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Roadmap

Planning and priorities for upcoming Fastman releases.

v0.4.x "Dolphin" — Next Major Release​

Dolphin focuses on code-generation safety, template maintainability, and developer experience improvements built on top of the stable Cheetah (v0.3.x) foundation.

High Priority​

1. Python keyword guard on name validation​

NameValidator.validate_identifier() currently accepts Python reserved words (class, async, import, etc.) as valid names. A project or feature named with a keyword generates broken Python.

  • Add keyword.iskeyword(name) and name in dir(builtins) checks
  • Apply to project names, feature names, model names, and all scaffold commands

2. Smart table name pluralization​

Generated models use __tablename__ = "{snake}s" which produces incorrect plurals like glasss, buss, addresss.

  • Implement a lightweight pluralization helper (s → ses, y → ies, default → +s)
  • Cover 90%+ of English nouns without adding a heavy dependency

3. Template engine safety​

The current template engine uses raw str.replace(). If a variable value happens to contain {another_placeholder}, it gets double-substituted.

  • Migrate to string.Template (safe_substitute) or Jinja2
  • Add escaping to prevent injection of template variables

4. Extract auth templates from inline strings​

auth.py embeds full service/router/model code as ~1000+ line string literals. This is extremely hard to maintain, review, or lint.

  • Move templates to separate .py.template files or into the Templates class
  • Enable syntax highlighting and linting on template content

5. Auto-generate shell completions from command registry​

shell_completion.py has a static COMMANDS dict instead of pulling from COMMAND_REGISTRY. Adding a new command requires updating two places.

  • Generate completions dynamically from COMMAND_REGISTRY at runtime
  • Eliminate the maintenance burden of keeping the list in sync

Medium Priority​

6. make:test command — Test scaffolding​

Scaffold test_*.py files with pytest fixtures, client setup, and CRUD test stubs for any feature or model.

  • fastman make:test users generates tests/test_users.py
  • Include TestClient setup, factory usage, and assertion patterns
  • Support --crud flag to generate full CRUD test coverage

7. Wire remaining .fastman config keys​

Keys already working: env. Keys to wire up:

KeyPurpose
hostDefault serve host
portDefault serve port
package_managerPreferred package manager override
architectureProject scaffold pattern
databaseDatabase driver
pythonPython executable path
authAuth provider

8. Resilient config injection for auth​

Auth installation uses string replacement on app/main.py and app/core/config.py. If a user has modified those files, the replacements silently fail or corrupt the file.

  • Use AST-aware insertion or marker comments for injection points
  • Validate file structure before modifying

9. Robust database seeder discovery​

DatabaseSeedCommand uses importlib.import_module() on *_seeder.py files without validating they have a Seeder class with a run() method.

  • Validate seeder class signature before execution
  • Add error recovery so one broken seeder doesn't crash the entire seed operation
  • Clean up sys.path on exception

10. Configurable subprocess timeouts​

Hardcoded 300s for package install and 60s for route discovery may be insufficient in CI/CD or slow network environments.

  • Read timeouts from .fastman config or environment variables
  • Provide sensible defaults with override capability

Low Priority / Polish​

11. Generated code syntax validation​

Run ast.parse() on generated Python files before writing to catch template errors early rather than at runtime.

12. Ruff integration in generated projects​

Wire ruff into generated projects' pyproject.toml templates with a sensible default configuration.

13. Rich-first terminal improvements​

Shared panel/key-value helpers already added in Cheetah. Continue upgrading remaining commands to branded Rich layouts.

14. .fastman in generated .gitignore​

Generated .gitignore doesn't exclude the .fastman config file — add it.

15. Version pins in generated requirements.txt​

Generated projects have no version pins in requirements.txt, which can cause compatibility issues on fresh installs.

16. MANIFEST.in cleanup​

MANIFEST.in includes docs/assets then excludes all docs — contradictory rules that should be reconciled.

Out of Scope (Future)​

  • Multi-tenant authentication support
  • Alternative migration tools (Flyway, Liquibase)
  • GraphQL-first project pattern
  • Plugin system for third-party command packages

Completed in v0.3.x "Cheetah"​

  • ✅ Rich console output with branded theme
  • ✅ 5 database drivers (SQLite, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle, Firebase)
  • ✅ 4 auth types (JWT, OAuth, Keycloak, Passkey)
  • ✅ 3 architecture patterns (Feature, API, Layer)
  • ✅ Non-destructive SSL certificate handling
  • ✅ Graceful Keycloak startup with public-client fallback
  • ✅ Shell completions (Bash, Zsh, Fish, PowerShell)
  • ✅ Environment management with .fastman config
  • ✅ install:cert merged CA bundle command
  • ✅ Ruff replaced black/isort/autoflake
  • ✅ 44 tests (unit + integration)