Microservices Patterns
Seth HobsonCommunityCreated by Seth Hobson
- Skill
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- Software development
- MIT
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AutoGineer summary
Written by AutoGineer from the skill’s own files, not by the author
This skill provides a structured reference for designing distributed systems using microservices. It covers foundational concepts such as service boundaries, inter-service communication strategies, data management techniques like the Saga pattern, and resilience mechanisms including circuit breakers and bulkheads. The content is designed to assist developers in decomposing monolithic applications and implementing robust service-oriented architectures.
What it does
- Explains service decomposition strategies like business capability and domain-driven design.
- Details synchronous and asynchronous communication patterns.
- Outlines data management approaches including database-per-service and the Saga pattern.
- Provides resilience patterns such as circuit breakers, retries, and bulkheads.
- Offers code examples for implementing API gateways and event-driven service interactions.
When to use it
- When decomposing a monolithic application into smaller services.
- When designing service boundaries and defining contracts.
- When implementing inter-service communication and event-driven architectures.
- When managing distributed data and transactions across services.
- When building resilience into distributed systems.
Advantages
- Provides clear architectural patterns for service isolation.
- Offers guidance on handling distributed data consistency.
- Includes practical examples for implementing service communication.
- Focuses on fault tolerance through established resilience patterns.
Usage examples
- “How should I decompose my monolith into microservices?”
- The skill provides strategies like business capability mapping and the Strangler Fig pattern to help you extract services from a monolith.
- “How can I handle transactions across multiple microservices?”
- The skill explains the Saga pattern, which uses compensating actions to maintain eventual consistency in distributed transactions.
- “What is the best way to prevent cascading failures in my microservices?”
- The skill suggests implementing resilience patterns such as circuit breakers, retries with backoff, and bulkheads to isolate and manage failures.
- “Show me how to implement an API gateway.”
- The skill provides a code example demonstrating an API gateway that aggregates data from multiple services and uses a circuit breaker for fault tolerance.
Install
Download the skill as a ZIP:
https://autogineer.com/agent-skills/wshobson/microservices-patterns/downloadUnzip it into the cross-client skills folder of your project:
mkdir -p .agents/skills && unzip microservices-patterns.zip -d .agents/skills
Documentation by Seth Hobson
Microservices Patterns
Master microservices architecture patterns including service boundaries, inter-service communication, data management, and resilience patterns for building distributed systems.
When to Use This Skill
Decomposing monoliths into microservices
Designing service boundaries and contracts
Implementing inter-service communication
Managing distributed data and transactions
Building resilient distributed systems
Implementing service discovery and load balancing
Designing event-driven architectures
Core Concepts
1. Service Decomposition Strategies
By Business Capability
Organize services around business functions
Each service owns its domain
Example: OrderService, PaymentService, InventoryService
By Subdomain (DDD)
Core domain, supporting subdomains
Bounded contexts map to services
Clear ownership and responsibility
Strangler Fig Pattern
Gradually extract from monolith
New functionality as microservices
Proxy routes to old/new systems
2. Communication Patterns
Synchronous (Request/Response)
REST APIs
gRPC
GraphQL
Asynchronous (Events/Messages)
Event streaming (Kafka)
Message queues (RabbitMQ, SQS)
Pub/Sub patterns
3. Data Management
Database Per Service
Each service owns its data
No shared databases
Loose coupling
Saga Pattern
Distributed transactions
Compensating actions
Eventual consistency
4. Resilience Patterns
Circuit Breaker
Fail fast on repeated errors
Prevent cascade failures
Retry with Backoff
Transient fault handling
Exponential backoff
Bulkhead
Isolate resources
Limit impact of failures
Detailed patterns and worked examples
Detailed pattern documentation lives in references/details.md. Read that file when the navigation tier above is insufficient.
