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package/plugins/specweave-alternatives/skills/architecture-alternatives/SKILL.md

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+---
+name: architecture-alternatives
+description: Software architecture patterns and alternatives expert. Covers monolith vs microservices, serverless, event-driven, CQRS, hexagonal architecture, clean architecture, DDD, and architecture decision frameworks. Activates for architecture patterns, monolith, microservices, serverless, event-driven, CQRS, hexagonal architecture, clean architecture, DDD, architecture decisions, system design, scalability patterns.
+---
+
+# Architecture Alternatives Expert Skill
+
+Expert in software architecture patterns, their tradeoffs, and when to use each approach. Helps teams make informed architecture decisions based on context, scale, and organizational constraints.
+
+## Core Architecture Patterns
+
+### 1. Monolith vs Microservices
+
+#### Monolithic Architecture
+
+**Definition**: Single deployable unit containing all application logic.
+
+**Strengths**:
+- **Simplicity**: Single codebase, deployment, and database
+- **Performance**: In-process communication (no network overhead)
+- **Development Speed**: Easy local development and debugging
+- **Data Consistency**: ACID transactions across entire system
+- **Lower Operational Complexity**: One service to deploy, monitor, scale
+
+**Weaknesses**:
+- **Scaling**: Must scale entire application (can't scale components independently)
+- **Deployment Risk**: Single point of failure, entire app redeploys for small changes
+- **Team Coordination**: Large teams may conflict on shared codebase
+- **Technology Lock-in**: Hard to adopt new languages/frameworks incrementally
+
+**Best For**:
+- Startups and MVPs (speed to market)
+- Teams < 15 engineers
+- Well-defined domains with low complexity
+- Applications with predictable load patterns
+
+**Example**:
+```typescript
+// Monolithic e-commerce app
+class EcommerceApp {
+  constructor(
+    private userService: UserService,
+    private productService: ProductService,
+    private orderService: OrderService,
+    private paymentService: PaymentService
+  ) {}
+
+  async checkout(userId: string, cartItems: CartItem[]) {
+    // All in-process, single transaction
+    const user = await this.userService.getUser(userId);
+    const products = await this.productService.validateStock(cartItems);
+    const order = await this.orderService.createOrder(user, products);
+    const payment = await this.paymentService.processPayment(order);
+    return { order, payment };
+  }
+}
+```
+
+#### Microservices Architecture
+
+**Definition**: System composed of independently deployable services, each owning its domain.
+
+**Strengths**:
+- **Independent Scaling**: Scale services based on their specific load
+- **Technology Diversity**: Use best tool for each service
+- **Team Autonomy**: Teams own services end-to-end
+- **Fault Isolation**: Failure in one service doesn't crash entire system
+- **Faster Deployment**: Deploy services independently
+
+**Weaknesses**:
+- **Operational Complexity**: Distributed tracing, service mesh, monitoring
+- **Data Consistency**: No ACID transactions across services (eventual consistency)
+- **Network Overhead**: Inter-service communication latency
+- **Testing Complexity**: End-to-end testing requires running multiple services
+- **Organizational Overhead**: Requires mature DevOps culture
+
+**Best For**:
+- Large teams (50+ engineers)
+- Complex domains requiring team specialization
+- Independent scaling requirements
+- Organizations with mature DevOps practices
+
+**Example**:
+```typescript
+// Microservices e-commerce (order service)
+class OrderService {
+  async createOrder(userId: string, items: CartItem[]) {
+    // 1. Call User Service via HTTP/gRPC
+    const user = await this.httpClient.get(`http://user-service/users/${userId}`);
+
+    // 2. Call Product Service to validate stock
+    const stockCheck = await this.httpClient.post('http://product-service/validate', { items });
+
+    // 3. Create order locally
+    const order = await this.orderRepo.create({ userId, items, total: stockCheck.total });
+
+    // 4. Publish OrderCreated event (eventual consistency)
+    await this.eventBus.publish('OrderCreated', { orderId: order.id, items });
+
+    return order;
+  }
+}
+```
+
+**Decision Matrix**:
+
+| Factor | Monolith | Microservices |
+|--------|----------|---------------|
+| Team Size | < 15 | 50+ |
+| Domain Complexity | Low-Medium | High |
+| Deployment Frequency | Weekly | Multiple/day |
+| Scalability Needs | Uniform | Heterogeneous |
+| Ops Maturity | Basic | Advanced |
+
+### 2. Serverless Architecture
+
+**Definition**: Application logic runs in managed, ephemeral compute environments (FaaS - Function as a Service).
