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Every Frontend Architecture Pattern Explained
One simple idea connects every frontend architecture pattern.
Every frontend interview I’ve prepped for eventually asks the same question wearing a different costume. Not what did you build. But why did you build it that way.
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For a long time, I didn’t have a real answer beyond “it’s what the team already had.”
Here’s the thing I wish someone had told me earlier.
Frontend architecture patterns are all answers to one question: how much work should the browser do, versus the server, versus build time?Everything elselike SSR, RSC, micro-frontends, BFFs is just a different place to draw that line.
Quick honesty note before we start.
I haven’t personally led a micro-frontend migration at a 200-engineer
company.
Everything in this article comes from building production applications,
official documentation, and engineering write-ups from companies like
SoundCloud, Netflix, Spotify, Vercel, and Cloudflare.
Where I’m talking about a company’s experience, I’ll say so.
I think that’s far more useful than pretending I’ve done everything
myself.
