From 128c424fe80b4db9d67bdfae5431ee8277ce72db Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Anirudh Oppiliappan <anirudh@tangled.org>
Date: Wed, 18 Mar 2026 13:02:30 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] spindle/engines: add dummy engine that logs to stdout

Useful during local testing.

Signed-off-by: Anirudh Oppiliappan <anirudh@tangled.org>
---
 .gitignore | 1 +
 spindle/engines/dummy/engine.go | 92 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 spindle/server.go | 2 ++
 3 file(s) changed, 95 insertion(s)(+), 0 deletion(s)(-)

diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -33,3 +33,4 @@ id_dsa
 id_ed25519
 *.pem
 *.key
+.claude/
diff --git a/spindle/engines/dummy/engine.go b/spindle/engines/dummy/engine.go
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spindle/engines/dummy/engine.go
@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+package dummy
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"fmt"
+	"log/slog"
+	"time"
+
+	"gopkg.in/yaml.v3"
+	"tangled.org/core/api/tangled"
+	"tangled.org/core/spindle/models"
+	"tangled.org/core/spindle/secrets"
+)
+
+// DummyEngine is a no-op engine that logs all lifecycle events via slog and writes
+// step output to the workflow logger. Useful for testing pipeline plumbing
+// without a real execution backend.
+type DummyEngine struct {
+	l *slog.Logger
+}
+
+func New(l *slog.Logger) *DummyEngine {
+	return &DummyEngine{l: l.With("engine", "dummy")}
+}
+
+type Step struct {
+	name    string
+	kind    models.StepKind
+	command string
+}
+
+func (s Step) Name() string          { return s.name }
+func (s Step) Command() string       { return s.command }
+func (s Step) Kind() models.StepKind { return s.kind }
+
+func (e *DummyEngine) InitWorkflow(twf tangled.Pipeline_Workflow, _ tangled.Pipeline) (*models.Workflow, error) {
+	dwf := &struct {
+		Steps []struct {
+			Name    string `yaml:"name"`
+			Command string `yaml:"command"`
+		} `yaml:"steps"`
+		Environment map[string]string `yaml:"environment"`
+	}{}
+
+	if err := yaml.Unmarshal([]byte(twf.Raw), dwf); err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	wf := &models.Workflow{
+		Name:        twf.Name,
+		Environment: dwf.Environment,
+	}
+	for _, ds := range dwf.Steps {
+		wf.Steps = append(wf.Steps, Step{
+			name:    ds.Name,
+			kind:    models.StepKindUser,
+			command: ds.Command,
+		})
+	}
+
+	e.l.Info("workflow initialised", "name", twf.Name, "steps", len(wf.Steps))
+	return wf, nil
+}
+
+func (e *DummyEngine) SetupWorkflow(_ context.Context, wid models.WorkflowId, wf *models.Workflow, wfLogger models.WorkflowLogger) error {
+	e.l.Info("setting up workflow", "wid", wid)
+
+	setupStep := Step{name: "dummy setup", kind: models.StepKindSystem}
+	const setupIdx = -1
+
+	wfLogger.ControlWriter(setupIdx, setupStep, models.StepStatusStart).Write([]byte{0})
+	defer wfLogger.ControlWriter(setupIdx, setupStep, models.StepStatusEnd).Write([]byte{0})
+
+	fmt.Fprintf(wfLogger.DataWriter(setupIdx, "stdout"), "dummy engine: workflow %q ready", wf.Name)
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (e *DummyEngine) WorkflowTimeout() time.Duration {
+	return 5 * time.Minute
+}
+
+func (e *DummyEngine) DestroyWorkflow(_ context.Context, wid models.WorkflowId) error {
+	e.l.Info("destroying workflow", "wid", wid)
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (e *DummyEngine) RunStep(_ context.Context, wid models.WorkflowId, w *models.Workflow, idx int, _ []secrets.UnlockedSecret, wfLogger models.WorkflowLogger) error {
+	step := w.Steps[idx]
+	e.l.Info("running step", "wid", wid, "step", step.Name(), "command", step.Command())
+	fmt.Fprintf(wfLogger.DataWriter(idx, "stdout"), "$ %s", step.Command())
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/spindle/server.go b/spindle/server.go
--- a/spindle/server.go
+++ b/spindle/server.go
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ "tangled.org/core/rbac"
 	"tangled.org/core/spindle/config"
 	"tangled.org/core/spindle/db"
 	"tangled.org/core/spindle/engine"
+	"tangled.org/core/spindle/engines/dummy"
 	"tangled.org/core/spindle/engines/nixery"
 	"tangled.org/core/spindle/models"
 	"tangled.org/core/spindle/queue"
@@ -334,6 +335,7 @@ }
 
 	s, err := New(ctx, cfg, map[string]models.Engine{
 		"nixery": nixeryEng,
+		"dummy":  dummy.New(log.FromContext(ctx)),
 	})
 	if err != nil {
 		return err

--
tangled.sh