Designing data-intensive systems

Overview

Use this skill when workload shape and operational guarantees determine the design. Keep the entry point at that decision level; load a reference only for the pressure the task actually presents.

When to Use

• Choose among database, log, cache, queue, search, and analytical roles.
• Decide tradeoffs in consistency, partitioning, replication, or recovery.
• Compare batch, stream, and CDC designs.
• Plan Postgres or Timescale changes based on the actual workload.

When Not to Use

• Keep engineering as the primary skill for ordinary implementation and refactoring.
• Use engineering/references/boundary-design.md for architecture questions confined to a module.
• Establish the workload shape before considering Postgres or Timescale details.