Vision & Strategic Pivot
Tellstone is evolving from a high-performance, single-node in-memory Key-Value store into a distributed, scale-out HTAP NewSQL In-Memory Engine. While disk-bound distributed databases (like CockroachDB and TiKV) incur significant I/O, NVMe flush, and compaction latencies, Tellstone leverages a pure in-memory core with zero-allocation FNV-1a sharded execution to deliver sub-millisecond, strongly consistent distributed transactions.
The core underlying storage engine remains a lock-free, in-memory KV architecture. However, to unlock ecosystem adoption, seamless ORM/BI-tool integration, and complex analytical capabilities, Tellstone is adopting the PostgreSQL Wire Protocol (PGWire) alongside its ultra-low latency native binary protocol.
Core Architectural Pillars
- Ecosystem & Protocol Layer (PGWire & Custom Binary)
- PGWire Integration: Full support for the PostgreSQL wire protocol, enabling connection via standard
psql clients, drivers (pgx, libpq), and ORMs without proprietary SDK locks.
- Custom Multiplexed Binary Protocol: Retained for high-frequency point-lookups (
GET/SET) requiring raw zero-allocation execution paths.
- Distributed Control Plane: Placement Driver (PD) & TSO
- Embedded etcd Control Plane: Embedded HA ensemble acting as the cluster brain to manage region topology, health, and auto-balancing.
- Centralized Timestamp Oracle (TSO): Provides strictly monotonic physical-logical timestamps required for distributed linearizability and Snapshot Isolation.
- Data Plane: Multi-Raft & Range-Based Region Splitting
- 64MB Dynamic Region Splits: Monotonic key-space divided into 64MB range-based regions. Regions split automatically at the median key upon reaching capacity.
- Multi-Raft Consensus: Each region operates as an independent Raft consensus group. Writes pass through Raft before being applied directly to the core-sharded in-memory engine.
- Geo-Partitioning & Placement Rules: Region replicas can be pinned to specific geographic zones/nodes (e.g.,
--locality=country:de) for strict data residency (GDPR) and local read latencies.
- Transparent Routing & Execution Engine
- Zero-Alloc In-Memory Lookup Table: Every node maintains an atomic, copy-on-write (
atomic.Pointer[RegionTable]) mapping of key ranges to Raft leaders. Enables O(log N) binary search routing with zero heap allocations on the hot path.
- "Read/Write Anywhere" Forwarding: Nodes transparently proxy requests to the appropriate region leader if the local node does not hold the active Raft leadership.
- MVCC & 2PC Foundation: In-memory value layout pre-structured with 1-byte control flags and inverted timestamps to seamlessly support 2-Phase Commit (Percolator-style) distributed ACID transactions.
Vision & Strategic Pivot
Tellstone is evolving from a high-performance, single-node in-memory Key-Value store into a distributed, scale-out HTAP NewSQL In-Memory Engine. While disk-bound distributed databases (like CockroachDB and TiKV) incur significant I/O, NVMe flush, and compaction latencies, Tellstone leverages a pure in-memory core with zero-allocation FNV-1a sharded execution to deliver sub-millisecond, strongly consistent distributed transactions.
The core underlying storage engine remains a lock-free, in-memory KV architecture. However, to unlock ecosystem adoption, seamless ORM/BI-tool integration, and complex analytical capabilities, Tellstone is adopting the PostgreSQL Wire Protocol (PGWire) alongside its ultra-low latency native binary protocol.
Core Architectural Pillars
psqlclients, drivers (pgx,libpq), and ORMs without proprietary SDK locks.GET/SET) requiring raw zero-allocation execution paths.--locality=country:de) for strict data residency (GDPR) and local read latencies.atomic.Pointer[RegionTable]) mapping of key ranges to Raft leaders. Enables O(log N) binary search routing with zero heap allocations on the hot path.