Template Library

Not everyone wants to start from scratch. Sometimes you want to look at how someone else solved the problem, then adapt it to your situation.

The template library has 90+ generic architecture templates and 55 real-world company architectures. All interactive, all editable, all exportable.

These are architecture patterns organized by use case:

Starter architectures. SaaS Starter (monolith), SaaS with Microservices, API-First Platform, Serverless Application, JAMstack Site. Good starting points when you're building something new and want a solid foundation.

Domain-specific. E-commerce Platform, Social Media Backend, Real-Time Chat, Video Streaming, IoT Data Pipeline, ML Training Platform, Fintech Payment System, Healthcare Data Platform. Each one is opinionated about the right patterns for that domain.

Pattern-focused. Event-Driven Architecture, CQRS with Event Sourcing, Saga Pattern, Strangler Fig (monolith migration), Blue-Green Deployment, Multi-Region Active-Active. These are for when you know the pattern you want but need a reference implementation.

Cloud-specific. AWS Reference Architecture, GCP Reference Architecture, Azure Reference Architecture, Multi-Cloud. These map to specific cloud services rather than generic components.

Each template has a description explaining when to use it, what scale it targets, and what trade-offs it makes. They're not toy examples. They're architectures you could actually deploy.

These are reverse-engineered architectures from real companies. I spent months researching each one from engineering blogs, conference talks, open-source releases, and technical documentation.

The top 10 most popular:

1. Netflix: streaming pipeline, content delivery, recommendation engine
2. Uber: real-time ride matching, geospatial indexing, dispatch system
3. Stripe: payment processing, idempotent API design, fraud detection
4. Discord: real-time messaging, WebSocket gateway, voice architecture
5. Spotify: music streaming, playlist service, recommendation pipeline
6. Instagram: photo pipeline, feed generation, explore algorithm
7. Slack: channel-based messaging, search infrastructure, presence system
8. Airbnb: search and booking, pricing engine, trust and safety
9. Tinder: geospatial matching, swipe system, recommendation algorithm
10. Twitter/X: tweet fanout, timeline generation, trending topics

Each architecture is interactive. Click any node to understand why it exists and what would break without it. These aren't just boxes and arrows; they're educational tools.

Based on usage analytics, the templates serve three main purposes:

Learning. Students and engineers preparing for system design interviews use the real-world architectures to understand how companies solve scaling problems. The click-to-audit feature makes this especially useful. You can explore each component's purpose without reading a 5,000-word blog post.

Starting points. Engineers building new systems use generic templates as a foundation. Pick the template closest to what you're building, modify it on the canvas, and you've saved 30 minutes of initial diagramming.

Reference. Senior engineers use the templates during architecture reviews and design discussions. "Let's look at how Netflix handles this" is a more productive conversation starter than drawing from memory on a whiteboard.

The template library is curated. I review every template for accuracy and completeness. But the real-world architectures are based on publicly available information and may not perfectly reflect current implementations. Companies change their architectures. I update the templates when new information becomes available.

If you spot something wrong or have information that would improve a template, reach out. Getting the details right matters.

Browse the full library at codelit.io/templates. Filter by category, search by technology, or just scroll and see what catches your eye. Every template is one click away from becoming an editable canvas.