MicroPlay Demo Architecture

An Enterprise-Grade Microservices Reference Implementation. Demonstrating scalable architecture, gateway aggregation, and robust end-to-end validation strategies.

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🏗 System Architecture

Data Flow Overview: User → Frontend UI → API Gateway → Microservices Cluster

1. Frontend UI: The user interacts with the web interface.
2. API Gateway: All requests go through this single entry point.
3. Microservices Cluster: The gateway routes requests to the specific service:
   • User Service
   • Order Service
   • Product Service
   • Payment Service
   • Review Service
   • (Scalable to add more services...)

🚀 Key Features

• Gateway Pattern: Aggregates data from multiple sources (Users, Orders, Products) into a single response.
• Microservices Proper: Independent Node.js services running on dedicated ports.
• Resilient Frontend: Decoupled UI with CORS-enabled secure communication.
• Enterprise Testing: Validated with a multi-layer Playwright suite (E2E, API, Mock, Perf).

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🛠 Service Mesh

Service	Port	Description
API Gateway	3000	Aggregation layer; Single Entry Point.
User Service	3001	Manages user identities.
Order Service	3002	Tracks customer orders.
UI	3003	Customer-facing Dashboard.
Product Service	3004	Product catalog management.
Payment Service	3008	Tracks transaction statuses.
Review Service	3006	Manages customer feedback.

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🧪 Enterprise Testing Strategy

Employed a Test Pyramid approach to ensure quality at speed. Full details available in Test Cases Documentation.

1. API Contract Testing (Integration)

Directly validates microservice responses and schemas.

• File: tests/api.spec.ts
• Coverage: Json Schema Validation, Data Integrity.

2. Resilience & Performance (Negative)

Ensures system stability under failure conditions.

• File: tests/api-negative.spec.ts
• Coverage: 404 Handling, Response Time SLAs (<200ms).

3. Frontend Isolation (Mocking)

Tests UI logic without backend dependencies.

• File: tests/ui-mock.spec.ts
• Coverage: Edge cases, Empty States, Backend Outages.

4. End-to-End User Journey (E2E)

Validates the complete flow from User -> UI -> Gateway -> Services.

• File: tests/e2e-ui.spec.ts
• Coverage: Full system integration check.

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⚡ Quick Start

Bring up the entire stack (Gateway + 3 Microservices + UI) in one command.

# 1. Install Dependencies
npm install

# 2. Launch Ecosystem
npm start

Access the UI at: http://localhost:3003

Run Automated Tests

Execute the full regression suite:

npx playwright test