Publish prebuilt FlowScope CLI binaries

[dvasdekis]

Publish prebuilt FlowScope CLI binaries

Problem

Installing flowscope-cli with Cargo compiles the CLI and all native dependencies from source:

cargo install --locked --version 0.9.0 --no-default-features flowscope-cli

On a standard GitHub-hosted Ubuntu runner, this did not complete within 20 minutes. Compilation includes dependencies such as DuckDB, Apache Arrow, and SQLParser.

This makes using FlowScope in CI expensive and can require caching or maintaining a separate internal binary build process.

The GitHub releases currently publish the Rust and npm packages but do not include native CLI binaries. There also does not appear to be a Python wheel or another package containing a prebuilt native executable.

Proposed solution

Publish prebuilt flowscope CLI binaries as GitHub release assets for supported platforms and architectures.

Suggested initial targets:

• x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
• aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu
• x86_64-apple-darwin
• aarch64-apple-darwin
• x86_64-pc-windows-msvc

Each release should include:

• A compressed executable archive for each target
• A SHA-256 checksum file
• The FlowScope version in the archive or executable name
• Build provenance or an attestation where practical

Example asset names:

• flowscope-v0.9.0-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz
• flowscope-v0.9.0-aarch64-apple-darwin.tar.gz
• flowscope-v0.9.0-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip
• flowscope-v0.9.0-SHA256SUMS

Package-manager support

The release binaries could subsequently support installers such as:

• cargo-binstall
• Homebrew
• Scoop or Winget
• A Python wheel that bundles the executable, if Python-based installation is wanted

Publishing the release assets first would provide a common source for these installation methods.

Expected outcome

CI consumers could download and verify a pinned FlowScope executable instead of compiling the Rust project for each fresh runner.

For example, a GitHub Actions workflow could:

1. Download the binary for its runner platform.
2. Verify its SHA-256 checksum.
3. Place it on PATH.
4. Run flowscope --version.
5. Generate the required lineage report.

Alternatives considered

• Cache Cargo build outputs: Reduces repeated compilation but the first run remains slow, cache storage is large, and invalidation can be expensive.
• Cache the installed executable: Works within one repository but each consumer must maintain similar setup logic.
• Use @pondpilot/flowscope-core: The published WASM package avoids native compilation, but existing CLI integrations must be rewritten as Node.js applications.
• Increase CI timeout: Allows compilation to finish but consumes runner time on cache misses and does not address distribution.

Additional context

Observed environment:

• FlowScope CLI: 0.9.0
• Runner: GitHub-hosted ubuntu-latest
• Rust installation: stable toolchain
• Cargo options: --locked --no-default-features
• Result: compilation was canceled after approximately 20 minutes before the CLI installation completed.