Gear Architecture

Version: 0.2.0 | Last Updated: 2026-01-31

Terminology: In Gearbox, we call modular components "gears" — our term for what are traditionally called plugins.

Gearbox uses a compile-time gear architecture for both the gearbox (client) and gearbox-agent (server agent) applications. This document describes the gear system, how to create gears, and how feature flags control gear availability.

Overview
Terminology
Architecture Principles
Gear Types
Gearbox Client Gears
Gearbox Agent Gears
Agent Client Communication
Feature Flags
Creating a New Gear
Testing Gears
Examples

Overview

What is a Gear?

A gear is a self-contained module that provides specific functionality to the Gearbox system. Gears:

Register themselves at compile time via init() functions
Implement a common Gear interface
Can define HTTP routes, permissions, UI pages, and background tasks
Are isolated from other gears but share framework services

Why Gears?

Modularity: Features are cleanly separated into independent modules
Extensibility: New functionality can be added without modifying the core
Maintainability: Each gear owns its domain logic
Testability: Gears can be tested in isolation
Feature Management: Gears can be enabled/disabled per server

Terminology

To avoid confusion, this document uses the following terms consistently:

Term	Meaning	Location
Gearbox	The entire monitoring system (both client and agent)	-
Gearbox Client	The web application (`gearbox`) that admins use	Runs on admin's machine or server
Gearbox Agent	The server agent (`gearbox-agent`) that collects data	Runs on monitored servers
Client Gear	A gear for the web application	`gearbox/internal/gears/`
Agent Gear	A gear for the server agent	`gearbox-agent/internal/gears/`
Dashboard Gear	The specific gear named "dashboard" (main overview page)	`gearbox/internal/gears/dashboard/`

Why "Client" instead of "Dashboard"?

The web application is the client that connects to agents. Using "client gear" avoids confusion with the dashboard gear (one specific gear that shows the overview page).

Architecture Principles

Compile-Time Gears

Gearbox uses compile-time gears (similar to Caddy) rather than runtime dynamic loading:

Gears are compiled into the binary
No runtime gear loading or shared libraries
Type safety and performance of static compilation
Easier to reason about and debug

Framework vs Gears

gearbox/
├── internal/
│   ├── framework/         # Shared infrastructure
│   │   ├── agent/         # Agent client (infrastructure)
│   │   ├── auth/          # Authentication/authorization
│   │   ├── collector/     # Data collection
│   │   ├── database/      # Database access
│   │   ├── events/        # Event bus
│   │   ├── handler/       # HTTP handlers (legacy)
│   │   ├── models/        # Data models
│   │   ├── gear/          # Gear system
│   │   ├── services/      # Shared services
│   │   └── templates/     # Shared templates
│   │
│   └── gears/             # Feature implementations
│       ├── alerts/
│       ├── certificates/
│       ├── dashboard/
│       ├── logs/
│       ├── metrics/
│       ├── services/
│       └── traffic/

Key principle: The framework provides infrastructure and services. The gears implement features.

Gear Isolation

Gears are isolated from each other but can:

Access framework services via Dependencies
Publish/subscribe to events via the event bus
Register HTTP routes under their namespace
Define permissions and UI components

Gears cannot directly call methods on other gears.

Gear Types

Gearbox Client Gears

Client gears run in the gearbox web application (the monitoring client) and provide UI pages and API endpoints for monitoring and managing servers.

Location: gearbox/internal/gears/

Purpose: Render UI pages, handle user interactions, display data from agents

Terminology Note: These are called "client gears" to distinguish them from the dashboard gear (which provides the main overview page).

Examples:

home - Box-agnostic app dashboard (start page with launcher tiles, widgets, bookmarks, search)
dashboard - Main monitoring overview page (the homepage)
certificates - SSL/TLS certificate monitoring page
logs - Log viewing and analysis page
traffic - Traffic analysis and visualization page
alerts - Alert management page
services - Service status and control page
metrics - System metrics and history page

Gear Scope: Box vs System

Most gears are box-scoped — they monitor a specific server, and the gears table holds one row per (server_id, name). A few gears are system-scoped — they apply to the whole install, with a single row keyed by the sentinel server_id = '__system__'.

