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:
- Registry startup: Begin polling
components.json
every 5 seconds - Change detection: Compare file hash with last known state
- Component sync: Download new/updated component metadata
- Memory caching: Store compiled templates and server logic
- 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 of1.2.4
- ✅ 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