Monolithic, Monorepo & Microfrontends.

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Differentiating Monolithic, Monorepo, and Microfrontends Architectures

Frontend architectures have significantly evolved to address challenges of scalability, maintainability, and developer autonomy in modern web applications. As a seasoned developer, understanding the distinctions and practical implications of monolithic, monorepo, and microfrontend architectures is crucial for designing robust systems. Here’s an in-depth breakdown:

Monolithic Architecture

What is Monolithic?

• The monolithic architecture involves bundling all frontend code into a single, tightly coupled unit.
• All features, styles, and assets sit together and are deployed as one application.

Pros

• Simplicity: Straightforward to develop, test, and deploy for small or medium apps.
• Centralisation: Easier tracking of changes since everything is in one place.

Cons

• Scalability Issues: As apps grow, builds and deployments can get slow and bug-prone.
• Deployability: Even minor changes require redeploying the whole app, risking downtime.
• Team Bottlenecks: Larger teams may struggle because every developer affects the entire codebase.

Monorepo Architecture

What is Monorepo?

• In a monorepo, code for multiple projects (which may be related or entirely distinct) resides within a single repository.
• Projects within the monorepo have separate lifecycles and can be managed independently, but utilize shared tools, dependencies, and collaboration workflows.

Pros

• Centralised Code Management: Enforces consistent coding standards.
• Simplified Dependencies: Shared libraries reduce duplication and dependency conflicts.
• Improved Collaboration: Teams coordinate easily and propagate changes across projects with seamless efficiency.
• Popular With Tech Giants: Google, Facebook, and others organise their vast codebases with monorepos

Cons

• Build Complexity: As the codebase grows, build and test processes can slow down dramatically.
• PR Noise: Too many collaborators and open pull requests can create confusion.
• Tooling Investments: Requires advanced tooling (such as Nx or Lerna) to maintain efficiency.

Microfrontend Architecture

What is Microfrontend?

• Microfrontend architecture extends microservices principles to the UI layer, breaking the frontend into modular, independently deployable pieces.
• Each microfrontend is developed, tested, and deployed by potentially different teams, possibly using distinct technologies

Pros

• Decentralised Development: Enables teams to work on separate features without interfering with each other.
• Technology Diversity: Each module can use the tech best suited for its purpose.
• Independent Deployment: Allows risk-free, incremental updates; rollbacks affect only the targeted component.
• Scalability & Team Autonomy: Perfect for large, complex apps with many squads.

Cons

• Integration Complexity: Coordinating shared libraries and ensuring smooth user experiences can be challenging.
• Resource Intensive: Requires investments in infrastructure and developer expertise. Not ideal for small teams.

Practical Differences & Use Cases

Real-World Examples

• Monolithic: Early-stage startups, legacy enterprise dashboards.
• Monorepo: Google (Gmail/YouTube), Facebook, Twitter, Uber, Netflix.
• Microfrontends: E-commerce sites with independent checkout, product, and profile teams; streaming platforms; large SaaS dashboards.

Hybrid Approaches

• Monorepo + Microfrontends: Many enterprises manage microfrontends in a monorepo for sharing libraries and infrastructure, but keep deployment independent for each module. Eases collaboration while retaining autonomy.

Conclusion

• Monolithic—simplicity at the cost of scalability.
• Monorepo—collaboration and sharing, with tooling demands.
• Microfrontends—ultimate modularity for large teams, but with integration complexity

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Abhishek Kovuri, UI developer