Architecture Overview

Terry-Form MCP is designed with security, scalability, and extensibility at its core. This document provides a comprehensive overview of the system architecture.

System Architecture

graph TB
    subgraph "Client Layer"
        A[AI Assistant<br/>Claude/ChatGPT]
        B[Web Browser<br/>Dashboard]
        C[CLI Tools]
        D[CI/CD Systems]
    end
    
    subgraph "Terry-Form MCP Core"
        E[MCP Protocol Handler]
        F[Web API Server]
        G[Security Layer]
        H[Request Router]
        
        subgraph "Execution Engine"
            I[Terraform Executor]
            J[Command Validator]
            K[State Manager]
        end
        
        subgraph "Integration Layer"
            L[GitHub App Handler]
            M[Cloud Provider APIs]
            N[Terraform Cloud Client]
        end
        
        subgraph "Intelligence Layer"
            O[Module Analyzer]
            P[Security Scanner]
            Q[Best Practice Engine]
        end
    end
    
    subgraph "External Services"
        R[GitHub Repositories]
        S[Terraform Cloud]
        T[AWS/Azure/GCP]
        U[Container Registry]
    end
    
    A -->|MCP Protocol| E
    B -->|HTTP/WebSocket| F
    C -->|MCP Protocol| E
    D -->|API/MCP| E
    
    E --> G
    F --> G
    G --> H
    
    H --> I
    H --> L
    H --> O
    
    I --> J
    I --> K
    J --> I
    
    L --> R
    M --> T
    N --> S
    
    O --> P
    O --> Q
    
    style G fill:#ff9999
    style J fill:#ff9999

Core Components

1. Protocol Layer

The protocol layer handles communication between clients and the Terry-Form server.

sequenceDiagram
    participant Client as AI Assistant
    participant MCP as MCP Handler
    participant Security as Security Layer
    participant Executor as Terraform Executor
    
    Client->>MCP: Tool Request
    MCP->>Security: Validate Request
    Security->>Security: Check Permissions
    Security->>Security: Sanitize Input
    Security-->>MCP: Validated Request
    MCP->>Executor: Execute Command
    Executor->>Executor: Run Terraform
    Executor-->>MCP: Result
    MCP-->>Client: Response

2. Security Architecture

Security is implemented in multiple layers:

graph LR
    subgraph "Security Layers"
        A[Input Validation]
        B[Path Traversal Protection]
        C[Command Injection Prevention]
        D[Action Whitelisting]
        E[Resource Isolation]
        F[Audit Logging]
    end
    
    A --> B
    B --> C
    C --> D
    D --> E
    E --> F

Key Security Features:

• Input Validation: All inputs are validated against strict schemas
• Path Protection: Prevents access outside designated workspace
• Command Safety: Uses shell=False and shlex.quote() for subprocess execution
• Action Control: Whitelist of allowed Terraform actions
• Isolation: Docker containers with limited capabilities

3. Execution Engine

The execution engine manages Terraform operations safely:

stateDiagram-v2
    [*] --> Idle
    Idle --> Validating: Receive Request
    Validating --> Preparing: Valid Request
    Validating --> Error: Invalid Request
    Preparing --> Executing: Setup Complete
    Executing --> Processing: Command Running
    Processing --> Success: Command Success
    Processing --> Failed: Command Failed
    Success --> Idle: Return Result
    Failed --> Idle: Return Error
    Error --> Idle: Return Error

4. Data Flow

graph TD
    subgraph "Request Flow"
        A[Client Request] --> B{Request Type}
        B -->|Terraform Op| C[Terraform Handler]
        B -->|GitHub Op| D[GitHub Handler]
        B -->|Cloud Op| E[Cloud Handler]
        
        C --> F[Validation]
        D --> F
        E --> F
        
        F --> G{Valid?}
        G -->|Yes| H[Execute]
        G -->|No| I[Reject]
        
        H --> J[Process Result]
        J --> K[Format Response]
        K --> L[Return to Client]
        I --> L
    end

Deployment Architecture

Docker Deployment

graph TB
    subgraph "Docker Container"
        A[Terry-Form MCP]
        B[Python Runtime]
        C[Terraform Binary]
        D[Security Tools]
        E[Git Client]
    end
    
    subgraph "Volume Mounts"
        F[/mnt/workspace]
        G[/app/config]
        H[/var/log]
    end
    
    subgraph "Network"
        I[Port 3000: MCP]
        J[Port 8001: Web]
    end
    
    A --> F
    A --> G
    A --> H
    A --> I
    A --> J

Kubernetes Architecture

graph TB
    subgraph "Kubernetes Cluster"
        subgraph "Terry-Form Namespace"
            A[Deployment]
            B[Service]
            C[ConfigMap]
            D[Secret]
            E[PVC]
            F[HPA]
            G[NetworkPolicy]
        end
        
        subgraph "Ingress"
            H[Ingress Controller]
            I[TLS Termination]
        end
        
        subgraph "Monitoring"
            J[Prometheus]
            K[Grafana]
            L[Loki]
        end
    end
    
