Architecture

When to use it

Use this to design boundaries, data flow, and tradeoffs for a new system or component.

Useful inputs

• Problem and use cases
• Scale and availability goals
• Technical and team constraints

Instruction

Define components and responsibilities, show data flow and dependency direction, and state scalability, security, and maintenance tradeoffs.

Example input

System: Task tracker for a 3-person team. Users: 200. Needs: Tasks, comments, email notifications. Constraint: .NET and one region.

Example result

Starting design: One ASP.NET application, a relational database, and a background notification queue.
Boundaries: Task and comment operations stay in the app; email delivery runs in a queue worker.
Evolution point: Consider separating the notification worker if traffic or independent deployment needs justify it.

Common pitfall

Without user and traffic data, do not assume exact scale targets or complex infrastructure.

Related commands