RI: A DSL for Software Development Project Continuous Configuration

Abstract

This paper addresses the challenges related to standardization and automation in the development and maintenance of microservice-based architectures, particularly in heterogeneous environments involving multiple development teams. In such contexts, the absence of unified standards for service definition and implementation, combined with technological diversity and team fragmentation, can lead to architectural inconsistencies, increased integration effort, difficulties in system evolution, and higher maintenance costs over time. Additionally, a significant portion of configuration, orchestration, and artifact generation tasks is performed manually, increasing the risk of errors and rework. As a solution, this paper proposes a Domain-Specific Language (DSL), named RI language, designed for the declarative description of microservices, along with a supporting tool, TSE (Toolbox Service Executor), implemented in Python (PLY) and based on the RI grammar. The tool is responsible for interpreting specifications written in RI and automating the generation of software artifacts through extensible plugins. The proposed approach enables the representation of structural and operational aspects of services in a technology-agnostic manner, promoting consistency, reuse, and reduction of manual effort.