Microfrontends: Scaling Frontend Application
Introduction
- Over the past 10 years, we have seen an evolution in distributed systems, starting with microservices and later adopting a similar approach in the frontend with microfrontends.
- Microfrontends aim to address the challenges of scaling frontend applications, enabling faster delivery, decentralization, and reduced cognitive load for developers.
Key Takeaways
Why Microfrontends?
- Microfrontends enable incremental upgrades, faster deployment cadence, and decentralization of the frontend architecture.
- They help reduce the cognitive load for developers, allowing new team members to be productive more quickly.
- Microfrontends align the technical architecture with the organizational structure, following the Conway's Law principle.
Microfrontends vs. Components
- Microfrontends are context-aware and encapsulate their own state, unlike reusable components that can introduce coupling.
- Microfrontends aim for independent implementation, minimizing shared code and owned by a single team.
Microfrontend Platform Design
- Identify Microfrontends: Vertical and horizontal splits based on business subdomains.
- Composition: Client-side (application shell) or server-side rendering.
- Routing: Handled by the application shell, either client-side or server-side.
- Communication: Using techniques like event emitters, custom events, or reactive streams.
Developer Experience
- Implement performance testing, automatic updates for shared libraries, and security scanning as part of the developer workflow.
Deployment
- Adopt a discovery pattern to enable independent deployment of microfrontends.
- Leverage techniques like canary releases and blue-green deployments.
Microfrontend Value Stream Teams
- Optimize for a single technology stack, minimize shared code, and embrace a "you build it, you run it" mindset.
Case Study: Formula 1 Digital Technology
- Achieved a 34% increase in subscriptions and signups, 26% reduction in platform costs, and significant performance improvements.
- Implemented a gradual migration strategy using the Strangler Fig pattern.
Conclusion
Microfrontends offer a powerful approach to scaling frontend applications, aligning the technical architecture with the organizational structure and enabling faster delivery, decentralization, and reduced cognitive load for developers.