A note from a human

This tutorial is obviously generated using agentic tools, based on their understanding of the larger project. I know this may be off-putting to some readers, but it is simultaneously a convenience and a reality that allowed me to get a reasonably comprehensive overview of the ikigai project out the door. I will be revisiting the documentation and tutorial over time with an increasingly human touch. For now I beg your patience.

An acknowledgement of the highest order

ikigai represents a vision I have had for 10 to 15 years, based predominantly on a software ecosystem I have been using for 23 years at this point: NetKernel. I was exposed to it first in 2003 and had no idea what it meant or was good for. A year later I migrated an XML processing pipeline to it in a week and picked up linear scalability in the process with virtually no effort.

NetKernel is the brainchild of 1060 Research and I owe them entire credit for the ideas, terminology, and vision. Basically what I have done is take those ideas and expand their applicability beyond the JVM (and back onto it; more on that soon) across a dramatically wider footprint, with some personal design tweaks and additions.

What’s the point?

As you go through this tutorial, I expect a common reaction will be puzzlement and confusion about what the purpose is. That’s a fair assessment, but I guarantee you there is a point, and it will be revealed in practice over time. Things are moving very quickly and ikigai is not really ready for a general audience, but enough people were asking about it that I thought it was time to start discussing it.

The purpose of the project is to benefit from the incomparable compositional power of resource-oriented design. You can think of it a bit like the Web meets Unix pipes and filters, but that is simply a reductive convenience.

NetKernel was clearly ahead of its time and so many things about where the industry has gone have only started to approximate what it has been able to do for decades. I’ve added capability-based security, standards-based linked data bones, architectural flexibility, freedom from the JVM, browser residency, and more. But I have no illusions that I am doing anything but extending what has already been laid down.

Why?

These ideas are transformative when they are embraced. I have had both success and failure in trying to get developers to think this way. I’m trying to address some of the onboarding impedance (which you may not believe from this tutorial, but with patience I hope it’ll become clearer and more true).

These ideas are also of this time. I haven’t been designing these things with AI in mind, but the synergy is natural and compelling. This, too, is part of the story I hope to continue to unveil in the coming weeks.

Next steps

For now, if the ideas intrigue you, spend some time thinking through the concepts and I’ll continue unveiling the bigger picture in time. If you’d like an introductory session, feel free to request a chat through the “Request time” section and I’ll try to accommodate. (As a teaser, you’ll be using ikigai in the process of doing so.)

Proceed with an open mind. Cool things are coming.

Regards,
Brian Sletten