+
+**Patterns**:
+
+#### Event-Driven Functions
+```typescript
+// AWS Lambda example
+export const handler = async (event: S3Event) => {
+  for (const record of event.Records) {
+    const bucket = record.s3.bucket.name;
+    const key = record.s3.object.key;
+
+    // Process uploaded image
+    const image = await s3.getObject({ Bucket: bucket, Key: key });
+    const thumbnail = await generateThumbnail(image);
+    await s3.putObject({ Bucket: `${bucket}-thumbnails`, Key: key, Body: thumbnail });
+  }
+};
+```
+
+#### API Gateway + Lambda
+```typescript
+// API Gateway Lambda handler
+export const handler = async (event: APIGatewayProxyEvent) => {
+  const userId = event.pathParameters?.userId;
+  const user = await dynamoDB.get({ TableName: 'Users', Key: { id: userId } });
+
+  return {
+    statusCode: 200,
+    body: JSON.stringify(user),
+  };
+};
+```
+
+**Strengths**:
+- **Zero Server Management**: No infrastructure provisioning
+- **Automatic Scaling**: Scales to zero, scales to millions
+- **Pay-per-Use**: Only pay for actual execution time
+- **Fast Iteration**: Deploy functions independently
+
+**Weaknesses**:
+- **Cold Starts**: 100ms-5s latency for infrequent functions
+- **Vendor Lock-in**: AWS Lambda, Azure Functions, GCP Cloud Functions
+- **Debugging Complexity**: Distributed logs, limited local testing
+- **Statelessness**: No in-memory state (must use external storage)
+- **Timeout Limits**: AWS Lambda max 15 minutes
+
+**Best For**:
+- Event-driven workloads (file processing, webhooks)
+- Sporadic traffic patterns
+- Rapid prototyping and MVPs
+- Cost-sensitive projects with variable load
+
+**Anti-Patterns**:
+- Long-running processes (>15 min)
+- Latency-sensitive APIs (<50ms required)
+- Stateful applications (WebSocket servers)
+
+### 3. Event-Driven Architecture
+
+**Definition**: System components communicate through events rather than direct calls.
+
+**Patterns**:
+
+#### Event Sourcing
+```typescript
+// Store events, not current state
+type AccountEvent =
+  | { type: 'AccountOpened'; accountId: string; initialBalance: number }
+  | { type: 'MoneyDeposited'; accountId: string; amount: number }
+  | { type: 'MoneyWithdrawn'; accountId: string; amount: number };
+
+class BankAccount {
+  private balance = 0;
+
+  // Replay events to reconstruct state
+  applyEvent(event: AccountEvent) {
+    switch (event.type) {
+      case 'AccountOpened':
+        this.balance = event.initialBalance;
+        break;
+      case 'MoneyDeposited':
+        this.balance += event.amount;
+        break;
+      case 'MoneyWithdrawn':
+        this.balance -= event.amount;
+        break;
+    }
+  }
+
+  // Commands produce events
+  withdraw(amount: number): AccountEvent[] {
+    if (this.balance < amount) throw new Error('Insufficient funds');
+    return [{ type: 'MoneyWithdrawn', accountId: this.id, amount }];
+  }
+}
+```
+
+#### CQRS (Command Query Responsibility Segregation)
+```typescript
+// Separate read and write models
+
+// WRITE MODEL (Commands)
+class OrderCommandHandler {
+  async createOrder(command: CreateOrderCommand) {
+    const order = new Order(command.userId, command.items);
+    await this.orderWriteRepo.save(order);
+    await this.eventBus.publish('OrderCreated', order.toEvent());
+  }
+}
+
+// READ MODEL (Queries - optimized for reads)
+class OrderQueryHandler {
+  async getUserOrders(userId: string): Promise<OrderSummary[]> {
+    // Denormalized view, optimized for fast reads
+    return this.orderReadRepo.findByUserId(userId);
+  }
+}
+
+// Event handler updates read model asynchronously
+class OrderEventHandler {
+  async onOrderCreated(event: OrderCreatedEvent) {
+    // Update denormalized read model
+    await this.orderReadRepo.insertSummary({
+      orderId: event.orderId,
+      userId: event.userId,
+      total: event.total,
+      status: 'pending',
+    });
+  }
+}
+```
+
+**Strengths**:
+- **Decoupling**: Services don't need to know about each other
+- **Scalability**: Asynchronous processing handles load spikes
+- **Audit Trail**: Event log provides complete history
+- **Flexibility**: Add new event consumers without changing producers
+
+**Weaknesses**:
+- **Eventual Consistency**: Read models lag behind writes
+- **Complexity**: Debugging distributed event flows
+- **Event Schema Evolution**: Managing event versioning
+- **Ordering Guarantees**: Hard to maintain event order across partitions
+
+**Best For**:
+- Systems requiring audit trails (finance, healthcare)
+- High-throughput systems (IoT, analytics)
+- Complex business workflows
+- Systems with multiple consumers of same events
+
+### 4. Hexagonal Architecture (Ports & Adapters)
+
+**Definition**: Application core is independent of external concerns (frameworks, databases, UI).
