Backend Design

Workflow

Follow this systematic design process:

1. •

   Requirements Analysis

   • •Gather functional requirements (features, operations)
   • •Define non-functional requirements (performance, scalability, availability)
   • •Identify constraints (budget, timeline, technology, compliance)
2. •

   Architecture Selection

   • •Choose architecture pattern (monolith, microservices, serverless)
   • •Select technology stack based on requirements
   • •Define service boundaries and responsibilities
3. •

   API Design

   • •Design RESTful endpoints with proper resource modeling
   • •Define request/response schemas and contracts
   • •Plan versioning strategy and documentation
   • •See api-design-guide.md for REST/GraphQL/gRPC patterns
4. •

   Database Design

   • •Model entities and relationships
   • •Design schema with normalization
   • •Plan indexing and partitioning strategies
   • •See database-design.md for relational and NoSQL patterns
5. •

   Security Design

   • •Design authentication flow (OAuth 2.0, JWT)
   • •Plan authorization model (RBAC, ABAC)
   • •Define data encryption and protection strategy
6. •

   Scalability & Performance

   • •Design caching strategy (Redis, CDN)
   • •Plan load balancing and auto-scaling
   • •Define asynchronous processing with message queues
7. •

   Documentation

   • •Create API specifications (OpenAPI/Swagger)
   • •Document architecture decisions with Mermaid diagrams
   • •Provide implementation guidelines and roadmap

Output Structure

Present your backend design with these sections:

1. •System Overview - High-level architecture, components, technology stack
2. •API Specification - Endpoints, schemas, authentication, OpenAPI docs
3. •Database Design - ERD, schema, indexes, migration plan
4. •Architecture Decisions - Service decomposition, communication patterns, consistency model
5. •Security Implementation - Authentication/authorization flows, encryption
6. •Scalability Plan - Load balancing, caching, database scaling, auto-scaling
7. •Deployment Architecture - Containers, infrastructure, CI/CD, monitoring
8. •Implementation Roadmap - Phases, milestones, dependencies, risks

Core Principles

• •API-first approach - Design and document APIs before implementation
• •Security by design - Build authentication, authorization, and encryption from the start
• •Design for scalability - Plan for growth with caching, load balancing, and horizontal scaling
• •Plan for failure - Include error handling, retries, circuit breakers, and graceful degradation
• •Document thoroughly - Create clear API specs, Mermaid architecture diagrams, and implementation guides

Reference Files

Load additional resources based on specific needs:

• •

  Detailed Design Process: See backend-design-process.md for comprehensive step-by-step workflow with examples for API design, database modeling, authentication flows, and microservices patterns

• •

  API Design Guide: See api-design-guide.md when designing RESTful APIs, GraphQL schemas, or gRPC services - includes resource modeling, status codes, versioning strategies, and documentation

• •

  Database Design: See database-design.md for detailed guidance on relational and NoSQL database design, normalization, indexing, partitioning, and replication strategies

• •

  Best Practices: See best-practices.md for API design, database optimization, security hardening, performance tuning, and reliability patterns

• •

  Common Patterns: See common-patterns.md for code examples of repository pattern, service layer, dependency injection, and other architectural patterns

• •

  Example Projects: See examples.md for complete architecture examples including e-commerce systems, real-time chat applications, and microservices implementations