Polyglot FFI Roadmap¶

Vision: The universal FFI bindings generator for polyglot projects

Overview¶

Polyglot FFI aims to eliminate FFI boilerplate by automatically generating type-safe, memory-safe bindings between programming languages. Our goal is to support multiple source and target languages with excellent developer experience.

Current Version: v0.5.1¶

Completed Milestones¶

v0.1 - Foundation¶

Internal Validation (Battle-Tested Locally): October 2025

Core Features:

OCaml .mli parser for primitive types
Python wrapper generation
OCaml ctypes bindings generation
C stub generation with memory safety
CLI with init and generate commands
Basic error handling
44% test coverage baseline

Deliverable: Working OCaml→Python bindings for simple functions

v0.2 - Type System¶

Internal Validation (Battle-Tested Locally): October 2025

Complex Types:

Option types ('a option)
List types ('a list)
Tuple types ('a * 'b)
Record types (parsed, partial generation)
Variant types (parsed, partial generation)

Type System:

Type registry architecture
Extensible type mappings
Custom type converters
Multi-language support (OCaml, Python, C, Rust types)

Testing:

86 tests (+42 from v0.1)
65% coverage (+21%)
Complex type scenarios

Deliverable: Can handle 90% of OCaml types

v0.3 - Developer Experience¶

Internal Validation (Battle-Tested Locally): October 2025

New Commands:

watch - Auto-regenerate on file changes
check - Validate project configuration and dependencies
clean - Remove generated files safely

Configuration:

polyglot.toml configuration file support
Auto-discovery of .mli files
Per-language configuration
Custom type mappings in config

Developer Experience:

Rich CLI output with colors
Progress indicators for long operations
Detailed error messages with suggestions
Dry-run mode for preview
Force regeneration option

Deliverable: Improved DX

v0.4 - Production Release (Q4 2025)¶

Released: October 2025

Testing & Quality:

285 tests (+199 from v0.3)
88% coverage (+23%)
Integration tests for all CLI commands
End-to-end workflow tests

Documentation:

Complete MkDocs documentation site
API reference with mkdocstrings
3 working examples (beginner to intermediate)
Architecture documentation
Contributing guidelines
7 man pages for all commands

Polish:

Shell completion (Bash, Zsh, Fish)
Performance optimization (~15,000 gen/sec)
Better identifier sanitization
Config template fixes

CI/CD & Publishing:

GitHub Actions workflows (test, docs, release)
Automated releases on tag
Documentation deployment to GitHub Pages
PyPI package builds successfully
Security scanning (bandit, safety)

Open Source:

Code of Conduct (Contributor Covenant v3.0)
Security policy
Issue templates (4 types)
Pull request template
CODEOWNERS file

Deliverable: Ready for public release on PyPI

Current Focus: v0.4.0 Release¶

Immediate Tasks¶

Goal: First PyPI release

[x] Final testing and verification
[x] Documentation review and polish
[x] Package building and validation
[x] Create v0.4.0 release tag
[x] Publish to PyPI
[x] Deploy documentation
[x] Announce release

Success Metrics:

Package available on PyPI
Documentation live at polyglotffi.com
Can install with pip install polyglot-ffi

Planned Milestones¶

v0.5.0 - Record & Variant Support (Q4 2025)¶

Target: October-December 2025

Advanced Type Generation:

[ ] Complete record type generation
[ ] OCaml record type definitions
[ ] Python dataclass generation
[ ] C struct generation
[ ] Memory management for nested records
[ ] Complete variant type generation
[ ] OCaml variant types
[ ] Python enum/union types
[ ] C tagged unions
[ ] Pattern matching helpers

Type System Enhancements:

[ ] Polymorphic types ('a)
[ ] Constrained types
[ ] Recursive types
[ ] Type aliases

Testing:

[ ] Record type test suite
[ ] Variant type test suite
[ ] Complex nested type tests
[ ] Memory safety validation

Deliverable: Full support for OCaml's rich type system

v0.6.0 - Rust Target Support (Q4 2025)¶

Target: TBD (Late 2025)

Rust Generator:

[ ] Rust FFI bindings generation
[ ] extern "C" declarations
[ ] Rust type mappings
[ ] unsafe blocks with safety guarantees
[ ] Cargo.toml generation

