Scaling Development Using Micro-Frontend Architecture

As frontend applications have grown in size, complexity, and user expectations, so have the challenges of scaling frontend development, technically and organizationally. Managing a single-page application (SPA) or multi-page application (MPA) works fine in small to mid-sized apps. A single team can oversee the entire UI, deploy changes quickly, and maintain consistent code practices.

But what happens when we’re building a large-scale application like a social media platform, e-commerce site, or streaming service with multiple feature-rich modules like home feed, search, notifications, messaging, and user profiles?

We eventually reach a tipping point where:

• The SPA monolith becomes fragile, tightly coupled, and slow to build or deploy.

• Teams step on each other’s toes, merging changes into a massive shared repo.

• Releasing one small update requires retesting the entire app.

• Onboarding new developers takes longer because of the overwhelming codebase.

This is the same set of challenges that once led to the rise of microservices on the backend, splitting a monolithic service into independent, loosely coupled services owned by autonomous teams.

So the question naturally follows:

Note: If microservices work so well on the backend, why not apply similar principles to the frontend?

Let’s explore micro-frontend architecture meant to solve the above problem.

What is micro-frontend architecture?

Micro-frontend architecture is a design approach that structures a frontend application as a composition of independent, self-contained feature modules (or “fragments”), each responsible for a specific domain or functionality. These units are developed using independent codebases and even (in some cases) different frontend frameworks or technologies deployed and owned by separate teams, similar to microservices on the backend.

Each module includes its own:

• Business logic

• UI components

• Styling

• Optionally, even its routing and state

Think of a web page as a city block. In a traditional monolithic frontend (SPA), the entire block is designed, constructed, and maintained by a single team, one massive blueprint for everything. In contrast, each building (header, newsfeed, sidebar, notifications) is independently designed, built, and maintained in a micro-frontend architecture.

Note: From the user’s ...