Declare the scope on Info:

func (g *Gear) Info() gear.Info {
    return gear.Info{
        Name:  "home",
        Scope: gear.ScopeSystem, // omit or set ScopeBox for the default per-box behaviour
        // ...
    }
}

System gears are seeded once at startup via database.EnsureSystemGears() (called from cmd/server/main.go). Box gears are seeded lazily per-server via EnsureServerGears(boxID) on first access, just like before. The two seeding lists are kept disjoint by construction (DefaultGears vs DefaultSystemGears).

The home gear is the first system-scoped gear and a useful reference. Its config lives in database.HomeConfig and is loaded at startup via the standard gears.config JSON column.

Gearbox Agent Gears

Agent gears run on monitored servers (in the gearbox-agent application) and collect data, expose APIs, and respond to management commands.

Location: gearbox-agent/internal/gears/

Purpose: Collect data, expose REST APIs, publish events

Examples:

haproxy - HAProxy stats collection
metrics - System metrics (CPU, memory, disk)
logs - Log access and streaming
certs - Certificate management
security - Firewall and fail2ban integration
traffic - Traffic analysis data collection
updates - OS package management

Gearbox Client Gears

Client gears run in the gearbox web application and provide full-page UIs for specific features.

Gear Interface

Client gears implement the gear.Gear interface:

type Gear interface {
    Info() Info                          // Metadata
    Initialize(ctx, deps) error          // Setup
    RegisterRoutes(r chi.Router)         // HTTP routes
    SidebarItem() *SidebarConfig         // Navigation
    SettingsPage(config) templ.Component // Settings UI
    Permissions() []PermissionDef        // Required permissions
}

Directory Structure

internal/gears/mygear/
├── gear.go        # Gear definition and interface implementation
├── handlers.go    # HTTP request handlers
├── icons.go       # SVG icons for UI
├── agent.go       # Agent client interface (if needed)
├── pages.templ    # Templ templates for pages
└── README.md      # Gear documentation

Registration

Gears register themselves in gear.go via init():

package mygear

import "github.com/sarg3nt/gearbox/internal/framework/gear"

func init() {
    gear.Register(&Gear{})
}

type Gear struct {
    gear.BaseGear
    handlers *Handlers
}

func (g *Gear) Info() gear.Info {
    return gear.Info{
        Name:        "mygear",
        DisplayName: "My Gear",
        Description: "What this gear does",
        Version:     "1.0.0",
        Icon:        "icon-name",
        Category:    "monitoring",
        Core:        false,  // true = cannot be disabled
    }
}

Initialization

The Initialize method receives dependencies from the framework:

func (g *Gear) Initialize(ctx context.Context, deps gear.Dependencies) error {
    if err := g.BaseGear.Initialize(ctx, deps); err != nil {
        return err
    }

    g.handlers = NewHandlers(deps)
    return nil
}

Dependencies Available to Gears

type Dependencies struct {
    DB         *sql.DB           // Database connection
    Logger     *slog.Logger      // Structured logger
    EventHub   EventPublisher    // Event bus
    Auth       AuthChecker       // Auth and permissions
    Agent      *agent.Client     // Agent API client
    Servers    ServerRegistry    // Server configurations
    HTTPClient *http.Client      // HTTP client for external requests
    Config     map[string]any    // Gear configuration from DB
}

Route Registration

Gears register HTTP routes that are mounted under their path:

func (g *Gear) RegisterRoutes(r chi.Router) {
    // Mounted at /mygear/
    r.Get("/", g.handlers.IndexPage)
    r.Get("/details/{id}", g.handlers.DetailsPage)
}

Note: API routes typically remain in framework/handler for now and access collectors directly. This is a transitional state.

Sidebar Configuration

Gears define their sidebar navigation item:

func (g *Gear) SidebarItem() *gear.SidebarConfig {
    return &gear.SidebarConfig{
        Path:               "/mygear",
        Icon:               MyGearIcon(),       // templ component
        DefaultOrder:       50,                 // Sort order
        RequiresPermission: "mygear:view",     // Optional permission check
        ShowAlways:         false,              // Show even when disabled
    }
}

Permissions

Gears declare the permissions they use:

func (g *Gear) Permissions() []gear.PermissionDef {
    return []gear.PermissionDef{
        {
            Component:   "mygear",
            Actions:     []string{"view", "manage", "delete"},
            Description: "View and manage gear features",
        },
    }
}

Settings Page

Gears can provide a settings UI:

func (g *Gear) SettingsPage(config map[string]any) templ.Component {
    return MyGearSettings(config)  // templ component
}

Return nil if the gear has no configurable settings.