Bidirectional Support:

[ ] OCaml → Rust bindings
[ ] Rust → Python bindings
[ ] Type conversions

Build Integration:

[ ] Cargo build system support
[ ] Cross-compilation support
[ ] Dependency management

Documentation:

[ ] Rust examples
[ ] Type mapping guide for Rust
[ ] Build system integration guide

Deliverable: Full support for Rust bindings

v1.0.0 - Stable Release (Q1 2026)¶

Target: January-March 2026

Stability:

[ ] API stability guarantees
[ ] Comprehensive upgrade guides
[ ] Long-term support (LTS) commitment
[ ] Performance benchmarks published

Multi-Language Matrix:

[ ] OCaml ↔ Python (complete)
[ ] OCaml ↔ Rust (complete)
[ ] Python → OCaml (reverse direction)
[ ] Rust → OCaml (reverse direction)

Enterprise Features:

[ ] Large project support (multi-module)
[ ] Incremental generation
[ ] Build cache
[ ] Parallel generation

Testing & Quality:

[ ] 95%+ code coverage
[ ] 500+ tests
[ ] Cross-platform CI (Linux, macOS, Windows)
[ ] Performance regression tests

Documentation:

[ ] Video tutorials
[ ] Interactive examples
[ ] Migration guides
[ ] Best practices guide

Deliverable: Stable, production-ready v1.0

v1.5.0 - Go Support (Q2 2026)¶

Target: April-June 2026

Go Generator:

[ ] Go FFI bindings generation
[ ] cgo integration
[ ] Go type mappings
[ ] Go module generation

Language Support:

[ ] OCaml → Go
[ ] Python → Go
[ ] Rust → Go
[ ] Go → all (reverse)

Build Integration:

[ ] Go modules support
[ ] go.mod generation
[ ] Cross-platform builds

Deliverable: Full Go language support

v2.0.0 - Advanced Features (2026)¶

Target: Q1-Q2 2026

Plugin System:

[ ] Plugin architecture
[ ] Community plugin support
[ ] Custom generator plugins
[ ] Custom parser plugins
[ ] Plugin marketplace/registry

Developer Tools:

[ ] Interactive REPL mode
[ ] Language Server Protocol (LSP)
[ ] VS Code extension
[ ] JetBrains plugin
[ ] Syntax highlighting

Advanced Types:

[ ] GADTs (Generalized Algebraic Data Types)
[ ] Module functors
[ ] First-class modules
[ ] Polymorphic variants
[ ] Object types

Performance:

[ ] Parallel generation
[ ] Incremental compilation
[ ] Smart caching
[ ] Memory optimization

Deliverable: Advanced tooling and type support

Future Exploration (Post v2.0)¶

Additional Language Targets¶

Priority: Community-Driven

[ ] Java/Kotlin via JNI
[ ] Java class generation
[ ] Kotlin extension functions
[ ] Gradle integration
[ ] C++ with modern features
[ ] C++17/20 support
[ ] Smart pointers
[ ] Template support
[ ] CMake integration
[ ] JavaScript/TypeScript via WASM
[ ] WebAssembly target
[ ] TypeScript definitions
[ ] npm package generation
[ ] Node.js native modules
[ ] C#/.NET via P/Invoke
[ ] C# class generation
[ ] .NET Core support
[ ] NuGet packages
[ ] Swift for iOS/macOS
[ ] Swift bindings
[ ] Objective-C bridge
[ ] SwiftPM integration

Advanced Features¶

Priority: Based on User Demand

[ ] Async/Await Support
[ ] Async FFI boundaries
[ ] Future/Promise conversion
[ ] Event loop integration
[ ] Memory Pooling
[ ] Custom allocators
[ ] Pool-based memory management
[ ] Zero-copy optimizations
[ ] Serialization
[ ] Auto-generate serialization code
[ ] JSON/Protobuf/MessagePack
[ ] Zero-copy serialization
[ ] Distributed Systems
[ ] RPC code generation
[ ] gRPC support
[ ] Network protocol bindings

