System Design
See what breaks first, and why the architecture has to change.
Learn through production systems engineers already recognize.
Each study begins with a simple design, then follows the pressure from traffic, latency, stale data, retries, and failure until the next architecture move becomes necessary. Concepts and patterns are supporting references, not separate stages to complete.
For engineers who want to reason about production tradeoffs instead of memorizing finished diagrams.
Start with a familiar service and watch production pressure force each architecture decision.
After the core journey
- Diagnose which constraint will break a simple design first.
- Explain the tradeoff behind each scaling and reliability decision.
- Carry reusable architecture reasoning into unfamiliar systems.
RecommendedArchitecture Studies: 8 studies available9 planned
Begin with Architecture Studies
URL Shortener System
Popular links create read spikes, analytics writes slow redirects, custom aliases collide, and abusive link creation needs controls.
Instagram Likes System
Users retry taps, celebrity posts become hot keys, feed and profile counters need fast reads, and downstream projections drift.
WhatsApp-Style Messaging System
Recipients are offline, mobile connections drop, users have multiple devices, groups fan out, and retries can duplicate messages.
Learning orientation
Core journey first. Supporting resources when you need them.
These sections have different jobs. The labels show whether a destination moves the main journey forward or supports it.