Files
- ATTRIBUTION.mdAdded by AutoGineer1004 B
- LICENSELicence file added by AutoGineer1.0 KiB
- SKILL.md2.1 KiB
- references/details.md14.2 KiB
references/details.md
microservices-patterns — detailed patterns and worked examples
Service Decomposition Patterns
Pattern 1: By Business Capability
# E-commerce example
# Order Service
class OrderService:
"""Handles order lifecycle."""
async def create_order(self, order_data: dict) -> Order:
order = Order.create(order_data)
# Publish event for other services
await self.event_bus.publish(
OrderCreatedEvent(
order_id=order.id,
customer_id=order.customer_id,
items=order.items,
total=order.total
)
)
return order
# Payment Service (separate service)
class PaymentService:
"""Handles payment processing."""
async def process_payment(self, payment_request: PaymentRequest) -> PaymentResult:
# Process payment
result = await self.payment_gateway.charge(
amount=payment_request.amount,
customer=payment_request.customer_id
)
if result.success:
await self.event_bus.publish(
PaymentCompletedEvent(
order_id=payment_request.order_id,
transaction_id=result.transaction_id
)
)
return result
# Inventory Service (separate service)
class InventoryService:
"""Handles inventory management."""
async def reserve_items(self, order_id: str, items: List[OrderItem]) -> ReservationResult:
# Check availability
for item in items:
available = await self.inventory_repo.get_available(item.product_id)
if available < item.quantity:
return ReservationResult(
success=False,
error=f"Insufficient inventory for {item.product_id}"
)
# Reserve items
reservation = await self.create_reservation(order_id, items)
await self.event_bus.publish(
InventoryReservedEvent(
order_id=order_id,
reservation_id=reservation.id
)
)
return ReservationResult(success=True, reservation=reservation)Pattern 2: API Gateway
from fastapi import FastAPI, HTTPException, Depends
import httpx
from circuitbreaker import circuit
app = FastAPI()
class APIGateway:
"""Central entry point for all client requests."""
def __init__(self):
self.order_service_url = "http://order-service:8000"
self.payment_service_url = "http://payment-service:8001"
self.inventory_service_url = "http://inventory-service:8002"
self.http_client = httpx.AsyncClient(timeout=5.0)
@circuit(failure_threshold=5, recovery_timeout=30)
async def call_order_service(self, path: str, method: str = "GET", **kwargs):
"""Call order service with circuit breaker."""
response = await self.http_client.request(
method,
f"{self.order_service_url}{path}",
**kwargs
)
response.raise_for_status()
return response.json()
async def create_order_aggregate(self, order_id: str) -> dict:
"""Aggregate data from multiple services."""
# Parallel requests
order, payment, inventory = await asyncio.gather(
self.call_order_service(f"/orders/{order_id}"),
self.call_payment_service(f"/payments/order/{order_id}"),
self.call_inventory_service(f"/reservations/order/{order_id}"),
return_exceptions=True
)
# Handle partial failures
result = {"order": order}
if not isinstance(payment, Exception):
result["payment"] = payment
if not isinstance(inventory, Exception):
result["inventory"] = inventory
return result
@app.post("/api/orders")
async def create_order(
order_data: dict,
gateway: APIGateway = Depends()
):
"""API Gateway endpoint."""
try:
# Route to order service
order = await gateway.call_order_service(
"/orders",
method="POST",
json=order_data
)
return {"order": order}
except httpx.HTTPError as e:
raise HTTPException(status_code=503, detail="Order service unavailable")Communication Patterns
Pattern 1: Synchronous REST Communication
# Service A calls Service B
import httpx
from tenacity import retry, stop_after_attempt, wait_exponential
class ServiceClient:
"""HTTP client with retries and timeout."""
def __init__(self, base_url: str):
self.base_url = base_url
self.client = httpx.AsyncClient(
timeout=httpx.Timeout(5.0, connect=2.0),
limits=httpx.Limits(max_keepalive_connections=20)
)
@retry(
stop=stop_after_attempt(3),
wait=wait_exponential(multiplier=1, min=2, max=10)
)
async def get(self, path: str, **kwargs):
"""GET with automatic retries."""
response = await self.client.get(f"{self.base_url}{path}", **kwargs)
response.raise_for_status()
return response.json()
async def post(self, path: str, **kwargs):
"""POST request."""
