docs(#1458): Renderable Codec Protocol spec + explainer#188
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dimitri-yatsenko wants to merge 1 commit into
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docs(#1458): Renderable Codec Protocol spec + explainer#188dimitri-yatsenko wants to merge 1 commit into
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Spec-first pair for the Renderable Protocol landing in DataJoint 2.3 (per user direction 2026-06-23, bringing T3.2 back into 2.3 scope). New files: - src/reference/specs/renderable.md — normative spec for the Renderable Protocol. Covers signature, return-value shape constraints (primitives / lists / dicts mapping to Spark ArrayType / StructType / MapType), why the contract is a Protocol rather than an abstract method on Codec, eligibility detection via isinstance, out-of-scope items, and two worked example codec implementations (FloatArrayCodec, Image2DCodec, PointWithLabelCodec). - src/explanation/renderable-codecs.md — explainer. Covers the Bronze/Silver layer model (CDC mirror vs typed silver layer), why <blob@> is bronze-only, what typed renderable codecs are, the design rationale for the Protocol pattern (smaller OSS surface, cleaner opt-in, no churn for existing plugins, structural typing), what's out of scope, and a decision guide for choosing codecs in a new pipeline. Nav entries added: - Reference > Specifications > Type System > Renderable Codec Protocol - Concepts > Storage > Renderable Codecs Implementation (against this spec) follows in datajoint-python; the addition is small (~10 lines: a runtime_checkable Protocol declaration in src/datajoint/rendering.py, re-exported as dj.Renderable). Examples use core DataJoint types (float64, int32) per project convention. Cross-links to codec-api.md (the base Codec interface that renderable codecs extend by composition, not inheritance).
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Summary
Spec-first pair for the Renderable Codec Protocol landing in DataJoint 2.3 (#1458). Brought into 2.3 scope per user direction 2026-06-23 (was previously deferred to 2.4).
Why spec-first
The Protocol itself is tiny (~10 lines: a `@runtime_checkable Protocol` declaration). The design conversation in the issue body settled the shape after #1457 (the earlier abstract-method-on-Codec framing) was rejected. Locking the spec now gives:
Marked draft
Stays draft until the matching implementation PR opens in `datajoint-python` — same pattern as the provenance trinity spec (#183) before #1471 landed against it.
Sequencing
Independent of the provenance trinity (no code overlap). Can land in parallel with T2.2 implementation work.
Test plan