Architecter design for a blog writing website (similar to Medium, Hashnode, etc.)

As an architect tasked with designing a blog writing website (similar to Medium, Hashnode, etc.), here’s how I’d approach the architecture design systematically:

1. Requirement Gathering (Functional & Non-Functional)

📌 Functional:

• User Authentication & Authorization
• Write/Edit/Delete Blog Posts (CRUD)
• Draft vs Published Blogs
• Blog Categories/Tags
• Image/Media Upload
• Rich Text Editor Support (Markdown/WYSIWYG)
• Comments
• Likes/Reactions/Bookmarks
• Search (by title, tags, full-text)
• Notifications (new comments, likes, etc.)
• Admin Dashboard for Moderation
• SEO-Friendly URLs

📌 Non-Functional:

• High Availability
• Scalability (Read-heavy)
• Security (XSS, CSRF, Rate Limiting, etc.)
• SEO Optimization (Meta tags, OG Tags, Sitemap)
• Fast Page Loads (Low TTFB)
• Mobile Responsiveness (PWA optional)
• Backup & Disaster Recovery
• Analytics/Monitoring
• Internationalization (optional)

2. Tech Stack Selection

✅ Frontend:

• React.js / Next.js (for SSR & SEO)
• Tailwind CSS / Styled Components
• Rich Text Editor (TipTap, Quill, or custom Markdown editor)

✅ Backend:

• Node.js (Express.js / Nest.js) or Python (FastAPI / Django)
• REST or GraphQL APIs
• Authentication: JWT + OAuth (Google, GitHub, etc.)

✅ Database:

• PostgreSQL (for blogs, users, comments)
• Redis (for caching, sessions, rate limiting)
• Elasticsearch (for advanced search, optional at start)

✅ Storage:

• Cloud Storage (AWS S3, GCP Storage) for Images & Media

✅ Deployment:

• Docker + Kubernetes (for microservices or scale-out)
• CI/CD Pipeline (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI)
• CDN (Cloudflare / AWS CloudFront) for assets

3. High-Level Architecture Design

📝 Components:

1. Frontend (Next.js)
   • SSR & SSG for blogs (SEO)
   • API Consumption (REST/GraphQL)
   • Image Optimization
2. Backend APIs (Node.js/Nest.js)
   • Auth Service
   • Blog Service (CRUD, Tags, Media)
   • Comment Service
   • Notification Service (Optional initially)
3. Database Layer:
   • PostgreSQL (Main Data Store)
   • Redis (Cache)
   • Elasticsearch (Optional for Search)
4. File Storage:
   • S3 Bucket (Media/Images)
5. Security Layer:
   • OAuth Provider Support
   • Rate Limiting (Redis)
   • WAF (Web Application Firewall via CDN)
6. Monitoring/Logging:
   • Prometheus + Grafana (Metrics)
   • ELK Stack (Logs)
   • Sentry (Error Tracking)

4. API Strategy

• REST or GraphQL (based on team experience & flexibility)
• Versioning (v1, v2 APIs)
• Throttling for sensitive APIs (like posting blogs/comments)

5. Caching Strategy

• Redis for:
  • Popular blogs (Hot Posts)
  • Session Data
  • Rate Limits
• CDN for Static Assets (Images, CSS, JS)

6. SEO & Performance Strategy

• SSR (for initial page load)
• Sitemap.xml & Robots.txt
• Meta Tags & Open Graph Tags
• Lazy Loading for Comments/Images
• Prefetching Links

7. Security Considerations

• HTTPS (Everywhere)
• CSRF & XSS Protections
• JWT Expiry & Refresh Mechanism
• Role-Based Access Control (Admin, Writer, Reader)
• Input Validation & Sanitization
• Rate Limiting (Abuse Prevention)

8. CI/CD Pipeline

• Code Quality Check (Lint, Tests)
• Auto Build + Deploy (Dev, Staging, Prod)
• Canary Releases (Optional for larger scale)

9. Scalability Plan (for Growth)

1. Scale Reads (DB Read Replicas, Cache, CDN)
2. Scale Writes (Sharding/Partitioning if needed later)
3. Microservices (If Product Grows)
4. Auto-scaling (Kubernetes + HPA)

10. Development Roadmap (MVP to Advanced)

Phase 1: MVP (2–3 Months)

• Blog CRUD
• Authentication
• Basic Comments
• SEO-ready Pages
• Basic Search (DB-level)

Phase 2: Scale Features

• Notifications
• Analytics Dashboard
• Elasticsearch Integration
• Admin Panel
• Media Optimization

Key Trade-offs

Documentation

• API Docs (Swagger / Postman)
• Architecture Diagrams
• Developer Setup Guides
• Runbooks for Ops

Example High-Level Architecture Diagram

Users (Browser/App)
      ↓
 CDN (Cloudflare) ← S3 (Images)
      ↓
Frontend (Next.js SSR)
      ↓
Backend APIs (Node.js / Nest.js)
   ↙          ↓            ↘
PostgreSQL   Redis (Cache)   Elasticsearch (Search)

⭐ Conclusion

This design balances speed-to-market (MVP) with a clear path to scalability.
Focus is on:

• SEO & Performance
• Robust Backend
• Developer Friendliness
• Ready for scale (gradually)