response = await self.client.post(f"{self.base_url}{path}", **kwargs)
response.raise_for_status()
return response.json()
# Usage
payment_client = ServiceClient("http://payment-service:8001")
result = await payment_client.post("/payments", json=payment_data)Pattern 2: Asynchronous Event-Driven
# Event-driven communication with Kafka
from aiokafka import AIOKafkaProducer, AIOKafkaConsumer
import json
from dataclasses import dataclass, asdict
from datetime import datetime
@dataclass
class DomainEvent:
event_id: str
event_type: str
aggregate_id: str
occurred_at: datetime
data: dict
class EventBus:
"""Event publishing and subscription."""
def __init__(self, bootstrap_servers: List[str]):
self.bootstrap_servers = bootstrap_servers
self.producer = None
async def start(self):
self.producer = AIOKafkaProducer(
bootstrap_servers=self.bootstrap_servers,
# default=str turns datetime fields such as occurred_at into text
value_serializer=lambda v: json.dumps(v, default=str).encode()
)
await self.producer.start()
async def publish(self, event: DomainEvent):
"""Publish event to Kafka topic."""
topic = event.event_type
await self.producer.send_and_wait(
topic,
value=asdict(event),
key=event.aggregate_id.encode()
)
async def subscribe(self, topic: str, handler: callable):
"""Subscribe to events."""
consumer = AIOKafkaConsumer(
topic,
bootstrap_servers=self.bootstrap_servers,
value_deserializer=lambda v: json.loads(v.decode()),
group_id="my-service"
)
await consumer.start()
try:
async for message in consumer:
event_data = message.value
await handler(event_data)
finally:
await consumer.stop()
# Order Service publishes event
async def create_order(order_data: dict):
order = await save_order(order_data)
event = DomainEvent(
event_id=str(uuid.uuid4()),
event_type="OrderCreated",
aggregate_id=order.id,
occurred_at=datetime.now(),
data={
"order_id": order.id,
"customer_id": order.customer_id,
"items": order_data["items"],
"total": order.total
}
)
await event_bus.publish(event)
# Inventory Service listens for OrderCreated
async def handle_order_created(event_data: dict):
"""React to order creation."""
order_id = event_data["data"]["order_id"]
items = event_data["data"]["items"]
# Reserve inventory
await reserve_inventory(order_id, items)Pattern 3: Saga Pattern (Distributed Transactions)
# Saga orchestration for order fulfillment
from enum import Enum
from typing import List, Callable
class SagaStep:
"""Single step in saga."""
def __init__(
self,
name: str,
action: Callable,
compensation: Callable
):
self.name = name
self.action = action
self.compensation = compensation
class SagaStatus(Enum):
PENDING = "pending"
COMPLETED = "completed"
COMPENSATING = "compensating"
FAILED = "failed"
class OrderFulfillmentSaga:
"""Orchestrated saga for order fulfillment."""
def __init__(self):
self.steps: List[SagaStep] = [
SagaStep(
"create_order",
action=self.create_order,
compensation=self.cancel_order
),
SagaStep(
"reserve_inventory",
action=self.reserve_inventory,
compensation=self.release_inventory
),
SagaStep(
"process_payment",
action=self.process_payment,
compensation=self.refund_payment
),
SagaStep(
"confirm_order",
action=self.confirm_order,
compensation=self.cancel_order_confirmation
)
]
async def execute(self, order_data: dict) -> SagaResult:
"""Execute saga steps."""
completed_steps = []
context = {"order_data": order_data}
try:
for step in self.steps:
# Execute step
result = await step.action(context)
if not result.success:
# Compensate
await self.compensate(completed_steps, context)
return SagaResult(
status=SagaStatus.FAILED,
error=result.error
)
completed_steps.append(step)
context.update(result.data)
return SagaResult(status=SagaStatus.COMPLETED, data=context)
except Exception as e:
# Compensate on error
await self.compensate(completed_steps, context)
return SagaResult(status=SagaStatus.FAILED, error=str(e))
async def compensate(self, completed_steps: List[SagaStep], context: dict):
"""Execute compensating actions in reverse order."""