Gearbox Agent Gears

Gear Interface

Agent gears implement the gear.Gear interface:

type Gear interface {
    Info() Info                      // Metadata
    Initialize(ctx, deps) error      // Setup
    Start(ctx) error                 // Start background tasks
    Stop(ctx) error                  // Cleanup
    Health() HealthStatus            // Health check
    RegisterRoutes(r chi.Router)     // HTTP API routes
    EventTypes() []EventType         // Events published
}

Probe Phase (ProbeableGear)

The agent runs on hosts with very different software stacks. A gear can optionally implement ProbeableGear to declare whether its prerequisites are present on this host. Gears that probe non-available are skipped for the rest of the lifecycle — no Initialize, no Start, no routes, no collectors, no streamers.

type ProbeableGear interface {
    Gear

    // Probe runs before Initialize. It must be side-effect-free and fast.
    Probe(ctx context.Context, deps Dependencies) ProbeResult
}

type ProbeStatus string

const (
    ProbeStatusAvailable    ProbeStatus = "available"
    ProbeStatusNotInstalled ProbeStatus = "not_installed"
    ProbeStatusInaccessible ProbeStatus = "inaccessible"
    ProbeStatusDisabled     ProbeStatus = "disabled"
)

Gears that do not implement ProbeableGear are treated as always-available, so adoption is incremental.

The lifecycle becomes:

Probe → Initialize → Start → (later) Stop

After all gears are probed, the manager writes a single human-readable summary table to the journal so an operator can see at startup which gears apply on this box:

Gear probe summary:

  GEAR          STATUS    REASON
  certificates  enabled
  haproxy       enabled
  logs          enabled
  metrics       enabled
  security      disabled  neither fail2ban-client nor nft found on PATH
  traffic       enabled
  updates       enabled

The full reference — status semantics, per-gear contracts, container-mode considerations, and the rules for writing a good Probe() — lives in gearbox-agent/docs/gear-probes.md.

Important

"Skipped" means the gear's Initialize and Start are not called, so its collectors, streamers, and HTTP routes do not run. The compiled binary still contains the gear's code (gears are linked in via blank imports in cmd/gearbox-agent/main.go); Go does not support module unloading. The wins are runtime CPU/IO and heap allocations, not binary size.

Collector Gear

Gears that collect data periodically also implement CollectorGear:

type CollectorGear interface {
    Gear
    Collectors() []Collector  // Periodic data collection tasks
}

type Collector struct {
    Name     string                                 // Collector name
    Interval time.Duration                          // Collection interval
    Collect  func(ctx context.Context) (any, error) // Collection function
    OnData   func(data any) error                   // Data handler (publish events)
}

Directory Structure

internal/gears/mygear/
├── gear.go        # Gear definition
├── handlers.go    # HTTP API handlers
├── collector.go   # Data collection logic (if CollectorGear)
└── README.md      # Gear documentation

Registration

package mygear

import "github.com/sarg3nt/gearbox-agent/internal/framework/gear"

func init() {
    gear.Register(&Gear{})
}

type Gear struct {
    gear.BaseGear
}

func (g *Gear) Info() gear.Info {
    return gear.Info{
        Name:        "mygear",
        DisplayName: "My Gear",
        Description: "Collects data about X",
        Version:     "1.0.0",
        Category:    "monitoring",
        Core:        true,
    }
}

Initialization and Lifecycle

// Probe is optional. Implement it if your gear can be skipped on hosts
// that lack its prerequisites; see the "Probe Phase" section above.
func (g *Gear) Probe(ctx context.Context, deps gear.Dependencies) gear.ProbeResult {
    if _, err := exec.LookPath("mytool"); err != nil {
        return gear.ProbeNotInstalled("mytool not found on PATH")
    }
    return gear.ProbeAvailable("mytool found", nil)
}

func (g *Gear) Initialize(ctx context.Context, deps gear.Dependencies) error {
    if err := g.BaseGear.Initialize(ctx, deps); err != nil {
        return err
    }
    // Setup gear state
    return nil
}

func (g *Gear) Start(ctx context.Context) error {
    // Start background goroutines if needed
    return nil
}

func (g *Gear) Stop(ctx context.Context) error {
    // Cleanup resources
    return nil
}

