# Codebase Design

> Shared vocabulary and principles for designing deep modules — small interfaces, clean seams, testable through the interface. Use when designing or improving a module's interface, deciding where a seam goes, hunting deepening opportunities, making code more testable, or when another skill needs the deep-module vocabulary.

- Skill: `ayoubben18/codebase-design` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 3 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add ayoubben18/codebase-design`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/ayoubben18/codebase-design/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: ayoubben18 (https://skillmd.com/u/ayoubben18)
- Updated: 2026-09-10
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/ayoubben18/codebase-design

---


# Codebase Design

Design **deep modules**: a lot of behaviour behind a small interface, placed at a clean seam, testable through that interface. The aim is leverage for callers, locality for maintainers, and testability for everyone.

This skill is the **single source** of the architecture vocabulary used across AB Method — by `improve-codebase-architecture` when proposing deepenings, by `review-implementation`'s `cleaner-architecture` lens when judging a diff, and by `tdd` when agreeing seams. Consumers reference it; they don't restate it.

## Terms

Use these terms exactly — don't substitute "component," "service," "API," or "boundary." Consistent language is the whole point.

**Module**
Anything with an interface and an implementation. Deliberately scale-agnostic — applies equally to a function, class, package, or tier-spanning slice.
_Avoid_: unit, component, service.

**Interface**
Everything a caller must know to use the module correctly. Includes the type signature, but also invariants, ordering constraints, error modes, required configuration, and performance characteristics.
_Avoid_: API, signature (too narrow — those refer only to the type-level surface).

**Implementation**
What's inside a module — its body of code. Distinct from **Adapter**: a thing can be a small adapter with a large implementation (a Postgres repo) or a large adapter with a small implementation (an in-memory fake). Reach for "adapter" when the seam is the topic; "implementation" otherwise.

**Depth**
Leverage at the interface — the amount of behaviour a caller (or test) can exercise per unit of interface they have to learn. A module is **deep** when a large amount of behaviour sits behind a small interface. A module is **shallow** when the interface is nearly as complex as the implementation.

**Seam** _(from Michael Feathers)_
A place where you can alter behaviour without editing in that place. The *location* at which a module's interface lives. Choosing where to put the seam is its own design decision, distinct from what goes behind it.
_Avoid_: boundary (overloaded with DDD's bounded context).

**Adapter**
A concrete thing that satisfies an interface at a seam. Describes *role* (what slot it fills), not substance (what's inside).

**Leverage**
What callers get from depth. More capability per unit of interface they have to learn. One implementation pays back across N call sites and M tests.

**Locality**
What maintainers get from depth. Change, bugs, knowledge, and verification concentrate at one place rather than spreading across callers. Fix once, fixed everywhere.

## Deep vs shallow

**Deep module** = small interface + lots of implementation:

```
┌─────────────────────┐
│   Small Interface   │  ← Few methods, simple params
├─────────────────────┤
│                     │
│  Deep Implementation│  ← Complex logic hidden
│                     │
└─────────────────────┘
```

**Shallow module** = large interface + little implementation (avoid):

```
┌─────────────────────────────────┐
│       Large Interface           │  ← Many methods, complex params
├─────────────────────────────────┤
│  Thin Implementation            │  ← Just passes through
└─────────────────────────────────┘
```

When designing an interface, ask:

- Can I reduce the number of methods?
- Can I simplify the parameters?
- Can I hide more complexity inside?

## Principles

- **Depth is a property of the interface, not the implementation.** A deep module can be internally composed of small, mockable, swappable parts — they just aren't part of the interface. A module can have **internal seams** (private to its implementation, used by its own tests) as well as the **external seam** at its interface.
- **The deletion test.** Imagine deleting the module. If complexity vanishes, the module wasn't hiding anything (it was a pass-through). If complexity reappears across N callers, the module was earning its keep.
- **The interface is the test surface.** Callers and tests cross the same seam. If you want to test *past* the interface, the module is probably the wrong shape.
- **One adapter means a hypothetical seam. Two adapters means a real one.** Don't introduce a seam unless something actually varies across it.

## Relationships

- A **Module** has exactly one **Interface** (the surface it presents to callers and tests).
- **Depth** is a property of a **Module**, measured against its **Interface**.
- A **Seam** is where a **Module**'s **Interface** lives.
- An **Adapter** sits at a **Seam** and satisfies the **Interface**.
- **Depth** produces **Leverage** for callers and **Locality** for maintainers.

## Rejected framings

- **Depth as ratio of implementation-lines to interface-lines** (Ousterhout): rewards padding the implementation. We use depth-as-leverage instead.
- **"Interface" as the TypeScript `interface` keyword or a class's public methods**: too narrow — interface here includes every fact a caller must know.
- **"Boundary"**: overloaded with DDD's bounded context. Say **seam** or **interface**.

## Designing for testability

Good interfaces make testing natural:

1. **Accept dependencies, don't create them.**

   ```typescript
   // Testable
   function processOrder(order, paymentGateway) {}

   // Hard to test
   function processOrder(order) {
     const gateway = new StripeGateway();
   }
   ```

2. **Return results, don't produce side effects.**

   ```typescript
   // Testable
   function calculateDiscount(cart): Discount {}

   // Hard to test
   function applyDiscount(cart): void {
     cart.total -= discount;
   }
   ```

3. **Small surface area.** Fewer methods = fewer tests needed. Fewer params = simpler test setup.

This is the design-side counterpart of the `tdd` skill's seam discipline: `tdd` says test only at pre-agreed seams; this says shape the module so the seam is worth testing at.

## Going deeper

- **Deepening a cluster given its dependencies** — see [DEEPENING.md](DEEPENING.md): the four dependency categories, seam discipline, and replace-don't-layer testing.
- **Exploring alternative interfaces** — see [DESIGN-IT-TWICE.md](DESIGN-IT-TWICE.md): spin up parallel sub-agents to design the interface several radically different ways, then compare on depth, locality, and seam placement.

## Where the domain model fits

The architecture vocabulary here names *shapes*; `CONTEXT.md` names *concepts*. Use both: "the **Order intake** module is shallow" — domain noun from `CONTEXT.md`, architecture verdict from this glossary. Never "the OrderService is badly factored", which uses neither.