Design microservices architectures with service boundaries, event-driven communication, and resilience patterns. Use when building distributed systems, decomposing monoliths, or implementing microservices.
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backend-development
plugins/backend-development/skills/microservices-patterns/SKILL.md
January 21, 2026
Select agents to install to:
npx add-skill https://github.com/HermeticOrmus/after-the-third-cup/blob/main/plugins/backend-development/skills/microservices-patterns/SKILL.md -a claude-code --skill microservices-patternsInstallation paths:
.claude/skills/microservices-patterns/# Microservices Patterns
Master microservices architecture patterns including service boundaries, inter-service communication, data management, and resilience patterns for building distributed systems.
## When to Use This Skill
- Decomposing monoliths into microservices
- Designing service boundaries and contracts
- Implementing inter-service communication
- Managing distributed data and transactions
- Building resilient distributed systems
- Implementing service discovery and load balancing
- Designing event-driven architectures
## Core Concepts
### 1. Service Decomposition Strategies
**By Business Capability**
- Organize services around business functions
- Each service owns its domain
- Example: OrderService, PaymentService, InventoryService
**By Subdomain (DDD)**
- Core domain, supporting subdomains
- Bounded contexts map to services
- Clear ownership and responsibility
**Strangler Fig Pattern**
- Gradually extract from monolith
- New functionality as microservices
- Proxy routes to old/new systems
### 2. Communication Patterns
**Synchronous (Request/Response)**
- REST APIs
- gRPC
- GraphQL
**Asynchronous (Events/Messages)**
- Event streaming (Kafka)
- Message queues (RabbitMQ, SQS)
- Pub/Sub patterns
### 3. Data Management
**Database Per Service**
- Each service owns its data
- No shared databases
- Loose coupling
**Saga Pattern**
- Distributed transactions
- Compensating actions
- Eventual consistency
### 4. Resilience Patterns
**Circuit Breaker**
- Fail fast on repeated errors
- Prevent cascade failures
**Retry with Backoff**
- Transient fault handling
- Exponential backoff
**Bulkhead**
- Isolate resources
- Limit impact of failures
## Service Decomposition Patterns
### Pattern 1: By Business Capability
```python
# E-commerce example
# Order Service
class OrderService:
"""Handles order lifecycle."""
async def create_order(self, order_data: dict) ->