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Step 2: Add Priority Scoring

Priority tiers give us coarse ordering. Priority scores enable fine-grained ordering within each tier.

The Goal​

Assign numeric scores so the buffer can sort messages precisely:

  • Important: Base score 1000
  • Regular: Base score 500
  • Archive: Base score 100

Higher scores are delivered first.

Implementation​

  1. Copy the previous pipeline:

    cp smart-buffer-classify.yaml smart-buffer-scoring.yaml

  2. Add priority scoring:

    Enhance the mapping processor in smart-buffer-scoring.yaml
    - mapping: |
        root = this

        let category = this.category.or("").string().lowercase()
        let severity = this.severity.or("info").string().lowercase()
        let event_type = this.event_type.or("").string().lowercase()

        let is_important = match {
          category == "important" => true,
          severity == "critical" => true,
          event_type.has_prefix("payment.failed") => true,
          _ => false
        }

        let is_archive = match {
          category == "archive" => true,
          severity == "debug" => true,
          event_type.has_prefix("analytics.") => true,
          _ => false
        }

        root.priority_tier = match {
          is_important => 1,
          is_archive => 3,
          _ => 2
        }

        root.priority_label = match root.priority_tier {
          1 => "important",
          2 => "regular",
          3 => "archive"
        }

        # Base priority score by tier
        let base_score = match root.priority_tier {
          1 => 1000,
          2 => 500,
          3 => 100
        }

        # Severity bonus for fine-grained ordering within tier
        let severity_bonus = match severity {
          "critical" => 50,
          "error" => 30,
          "warn" => 10,
          _ => 0
        }

        root.priority_score = base_score + severity_bonus
        root.classified_at = now()

Test​

# Send messages with different severities
curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/events \
  -d '{"severity": "critical", "message": "Alert"}'   # Score: 1050

curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/events \
  -d '{"severity": "error", "message": "Error"}'      # Score: 530

curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/events \
  -d '{"severity": "info", "message": "Info"}'        # Score: 500

curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/events \
  -d '{"severity": "debug", "message": "Debug"}'      # Score: 100

Key Insight​

The numeric score allows the buffer to precisely order messages. A critical error (1050) will always be delivered before a regular info message (500), which will always be delivered before debug logs (100).

Next Step​