Dependencies Available to Gears

type Dependencies struct {
    Logger             *slog.Logger  // Structured logger
    EventBus           *events.Bus   // Event bus for publishing
    Config             Config        // Agent configuration
    HAProxyStatsSocket string        // HAProxy socket path
    HAProxyStatsURL    string        // HAProxy stats URL
    HAProxyConfigPath  string        // HAProxy config path
    StatsInterval      time.Duration // Stats collection interval
    MetricsInterval    time.Duration // Metrics collection interval
}

Periodic Data Collection

Implement Collectors() to define periodic data collection:

func (g *Gear) Collectors() []gear.Collector {
    return []gear.Collector{
        {
            Name:     "mygear-data",
            Interval: g.Deps().StatsInterval,
            Collect: func(ctx context.Context) (any, error) {
                return g.collectData()
            },
            OnData: func(data any) error {
                return g.publishData(data)
            },
        },
    }
}

Event Publishing

Gears publish events to notify the dashboard:

func (g *Gear) publishData(data any) error {
    g.EventBus().Publish(events.Event{
        Type:      "mygear.updated",
        Timestamp: time.Now(),
        Data: map[string]any{
            "collected_at": time.Now().UTC().Format(time.RFC3339),
            "data":         data,
        },
    })
    return nil
}

func (g *Gear) EventTypes() []gear.EventType {
    return []gear.EventType{
        {
            Name:        "mygear.updated",
            Description: "Published when data is collected",
            Payload:     "Data object with collected information",
        },
    }
}

HTTP API Routes

Gears expose REST APIs for the dashboard to query:

func (g *Gear) RegisterRoutes(r chi.Router) {
    r.Get("/api/v1/mygear/data", g.handleGetData)
    r.Post("/api/v1/mygear/action", g.handleAction)
}

func (g *Gear) handleGetData(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
    data, err := g.collectData()
    if err != nil {
        http.Error(w, err.Error(), http.StatusInternalServerError)
        return
    }

    w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
    json.NewEncoder(w).Encode(data)
}

Agent Client Communication

The Agent Client Problem

The framework/agent package provides an HTTP client with 80+ methods for calling the gearbox-agent API (stats, certificates, logs, metrics, etc.). This is shared infrastructure, not gear code.

Challenge: How do gears use the agent client without tight coupling?

Solution: Gear-Specific Agent Facades

Each client gear defines an interface for the agent methods it needs. This provides:

Self-documentation: Shows exactly what agent APIs the gear uses
Testability: Easy to mock in tests
Isolation: Changes to the agent client don't affect gears if their interface doesn't change

Creating an Agent Facade

Step 1: Define your gear's agent interface in agent.go:

// internal/gears/certificates/agent.go
package certificates

import "github.com/sarg3nt/gearbox/internal/framework/agent"

// AgentClient defines the agent operations needed by the certificates gear.
type AgentClient interface {
    GetCertificates() (*agent.CertificatesResponse, error)
    RefreshCertificate(domain string) (*agent.RefreshCertificateResponse, error)
    DownloadCertificate(domain string) ([]byte, string, error)
}

// Compile-time check that framework client implements our interface
var _ AgentClient = (*agent.Client)(nil)

Step 2: Use the interface in your handlers:

// internal/gears/certificates/handlers.go
type Handlers struct {
    agent AgentClient  // Your interface, not *agent.Client
    deps  gear.Dependencies
}

func NewHandlers(deps gear.Dependencies) *Handlers {
    return &Handlers{
        agent: deps.Agent,  // Satisfies AgentClient interface
        deps:  deps,
    }
}

Step 3: Use it in your code:

func (h *Handlers) GetCertificates(serverID string) {
    certs, err := h.agent.GetCertificates()
    // ...
}

Available Agent Methods

See internal/framework/agent/client.go for the complete API. Common categories:

