Pick Your Linux

A deterministic, schema-driven Linux distribution picker built with Nuxt 3.

This project is a study in logic-as-data and honest decision engine design. It evaluates 30+ conditional questions across 3 structured phases to recommend from 40+ Linux distributions, while enforcing a strict boundary between domain logic and presentation.

Read the Technical Case Study →

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🏗️ Architectural Invariants

• Logic-as-Data: All decision rules live in a declarative DSL, not in code.
• Pure Engine: Zero business logic exists inside Vue components.
• Deterministic: Every state change triggers a full recomputation from a validated snapshot.
• Zod-Enforced: Every rule, question, and state transition is schema-validated at runtime.
• Trap UX Aware: The engine detects when refinement questions lose utility and prompts for an early exit.

🚀 Getting Started

Requirements

• Node.js 20+
• npm (or pnpm with frozen lockfile)

Install

npm ci

Run (Dev)

npm run dev

Build

npm run build

Validation & Quality Gates

Run all of these before committing:

npm run typecheck
npm run lint
npm test
npm run validate

If any command fails, the change is invalid.

Project Structure

/src
  /data
    types.ts        # Zod schemas (source of truth)
    distros.json    # Linux distributions (validated)
    questions.ts    # Question Flow DSL (logic-as-data)
  /engine
    logic.ts        # Pure VM (conditions + patches)
    state.ts        # Reactive decision engine (Vue composable)
  /components
    QuestionWizard.vue  # Dumb UI

Core Rules

❌ No business logic in UI components ❌ No conditional distro logic in templates ❌ No new dependencies without an ADR V All logic must be serializable and schema-validated