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Architecture Overview

How OpenComponents Works

OpenComponents is a micro frontend architecture that breaks down monolithic applications into independently deployable, reusable components that teams can own and maintain autonomously.

Conceptual Overview

🛒 Real-World Example: E-commerce Platform

Instead of building one massive application, imagine decomposing it into independent components:

🏠 Header Component → Platform Team

  • Navigation, search, user menu
  • Deployed independently
  • Shared across all pages

📦 Product Listing → Catalog Team

  • Product cards, filters, pagination
  • A/B test new layouts
  • Optimized for performance

🛒 Shopping Cart → Commerce Team

  • Cart state, checkout flow
  • Payment integrations
  • Independent scaling

👤 User Profile → Identity Team

  • Authentication, preferences
  • Privacy controls
  • Account management

The Result: Each team develops, tests, and deploys independently while users see a seamless, integrated experience.

Benefits of This Approach

🚀 Team Independence

  • Autonomous development - No coordination bottlenecks
  • Technology flexibility - React, Vue, ES6, or any framework per component
  • Independent deployments - Release on your own schedule
  • Clear ownership - Teams own components end-to-end

📈 Scalability & Performance

  • Component-level scaling - Scale based on actual usage patterns
  • CDN optimization - Automatic asset distribution globally
  • Server-side rendering - SEO and performance without Node.js requirements
  • Caching strategies - Intelligent caching at multiple levels

🔄 Gradual Migration

  • Start small - Begin with one component, expand gradually
  • No big bang - Migrate from monolith incrementally
  • Risk mitigation - Test architecture with non-critical components
  • Backward compatibility - Existing applications continue working

Why Choose OpenComponents?

Team Independence

  • Autonomous development: Teams work on their components without blocking each other
  • Technology flexibility: Use React, Vue, ES6, or any framework per component
  • Independent deployments: Release updates without coordinating with other teams
  • Clear ownership: Each team owns their components end-to-end

Gradual Migration

  • Start small: Begin with one component and gradually expand
  • No big bang: Migrate from monolith to micro frontends incrementally
  • Risk mitigation: Test the architecture with non-critical components first
  • Backward compatibility: Existing applications continue working during migration

A/B Testing and Experimentation

  • Component-level testing: Test different versions of individual components
  • Isolated experiments: Changes to one component don't affect others
  • Faster iteration: Deploy and test new features quickly
  • Data-driven decisions: Measure impact of component changes independently

System Architecture

🏗️ Core Components

🛠️ CLI & Development Tools

  • Component scaffolding and development
  • Local testing with hot reload
  • Publishing and version management
  • Built-in preview and debugging tools

🌐 Registry (REST API)

  • Central component catalog and metadata
  • Version management and resolution
  • Authentication and access control
  • Component rendering and serving

📦 Component Library

  • Immutable component storage
  • Version history and artifacts
  • Dependency management
  • Backup and disaster recovery

🚀 CDN & Asset Distribution

  • Global static asset delivery
  • Automatic optimization and compression
  • Edge caching for performance
  • Bandwidth cost optimization

Publishing Workflow

CLI Operations

1. Component Analysis & Compilation

oc publish my-component/
  • Validation: Check component structure and dependencies
  • Server bundling: Minify and bundle server.js with safety checks
  • Template compilation: Precompile view to optimized JavaScript
  • Asset processing: Bundle CSS, images, and static resources
  • Cross-browser compatibility: Transform code for browser support

2. Package Preparation

  • Metadata update: Enhance package.json with build information
  • Bundle creation: Generate compressed .tar.gz package
  • Version verification: Ensure semantic versioning compliance

3. Registry Communication

PUT /my-component/1.0.0
Content-Type: application/octet-stream
Authorization: Bearer <token>

Registry Operations

1. Validation & Security

  • Version conflict check: Prevent duplicate versions
  • Authentication: Verify publishing credentials (if enabled)
  • Package validation: Check component structure and metadata

2. Asset Distribution

CDN Structure:
├── my-component/
│ └── 1.0.0/
│ ├── template.js (public - needed by clients)
│ ├── package.json (public - component metadata)
│ ├── server.js (private - registry access only)
│ └── static/ (public - CSS, images, fonts)
│ ├── styles.css
│ └── images/

3. Registry Synchronization

  • Component registry update: Add to components.json manifest
  • Multi-instance notification: Trigger polling for distributed registries
  • Cache invalidation: Clear old component versions from cache

Distribution & Replication

Multi-Registry Architecture

┌─────────────┐    ┌─────────────┐    ┌─────────────┐
│ Registry │ │ Registry │ │ Registry │
│ US-East │ │ EU-West │ │ Asia-Pac │
└──────┬──────┘ └──────┬──────┘ └──────┬──────┘
│ │ │
└──────────────────┼──────────────────┘

┌──────▼──────┐
│ Shared │
│ CDN │
└─────────────┘

Polling Mechanism

How it works:

  1. Registry startup: Begin polling components.json every 5 seconds
  2. Change detection: Compare file hash with last known state
  3. Component sync: Download new/updated component metadata
  4. Memory caching: Store compiled templates and server logic
  5. Resilience: Continue serving cached components during network issues

Failure Scenarios & Mitigation

Scenario: Network partition between registry and CDN

Timeline:
T0: Component v1.2.3 available on all registries
T1: Component v1.2.4 published to Registry-A
T2: Network issues prevent Registry-B from syncing
T3: Load balancer routes requests randomly

Results:
- Registry-A: Serves v1.2.4 ✅
- Registry-B: Serves v1.2.3 ⚠️ (stale but functional)
- Strict version requests to Registry-B: 404 ❌

Best Practices:

  • Use semantic versioning: ~1.2.0 instead of 1.2.4
  • Short polling intervals: 5-second sync reduces inconsistency window
  • Monitoring & alerting: Track registry sync health
  • Graceful degradation: Serve cached versions during outages

Advanced Distribution Features

🔄 Automatic Failover

  • Registry instances automatically retry failed CDN connections
  • Components remain available from memory cache during outages
  • Health checks detect and route around unhealthy instances

📊 Monitoring Integration

  • Registry publishes events for sync failures and recoveries
  • Metrics tracking for component usage and performance
  • Alerting for version inconsistencies across regions

🚀 Performance Optimization

  • Template deduplication across component versions
  • Intelligent caching based on usage patterns
  • CDN edge caching for global distribution