Design Reddit: High-Level Design

Step 5: High-Level System Design

With the requirements, the estimates, and the API settled, we can put the pieces together. At a high level, the platform is a set of distributed services, and each one owns a single job. Two flows run through the system: content submission, the writes, and content consumption, the reads. We use a microservices architecture for this reason. Each part can then scale on its own, and its complexity stays contained.

Key Points

Client applications. Web browsers and mobile apps call HTTP(S) APIs through one endpoint, the API gateway or load balancer