Ecosystem Integration¶

Priority: Community Partnerships

[ ] Package Manager Integration
[ ] Homebrew formula
[ ] apt/yum packages
[ ] Windows installer
[ ] Nix package
[ ] Cloud Services
[ ] AWS Lambda bindings
[ ] Google Cloud Functions
[ ] Azure Functions
[ ] Build System Plugins
[ ] CMake plugin
[ ] Bazel rules
[ ] Meson integration
[ ] Make integration

Technology Roadmap¶

Short-term (2025)¶

[x] Python 3.8-3.12 support
[x] OCaml 4.14+ support
[ ] Python 3.13 support
[ ] OCaml 5.x support
[ ] Rust 1.70+ support

Medium-term (2026)¶

[ ] WASM compilation target
[ ] Cloud-native deployment
[ ] Container optimization
[ ] Performance: 100,000+ gen/sec

Long-term (2027+)¶

[ ] Machine learning optimization
[ ] Intelligent type inference
[ ] Auto-migration tools
[ ] Self-hosting (polyglot-ffi generates its own bindings)

Community Roadmap¶

Open Source Growth¶

[ ] 100+ GitHub stars
[ ] 10+ contributors
[ ] Community Slack/Discord
[ ] Monthly releases
[ ] Quarterly community calls

Documentation & Education¶

[ ] Video tutorial series
[ ] Interactive playground
[ ] University course materials
[ ] Conference talks
[ ] Blog post series

Adoption Goals¶

[ ] 50+ production users
[ ] 5+ case studies
[ ] Industry partnerships
[ ] Academic research citations

Success Metrics¶

Technical Metrics¶

Metric	v0.5.0 (Current)	v1.0 Goal	v2.0 Goal
Test Coverage	88%	95%	98%
Tests	285	500+	1000+
Languages	3*	4	6+
Gen Speed	15k/sec	50k/sec	100k/sec
Supported Types	90%	98%	100%

*OCaml, Python, C (Rust types mapped but not generated yet)

Community Metrics¶

Metric	v0.5.0	v1.0 Goal	v2.0 Goal
GitHub Stars	TBD	100+	500+
Contributors	1	10+	25+
Production Users	0	50+	200+
Weekly Downloads	0	1000+	5000+

How to Contribute¶

We welcome contributions to any part of the roadmap! Here's how you can help:

Current Priorities¶

Testing: Add test cases for edge cases
Documentation: Improve examples and guides
Bug Reports: Help us find and fix issues
Feature Requests: Tell us what you need

Future Features¶

Rust Support: Help implement Rust generator (v0.6.0)
Record Types: Complete record type generation (v0.5.0)
New Languages: Propose and implement new language targets

Get Involved¶

Issues: https://github.com/chizy7/polyglot-ffi/issues
Discussions: https://github.com/chizy7/polyglot-ffi/discussions
Contributing: See CONTRIBUTING.md
Code of Conduct: CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md

Release Schedule (Projected)¶

Regular Releases¶

Minor releases (0.x.0): Every 6-8 weeks
Patch releases (0.x.y): As needed for bugs
Major releases (x.0.0): Every 12-18 months

LTS Support¶

v1.0: 2 years of support
v2.0: 3 years of support
Security patches: Indefinite for v1.0+

Versioning Policy¶

We follow Semantic Versioning:

Major (x.0.0): Breaking changes
Minor (0.x.0): New features, backwards compatible
Patch (0.0.x): Bug fixes, backwards compatible

Breaking Changes¶

Announced 3 months in advance
Migration guides provided
Deprecation warnings in previous release
Community feedback period

References & Inspiration¶

PyO3: Rust ↔ Python bindings architecture
SWIG: Multi-language wrapper generator
ctypes: OCaml FFI foundation
bindgen: Rust binding generator
JNI: Java native interface patterns

Questions & Feedback¶

Have ideas for the roadmap? Want to influence priorities?

Feature Requests: https://github.com/chizy7/polyglot-ffi/issues/new?template=feature_request.yml
Discussions: https://github.com/chizy7/polyglot-ffi/discussions
Email: See GitHub profile

Last Updated: October 25, 2025 Next Review: December 2025

Current Focus: Fix bugs in v0.5.0 and publish to PyPI and grow the community!