StackPractices

architecture

Practical resources about architecture for software engineers.

186 results

Designing Systems That Scale

Software architecture is the art of making trade-offs. Every pattern — from microservices to event-driven systems — solves specific problems while introducing new constraints. Understanding these trade-offs is what makes an engineer an architect.

This hub collects guides and patterns for API gateways, load balancing, circuit breakers, sagas, and service meshes. Whether you are designing a new system or modernizing a legacy monolith, these resources provide the mental models and implementation details you need.

intermediate

Retry with Jitter: Exponential Backoff and Random Jitter

How to retry failed operations with exponential backoff and random jitter. Covers full jitter,...

beginner

API Changelog Template

A template for documenting API changes including breaking changes, new features, deprecations, and...

beginner

API Deprecation Notice Template

A template for communicating API deprecations, breaking changes, and sunset timelines to consumers.

beginner

API Error Handling Guideline

A guideline for standardizing error responses, status codes, and error payloads across REST and...

intermediate

API Rate Limiting Policy Template

A template for defining API rate limits per consumer tier, including burst allowances, quota...

intermediate

SLA Definition Template

A template for defining and documenting Service Level Agreements including uptime targets, response...

intermediate

API Lifecycle Management Template

A copy-paste checklist template for managing API deprecation, versioning transitions, and safe...

intermediate

API Monitoring & Alerting Template

A template for defining API SLA thresholds, error rate alerts, and monitoring dashboards.

intermediate

API Performance Budget Template

A template for setting and tracking API latency and throughput performance budgets.

intermediate

Microservice Contract Template

A template for defining service contracts and API agreements between microservices.

intermediate

Service Dependency Map Template

A template for documenting and visualizing service dependencies in distributed systems.

beginner

System Diagram Template

A template for creating C4 model and architecture diagram standards.

intermediate

Technical Specification Template

Use this technical specification template to document requirements, design decisions, architecture,...

intermediate

Architecture Decision Record (ADR) Template

A lightweight template for documenting major architectural decisions, their context, options...

intermediate

Deprecation Timeline Template

A template for planning and communicating the sunset of legacy capabilities, APIs, or services with...

beginner

Engineering Handbook Template

A template for documenting team culture, development processes, technical standards, and...

beginner

Git Branching Strategy Document

A document template for defining Git workflow, branching conventions, merge requirements, and...

beginner

Backend Engineer Onboarding Checklist

A thorough checklist for onboarding new backend engineers covering environment setup, codebase...

beginner

Service Ownership Document Template

A template for defining who owns a service, what it does, how to operate it, and where to find...

beginner

ADR Template

A reusable template for Architecture Decision Records that capture context, decision, and...

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