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Backend architecture patterns

Purpose: Deployable, scalable service design — especially for full-stack web products.

Harvest / review: 2026-05

Twelve-Factor highlights

Factor Practice
Codebase One repo, many deploys
Dependencies Explicit (package lockfiles)
Config Environment variables — never secrets in git
Backing services DB/queue as attached resources
Build, release, run Separate stages
Processes Stateless app servers; state in DB/cache
Port binding App exports HTTP via port
Concurrency Scale out processes, not one giant machine
Disposability Fast start, graceful shutdown
Logs Streams to aggregator, not files-only
Dev/prod parity Minimize environment drift

Patterns

  • Separate web and worker processes for async jobs.
  • Health checks /health for load balancers.
  • Migrations as release step, not manual prod SQL.
  • Feature flags in config for safe rollout.

Anti-patterns

Avoid Why
Session state in app memory Breaks horizontal scale
Storing uploads on local disk Lost on redeploy
Same DB credentials in repo Security incident

Sources