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Design Guidelines

Gato-X is designed for extensibility, maintainability, and security. Contributors should follow these principles and patterns to ensure code quality and consistency.

Core Design Principles

  • Modularity: Each major feature (attack, enumerate, search, etc.) is implemented as a separate module. Shared logic is factored into utilities and models.
  • Separation of Concerns: CLI, core logic, data models, and utilities are clearly separated. Avoid mixing CLI parsing with business logic.
  • Extensibility: New attack/enumeration/search types can be added with minimal changes to existing code. Use abstract base classes or interfaces where appropriate.
  • Testability: Code should be easy to test. Use dependency injection and avoid hard-coding external dependencies.
  • Security: All features must be implemented with security in mind. Avoid unsafe code patterns, validate all inputs, and follow responsible disclosure practices.
  • Documentation: All public classes, methods, and modules must have clear docstrings. Complex logic should be explained with comments.

Patterns and Best Practices

  • Singletons for Configuration: Use singleton patterns for configuration management (see ConfigurationManager).
  • Factory Pattern: Used in workflow graph node creation (workflow_graph/node_factory.py).
  • Command Pattern: CLI commands are mapped to handler functions for clarity and extensibility.
  • Mocking and Dependency Injection: Use mocks in tests and inject dependencies to facilitate testing.
  • Consistent Naming: Use descriptive, consistent names for files, classes, and functions.
  • Error Handling: Use exceptions for error cases and provide meaningful error messages to users.

Code Review Checklist

  • Is the code modular and well-structured?
  • Are all new features covered by tests?
  • Are all public APIs and classes documented?
  • Are security implications considered?
  • Is the code style consistent with the rest of the project?

Example: Adding a New Attack Module

  1. Create a new file in gatox/attack/ (e.g., my_attack.py).
  2. Implement the attack logic as a class or function.
  3. Add CLI integration in gatox/cli/attack/ if needed.
  4. Write unit tests in unit_test/test_attack.py.
  5. Document the new feature in the appropriate markdown files.