# Microservices Patterns

> Design, decompose, and operate microservices with appropriate patterns for communication, data, and resilience. Use when splitting monoliths, designing new service boundaries, or reviewing distributed system design.

- Skill: `itsual/microservices-patterns` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add itsual/microservices-patterns`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/itsual/microservices-patterns/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: itsual (https://skillmd.com/u/itsual)
- Updated: 2026-09-21
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/itsual/microservices-patterns

---


# Microservices Patterns

## Overview

Microservices trade deployment independence and team autonomy for operational and distributed-systems complexity. Use them deliberately.

## When to Use

- Clear bounded contexts and team ownership exist
- Independent scaling or deployment is a real requirement
- Reviewing service boundaries or inter-service communication

## Key Concerns

- Service boundaries aligned with business capabilities
- Communication style (sync vs async)
- Data ownership (database-per-service)
- Distributed transactions and sagas
- Service discovery, resilience, and observability
- Testing strategies across services

## Principles

- Prefer loose coupling and high cohesion
- Design for failure
- Make service contracts explicit and versioned
- Avoid distributed monoliths (tight coupling + independent deployability theater)

## Verification

- Boundaries have clear ownership and reasons
- Cross-service flows are observable and resilient
- Operational complexity is justified by the benefits