Scalable Architecture Patterns for Growing Applications
Scaling isn't just "add more servers." Caching, queues, read replicas, CDN — patterns that let applications grow. Here are the key patterns we use.
Table of Contents
Caching
Redis for API responses, sessions, hot data. Cache at multiple layers: application, CDN. Invalidate on write. See our Performance guide.
Queues & Async
Offload heavy work to queues. Email, exports, webhooks. Don't block HTTP. Bull, SQS, RabbitMQ. Idempotency for critical jobs.
Read Replicas
Write to primary, read from replicas. Offload read load. PostgreSQL, MySQL support. See our Database Design guide.
CDN
Static assets, images at edge. Cloudflare, CloudFront. Reduces latency globally.
Frequently Asked Questions
When do we need to scale?
When you hit limits: DB connections, response time, throughput. Monitor early. Add patterns before you need them — but don't over-engineer for hypothetical scale.