+
+```typescript
+// DOMAIN (Core - no external dependencies)
+interface OrderRepository {
+  save(order: Order): Promise<void>;
+  findById(id: string): Promise<Order | null>;
+}
+
+class Order {
+  constructor(
+    public readonly id: string,
+    public readonly items: OrderItem[],
+    public status: OrderStatus
+  ) {}
+
+  // Business logic here, independent of infrastructure
+  complete() {
+    if (this.status !== 'pending') throw new Error('Order already completed');
+    this.status = 'completed';
+  }
+}
+
+// APPLICATION (Use Cases)
+class CompleteOrderUseCase {
+  constructor(private orderRepo: OrderRepository) {}
+
+  async execute(orderId: string) {
+    const order = await this.orderRepo.findById(orderId);
+    if (!order) throw new Error('Order not found');
+
+    order.complete();
+    await this.orderRepo.save(order);
+  }
+}
+
+// INFRASTRUCTURE (Adapters)
+class PostgresOrderRepository implements OrderRepository {
+  async save(order: Order) {
+    await this.db.query('UPDATE orders SET status = $1 WHERE id = $2', [order.status, order.id]);
+  }
+
+  async findById(id: string): Promise<Order | null> {
+    const row = await this.db.query('SELECT * FROM orders WHERE id = $1', [id]);
+    if (!row) return null;
+    return new Order(row.id, row.items, row.status);
+  }
+}
+
+// UI (Adapter)
+class ExpressOrderController {
+  constructor(private completeOrder: CompleteOrderUseCase) {}
+
+  async handleCompleteOrder(req: Request, res: Response) {
+    try {
+      await this.completeOrder.execute(req.params.orderId);
+      res.status(200).send({ message: 'Order completed' });
+    } catch (error) {
+      res.status(400).send({ error: error.message });
+    }
+  }
+}
+```
+
+**Strengths**:
+- **Testability**: Core business logic testable without infrastructure
+- **Flexibility**: Swap databases, frameworks without changing core
+- **Clear Separation**: Business rules isolated from technical concerns
+- **Domain-Focused**: Encourages focus on business logic, not frameworks
+
+**Weaknesses**:
+- **Boilerplate**: More interfaces and abstraction layers
+- **Learning Curve**: Requires understanding of dependency inversion
+- **Overkill for Simple Apps**: CRUD apps may not need this complexity
+
+**Best For**:
+- Domain-rich applications (complex business rules)
+- Long-lived projects (future-proofing)
+- Teams practicing DDD (Domain-Driven Design)
+
+### 5. Clean Architecture (Uncle Bob)
+
+**Definition**: Layered architecture with dependency inversion - dependencies point inward.
+
+**Layers** (outermost to innermost):
+1. **Frameworks & Drivers**: UI, Database, External APIs
+2. **Interface Adapters**: Controllers, Presenters, Gateways
+3. **Application Business Rules**: Use Cases
+4. **Enterprise Business Rules**: Entities (domain models)
+
+**Dependency Rule**: Inner layers NEVER depend on outer layers.
