Real-World Examples

Production-ready architecture patterns you can adapt.

Microservices

A typical microservices backend:

@arch
#!ext icons

[styles]
  sync: color:#3B82F6|width:2
  async: color:#8B5CF6|dash:5,5
  data: color:#10B981

[nodes]
  client:Client Apps|icon:users

  [API Layer]
    gateway:API Gateway|icon:aws-api-gateway

  [Services]
    auth:Auth Service|icon:aws-lambda
    users:User Service|icon:aws-lambda
    orders:Order Service|icon:aws-lambda
    inventory:Inventory Service|icon:aws-lambda
    notifications:Notification Service|icon:aws-lambda

  [Data Stores]
    userdb:User DB|icon:aws-rds
    orderdb:Order DB|icon:aws-rds
    invdb:Inventory DB|icon:aws-dynamodb
    cache:Redis|icon:aws-amazon-elasticache

  [Messaging]
    events:Event Bus|icon:aws-amazon-eventbridge
    queue:Order Queue|icon:aws-sqs

[edges]
  client->gateway|style:sync
  gateway->auth|style:sync
  gateway->users|style:sync
  gateway->orders|style:sync
  gateway->inventory|style:sync
  auth->cache|style:data
  users->userdb|style:data
  orders->orderdb|style:data
  inventory->invdb|style:data
  orders-->events|style:async
  events-->inventory|style:async
  events-->notifications|style:async
  orders-->queue|style:async
  queue-->notifications|style:async

Rendered diagram

AWS Three-Tier

Classic three-tier architecture on AWS:

@arch
#!ext icons

[nodes]
  internet:Internet|icon:cloud

  [AWS]
    route53:DNS|icon:aws-amazon-route-53
    cf:CloudFront|icon:aws-amazon-cloudfront

    [VPC: 10.0.0.0/16]
      [Public Subnets]
        alb:Application LB|icon:aws-alb
        nat:NAT Gateway|icon:aws-amazon-virtual-private-cloud

      [Private Subnets - App]
        ecs1:ECS Task|icon:aws-ecs
        ecs2:ECS Task|icon:aws-ecs
        ecs3:ECS Task|icon:aws-ecs

      [Private Subnets - Data]
        rds:RDS Primary|icon:aws-rds
        rds_replica:RDS Replica|icon:aws-rds
        redis:ElastiCache|icon:aws-amazon-elasticache

    s3:Static Assets|icon:aws-s3

[edges]
  internet->route53
  route53->cf
  cf->alb
  cf->s3
  alb->ecs1
  alb->ecs2
  alb->ecs3
  ecs1->rds
  ecs2->rds
  ecs3->rds
  ecs1->redis
  ecs2->redis
  ecs3->redis
  rds->rds_replica
  ecs1->nat:outbound
  nat->internet

Rendered diagram

Kubernetes Platform

A production Kubernetes setup:

@arch
#!ext icons

[nodes]
  users:Users|icon:users
  ci:CI/CD|icon:devicon-github

  [Kubernetes Cluster]
    ingress:Ingress Controller|icon:devicon-kubernetes

    [Production Namespace]
      [API Deployment]
        api1:API Pod|icon:devicon-docker
        api2:API Pod|icon:devicon-docker
        api3:API Pod|icon:devicon-docker
      api_svc:API Service|diamond

      [Worker Deployment]
        worker1:Worker Pod|icon:devicon-docker
        worker2:Worker Pod|icon:devicon-docker
      worker_svc:Worker Service|diamond

    [Monitoring Namespace]
      prom:Prometheus|icon:server
      grafana:Grafana|icon:server
      alert:AlertManager|icon:server

  [External]
    db:Cloud SQL|icon:gcp-cloud-sql
    redis:Redis|icon:database
    kafka:Kafka|icon:server

[edges]
  users->ingress
  ci->ingress:deploy
  ingress->api_svc
  api_svc->api1
  api_svc->api2
  api_svc->api3
  api1->db
  api2->db
  api3->db
  api1->redis
  api2->redis
  api3->redis
  api1-->kafka
  kafka-->worker_svc
  worker_svc->worker1
  worker_svc->worker2
  worker1->db
  worker2->db
  prom->api1
  prom->api2
  prom->api3
  prom->worker1
  prom->worker2
  grafana->prom
  prom->alert

Rendered diagram

Data Pipeline

ETL/Analytics pipeline:

@arch
#!ext icons

[styles]
  stream: color:#8B5CF6|width:2
  batch: color:#3B82F6|dash:5,5
  query: color:#10B981

[nodes]
  [Sources]
    app:Application|icon:server
    iot:IoT Devices|icon:cloud
    logs:Log Streams|icon:doc

  [Ingestion]
    kinesis:Kinesis|icon:aws-amazon-kinesis
    firehose:Firehose|icon:aws-amazon-kinesis

  [Processing]
    lambda:Real-time|icon:aws-lambda
    emr:Batch Jobs|icon:aws-amazon-emr
    glue:ETL|icon:aws-aws-glue

  [Storage]
    s3_raw:Raw Data|icon:aws-s3
    s3_processed:Processed|icon:aws-s3
    redshift:Warehouse|icon:aws-amazon-redshift

  [Analytics]
    athena:Athena|icon:aws-amazon-athena
    quicksight:QuickSight|icon:aws-amazon-quicksight

[edges]
  app->kinesis|style:stream
  iot->kinesis|style:stream
  logs->firehose|style:stream
  kinesis->lambda|style:stream
  kinesis->firehose|style:stream
  firehose->s3_raw|style:stream
  lambda->s3_processed|style:stream
  s3_raw->glue|style:batch
  glue->s3_processed|style:batch
  s3_processed->emr|style:batch
  emr->redshift|style:batch
  s3_processed->athena|style:query
  redshift->quicksight|style:query
  athena->quicksight|style:query

Rendered diagram

Multi-Region DR

Disaster recovery setup:

@arch
#!ext icons

[nodes]
  users:Global Users|icon:users
  dns:Route 53|icon:aws-amazon-route-53

  [US-East-1 (Primary)|color:green]
    alb1:ALB|icon:aws-alb
    app1:App Cluster|icon:aws-ecs
    db1:RDS Primary|icon:aws-rds
    s3_1:S3|icon:aws-s3

  [EU-West-1 (DR)|color:orange]
    alb2:ALB|icon:aws-alb
    app2:App Cluster|icon:aws-ecs
    db2:RDS Replica|icon:aws-rds
    s3_2:S3|icon:aws-s3

[edges]
  users->dns
  dns->alb1:active
  dns->alb2:failover
  alb1->app1
  alb2->app2
  app1->db1
  app2->db2
  db1-->db2:replication
  s3_1-->s3_2:CRR

Rendered diagram

More Examples

See the Cookbook section for additional examples organized by cloud provider.