Formalize InstructLab Change and Enhancement proposals (ICE)

[tiran]

InstructLab has reached a critical point where we should start to formalize larger changes. For one, the code base and feature scope has become too complex for one person to grasp the impact of a change. Downstream has started to productize InstructLab. Any breaking changing can have a negative impact.

I propose to adopt a formal change proposal similar to change proposals in project like

• CPython PEP https://peps.python.org/
• Django DEP https://github.com/django/deps
• Rust MCP https://forge.rust-lang.org/compiler/mcp.html

A standardized change proposal document and process not only helps the author to formulate their idea. It also helps reviewers, QE, docs writer, downstream, and community to understand and assess a proposal. QE will know which E2E tests they have to update or create. Docs team can update docs accordingly. Community has an abstract for each major change in a release.

In additional to implementation details, an * InstructLab Change and Enhancement proposal* (ICE) should contain:

• abstract
• rational and motivation
• goals / non-goals
• risks / benefits
• how to test
• how to document and teach

[nathan-weinberg]

+1