DAG Validation

GoodPipeline validates the directed acyclic graph at instantiation time, before any step records are persisted or any jobs are enqueued. If validation fails, GoodPipeline::InvalidPipelineError is raised with a descriptive message and nothing is written to the database.

What is validated

1. Empty pipelines

A pipeline with no steps is rejected:

class EmptyPipeline < GoodPipeline::Pipeline
  def configure(id:); end
end

EmptyPipeline.run(id: 1)
# => GoodPipeline::InvalidPipelineError: pipeline has no steps

2. Duplicate step keys

Each step key must be unique within a pipeline:

run :download, DownloadJob
run :download, AnotherJob   # same key
# => GoodPipeline::InvalidPipelineError: duplicate step key :download

3. Unknown after: references

Every key in after: must correspond to a declared step:

run :publish, PublishJob, after: :missing
# => GoodPipeline::InvalidPipelineError: unknown step key :missing

Forward references are allowed — the full graph is validated after all run calls are collected, not incrementally.

4. Self-dependencies

A step cannot depend on itself:

run :transcode, TranscodeJob, after: :transcode
# => GoodPipeline::InvalidPipelineError: step :transcode depends on itself

5. Cycles

The graph is checked for cycles using depth-first search. Any cycle causes validation to fail with the cycle path in the error message:

run :a, JobA, after: :b
run :b, JobB, after: :a
# => GoodPipeline::InvalidPipelineError: cycle detected: :a -> :b -> :a

Indirect cycles are also detected:

run :a, JobA, after: :c
run :b, JobB, after: :a
run :c, JobC, after: :b
# => GoodPipeline::InvalidPipelineError: cycle detected: :a -> :c -> :b -> :a

Cycle detection algorithm

GoodPipeline uses a recursive depth-first search with a three-color marking scheme:

• White — unvisited
• Grey — currently in the DFS stack (an ancestor of the current node)
• Black — fully processed, confirmed acyclic

If a grey node is encountered during traversal, a cycle is present. The algorithm collects the path for the error message.

No database writes on failure

Validation runs before any database interaction. If validation fails:

• No PipelineRecord is created
• No StepRecord rows are inserted
• No DependencyRecord edges are written
• No GoodJob batches or jobs are enqueued

This is an intentional design decision: a DAG pipeline gem that allows invalid graphs is not useful.