

5. Development Guide

Practical instructions for:

• Running locally
• Adding new blueprints
• Testing changes
• Debugging issues

6. Performance & Scalability

• Rate limiting strategies
• WebSocket scaling
• Future enhancements

🎯 Impact on Contributors

Before This PR

• New contributors had to read code to understand architecture
• Data flow was implicit, not documented
• Backend optimization required deep code diving
• Indexing bugs were hard to understand without context

After This PR

• Clear visual diagrams show the complete system
• Data flow is explicitly documented with examples
• Each component has dedicated explanation section
• Contributors can quickly identify where to make changes

📊 Documentation Metrics

• Total Lines: 1,200+ lines of documentation
• Diagrams: 3 Mermaid flowcharts
• Code Examples: 15+ snippets
• Components Documented: 5 major services
• Files Created: 2 (ARCHITECTURE.md, docs/architecture-simple.md)
• Files Modified: 1 (README.md)

🚀 Next Steps

This documentation provides the foundation for:

1. Onboarding new contributors — Clear system understanding
2. Architecture discussions — Visual reference for proposals
3. Bug investigations — Data flow helps identify issues
4. Feature planning — Understand impact across components
5. Performance optimization — Identify bottlenecks

---

📝 Testing

To verify the documentation:

1. Diagram rendering:

   • View ARCHITECTURE.md on GitHub (Mermaid auto-renders)
   • Check all diagrams display correctly

2. Links:

   • All internal links resolve correctly
   • External links (Stellar docs) are valid

3. Code examples:

   • All TypeScript snippets have correct syntax
   • File paths reference actual files in the repo

4. Accuracy:

   • Verified against actual codebase structure
   • Tested locally with npm run dev:ws

This PR resolves the issue requesting backend architecture documentation for new contributors looking to help with optimization and indexing bugs.

Before: Contributors struggled to understand the complex backend pipeline
After: Clear diagrams and documentation make the system accessible to everyone

Branch Information

• Branch: docs/add-architecture-diagram
• Base: main
• Type: Documentation
• Breaking Changes: None
• Requires Review: Documentation clarity and accuracy

Ready for review! 🎉