+
+```typescript
+// ENTITIES (innermost layer)
+class User {
+  constructor(public id: string, public email: string, public passwordHash: string) {}
+
+  validatePassword(plainPassword: string, hasher: PasswordHasher): boolean {
+    return hasher.compare(plainPassword, this.passwordHash);
+  }
+}
+
+// USE CASES (application layer)
+interface UserRepository {
+  findByEmail(email: string): Promise<User | null>;
+}
+
+class LoginUseCase {
+  constructor(
+    private userRepo: UserRepository,
+    private passwordHasher: PasswordHasher,
+    private tokenGenerator: TokenGenerator
+  ) {}
+
+  async execute(email: string, password: string): Promise<{ token: string }> {
+    const user = await this.userRepo.findByEmail(email);
+    if (!user || !user.validatePassword(password, this.passwordHasher)) {
+      throw new Error('Invalid credentials');
+    }
+
+    const token = this.tokenGenerator.generate(user.id);
+    return { token };
+  }
+}
+
+// INTERFACE ADAPTERS (controllers)
+class AuthController {
+  constructor(private loginUseCase: LoginUseCase) {}
+
+  async login(req: Request, res: Response) {
+    const { email, password } = req.body;
+    const result = await this.loginUseCase.execute(email, password);
+    res.json(result);
+  }
+}
+
+// FRAMEWORKS & DRIVERS (infrastructure)
+class BcryptPasswordHasher implements PasswordHasher {
+  compare(plain: string, hash: string): boolean {
+    return bcrypt.compareSync(plain, hash);
+  }
+}
+
+class PostgresUserRepository implements UserRepository {
+  async findByEmail(email: string): Promise<User | null> {
+    const row = await this.db.query('SELECT * FROM users WHERE email = $1', [email]);
+    if (!row) return null;
+    return new User(row.id, row.email, row.password_hash);
+  }
+}
+```
+
+**Strengths**:
+- **Framework Independence**: Core business logic doesn't depend on Express, React, etc.
+- **Database Independence**: Swap PostgreSQL for MongoDB without changing use cases
+- **Testability**: Mock interfaces easily for unit testing
+- **UI Independence**: Same use cases work with REST API, GraphQL, CLI
+
+**Weaknesses**:
+- **Complexity**: Many layers and interfaces
+- **Indirection**: Tracing logic through layers can be difficult
+- **Over-Engineering**: CRUD apps don't benefit from this structure
+
+**Best For**:
+- Enterprise applications with long lifespans
+- Applications with multiple UIs (web, mobile, CLI)
+- Teams with experienced architects
+
+### 6. Domain-Driven Design (DDD)
+
+**Strategic Design Patterns**:
+
+#### Bounded Contexts
+```typescript
+// SALES CONTEXT
+class Customer {
+  constructor(public id: string, public creditLimit: number) {}
+}
+
+// SUPPORT CONTEXT (different model for same entity!)
+class Customer {
+  constructor(public id: string, public supportTier: 'basic' | 'premium') {}
+}
+
+// Each context has its own model, even for same real-world concept
+```
+
+#### Context Mapping
+```
+Sales Context → Customer Context (Shared Kernel)
+  - Share: CustomerId, CustomerName
+  - Separate: CreditLimit (Sales only), SupportTickets (Support only)
+
+Inventory Context → Sales Context (Upstream/Downstream)
+  - Inventory publishes StockUpdated events
+  - Sales consumes events to update product availability
+```
+
+**Tactical Design Patterns**:
+
+#### Aggregates
+```typescript
+// Order is the Aggregate Root
+class Order {
+  private items: OrderItem[] = [];
+
+  // Enforce business invariants
+  addItem(product: Product, quantity: number) {
+    if (quantity <= 0) throw new Error('Quantity must be positive');
+
+    // Business rule: max 10 items per order
+    if (this.items.length >= 10) throw new Error('Order cannot exceed 10 items');
+
+    this.items.push(new OrderItem(product, quantity));
+  }
+
+  // Aggregate ensures consistency
+  get total(): number {
+    return this.items.reduce((sum, item) => sum + item.subtotal, 0);
+  }
+}
+
+// OrderItem is NOT an Aggregate Root, only accessible through Order
+class OrderItem {
+  constructor(public product: Product, public quantity: number) {}
+
+  get subtotal(): number {
+    return this.product.price * this.quantity;
+  }
+}
+```
+
+#### Value Objects
+```typescript
+class Money {
+  constructor(public readonly amount: number, public readonly currency: string) {
+    if (amount < 0) throw new Error('Amount cannot be negative');
+  }
+
+  add(other: Money): Money {
+    if (this.currency !== other.currency) {
+      throw new Error('Cannot add different currencies');
+    }
+    return new Money(this.amount + other.amount, this.currency);
+  }
+
+  equals(other: Money): boolean {
