BFF @ SoundCloud

“Different clients have different needs and they expect something different from you. If you have only one API gateway trying to fulfill all requirements, it gets messy,” explains Lukasz Plotnicki, software developer and Thoughtworker from Hamburg.

Lukasz is the author of BFF @ SoundCloud—an article about the backend for frontends pattern which he looked into with Sam Newman at SoundCloud. This pattern describes the creation of one specific backend to provide functionality specifically to the need of a single client.

In this interview, I talk with Lukasz about the BFF pattern rooted in a microservices environment. First, we explain the difference between UI fragment composition and the backend for frontends approach as two alternatives. We discuss how backend for frontends fit into a microservices architecture and how it can be structured organizationally. We close the episode by discussing how many backend for frontends are already out there.

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