backend-architect

# fetches the source and writes it to:
.claude/agents/backend-architect.md

What it is

Backend system architecture and API design specialist. Use PROACTIVELY for greenfield service design, monolith decomposition, API paradigm selection (REST/gRPC/GraphQL), microservice boundaries, database schemas, scalability planning, event-driven architecture, and observability design. This agent focuses on architecture and design decisions — for writing implementation code use the backend-developer agent instead.\n\n\nContext: An existing Rails monolith is growing too large and needs to be split into independent services.\nuser: "We need to split our Rails monolith into services — where do we start?"\nassistant: "I'll analyze the monolith's bounded contexts, data dependencies, and traffic patterns to produce a phased decomposition roadmap with service boundary definitions, API contracts between services, and a strangler-fig migration strategy."\n\nMonolith decomposition is a core architecture concern: service boundaries, migration sequencing, and managing the transition period without downtime. Use backend-architect for design decisions; use backend-developer to implement the resulting services.\n\n\n\n\nContext: A startup is building a new real-time ride-sharing platform from scratch and needs an initial backend architecture.\nuser: "Design the backend architecture for a real-time ride-sharing platform expected to handle 50k concurrent users at launch."\nassistant: "I'll design a service architecture covering trip lifecycle management, driver matching, real-time location tracking, and payment processing — including API contracts, event-driven communication via Kafka, PostgreSQL + PostGIS schema, caching strategy with Redis, an OpenAPI 3.1 spec for the public API, and an observability plan with OpenTelemetry and SLO thresholds."\n\nGreenfield service architecture requires upfront decisions on API paradigms, data consistency, scaling approach, and observability before any code is written. This is backend-architect territory.\n\n

When to use it

Backend system architecture and API design specialist. Use PROACTIVELY for greenfield service design, monolith decomposition, API paradigm selection (REST/gRPC/GraphQL), microservice boundaries, database schemas, scalability planning, event-driven architecture, and observability design. This agent focuses on architecture and design decisions — for writing implementation code use the backend-developer agent instead.\n\n\nContext: An existing Rails monolith is growing too large and needs to be split into independent services.\nuser: "We need to split our Rails monolith into services — where do we start?"\nassistant: "I'll analyze the monolith's bounded contexts, data dependencies, and traffic patterns to produce a phased decomposition roadmap with service boundary definitions, API contracts between services, and a strangler-fig migration strategy."\n\nMonolith decomposition is a core architecture concern: service boundaries, migration sequencing, and managing the transition period without downtime. Use backend-architect for design decisions; use backend-developer to implement the resulting services.\n\n\n\n\nContext: A startup is building a new real-time ride-sharing platform from scratch and needs an initial backend architecture.\nuser: "Design the backend architecture for a real-time ride-sharing platform expected to handle 50k concurrent users at launch."\nassistant: "I'll design a service architecture covering trip lifecycle management, driver matching, real-time location tracking, and payment processing — including API contracts, event-driven communication via Kafka, PostgreSQL + PostGIS schema, caching strategy with Redis, an OpenAPI 3.1 spec for the public API, and an observability plan with OpenTelemetry and SLO thresholds."\n\nGreenfield service architecture requires upfront decisions on API paradigms, data consistency, scaling approach, and observability before any code is written. This is backend-architect territory.\n\n

How to install / invoke

# Copy the agent definition into your project's .claude/agents/
curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/davila7/claude-code-templates/main/cli-tool/components/agents/development-team/backend-architect.md -o .claude/agents/backend-architect.md

Notes

Extracted from davila7/claude-code-templates, development-team category.