+    return this.amount === other.amount && this.currency === other.currency;
+  }
+}
+
+// Immutable, defined by value (not identity)
+const price1 = new Money(100, 'USD');
+const price2 = new Money(100, 'USD');
+console.log(price1.equals(price2)); // true (same value)
+```
+
+#### Domain Events
+```typescript
+class OrderPlaced {
+  constructor(
+    public readonly orderId: string,
+    public readonly userId: string,
+    public readonly total: Money,
+    public readonly occurredAt: Date
+  ) {}
+}
+
+class Order {
+  private events: DomainEvent[] = [];
+
+  place() {
+    if (this.status !== 'draft') throw new Error('Order already placed');
+    this.status = 'placed';
+    this.events.push(new OrderPlaced(this.id, this.userId, this.total, new Date()));
+  }
+
+  getEvents(): DomainEvent[] {
+    return this.events;
+  }
+}
+```
+
+**Best For**:
+- Complex business domains (finance, insurance, logistics)
+- Large teams needing clear boundaries
+- Long-lived systems with evolving requirements
+
+## Architecture Decision Framework
+
+### 1. Context Analysis
+
+**Team Context**:
+- Team size: 5-10 (Monolith), 20-50 (Modular Monolith), 50+ (Microservices)
+- Experience: Junior (simpler patterns), Senior (can handle complexity)
+- Org structure: Conway's Law - architecture mirrors communication
+
+**Technical Context**:
+- Current scale: 1k users (Monolith), 100k users (Modular Monolith), 1M+ (Microservices)
+- Growth rate: Steady (simpler), Exponential (plan for scale)
+- Performance requirements: <100ms (consider caching, CDN), <10ms (in-memory, edge)
+
+**Business Context**:
+- Time to market: Fast (Monolith, Serverless), Can wait (Microservices)
+- Budget: Limited (Serverless, Monolith), Generous (custom infrastructure)
+- Risk tolerance: Low (proven patterns), High (bleeding edge)
+
+### 2. Decision Matrix
+
+| Architecture | Complexity | Scalability | Ops Overhead | Best For |
+|--------------|------------|-------------|--------------|----------|
+| Monolith | Low | Medium | Low | Startups, MVPs |
+| Modular Monolith | Medium | Medium | Low | Growing startups |
+| Microservices | High | High | High | Large orgs |
+| Serverless | Low | Very High | Very Low | Event-driven, variable load |
+| Event-Driven | High | Very High | High | High throughput, audit trails |
+
+### 3. Migration Paths
+
+**Monolith → Modular Monolith**:
+1. Identify bounded contexts
+2. Extract modules with clear interfaces
+3. Enforce module boundaries (linting, architecture tests)
+4. Keep single deployment unit
+
+**Modular Monolith → Microservices**:
+1. Start with most independent module
+2. Extract as service with API
+3. Introduce message bus for events
+4. Gradually extract remaining modules
+
+**Monolith → Serverless**:
+1. Extract background jobs to Lambda functions
+2. Move APIs to API Gateway + Lambda
+3. Migrate to managed databases (RDS, DynamoDB)
+4. Decompose monolith incrementally
+
+## Anti-Patterns
+
+### 1. Distributed Monolith
+Microservices with tight coupling - worst of both worlds.
+
+❌ **Symptom**: Services can't deploy independently (require coordinated releases)
+✅ **Fix**: Introduce message bus, versioned APIs, backward compatibility
+
+### 2. Premature Microservices
+Starting with microservices before understanding domain.
+
+❌ **Symptom**: Constantly moving logic between services
+✅ **Fix**: Start with modular monolith, extract services when boundaries are clear
+
+### 3. Anemic Domain Model
+Entities with only getters/setters, all logic in services.
+
+❌ **Symptom**: Entities are just data containers
+✅ **Fix**: Move business logic into domain entities
+
+### 4. God Aggregate
+Single aggregate managing entire system state.
+
+❌ **Symptom**: All commands touch the same aggregate
+✅ **Fix**: Split into smaller aggregates with clear boundaries
+
+## Resources
+
+- [Martin Fowler - Microservices](https://martinfowler.com/articles/microservices.html)
+- [Hexagonal Architecture - Alistair Cockburn](https://alistair.cockburn.us/hexagonal-architecture/)
+- [Clean Architecture - Robert C. Martin](https://blog.cleancoder.com/uncle-bob/2012/08/13/the-clean-architecture.html)
+- [Domain-Driven Design - Eric Evans](https://www.domainlanguage.com/ddd/)
+
+## Activation Keywords
+
+Ask me about:
+- "Monolith vs microservices tradeoffs"
+- "When to use serverless architecture"
+- "Event-driven architecture patterns"
+- "CQRS and event sourcing"
+- "Hexagonal architecture examples"
+- "Clean architecture in practice"
+- "Domain-Driven Design patterns"
+- "How to migrate from monolith to microservices"
+- "Architecture decision frameworks"