    H --> B
    A --> E
    A --> C
    A --> D
    F --> A
    G --> A
    
    A --> J
    A --> L

Integration Architecture

GitHub App Integration

sequenceDiagram
    participant User
    participant TerryForm as Terry-Form
    participant GitHub
    participant Workspace
    
    User->>TerryForm: Clone Repository
    TerryForm->>GitHub: Authenticate (JWT)
    GitHub-->>TerryForm: Installation Token
    TerryForm->>GitHub: Clone Repo
    GitHub-->>TerryForm: Repository Data
    TerryForm->>Workspace: Store Files
    TerryForm-->>User: Success

Multi-Cloud Support

graph LR
    subgraph "Terry-Form MCP"
        A[Cloud Abstraction Layer]
    end
    
    subgraph "Cloud Providers"
        B[AWS Provider]
        C[Azure Provider]
        D[GCP Provider]
        E[Terraform Cloud]
    end
    
    A --> B
    A --> C
    A --> D
    A --> E
    
    B --> F[AWS APIs]
    C --> G[Azure APIs]
    D --> H[GCP APIs]
    E --> I[TFC APIs]

Scalability Considerations

Horizontal Scaling

graph TB
    subgraph "Load Balancer"
        A[HAProxy/Nginx]
    end
    
    subgraph "Terry-Form Instances"
        B[Instance 1]
        C[Instance 2]
        D[Instance 3]
    end
    
    subgraph "Shared Storage"
        E[State Storage]
        F[Workspace Storage]
    end
    
    subgraph "Cache Layer"
        G[Redis Cache]
    end
    
    A --> B
    A --> C
    A --> D
    
    B --> E
    B --> F
    B --> G
    
    C --> E
    C --> F
    C --> G
    
    D --> E
    D --> F
    D --> G

Performance Optimization

• Caching: Module analysis results cached
• Connection Pooling: Reuse cloud provider connections
• Async Operations: Non-blocking I/O for better concurrency
• Resource Limits: CPU/Memory limits per operation

Security Architecture Details

Defense in Depth

graph TD
    subgraph "Layer 1: Network"
        A[TLS Encryption]
        B[Firewall Rules]
        C[DDoS Protection]
    end
    
    subgraph "Layer 2: Application"
        D[Authentication]
        E[Authorization]
        F[Input Validation]
    end
    
    subgraph "Layer 3: Execution"
        G[Sandboxing]
        H[Resource Limits]
        I[Audit Logging]
    end
    
    subgraph "Layer 4: Data"
        J[Encryption at Rest]
        K[Secret Management]
        L[Access Control]
    end
    
    A --> D
    B --> D
    C --> D
    D --> G
    E --> G
    F --> G
    G --> J
    H --> J
    I --> J

Monitoring and Observability

Metrics Collection

graph LR
    subgraph "Terry-Form MCP"
        A[Application Metrics]
        B[System Metrics]
        C[Custom Metrics]
    end
    
    subgraph "Collection"
        D[Prometheus Exporter]
        E[StatsD Client]
    end
    
    subgraph "Storage"
        F[Prometheus]
        G[InfluxDB]
    end
    
    subgraph "Visualization"
        H[Grafana]
        I[Custom Dashboards]
    end
    
    A --> D
    B --> D
    C --> E
    
    D --> F
    E --> G
    
    F --> H
    G --> H
    H --> I

High Availability Setup

graph TB
    subgraph "Region 1"
        A1[Terry-Form Primary]
        B1[Database Primary]
        C1[Cache Primary]
    end
    
    subgraph "Region 2"
        A2[Terry-Form Secondary]
        B2[Database Replica]
        C2[Cache Replica]
    end
    
    subgraph "Global"
        D[Global Load Balancer]
        E[Shared Object Storage]
    end
    
    D --> A1
    D --> A2
    
    A1 --> B1
    A1 --> C1
    A1 --> E
    
    A2 --> B2
    A2 --> C2
    A2 --> E
    
    B1 -.->|Replication| B2
    C1 -.->|Replication| C2

Development Architecture

Local Development Setup

graph TD
    subgraph "Developer Machine"
        A[IDE/Editor]
        B[Terry-Form Dev Server]
        C[Local Terraform]
        D[Docker Desktop]
    end
    
    subgraph "Test Environment"
        E[Test Workspace]
        F[Mock Cloud APIs]
        G[Test State Storage]
    end
    
    A --> B
    B --> C
    B --> E
    E --> F
    E --> G
    
    D --> B

Next Steps

• Return to Architecture Index for overview
• Explore Security Guide for security best practices