Frontend Architect — Learning Path
An engineer responsible for the structure, boundaries, and long-term evolution of a frontend system.
Level: Advanced · Required: 151 articles (~35.4 h) · Optional: 29 articles (~7.9 h)
Difficulty of required articles: Foundational 3 · Intermediate 102 · Advanced 40 · Staff 6.
Follow the sections in order. Articles link into docs/; each shows its difficulty and estimated reading time. Full prerequisites for any article are in its domain's graph.json (see GRAPH.md).
Milestones
- Define module boundaries and dependency direction that scale
- Choose rendering and data-fetching boundaries deliberately
- Design API contracts and a versioned design system
- Structure a monorepo with package and build architecture
- Record and defend architectural decisions
Expected skills
By completing the required articles you should be able to:
- System structure, boundaries, and dependency management
- Rendering, state, and data architecture
- Design-system and package architecture
- Trade-off analysis and technical direction
Required articles
Frontend Architecture
- Separation of Concerns · Intermediate · 12 min
- Layered Architecture · Intermediate · 12 min
- Module Boundaries · Intermediate · 12 min
- Dependency Direction & Inversion · Intermediate · 15 min
- Feature-Based Structure · Intermediate · 12 min
- Domain-Driven Frontend · Intermediate · 12 min
- Colocation Principles · Intermediate · 12 min
- Micro-Frontends · Advanced · 16 min
- Module Federation · Advanced · 16 min
- Shared Kernel & Contracts · Advanced · 16 min
- Rendering Boundaries · Intermediate · 12 min
- Data-Fetching Boundaries · Intermediate · 12 min
- Client/Server Split · Intermediate · 12 min
- Architectural Decision Records · Intermediate · 15 min
- Trade-off Analysis · Intermediate · 12 min
- Evolutionary Architecture · Intermediate · 12 min
State Management
- Categories of State · Intermediate · 12 min
- Server vs Client State · Intermediate · 12 min
- UI vs Domain State · Intermediate · 12 min
- Ephemeral vs Persistent State · Intermediate · 15 min
- Local State · Intermediate · 12 min
- Lifting State Up · Intermediate · 12 min
- Global State · Intermediate · 12 min
- Colocation vs Centralization · Intermediate · 15 min
- Computed Values · Intermediate · 12 min
- Selectors & Memoized Selectors · Intermediate · 15 min
- Store Shape & Normalization · Intermediate · 15 min
- The Reducer Pattern · Intermediate · 12 min
- Unidirectional Data Flow · Intermediate · 12 min
- Event Sourcing & Commands · Intermediate · 12 min
- Modeling UI with State Machines · Intermediate · 15 min
- Store-Based Libraries · Intermediate · 12 min
- Atom-Based Libraries · Intermediate · 12 min
- Proxy-Based Reactivity · Intermediate · 12 min
Data & Server State
- Fetch-on-Render vs Render-as-You-Fetch · Intermediate · 15 min
- Parallel vs Waterfall Requests · Intermediate · 15 min
- Request Deduplication · Intermediate · 12 min
- Data Prefetching · Intermediate · 12 min
- Cache Keys & Query Identity · Intermediate · 15 min
- Staleness & Revalidation · Intermediate · 12 min
- Cache Invalidation · Intermediate · 12 min
- Background Refetching · Intermediate · 12 min
- Normalizing Server Responses · Intermediate · 15 min
- Client-Side Relations · Intermediate · 12 min
- Derived Server Data · Intermediate · 12 min
- Retries & Backoff · Intermediate · 12 min
- Loading & Error States · Intermediate · 12 min
- Offline & Local-First Sync · Intermediate · 12 min
API Design & Contracts
- REST · Advanced · 16 min
- GraphQL · Advanced · 16 min
- RPC · Advanced · 16 min
- Realtime & Subscriptions · Advanced · 16 min
- Resource & Schema Design · Advanced · 16 min
- Versioning Strategies · Advanced · 16 min
- Pagination & Filtering Conventions · Advanced · 19 min
- Error Contract Design · Advanced · 16 min
- End-to-End Type Safety (tRPC) · Advanced · 19 min
- Code Generation from Schemas · Advanced · 19 min
- Contract Testing · Advanced · 16 min
- Backend-for-Frontend · Advanced · 16 min
- API Gateways & Aggregation · Advanced · 16 min
- Response Shaping · Advanced · 16 min
Rendering Architectures
- The CSR Model · Intermediate · 12 min
- The App Shell Pattern · Intermediate · 12 min
- Client-Side Data Loading · Intermediate · 12 min
- The SSR Model · Intermediate · 12 min
- Hydration · Intermediate · 12 min
- Selective & Progressive Hydration · Intermediate · 15 min
- Hydration Mismatches · Intermediate · 12 min
- Static Site Generation · Intermediate · 12 min
- Incremental Static Regeneration · Intermediate · 15 min
- On-Demand Revalidation · Intermediate · 12 min
- Streaming SSR · Advanced · 16 min
- Progressive Rendering & Flushing · Advanced · 19 min
- Out-of-Order Streaming · Advanced · 16 min
- The Server/Client Boundary · Intermediate · 12 min
- Islands Architecture · Intermediate · 12 min
- Resumability vs Hydration · Intermediate · 12 min
- Edge vs Origin Rendering · Intermediate · 12 min
Routing
