codebase-design

# Codebase Design Design **deep modules**: a lot of behaviour behind a small interface, placed at a clean seam, testable through that interface. Use this language and these principles wherever code is being designed or restructured. The aim is leverage for callers, locality for maintainers, and testability for everyone. ## Glossary Use these terms exactly — don't substitute "component," "service," "API," or "boundary." Consistent language is the whole point. **Module** — anything with an interface and an implementation. Deliberately scale-agnostic: a function, class, package, or tier-spanning slice. _Avoid_: unit, component, service. **Interface** — everything a caller must know to use the module correctly: the type signature, but also invariants, ordering constraints, error modes, required configuration, and performance characteristics. _Avoid_: API, signature (too narrow — they refer only to the type-level surface). **Implementation** — what's inside a module, its body of code. Distinct from **Adapter**: a thing can be a small adapter with a large implementation (a Postgres repo) or a large adapter with a small implementation (an in-memory fake). Reach for "adapter" when the seam is the topic; "implementation" otherwise. **Depth** — leverage at the interface: the amount of behaviour a caller (or test) can exercise per unit of interface they have to learn. A module is **deep** when a large amount of behaviour sits behind a small interface, **shallow** when the interface is nearly as complex as the implementation. **Seam** _(Michael Feathers)_ — a place where you can alter behaviour without editing in that place; the _location_ at which a module's interface lives. Where to put the seam is its own design decision, distinct from what goes behind it. _Avoid_: boundary (overloaded with DDD's bounded context). **Adapter** — a concrete thing that satisfies an interface at a seam. Describes _role_ (what slot it fills), not substance (what's inside). **Leverage** — what callers get from depth: more capability per unit of interface they learn. One implementation pays back across N call sites and M tests. **Locality** — what maintainers get from depth: change, bugs, knowledge, and verification concentrate in one place rather than spreading across callers. Fix once, fixed everywhere. ## Deep vs shallow **Deep module** — small interface (few methods, simple params) hiding a lot of implementation. **Shallow module** (avoid) — interface nearly as large as its thin, pass-through implementation. When designing an interface, ask: - Can I reduce the number of methods? - Can I simplify the parameters? - Can I hide more complexity inside? ## Principles - **Depth is a property of the interface, not the implementation.** A deep module can be internally composed of small, mockable, swappable parts — they just aren't part of the interface. A module can have **internal seams** (private to its implementation, used by its own tests) as well as the **external seam** at its interface. - **The deletion test.** Imagine deleting the module. If complexity vanishes, it was a pass-through. If complexity reappears across N callers, it was earning its keep. - **The interface is the test surface.** Callers and tests cross the same seam. If you want to test _past_ the interface, the module is probably the wrong shape. - **One adapter means a hypothetical seam. Two adapters means a real one.** Don't introduce a seam unless something actually varies across it. ## Designing for testability Good interfaces make testing natural: - Accept dependencies as parameters; don't construct them inside the module. - Prefer returning results over producing side effects. - Keep the surface small: fewer methods and parameters mean fewer, simpler tests. ## Relationships - A **Module** has exactly one **Interface** (the surface it presents to callers and tests). - **Depth** is a property of a **Module**, measured against its **Interface**. - A **Seam** is where a **Module**'s **Interface** lives. - An **Adapter** sits at a **Seam** and satisfies the **Interface**. - **Depth** produces **Leverage** for callers and **Locality** for maintainers. ## Rejected framings - **Depth as ratio of implementation-lines to interface-lines** (Ousterhout): rewards padding the implementation. We use depth-as-leverage instead. - **"Interface" as the TypeScript `interface` keyword or a class's public methods**: too narrow — interface here includes every fact a caller must know. - **"Boundary"**: overloaded with DDD's bounded context. Say **seam** or **interface**. ## Output Contract When applying this vocabulary to a design or review, report the recommended module, interface, and seam; explain how the result improves depth, leverage, locality, or testability; and identify material tradeoffs or unresolved evidence. When this skill is only supporting another requested artifact, incorporate that analysis into the artifact instead of adding a separate report. ## Going deeper - **Deepening a cluster given its dependencies** — see [references/DEEPENING.md](references/DEEPENING.md): dependency categories, seam discipline, and replace-don't-layer testing. - **Exploring alternative interfaces** — see [references/DESIGN-IT-TWICE.md](references/DESIGN-IT-TWICE.md): spin up parallel sub-agents to design the interface several radically different ways, then compare on depth, locality, and seam placement. Forked from [mattpocock/skills](https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/tree/main/skills/engineering/codebase-design).