---
title: "0006. Where an industry standard exists, use it as the seam"
description: "Accepted, 2026-10-20"
canonical_url: "https://docs.galleon.thec1oud.uk/docs/decisions/0006-standards-are-the-seams"
markdown_url: "https://docs.galleon.thec1oud.uk/docs/decisions/0006-standards-are-the-seams.md"
last_updated: "2018-10-20"
x_farming_labs_generated_preamble: true
---

# 0006. Where an industry standard exists, use it as the seam
URL: /docs/decisions/0006-standards-are-the-seams
LLM index: /llms.txt
Description: Accepted, 2026-10-20

# 0006. Where an industry standard exists, use it as the seam

**Status:** Accepted · **Date:** 2026-10-20 · [Source on GitHub](https://github.com/thec1oud/galleon/blob/dev/docs/adr/0006-standards-are-the-seams.md)

## Context

Galleon wants the most standard seam possible for every component it doesn't
bundle. For many areas, an industry standard already defines the boundary,
and tools already implement it.

## Decision

Where a standard exists, the standard is the seam, and Galleon does not wrap
it in an abstraction of its own:

| Area                           | Standard                                                          |
| ------------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------- |
| HTTP handlers                  | `net/http`                                                        |
| SQL                            | `pgx` (and `database/sql` for other databases)                    |
| Observability                  | OpenTelemetry                                                     |
| Logging                        | `log/slog`                                                        |
| Feature flags                  | OpenFeature                                                       |
| Authentication                 | OAuth 2.1 / OIDC, JWT, WebAuthn                                   |
| Authorization decisions        | OpenID AuthZEN                                                    |
| User provisioning              | SCIM 2.0                                                          |
| Events and the outbox envelope | CloudEvents                                                       |
| REST, RPC and event contracts  | OpenAPI 3.1 and JSON Schema; Protobuf, gRPC and Connect; AsyncAPI |
| Errors                         | RFC 9457 problem+json                                             |
| Health checks                  | Kubernetes probe conventions, the gRPC health protocol            |
| Rate limit headers             | IETF `RateLimit` headers                                          |

## Consequences

- Tools that implement the standard work with Galleon without a
  Galleon-specific adapter.
- Galleon inherits each standard's limits and its pace of change.

## Alternatives considered

- **A Galleon abstraction over each standard.** It adds a layer users must
  learn and adapters must target, for no gain where the standard already is
  the abstraction.

## Sources

- [Part 4: where "most standard seam" means "adopt the existing standard"](https://github.com/thec1oud/galleon/blob/0897d74/docs/design/04-desires-debate.md#where-most-standard-seam-means-adopt-the-existing-standard)
- [Part 5: principle 5](https://github.com/thec1oud/galleon/blob/0897d74/docs/design/05-architecture.md#0-principles)

## Sitemap

See the full [sitemap](/sitemap.md) for all pages.
Docs-scoped sitemap: [/docs/sitemap.md](/docs/sitemap.md).
Well-known sitemap: [/.well-known/sitemap.md](/.well-known/sitemap.md).