HAProxy: GetStats(), GetInfo(), GetMetadata(), GetStickTables()
Certificates: GetCertificates(), RefreshCertificate(), DownloadCertificate()
Logs: GetLogSources(), GetLogs(name, lines)
Metrics: GetMetrics()
Services: GetServices(), ServiceControl(), GetAvailableServices()
Security: GetSecuritySummary(), GetFail2BanStats(), GetFirewallStats()
Firewall: GetBlockedIPs(), BlockIP(), UnblockIP(), CheckIPBlocked()
Traffic: GetTraffic(), GetTrafficSummary()
Config Management: GetHAProxyConfig(), UpdateHAProxyConfig(), GetFirewallConfig()
OS Updates: GetUpdateStatus(), InstallUpdates(), GetUpdateHistory()

Why Not Move Agent Code Into Gears?

The agent client is infrastructure, like database/sql or http.Client. It:

Provides connectivity to gearbox-agent
Handles authentication, TLS, retries, WebSocket management
Is used by multiple gears (stats, metrics, certificates all need it)

Moving it into individual gears would cause massive code duplication.

Feature Flags

Overview

Feature flags control which gears are included in the compiled binary and their default state. This allows gradual rollout of experimental features without affecting production stability.

Flag States

State	Build	Default	Visible	Label	Description
`disabled`	❌ Not built	N/A	❌ No	-	Excluded from binary entirely
`alpha`	✅ Built	❌ Off	✅ Yes	🔬 Alpha	Early development, may change significantly
`beta`	✅ Built	❌ Off	✅ Yes	🧪 Beta	Feature-complete, testing phase
`production`	✅ Built	Varies	✅ Yes	-	Stable, ready for use

Alpha and Beta Labels

Gears in alpha or beta state automatically display labels in the UI:

Alpha: 🔬 "This feature is in early development and may change significantly"
Beta: 🧪 "This feature is being tested and may have bugs"

These labels appear as tooltips/popovers when hovering over the gear name.

Configuration

For Gearbox Client: gearbox/internal/gears/<gear>/gear.go

For Gearbox Agent: gearbox-agent/internal/gears/<gear>/gear.go

Add a feature flag constant at the top of gear.go:

package mygear

import "github.com/sarg3nt/gearbox/internal/framework/gear"

// Feature flag: disabled | alpha | beta | production
const featureFlag = "beta"

func init() {
    gear.RegisterWithFlag(&Gear{}, featureFlag)
}

Build Tags for Disabled Gears

Gears with featureFlag = "disabled" use Go build tags to exclude them:

In gear.go:

//go:build mygear

package mygear

const featureFlag = "disabled"

func init() {
    gear.RegisterWithFlag(&Gear{}, featureFlag)
}

Building:

# Standard build (excludes mygear)
go build -o server cmd/server/main.go

# Explicitly enable mygear
go build -tags mygear -o server cmd/server/main.go

Docker Builds

Standard Build (production features only):

FROM golang:1.25 AS builder
WORKDIR /app
COPY . .
RUN go build -o gearbox cmd/server/main.go

Build with Alpha/Beta Features:

FROM golang:1.25 AS builder
ARG ENABLE_ALPHA=false
ARG ENABLE_BETA=false
WORKDIR /app
COPY . .
RUN if [ "$ENABLE_ALPHA" = "true" ]; then \
        BUILD_TAGS="alpha beta"; \
    elif [ "$ENABLE_BETA" = "true" ]; then \
        BUILD_TAGS="beta"; \
    fi && \
    go build -tags "$BUILD_TAGS" -o gearbox cmd/server/main.go

Using:

# Production build
docker build -t gearbox:latest .

# Beta build
docker build --build-arg ENABLE_BETA=true -t gearbox:beta .

# Alpha build (includes alpha + beta)
docker build --build-arg ENABLE_ALPHA=true -t gearbox:alpha .

Default State

Gears in alpha and beta are disabled by default on first run. Admins must explicitly enable them in settings.

