Thinking with records

BAQ apps model their data with records and may be designed differently than traditional centralized web apps and isolated desktop/mobile apps.

Let’s look at different BAQ apps and see how they’re architected.

• Guiding principles­

• Files app­

• Messages app­

• Bird app­

Guiding principles

• Take advantage of built-in platform features (links, subscriptions…).

• Use BAQ to store as much of an app’s data as possible. This makes for a better user experience when moving from device to device.

• Re-use popular types everywhere it makes sense. This creates a virtuous cycle where apps benefit from one another.

Files app

This is a file hosting service with a hierarchy of folders and files.

It uses two record types:

• Folder : Record with a name and optionally a parent folder.

• File : Record that links to a blob with the file content, and optionally a parent folder.

Queries:

• Root folder : Find all Folder or File records with no parent link.

• Other folder : Find all Folder or File records that have that record as parent.

Notes:

• By marking the parent link as existential, deleting a folder will also delete all downstream content.

A live version of the app can be found at files.baq.dev­ (source­)

Messages app

This is an instant-messaging service with either 1:1 or group conversations.

It uses two record types:

• Conversation : Record that defines the participants of the conversation through its permissions. Also includes an optional title.

• Message : Record with the text content of the message, a link to the conversation it belongs to, and optional links to another message when replying, and to any number of blobs for images.

Queries:

• Conversation list : The distinct parameter can be used to list the last message for each conversation. The corresponding conversation can be returned in the same request by adding the include_links parameter.

• Message list : List all Message records that link to the selected conversation, sorted by received_at descending.

A live version of the app can be found at messages.baq.dev­ (source­)

Bird app

This is a micro-blogging service with support for text, mentions, and images.

It uses two record types:

• Post : Record with text content and optional links to other users for mentions, to other posts for re-posts and replies, and to any number of blobs for images.

• Subscription : Built-in record that makes it possible to automatically receive public posts from a given user.

Queries:

• Feed : List all Post records filtered by source.

• Mentions : List Post records that have mention links to the user.

• User publications : List Post records by author, proxy to the target user.

• Followings : List Subscription records filtered by author.

• Followers : List Subscription records filtered by publisher.

A live version of the app can be found at bird.baq.dev­ (source­)