hibernate-developer

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What I Do

• Provide repository-specific guidance for the grails-data-hibernate7 project.
• Guide changes around GrailsDomainBinder, GrailsPropertyBinder, IdentityBinder, VersionBinder, collection binders, and related utilities.
• Keep changes aligned with the testing constraints used by the Hibernate 7 modules in this repository.
• Help with migration work inside this framework module (e.g., porting domain-binding behaviour from H5 to H7, updating binder internals, fixing H7 regressions). Does not cover user-facing application migration guides; those belong in grails-doc.

When to Use Me

Activate this skill when working on the Hibernate 7 module, especially for:

• Changes under grails-data-hibernate7/**.
• Hibernate 7 mapping and metadata binding work.
• Identifier, version, collection, association, or generator binding changes.
• Hibernate 7 regression fixes and migration follow-up tasks.
• Specs that exercise Hibernate-backed mapping behavior rather than lightweight unit behavior.

Module Context

This skill is for the Grails framework's Hibernate 7 integration module, not for a Grails application. Prefer guidance from this skill over generic Grails app patterns when working in grails-data-hibernate7.

GrailsDomainBinder is the main entry point for binding Grails domain classes to Hibernate metadata. Changes often ripple through:

• org.grails.orm.hibernate.cfg
• org.grails.orm.hibernate.cfg.domainbinding
• org.grails.orm.hibernate.cfg.domainbinding.collectionType
• org.grails.orm.hibernate.cfg.domainbinding.secondpass
• org.grails.orm.hibernate.cfg.domainbinding.generator

Key Classes and Responsibilities

Main Binding Flow

• GrailsDomainBinder: central coordinator for Hibernate 7 mapping contribution.
• GrailsPropertyBinder: main coordinator for converting persistent properties into Hibernate Value instances.
• PropertyFromValueCreator: shared utility for creating Hibernate Property instances from a bound Value.

Identifier and Version Binding

• IdentityBinder: coordinates identifier binding.
• SimpleIdBinder: handles simple identifiers.
• CompositeIdBinder: handles composite identifiers.
• VersionBinder: binds optimistic locking version properties.
• NaturalIdentifierBinder: binds naturalId properties.

Associations and Collections

• OneToOneBinder, ManyToOneBinder, ManyToOneValuesBinder: association binding.
• CollectionBinder: collection mapping.
• CollectionSecondPassBinder, ListSecondPassBinder, MapSecondPassBinder: second-pass association and collection binding.
• CollectionHolder plus the collection type classes: carry collection metadata through binding.

Value and Column Binding

• SimpleValueBinder: binds simple properties.
• SimpleValueColumnBinder: binds columns to simple values.
• ComponentBinder, ComponentPropertyBinder: embedded/component binding.
• EnumTypeBinder: enum mapping.

Generators

• BasicValueCreator: creates identifier values and generators.
• GrailsSequenceWrapper, GrailsSequenceGeneratorEnum: generator integration helpers.
• GrailsIdentityGenerator, GrailsIncrementGenerator, GrailsNativeGenerator, GrailsSequenceStyleGenerator, GrailsTableGenerator: Grails-specific Hibernate 7 generator implementations.

Current Module Guidance

Keep these module-specific expectations in mind:

• GrailsPropertyBinder has already been simplified to a unified binder-dispatch structure. Preserve that consolidation instead of reintroducing scattered property creation or ad hoc branching.
• Property creation and addition should stay centralized through callers using PropertyFromValueCreator where applicable.
• Utility classes in domainbinding.util should prefer Hibernate-aware GORM types internally, but public signatures may still need base interfaces when Spock mocks require them.
• GrailsIncrementGenerator still contains reflection-based Hibernate 7 compatibility workarounds; avoid broad refactors unless the change explicitly addresses that area.

Testing Rules

When touching grails-data-hibernate7, test through real Hibernate wiring rather than assuming mocks are enough.

• Use HibernateGormDatastoreSpec for Hibernate 7 integration and domain-binding specifications.
• Prefer manager.registerDomainClasses(...) in setupSpec() to register entities for specs.
• Define test entities as top-level classes in the same Groovy spec file.
• Ensure test domain class names are globally unique within the package. The test suite uses maxParallelForks > 1, so multiple specs can run concurrently in the same JVM fork. HibernateDatastore caches mapping metadata by entity class name, so two specs registering a domain class with the same simple name in the same package can overwrite each other's mappings and cause flaky failures.
• Prefer real entities over heavy mocking for binder logic.

Change Workflow

1. Identify which binder, creator, generator, fetcher, or second-pass class owns the behavior.
2. Trace whether the change affects only Value creation, Property creation, or both.
3. Preserve the existing separation between logical mapping decisions and Hibernate object construction.
4. Update or add specs in grails-data-hibernate7 that exercise the affected behavior through the public Hibernate-backed path.
5. Run the relevant Hibernate 7 module tests, and expand test coverage when binder flow or entity registration behavior changes.

Pitfalls to Avoid

• Do not treat this module like a simple Grails application layer; it is framework and mapping infrastructure code.
• Do not reintroduce duplicated property-creation logic if a shared binder or creator already owns it.
• Do not rely on unit-only mocking for Hibernate internals when the behavior depends on real metadata binding.
• Do not use nested or inner entity classes in Hibernate 7 specs when top-level classes are required for AST transforms and reliable registration.

Known Status and Constraints

• The Hibernate 7 binder migration is complete: all main binders, collection types, second-pass binders, generators, and utilities have been migrated.
• GrailsIncrementGenerator retains reflection-based workarounds for accessing Hibernate 7 internals; avoid broad refactors in that class unless explicitly targeting that area.

Source of Truth

This skill is the repository guidance for Hibernate 7 module work. When module conventions change, update this skill directly so agents load the current rules from .agents/skills/hibernate-developer/SKILL.md.