Gears in production can be:

Enabled by default: Set Core: true in Info() (cannot be disabled)
Disabled by default: Set Core: false and handle default state in database migrations

Migration Path

disabled  →  alpha  →  beta  →  production
   ↓          ↓        ↓          ↓
Not built   Built    Built     Built
            Off      Off       On/Off
            🔬       🧪        Stable

Creating a New Gear

Step 1: Choose Gear Type

Client gear? Add to gearbox/internal/gears/ (runs in web application)
Agent gear? Add to gearbox-agent/internal/gears/ (runs on servers)

Step 2: Create Directory Structure

# Client gear (web application)
mkdir -p gearbox/internal/gears/mygear
cd gearbox/internal/gears/mygear

# Agent gear (server-side)
mkdir -p gearbox-agent/internal/gears/mygear
cd gearbox-agent/internal/gears/mygear

Step 3: Create Gear Files

For Client Gear:

// gear.go
package mygear

import (
    "context"
    "github.com/a-h/templ"
    "github.com/go-chi/chi/v5"
    "github.com/sarg3nt/gearbox/internal/framework/gear"
)

const featureFlag = "alpha"  // disabled | alpha | beta | production

func init() {
    gear.RegisterWithFlag(&Gear{}, featureFlag)
}

type Gear struct {
    gear.BaseGear
    handlers *Handlers
}

func (g *Gear) Info() gear.Info {
    return gear.Info{
        Name:        "mygear",
        DisplayName: "My Gear",
        Description: "What this gear does",
        Version:     "1.0.0",
        Icon:        "icon-name",
        Category:    "monitoring",
        Core:        false,
    }
}

func (g *Gear) Initialize(ctx context.Context, deps gear.Dependencies) error {
    if err := g.BaseGear.Initialize(ctx, deps); err != nil {
        return err
    }
    g.handlers = NewHandlers(deps)
    return nil
}

func (g *Gear) RegisterRoutes(r chi.Router) {
    r.Get("/", g.handlers.IndexPage)
}

func (g *Gear) SidebarItem() *gear.SidebarConfig {
    return &gear.SidebarConfig{
        Path:               "/mygear",
        Icon:               MyGearIcon(),
        DefaultOrder:       100,
        RequiresPermission: "mygear:view",
    }
}

func (g *Gear) SettingsPage(config map[string]any) templ.Component {
    return nil  // No settings page
}

func (g *Gear) Permissions() []gear.PermissionDef {
    return []gear.PermissionDef{
        {
            Component:   "mygear",
            Actions:     []string{"view"},
            Description: "View gear data",
        },
    }
}

// handlers.go
package mygear

import (
    "net/http"
    "github.com/sarg3nt/gearbox/internal/framework/gear"
)

type Handlers struct {
    deps gear.Dependencies
}

func NewHandlers(deps gear.Dependencies) *Handlers {
    return &Handlers{deps: deps}
}

func (h *Handlers) IndexPage(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
    // Check permission
    if !h.deps.Auth.HasPermission(r, "mygear", "view") {
        http.Error(w, "Forbidden", http.StatusForbidden)
        return
    }

    // Render page
    w.Write([]byte("My Gear Page"))
}

For Agent Gear:

// gear.go
package mygear

import (
    "context"
    "net/http"
    "github.com/go-chi/chi/v5"
    "github.com/sarg3nt/gearbox-agent/internal/framework/gear"
)

const featureFlag = "production"

func init() {
    gear.RegisterWithFlag(&Gear{}, featureFlag)
}

type Gear struct {
    gear.BaseGear
}

func (g *Gear) Info() gear.Info {
    return gear.Info{
        Name:        "mygear",
        DisplayName: "My Gear",
        Description: "Collects data about X",
        Version:     "1.0.0",
        Category:    "monitoring",
        Core:        true,
    }
}

func (g *Gear) Initialize(ctx context.Context, deps gear.Dependencies) error {
    return g.BaseGear.Initialize(ctx, deps)
}

func (g *Gear) Start(ctx context.Context) error {
    return nil
}

func (g *Gear) Stop(ctx context.Context) error {
    return nil
}

func (g *Gear) Health() gear.HealthStatus {
    return gear.NewHealthyStatus("operational")
}

func (g *Gear) RegisterRoutes(r chi.Router) {
    r.Get("/api/v1/mygear/data", g.handleGetData)
}

func (g *Gear) EventTypes() []gear.EventType {
    return nil
}

func (g *Gear) handleGetData(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
    w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
    w.Write([]byte(`{"status":"ok"}`))
}