for step in reversed(completed_steps):
try:
await step.compensation(context)
except Exception as e:
# Log compensation failure
print(f"Compensation failed for {step.name}: {e}")
# Step implementations
async def create_order(self, context: dict) -> StepResult:
order = await order_service.create(context["order_data"])
return StepResult(success=True, data={"order_id": order.id})
async def cancel_order(self, context: dict):
await order_service.cancel(context["order_id"])
async def reserve_inventory(self, context: dict) -> StepResult:
result = await inventory_service.reserve(
context["order_id"],
context["order_data"]["items"]
)
return StepResult(
success=result.success,
data={"reservation_id": result.reservation_id}
)
async def release_inventory(self, context: dict):
await inventory_service.release(context["reservation_id"])
async def process_payment(self, context: dict) -> StepResult:
result = await payment_service.charge(
context["order_id"],
context["order_data"]["total"]
)
return StepResult(
success=result.success,
data={"transaction_id": result.transaction_id},
error=result.error
)
async def refund_payment(self, context: dict):
await payment_service.refund(context["transaction_id"])Resilience Patterns
Circuit Breaker Pattern
from enum import Enum
from datetime import datetime, timedelta
from typing import Callable, Any
class CircuitState(Enum):
CLOSED = "closed" # Normal operation
OPEN = "open" # Failing, reject requests
HALF_OPEN = "half_open" # Testing if recovered
class CircuitBreaker:
"""Circuit breaker for service calls."""
def __init__(
self,
failure_threshold: int = 5,
recovery_timeout: int = 30,
success_threshold: int = 2
):
self.failure_threshold = failure_threshold
self.recovery_timeout = recovery_timeout
self.success_threshold = success_threshold
self.failure_count = 0
self.success_count = 0
self.state = CircuitState.CLOSED
self.opened_at = None
async def call(self, func: Callable, *args, **kwargs) -> Any:
"""Execute function with circuit breaker."""
if self.state == CircuitState.OPEN:
if self._should_attempt_reset():
self.state = CircuitState.HALF_OPEN
else:
raise CircuitBreakerOpenError("Circuit breaker is open")
try:
result = await func(*args, **kwargs)
self._on_success()
return result
except Exception as e:
self._on_failure()
raise
def _on_success(self):
"""Handle successful call."""
self.failure_count = 0
if self.state == CircuitState.HALF_OPEN:
self.success_count += 1
if self.success_count >= self.success_threshold:
self.state = CircuitState.CLOSED
self.success_count = 0
def _on_failure(self):
"""Handle failed call."""
self.failure_count += 1
if self.failure_count >= self.failure_threshold:
self.state = CircuitState.OPEN
self.opened_at = datetime.now()
if self.state == CircuitState.HALF_OPEN:
self.state = CircuitState.OPEN
self.opened_at = datetime.now()
def _should_attempt_reset(self) -> bool:
"""Check if enough time passed to try again."""
return (
datetime.now() - self.opened_at
> timedelta(seconds=self.recovery_timeout)
)
# Usage
breaker = CircuitBreaker(failure_threshold=5, recovery_timeout=30)
async def call_payment_service(payment_data: dict):
return await breaker.call(
payment_client.process_payment,
payment_data
)Requirements and compatibility
Works with: Claude Code, Claude apps, OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Kiro, OpenCode, Goose, Amp, Roo Code, JetBrains Junie, Factory Droid, Devin (ex-Windsurf), Mistral Vibe, OpenHands, Letta
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Attribution and licence
- Created by
- Seth Hobson
- Publisher
- Seth Hobson (Community)
- Source
- wshobson/agents · plugins/backend-development/skills/microservices-patterns · commit 4bde316
- Licence
- MIT License (redistribution allowed)
- LICENSE (added by AutoGineer from LICENSE)
- ATTRIBUTION.md (written by AutoGineer)
- Synced
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