Two Kinds of Composability¶
Lane7 Blueprints give Platform and DevOps teams composability at two independent levels. Most teams encounter one before the other, but understanding both from the start avoids confusion later.
Blueprint composability¶
Blueprint composability is structural. It means that the five pod types — Gateway/Initiator, Relay/Processor, Distributor/Router, Aggregator, and Sink/Terminator — can be assembled into networks of any topology, protocol, environment, and security mode.
The catalog blueprints are curated, tested examples of this composability. The Armored Convoy is a serial pipeline: Gateway → Relay → Sink. The Armored Trimaran fans out from a Distributor to two downstream services. The Armored Carrier runs a full scatter/gather across six pods. Each is a specific instance of a more general capability.
The catalog exists because most teams want a proven starting point, not because it defines the limits of what's possible. Any topology composable from the five pod types can be built. The Hopr team uses Lane7 Compose to assemble custom networks; contact lane7@hopr.co to request a custom topology.
To make this concrete: the Armored Trawler uses a Gateway, an Aggregator, and a Sink. If you need two Aggregators — one per cluster, for example — that is a different topology using the same pod types.
App logic composability¶
App logic composability is behavioral. Every pod's app.py has exactly two sections, clearly marked with comments. Section 1 contains hook functions that the WoSP networking layer calls at specific lifecycle points. Section 2 contains the networking layer itself.
Section 1 is yours. Section 2 is fixed.
The stubs in Section 1 pass the payload through unchanged — which is enough to deploy and run the auto-trigger successfully. Once you've confirmed the network is working, you replace the stubs with your business logic: authentication checks, data transformation, enrichment, validation, dispatch to external systems.
To make this concrete: the Armored Convoy's gateway/app.py ships with an on_trigger() stub that echoes the payload. Replace that stub with your authentication check and your business logic runs in a Zero Trust network without touching any WoSP configuration.
The two axes are independent¶
You can:
- Deploy a catalog blueprint unchanged — no Section 1 work, full WoSP security
- Customize Section 1 in a catalog blueprint — change the business logic, keep the topology
- Request a custom topology — different pod arrangement, standard Section 1 hooks
- Do both — custom topology and custom Section 1
This independence is intentional. It means you can start with a working, secured network on day one and evolve the business logic at your own pace.
The Golden Path¶
Lane7 Blueprints are designed to give Platform and DevOps teams a Golden Path to Zero Trust application networking. The catalog blueprints are proven topologies. Section 1 is where you add what makes your application unique. The WoSP layer handles everything else — identity verification, key rotation, encryption — automatically.
The next pages explain the five pod types in detail, show how they combine into topology patterns, and describe the four dimensions you control when composing a network.