All architecture categories
Each category answers a different question. Software styles decide how one system is shaped; data architecture decides how information flows and is stored; enterprise architecture decides how dozens of systems serve the business. Most real designs touch several categories at once.
- Software architecture styles
- Monoliths, microservices, event-driven, hexagonal and the rest: how a system is shaped.
- Cloud architecture
- Well-architected design, landing zones, multi-cloud and cost as an architectural concern.
- Data architecture
- Warehouses, lakes, lakehouses, data mesh and streaming pipelines.
- Integration architecture
- APIs, messaging, ESBs, API-led connectivity and event streaming between systems.
- Security architecture
- Zero trust, identity, secrets, threat modeling and secure-by-design systems.
- AI & ML architecture
- RAG, agents, model gateways, MLOps and governance for AI in production.
- Enterprise architecture
- TOGAF, capability maps, governance and aligning technology with the business.
- Platform & infrastructure
- Kubernetes, platform engineering, infrastructure as code and service meshes.
- Solution architecture
- Turning requirements into a design: quality attributes, decision records, stakeholders.
- Frontend & mobile architecture
- Rendering strategies, micro-frontends, backends-for-frontends and offline-first apps.
- Industry architectures
- Reference designs for payments, healthcare, government and other regulated domains.
How every page is organized
Section titled “How every page is organized”Every architecture page follows the same template, so any two can be compared directly:
- Overview: what it is, in two or three sentences
- Diagram: the moving parts and how they connect
- How it works
- Pros and cons
- When to use it, and when to avoid it
- Common pitfalls seen in real systems
- Related patterns and glossary terms
- Further reading
Written and edited by Abhinav Taduka, enterprise software architect.