Merges pull request #54

[Draft] Implement an Algorithmic Relay Selector

src/lib/data_structures/docs/relay_selector_design.md

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+# Relay Selector Class Design
+
+The relay selector will be a singleton that tracks, rates, and ranks Nostr relays to help the application determine which relay should be used to handle each request. It will weight relays based on observed characteristics, then use these weights to implement a weighted round robin algorithm for selecting relays, with some additional modifications to account for domain-specific features of Nostr.
+
+## Relay Weights
+
+### Categories
+
+Relays are broadly divided into three categories:
+
+1. **Public**: no authorization is required
+2. **Private Write**: authorization is required to write to this relay, but not to read
+3. **Private Read and Write**: authorization is required to use any features of this relay
+
+The broadest level of relay selection is based on these categories.
+
+- For users that are not logged in, public relays are used exclusively.
+- For logged-in users, public and private read relays are initially rated equally for read operations.
+- For logged-in users, private write relays are preferred above public relays for write operations.
+
+### User Preferences
+
+The relay selector will respect user relay preferences while still attempting to optimize for responsiveness and success rate.
+
+- User inbox relays will be stored in a separate list from general-purpose relays, and weighted and sorted separately using the same algorithm as the general-purpose relay list.
+- Local relays (beginning with `wss://localhost` or `ws://localhost`) will be stored _unranked_ in a separate list, and used when the relay selector is operating on a web browser (as opposed to a server).
+- When a caller requests relays from the relay selector, the selector will return:
+  - The highest-ranked general-purpose relay
+  - The highest-ranked user inbox relay
+  - (If on browser) any local relays
+
+### Weighted Metrics
+
+Several weighted metrics are used to compute a relay's score. The score is used to rank relays to determine which to prefer when fetching events.
+
+#### Response Time
+
+The response time weight of each relay is computed according to the logarithmic function $`r(t) = -log(t) + 1`$, where $`t`$ is the median response time in seconds.  This function has a few features which make it useful:
+
+- $`r(1) = 1`$, making a response time of 1s the netural point. This causes the algorithm to prefer relays that respond in under 1s.
+- $`r(0.3) \approx 1.5`$ and $`r(3) \approx 0.5`$. This clusters the 0.5 to 1.5 weight range in the 300ms to 3s response time range, which is a sufficiently rapid response time to keep user's from switching context.
+- The function has a long tail, so it doesn't discount slower response times too heavily, too quickly.
+
+#### Success Rate
+
+The success rate $`s(x)`$ is computed as the fraction of total requests sent to the relay that returned at least one event in response. The optimal score is 1, meaning the relay successfully responds to 100% of requests.
+
+#### Trust Level
+
+Certain relays may be assigned a constant "trust level" score $`T`$. This modifier is a number in the range $`[-0.5, 0.5]`$ that indicates how much a relay is trusted by the GitCitadel organization.
+
+A few factors contribute to a higher trust rating:
+
+- Effective filtering of spam and abusive content.
+- Good data transparency, including such policies as honoring deletion requests.
+- Event aggregation policies that aim at synchronization with the broader relay network.
+
+#### Preferred Vendors
+
+Certain relays may be assigned a constant "preferred vendor" score $`V`$. This modifier is a number in the range $`[0, 0.5]`$. It is used to increase the priority of GitCitadel's preferred relay vendors.
+
+### Overall Weight
+
+The overall weight of a relay is calculated as $`w(t, x) = r(t) \times s(x) + T + V`$. The `RelaySelector` class maintains a list of relays sorted by their overall weights. The weights may be updated at runtime when $`t`$ or $`x`$ change. On update, the relay list is re-sorted to account for the new weights.
+
+## Algorithm
+
+The relay weights contribute to a weighted round robin (WRR) algorithm for relay selection. Pseudocode for the algorithm is given below:
+
