The Complete System Design Curriculum#

We've published 100 articles on system design. This page organizes them into a structured curriculum — whether you're preparing for interviews, designing your first distributed system, or leveling up as a senior engineer.

How to Use This Curriculum#

Beginner (0-2 years): Start with Fundamentals, then Patterns, then Interview Prep. Mid-level (2-5 years): Focus on Infrastructure, Data, and Security. Senior+ (5+ years): Deep dive into Advanced Patterns, Real-Time, and Tools.

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1. Fundamentals#

Start here. These concepts underpin everything else.

• How to Design a System Architecture: Step-by-Step Guide — The 6-step process for any system
• Distributed Systems Fundamentals — CAP theorem, consistency models, consensus, failure modes
• CAP Theorem Explained Simply — The trade-off every distributed system faces
• Consistent Hashing Explained — How to distribute data across nodes
• Database Indexing Explained — B-trees, hash indexes, and when to use each

2. Architecture Patterns#

The building blocks of modern systems.

• Microservices vs Monolith: When to Use Which — Decision framework with real examples
• Event-Driven Architecture Complete Guide — Event sourcing, CQRS, sagas, Kafka vs RabbitMQ
• Serverless Architecture Patterns — Lambda, Edge Functions, when NOT to go serverless
• API Gateway Patterns — Auth, rate limiting, routing, circuit breaking
• Backend Architecture Patterns Guide — MVC, clean architecture, hexagonal, DDD
• API Design Best Practices — REST, GraphQL, versioning, error handling
• Circuit Breaker Pattern Explained — Prevent cascade failures

3. Infrastructure#

How to build and run production systems.

• Load Balancer Types & Algorithms — L4 vs L7, round robin to consistent hashing
• Database Scaling: Sharding, Replication & Partitioning — The 7-level scaling ladder
• Container Orchestration: K8s vs Swarm vs ECS — When to use each orchestrator
• Infrastructure as Code: Terraform vs Pulumi — IaC comparison, state management, modules
• CI/CD Pipeline Design — GitHub Actions, deployment strategies, security scanning
• CDN & Edge Computing Guide — Content delivery, edge caching, Cloudflare Workers
• Choosing the Right Database — SQL vs NoSQL vs NewSQL decision framework
• Caching Strategies Every Developer Should Know — Cache-aside, write-through, invalidation

4. Security#

Build systems that don't get hacked.

• Zero Trust Architecture — mTLS, microsegmentation, BeyondCorp
• Authentication Patterns: OAuth & JWT — Token-based auth, refresh flows, session management
• Service Mesh: Istio vs Linkerd — Sidecar proxies, mTLS, traffic management

5. Data Engineering#

Move, transform, and analyze data at scale.

• Data Pipeline Architecture — Batch, streaming, ETL vs ELT, modern data stack
• Data Pipeline Architecture Guide — Building reliable data workflows

6. Real-Time Systems#

Build systems that respond instantly.

• WebSocket & Real-Time Architecture — Chat, gaming, dashboards, collaboration, scaling

7. Observability & Operations#

Keep systems running and debug when they don't.

• Observability vs Monitoring — Metrics, logs, traces, OpenTelemetry, SLOs

8. Interview Preparation#

Ace the system design interview.

• Top 15 System Design Interview Questions — Easy to Hard with trade-offs
• AI System Design Interview Prep — How to approach design questions with AI tools
• Architecture Coach — 8 guided practice challenges

9. Tools & Productivity#

Tools that make architecture work easier.

• Best Architecture Diagram Generators 2026 — 7 tools compared
• Why Every Engineer Needs a System Design Tool — ROI for individuals, teams, and orgs
• AI System Design: From Prompt to Production — How AI transforms system design
• Best System Design Tools 2026 — Comprehensive tool landscape

Practice Resources#

Beyond the articles, Codelit.io offers hands-on practice:

• 100 Product Specs — Uber, Netflix, Stripe, and more with full PRD framework (NFRs, milestones, acceptance criteria)
• 90+ Architecture Templates — Interactive diagrams you can explore and modify
• Architecture Coach — 8 guided challenges from URL Shortener to Search Engine
• 7 Audit Tools — Security, compliance, performance, cost, vulnerability, code quality, load test

Start Now#

1. Pick your level from the curriculum above
2. Read one article per day (they're 5-10 min each)
3. Practice on Codelit.io — generate diagrams for each topic you learn
4. Build something — apply the patterns to a real project

Start designing at codelit.io — describe any system, get an interactive architecture diagram, export as code.

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100 articles. 100 product specs. 90+ templates. The most comprehensive free system design education on the web — all at codelit.io.