SelvaArchitecture
Four moving parts
| Part | What it is | Runs on |
|---|---|---|
Selva plugin (Selva.gha) | The schema designer + bridge to a live Rhino | Author’s Rhino, and the Compute server |
Selva web app (@selvajs/selva) | The schema runner | Your server |
| Rhino.Compute | Headless Rhino that solves over HTTP | A Windows VM |
| Provider | Pluggable auth / data / storage backend | In-process with the web app |
Everything else (@selvajs/ui, schemas, compute, visualization, solve, server, platform) is a shared library these four are built from.
The schema is the contract
A schema describes a definition’s web interface: which inputs are exposed, what control each one maps to, the layout, and the outputs. You create it in the designer, and the web app reads it to render the UI.
Its shape is defined once in ui-schema.json and code-generated into both stacks: TypeScript for the web app, C# for the plugin. CI fails on drift. That’s what keeps a C# plugin and a TS web app speaking the same language without a hand-written API spec.
Two runtime paths
Design time: WebSocket to a live Rhino. While you build the interface, the plugin runs a WebSocket server inside your Rhino, on loopback (port 8765 by default, or a free one if that is taken). The designer connects to it, discovers parameters, and writes the schema back into the .gh. Changes round-trip live.
Run time: HTTP to Rhino.Compute. Once deployed there’s no live Rhino. The web app loads the saved schema and sends inputs to Rhino.Compute over HTTP on each change. Compute solves headlessly and returns geometry to the Three.js viewer.
The packages
| Package | Role |
|---|---|
@selvajs/schemas | The schema contract + TS/C# generators. Source of truth for both stacks. |
@selvajs/plugin-ui | The schema designer UI. Embedded into Selva.gha. |
@selvajs/selva | The deployable web app. |
@selvajs/ui | Shared Svelte components, theme, and the Svelte shells around the viewer. |
@selvajs/compute | Type-safe Rhino.Compute client and data trees. Pure solve/data, no renderer. See Build your own app. |
@selvajs/visualization | Headless viewer core: solve response → Three.js. Layers scene → render → parse → shared. |
@selvajs/solve | The solve flow, both sides of the wire (/client, /server, /shared). |
@selvajs/server | Server building blocks: compute limits and client cache, rate limit, SSRF guard, definitions, tokens, access. |
@selvajs/platform | Provider interfaces, no implementations. See Providers. |
@selvajs/*-provider | Concrete provider implementations. |
@selvajs/cli | Scaffolds and operates a deployment. See CLI. |
On the .NET side, schema and drawing logic sit apart from the Rhino-coupled Selva.GH/Selva.Rhino. That half has no Rhino dependency, so it’s unit-testable.
What stays in sync
- Plugin ↔ web app. Both generate from
ui-schema.json, and CI fails on drift. - Providers ↔ interfaces. Every adapter runs a conformance suite, so a new provider behaves like the reference one.
Next
- Providers: the backend model.
- Get Started: stand it up.
- Build your own app: use the packages directly.