+```pseudocode
+Constants and Variables:
+  const N   // Number of relays
+  const CW  // Connection weight
+  wInit     // Map of relay URLs to initial weights
+  conn      // Map of relay URLs to the number of active connections to that relay
+  wCurr     // Current relay weights
+  rSorted   // List of relay URLs sorted in ascending order
+
+Function getRelay:
+  r = rSorted[N - 1]                  // Get the highest-ranked relay
+  conn[r]++                           // Increment the number of connections
+  wCurr[r] = wInit[r] + conn[r] * CW  // Adjust current weights based on new connection weight
+  sort rSorted by wCurr               // Re-sort based on updated weights
+  return r
+```
+
+## Class Methods
+
+The `RelaySelector` class should expose the following methods to support updates to relay weights. Pseudocode for each method is given below.
+
+### Add Response Time Datum
+
+This function updates the class state by side effect. Locking should be used in concurrent use cases.
+
+```pseudocode
+Constants and Variables:
+  const CW  // Connection weight
+  rT        // A map of relay URLs to their Trust Level scores
+  rV        // A map of relay URLs to their Preferred Vendor scores
+  rTimes    // A map of relay URLs to a list or recorded response times
+  rReqs     // A map of relay URLs to the number of recorded requests
+  rSucc     // A map of relay URLs to the number of successful requests
+  rTimes    // A map of relay URLs to recorded response times
+  wInit     // Map of relay URLs to initial weights
+  conn      // Map of relay URLs to the number of active connections to that relay
+  wCurr     // Current relay weights
+  rSorted   // List of relay URLs sorted in ascending order
+
+Parameters:
+  r   // A relay URL
+  rt  // A response time datum recorded for the given relay
+
+Function addResponseTimeDatum:
+  append rt to rTimes[r]
+  sort rTimes[r]
+  rtMed = median of rTimes[r]
+  rtWeight = -1 * log(rtMed) + 1
+  succRate = rSucc[r] / rReqs[r]
+  wInit[r] = rtWeight * succRate + rT[r] + rV[r]
+  wCurr[r] = wInit[r] + conn[r] * CW
+  sort rSorted by wCurr
+```
+
+### Add Success Rate Datum
+
+This function updates the class state by side effect. Locking should be used in concurrent use cases.
+
+```pseudocode
+Constants and Variables:
+  const CW  // Connection weight
+  rT        // A map of relay URLs to their Trust Level scores
+  rV        // A map of relay URLs to their Preferred Vendor scores
+  rReqs     // A map of relay URLs to the number of recorded requests
+  rSucc     // A map of relay URLs to the number of successful requests
+  rTimes    // A map of relay URLs to recorded response times
+  wInit     // Map of relay URLs to initial weights
+  conn      // Map of relay URLs to the number of active connections to that relay
+  wCurr     // Current relay weights
+  rSorted   // List of relay URLs sorted in ascending order
+
+Parameters:
+  r  // A relay URL
+  s  // A boolean value indicating whether the latest request to relay r succeeded
+
+Function addSuccessRateDatum:
+  rReqs[r]++
+  if s is true:
+    rSucc[r]++
+  rtMed = median of rTimes[r]
+  rtWeight = -1 * log(rtMed) + 1
+  succRate = rSuccReqs[r] / rReqs[r]
+  wInit[r] = rtWeight * succRate + rT[r] + rV[r]
+  wCurr[r] = wInit[r] + conn[r] * CW
+  sort rSorted by wCurr
+```
+
+### Add Relay
+
+```pseudocode
+Constants and Variables:
+  general  // A list of general-purpose relay URLs
+  inbox    // A list of user-defined inbox relay URLs
+  local    // A list of local relay URLs
+
+Parameters:
+  r      // The relay URL
+  rType  // The relay type (general, inbox, or local)
+
+Function addRelay:
+  if rType is "general":
+    add r to general
+    sort general by current weights
+  if rType is "inbox":
+    add r to inbox
+    sort inbox by current weights
+  if rType is "local":
+    add r to local
+```
+
+### Get Relay
+
+```
+Constants and Variables:
+  general  // A sorted list of general-purpose relay URLs
+  inbox    // A sorted list of user-defined inbox relay URLs
+  local    // An unsorted list of local relay URLs
+
+Parameters:
+  rank  // The requested rank
+
+Function getRelay:
+  selected = []
+  if local has members:
+    add all local members to selected
+  if rank less than length of inbox:
+    add inbox[rank] to selected
+  if rank less than length of general:
+    add general[rank] to selected
+```