Step 4: Import Gear in Main

The gear auto-registers via init(), but you must import it:

// cmd/server/main.go (gearbox)
package main

import (
    _ "github.com/sarg3nt/gearbox/internal/gears/mygear"
    // ... other imports
)

// cmd/gearbox-agent/main.go (gearbox-agent)
package main

import (
    _ "github.com/sarg3nt/gearbox-agent/internal/gears/mygear"
    // ... other imports
)

Step 5: Build and Test

# Build
make templ-generate && make build

# Run locally
make dev-local

# Visit http://localhost:3000/mygear

Testing Gears

Unit Testing Handlers

// handlers_test.go
package mygear

import (
    "net/http"
    "net/http/httptest"
    "testing"
    "github.com/sarg3nt/gearbox/internal/framework/gear"
)

type mockAuth struct{}

func (m *mockAuth) HasPermission(r *http.Request, component, action string) bool {
    return true  // Always allow for testing
}

func TestIndexPage(t *testing.T) {
    deps := gear.Dependencies{
        Auth: &mockAuth{},
    }

    handlers := NewHandlers(deps)

    req := httptest.NewRequest("GET", "/mygear", nil)
    w := httptest.NewRecorder()

    handlers.IndexPage(w, req)

    if w.Code != http.StatusOK {
        t.Errorf("expected status 200, got %d", w.Code)
    }
}

Mocking the Agent Client

// agent_test.go
package mygear

import "github.com/sarg3nt/gearbox/internal/framework/agent"

type mockAgentClient struct{}

func (m *mockAgentClient) GetCertificates() (*agent.CertificatesResponse, error) {
    return &agent.CertificatesResponse{
        Certificates: []agent.CertificateInfo{
            {Domain: "example.com", DaysUntilExpiry: 30},
        },
    }, nil
}

// Use in tests:
// handlers := NewHandlers(gear.Dependencies{Agent: &mockAgentClient{}})

Examples

Example: Simple Client Gear

// internal/gears/status/gear.go
package status

import (
    "context"
    "net/http"
    "github.com/a-h/templ"
    "github.com/go-chi/chi/v5"
    "github.com/sarg3nt/gearbox/internal/framework/gear"
)

const featureFlag = "production"

func init() {
    gear.RegisterWithFlag(&Gear{}, featureFlag)
}

type Gear struct {
    gear.BaseGear
}

func (g *Gear) Info() gear.Info {
    return gear.Info{
        Name:        "status",
        DisplayName: "Status",
        Description: "System status overview",
        Version:     "1.0.0",
        Category:    "core",
        Core:        true,
    }
}

func (g *Gear) Initialize(ctx context.Context, deps gear.Dependencies) error {
    return g.BaseGear.Initialize(ctx, deps)
}

func (g *Gear) RegisterRoutes(r chi.Router) {
    r.Get("/", func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
        w.Write([]byte("Status: OK"))
    })
}

func (g *Gear) SidebarItem() *gear.SidebarConfig {
    return &gear.SidebarConfig{
        Path:         "/status",
        DefaultOrder: 5,
        ShowAlways:   true,
    }
}

func (g *Gear) SettingsPage(config map[string]any) templ.Component {
    return nil
}

func (g *Gear) Permissions() []gear.PermissionDef {
    return nil  // Public
}

Example: Agent Collector Gear

// internal/gears/uptime/gear.go (gearbox-agent)
package uptime

import (
    "context"
    "encoding/json"
    "net/http"
    "os/exec"
    "strings"
    "time"
    "github.com/go-chi/chi/v5"
    "github.com/sarg3nt/gearbox-agent/internal/framework/events"
    "github.com/sarg3nt/gearbox-agent/internal/framework/gear"
)

const featureFlag = "production"

func init() {
    gear.RegisterWithFlag(&Gear{}, featureFlag)
}

type Gear struct {
    gear.BaseGear
}

func (g *Gear) Info() gear.Info {
    return gear.Info{
        Name:        "uptime",
        DisplayName: "System Uptime",
        Description: "Tracks system uptime",
        Version:     "1.0.0",
        Category:    "monitoring",
        Core:        false,
    }
}

