Backend MVP Guardrails

Overview

Minimize irreversible decisions. Every write must be idempotent, every aggregate must be replayable, and every incident must be attributable with minimal evidence.

When to Use

• MVP backend with single-digit USD/month budget or strict capacity limits
• Fast schema evolution or new data sources with unknown fields
• Third-party backend dependency (e.g., InsForge) with no status page or DB metrics
• Repeated ambiguity about whether failures are vendor or application issues

When NOT to use: throwaway prototypes where data loss and misattribution are acceptable.

Core Pattern (Two Layers)

Layer 1: Principle Guardrails (platform-agnostic)