Make Your Monolith Extensible Without Microservices (skoredin.pro)

A new architectural approach for making monolithic applications extensible without resorting to microservices has been announced, focusing on using RPC-based plugins. This offers a simpler method to integrate custom code while keeping it separate from the main application process, thereby enhancing stability. Significant features include operating with strict resource limits to prevent runaway plugins from consuming all CPU and RAM, as well as hot-reload capabilities that allow swapping binaries without restarting the entire app. This approach is advocated over traditional microservice strategies, which tend to be overly complex and prone to failure. The proposed architecture supports various plugin types, including RPC-based plugins, WebAssembly plugins for untrusted code, and embedded scripting for simpler tasks. By running plugins in isolation, any failing or exhausting plugin can be terminated without affecting the main application. Developers can use multiple programming languages for plugins, leading to increased flexibility and ease of integration. Emphasizing simplicity and reliability, this method offers a practical setup for teams looking for straightforward solutions in production environments. It promises to reduce downtime, streamline updates, and improve overall application performance while prioritizing user-defined limits and health monitoring.