- Client-Side Routing · Intermediate · 12 min
- File-Based & Server Routing · Intermediate · 15 min
- Hybrid Routing · Intermediate · 12 min
- Route Matching & Params · Intermediate · 12 min
- Nested Routes & Layouts · Intermediate · 12 min
- Parallel & Intercepting Routes · Intermediate · 15 min
- The URL as State · Intermediate · 12 min
- Route Loaders & Dependencies · Intermediate · 15 min
- Deferred & Streaming Route Data · Intermediate · 15 min
- Route Actions & Mutations · Intermediate · 12 min
Design Systems
- Design Primitives · Intermediate · 12 min
- Spacing & Layout Scales · Intermediate · 12 min
- Elevation & Surfaces · Intermediate · 12 min
- Token Architecture · Intermediate · 12 min
- Semantic Token Layers · Intermediate · 12 min
- Token Transformation & Distribution · Intermediate · 15 min
- Light/Dark & Color Modes · Intermediate · 12 min
- Multi-Brand Theming · Intermediate · 12 min
- Runtime vs Build-Time Theming · Intermediate · 15 min
- Contribution Model · Intermediate · 12 min
- Versioning & Deprecation · Intermediate · 12 min
- Breaking Changes & Migration · Intermediate · 15 min
- Usage Guidelines · Intermediate · 12 min
- Living Docs & Playgrounds · Intermediate · 12 min
- Adoption & Coverage Metrics · Intermediate · 15 min
Package Architecture
- Dependency Resolution · Advanced · 16 min
- Lockfiles & Determinism · Advanced · 16 min
- Node Modules & Hoisting Models · Advanced · 19 min
- Exports Map & Entry Points · Advanced · 16 min
- Module Formats (ESM/CJS/UMD) · Advanced · 19 min
- Conditional & Dual Exports · Advanced · 16 min
- Types Distribution · Advanced · 16 min
- Semantic Versioning · Advanced · 16 min
- Release Automation & Changelogs · Advanced · 19 min
- Provenance & Signing · Advanced · 16 min
- Peer Dependencies · Advanced · 16 min
- Bundling vs Externalizing · Advanced · 16 min
- Dependency Hygiene & Updates · Advanced · 19 min
Build Systems & Tooling
- The Dependency Graph · Intermediate · 12 min
- Bundler Models · Intermediate · 12 min
- Entry Points & Output · Intermediate · 12 min
- Tree Shaking · Intermediate · 12 min
- Dead Code Elimination · Intermediate · 12 min
- Chunking & Split Points · Intermediate · 12 min
- Scope Hoisting · Intermediate · 12 min
Developer Experience & Workflow
- Monorepo Architecture · Intermediate · 12 min
- Task Orchestration & Pipelines · Intermediate · 15 min
- Workspace Dependency Graphs · Intermediate · 15 min
- Remote Caching & Affected Builds · Intermediate · 15 min
- CI Pipeline Design · Intermediate · 12 min
- Build & Test Automation · Intermediate · 12 min
- Deployment Automation · Intermediate · 12 min
- Pipeline Caching & Speed · Intermediate · 12 min
TypeScript
- Variance · Intermediate · 12 min
- Unsoundness & Escape Hatches · Intermediate · 15 min
- Strictness Flags · Intermediate · 12 min
- Branded & Nominal Types · Foundational · 8 min
- Exhaustiveness · Foundational · 8 min
- Illegal States Unrepresentable · Foundational · 11 min
Engineering Practices
- Abstraction & Leaky Abstractions · Advanced · 19 min
- Coupling & Cohesion · Advanced · 16 min
- SOLID for Frontend · Advanced · 16 min
- YAGNI & Simplicity · Advanced · 16 min
- API & Interface Stability · Advanced · 16 min
- Backward Compatibility · Advanced · 16 min
- Deprecation Strategy · Advanced · 16 min
Systems Thinking & Leadership
- Trade-off Analysis · Staff · 20 min
- Decision-Making Under Uncertainty · Staff · 23 min
- Build vs Buy · Staff · 20 min
- Technical Design & RFCs · Staff · 20 min
- Setting Standards & Guardrails · Staff · 23 min
- Driving Consistency at Scale · Staff · 23 min
Optional articles
Security
- Same-Origin Policy · Advanced · 16 min
- CORS · Advanced · 16 min
- Isolation (COOP/COEP) · Advanced · 16 min
Performance Engineering
- Performance Budgets · Intermediate · 12 min
- Regression Prevention & CI Gates · Intermediate · 15 min
- Caching for Performance (cross-layer) · Intermediate · 15 min
Delivery & Infrastructure
- Static Hosting · Advanced · 16 min
- Server & SSR Hosting · Advanced · 16 min
- Serverless Functions · Advanced · 16 min
- Edge Runtimes · Advanced · 16 min
- CDN Architecture · Advanced · 16 min
- Edge Compute & Routing · Advanced · 16 min
- Immutable Asset URLs · Advanced · 16 min
- Environment Configuration · Advanced · 16 min
- Secrets Management · Advanced · 16 min
- Feature Configuration · Advanced · 16 min
- Deployment Strategies (canary, blue-green) · Advanced · 19 min
- Rollbacks & Kill Switches · Advanced · 16 min
- Feature Flags · Advanced · 16 min
- Progressive Delivery & Experiments · Advanced · 19 min
- Scaling & Capacity · Advanced · 16 min
- Cost Optimization · Advanced · 16 min
- Uptime & Health Checks · Advanced · 16 min
Observability & Reliability
- Structured Logging · Advanced · 16 min
- Frontend Tracing & Spans · Advanced · 16 min
- Custom Metrics & Events · Advanced · 16 min
- On-Call & Alerting · Staff · 20 min
- Postmortems & RCA · Staff · 20 min
- Error Budgets & SLOs · Staff · 20 min