Architecture

The Stack

Layer	Technology
Language	Rust (stable)
Web Framework	Axum 0.8
Templates	Askama 0.13 (SSR, type-safe)
Database	SQLite via sqlx (compile-time checked)
Sessions	tower-sessions 0.14 + SQLite store
Auth	OIDC (Casdoor recommended)
CSS	TailwindCSS v4 + DaisyUI
Video	FFmpeg (HLS) + MediaMTX (RTMP)
Observability	OpenTelemetry 0.31 + OTLP/gRPC

Workspace Crate Architecture

Aipokit is a Cargo workspace with 34 crates organized by domain:

crates/
  common/              # Shared types, storage, database
  media-core/          # Media detection, EXIF extraction
  media-manager/       # Upload, serve, search, CRUD
  video-manager/       # HLS transcoding (8-stage pipeline)
  access-control/      # 4-layer permission model
  access-codes/        # Shareable access links
  access-groups/       # Team roles and invitations
  user-auth/           # OIDC + session management
  workspace-manager/   # Workspace browser and folder types
  vault-manager/       # Storage vault isolation
  site-generator/      # Astro site generation
  course/              # Course viewer + presentations
  ...and 22 more

The Dual-Use Pattern

Every app crate implements the FolderTypeRenderer trait for embedded mode (inside workspace browser) and exports a Router for standalone mode (own URL). Same logic, same templates, two deployment modes.

Storage Layout

storage/
  workspaces/{workspace_id}/     # File browser content
    folder-a/                    # Regular folder
    media-gallery/               # Typed folder (media-server)
  vaults/{vault_id}/             # Media pipeline storage
    media/
      images/{slug}.webp
      videos/{slug}/index.m3u8
      documents/{filename}
    thumbnails/
      images/{slug}_thumb.webp
      videos/{slug}_thumb.webp

Rate Limiting

Three tiers based on resource intensity:

Tier	Limit	Endpoints
Default	60 RPM	Most API endpoints
Upload	15 RPM	File upload, transcoding
Serving	300 RPM	Media delivery, thumbnails