Flipped Architecture: A Comprehensive Guide
Flipped Architecture redefines traditional application structure by emphasizing a clear separation of concerns. It typically involves a client-side UI, a robust API layer, a dedicated business logic backend, and scalable data storage. This design promotes modularity, efficient data flow, and integration with various external services, optimizing performance and maintainability for complex applications.
Key Takeaways
Flipped Architecture separates UI, API, business logic, and data for modularity.
React Native handles UI; tRPC manages API calls and data mutations.
Node.js processes business logic, interacting with Supabase for data.
External services like Clerk and Cloudinary enhance application functionality.
Data flows from UI through API to backend, ensuring real-time updates.
What is the role of the User Interface in Flipped Architecture?
The User Interface (UI) in a Flipped Architecture, often built with React Native, serves as the primary interaction point for users. It is responsible for rendering visual components and managing user input across various devices. This layer ensures a consistent and responsive user experience by handling client-side interactions and initiating data requests to the backend. Effective UI design is crucial for user engagement and accessibility, providing the visual framework for the application's functionality and directly impacting user satisfaction.
- UI Components: Visual elements for user interaction and display.
- State Management (Zustand/React Query): Handles application data and UI state efficiently.
- Clerk SDK (Authentication): Manages user authentication processes securely.
How does the API Layer function within Flipped Architecture?
The API Layer, typically implemented using tRPC, acts as the crucial intermediary between the User Interface and the backend business logic. It defines the communication protocols and endpoints for data exchange, ensuring type-safe interactions between client and server. This layer handles incoming requests from the UI, routes them to the appropriate business logic, and returns processed data or confirmations. It is vital for maintaining data integrity and security by performing initial authentication verification before processing requests.
- Data Fetching (Queries): Retrieves necessary data from the backend systems.
- Data Mutation (Bookings, Messages): Sends data to modify server-side information.
- Authentication Verification: Confirms user identity for secure operations and access.
What is the purpose of the Business Logic Layer in this architecture?
The Business Logic Layer, often powered by Node.js, contains the core rules and operations that define the application's functionality. This layer processes data received from the API, performs complex calculations, enforces business rules, and orchestrates interactions with the data storage. It is responsible for authorization and validation, ensuring that operations comply with predefined permissions and data formats. By centralizing business logic, this layer promotes maintainability, scalability, and consistency across the entire application, making it robust.
- Prisma (Database Interaction): Facilitates seamless communication with the database.
- Authorization & Validation: Enforces access controls and data integrity rules.
Where is data stored and managed in a Flipped Architecture?
Data storage in a Flipped Architecture, exemplified by Supabase, serves as the persistent repository for all application information. It securely houses various data types, including user profiles, transactional records, and real-time communication data. This layer ensures data availability, integrity, and efficient retrieval for the business logic layer. Supabase provides a robust, scalable, and managed database solution, simplifying data management and allowing developers to focus on core application features rather than infrastructure complexities, ensuring reliable data access.
- Users: Stores user profiles and authentication details securely.
- Bookings: Records all booking-related transactions and schedules.
- Messages: Archives real-time chat communications for historical access.
- Matching Data: Holds information for algorithmic matching processes.
Which external services integrate with Flipped Architecture?
Flipped Architecture often integrates with various external services to extend functionality and offload specialized tasks. These services provide critical capabilities such as user authentication, media storage, real-time communication, and push notifications, enhancing the overall user experience and application robustness. Leveraging external services allows the core architecture to remain lean and focused on its primary business logic, while benefiting from specialized, scalable, and often managed solutions provided by third parties, improving efficiency and feature richness.
- Clerk (User Authentication): Manages user sign-up, sign-in, and security.
- Cloudinary (Image/Media Storage): Handles efficient storage and delivery of media files.
- Ably/Socket (Real-time Chat): Enables instant messaging and live updates.
- FCM (Push Notifications): Delivers timely alerts and messages to users.
- Matching Algorithm (Microservice): Provides specialized data matching capabilities.
How does data flow through the Flipped Architecture?
Data flow in a Flipped Architecture is a structured process ensuring efficient communication between layers. User interactions initiate requests from the UI, which are then routed through the API layer to the business logic for processing. The business logic interacts with data storage to retrieve or persist information. Real-time features like chat involve direct communication between the UI and real-time services, often updating the database. Push notifications are typically sent from a service to the UI, informing users of events and updates.
- UI -> tRPC -> Business Logic -> Supabase: Standard request-response cycle for data operations.
- Real-time Chat: UI <-> Ably/Socket -> Supabase: Bidirectional communication for live chat.
- Push Notifications: FCM/expo-notis -> UI: Unidirectional alerts to the user interface.
- Matching: (Scheduled/Triggered) Matching Algorithm -> Supabase: Automated updates to data storage.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Flipped Architecture?
Flipped Architecture is a modern application design separating UI, API, business logic, and data storage into distinct layers. This modular approach enhances scalability, maintainability, and performance by clearly defining responsibilities for each component.
How does the UI communicate with the backend?
The User Interface (UI), typically built with React Native, communicates with the backend via an API Layer, such as tRPC. This layer handles data fetching and mutations, ensuring secure and type-safe interactions between the client and server.
What role does Supabase play in this architecture?
Supabase serves as the primary data storage solution, securely housing all application data like users, bookings, and messages. It provides a scalable and managed database, allowing the business logic layer to efficiently interact with persistent information.