func (g *Gear) Initialize(ctx context.Context, deps gear.Dependencies) error {
    return g.BaseGear.Initialize(ctx, deps)
}

func (g *Gear) Start(ctx context.Context) error {
    return nil
}

func (g *Gear) Stop(ctx context.Context) error {
    return nil
}

func (g *Gear) Health() gear.HealthStatus {
    return gear.NewHealthyStatus("operational")
}

func (g *Gear) Collectors() []gear.Collector {
    return []gear.Collector{
        {
            Name:     "uptime",
            Interval: 60 * time.Second,
            Collect:  g.collectUptime,
            OnData:   g.publishUptime,
        },
    }
}

func (g *Gear) collectUptime() (any, error) {
    out, err := exec.Command("uptime", "-p").Output()
    if err != nil {
        return nil, err
    }
    return strings.TrimSpace(string(out)), nil
}

func (g *Gear) publishUptime(data any) error {
    g.EventBus().Publish(events.Event{
        Type:      "uptime.updated",
        Timestamp: time.Now(),
        Data: map[string]any{
            "uptime": data,
        },
    })
    return nil
}

func (g *Gear) RegisterRoutes(r chi.Router) {
    r.Get("/api/v1/uptime", func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
        uptime, _ := g.collectUptime()
        w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
        json.NewEncoder(w).Encode(map[string]any{"uptime": uptime})
    })
}

func (g *Gear) EventTypes() []gear.EventType {
    return []gear.EventType{
        {
            Name:        "uptime.updated",
            Description: "System uptime collected",
            Payload:     "uptime string",
        },
    }
}

var (
    _ gear.Gear          = (*Gear)(nil)
    _ gear.CollectorGear = (*Gear)(nil)
)

Summary

Key Takeaways

Gears are compiled into the binary - No runtime loading, full type safety
Framework provides infrastructure - Gears implement features
Agent facades prevent coupling - Gears define their own agent interfaces
Feature flags control rollout - Disabled, alpha, beta, production states
Both apps use the same pattern - Gearbox and gearbox-agent have parallel gear systems

When to Create a Gear

Create a gear when you want to:

Add a new monitoring page to the web application (client gear)
Collect new types of data on servers (agent gear)
Expose new agent APIs (agent gear)
Add a feature that can be enabled/disabled per server

When NOT to Create a Gear

Don't create a gear for:

Shared infrastructure (auth, database, HTTP client)
Cross-cutting concerns (logging, metrics)
Framework modifications

Next Steps

See examples/ for complete gear implementations
Check existing gears in internal/gears/ for patterns
Read TASKS.md for planned gear features

Last Updated: 2026-01-31 | Document Version: 0.2.0

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Gear Architecture

Table of Contents

Overview

What is a Gear?

Why Gears?

Terminology

Architecture Principles

Compile-Time Gears

Framework vs Gears

Gear Isolation

Gear Types

Gearbox Client Gears

Gear Scope: Box vs System

Gearbox Agent Gears

Gearbox Client Gears

Gear Interface

Directory Structure

Registration

Initialization

Dependencies Available to Gears

Route Registration

Sidebar Configuration

Permissions

Settings Page

Gearbox Agent Gears

Gear Interface

Probe Phase (ProbeableGear)

Collector Gear

Directory Structure

Registration

Initialization and Lifecycle

Dependencies Available to Gears

Periodic Data Collection

Event Publishing

HTTP API Routes

Agent Client Communication

The Agent Client Problem

Solution: Gear-Specific Agent Facades

Creating an Agent Facade

Available Agent Methods

Why Not Move Agent Code Into Gears?

Feature Flags

Overview

Flag States

Alpha and Beta Labels

Configuration

Build Tags for Disabled Gears

Docker Builds

Default State

Migration Path

Creating a New Gear

Step 1: Choose Gear Type

Step 2: Create Directory Structure

Step 3: Create Gear Files

Step 4: Import Gear in Main

Step 5: Build and Test

Testing Gears

Unit Testing Handlers

Mocking the Agent Client

Examples

Example: Simple Client Gear

Example: Agent Collector Gear

Summary

Key Takeaways

When to Create a Gear

When NOT to Create a Gear

Next Steps