Ecommerce Microservices: React, Node, Flask, Spring Boot, Go
Key Takeaways
Real-World Microservices Complexity: Complete e-commerce applications require multiple specialized services (authentication, inventory, shipping, orders) that must work together seamlessly
Language-Agnostic Architecture: Microservices can be built using different technologies (React/Node.js, Flask, Spring Boot, Go) while following identical Dockerization patterns
Service Discovery Through Container Names: Within Docker networks, container names automatically become resolvable hostnames, enabling services to find each other (e.g., http://profile-management:3003)
Environment Variable Configuration Strategy: Services use environment variables to discover other services, making applications deployment-environment agnostic and configurable
Multi-Stage Application Builds: Complex applications like React+Node.js require multi-stage builds - installing server dependencies, client dependencies, building client code, then running the server
Network-Based Service Communication: Services communicate directly through container ports within Docker networks, eliminating the need for host port mapping between services
Dependency Chain Management: Some services depend on multiple other services (order management needs inventory, catalog, and shipping), requiring careful environment variable orchestration
Container Naming Criticality: Consistent, descriptive container names become essential for service discovery and debugging in multi-service architectures
Production Architecture Patterns: This setup mirrors real-world distributed systems where different teams can develop services in different technologies while maintaining integration
Management Complexity Growth: As service count increases, manual container management becomes unwieldy, highlighting the need for orchestration tools like Docker Compose