Web application architecture that can grow
Date Published
Scale the parts that hurt. Keep the rest boring.
Start with one application and one database
A Next.js or similar web app, a NestJS or Node API, and PostgreSQL will carry most products further than a diagram with twelve boxes.
Put a contract in the middle
The UI should not own the rules. An API with explicit types is what you scale, test, and integrate against.
Model the data before the pages
Wrong tables are more expensive than a slow query. Name the entities the business already uses.
Add pieces when you can measure the need
Queues, caches, and extra services earn their keep when a specific path is hot or unreliable. Redis is a tool, not a default.
Deploy must be a first-class path
If you cannot ship a change on a weekday, the architecture is unfinished. CI/CD and an environment that matches production are part of the design.