Microkernel Architecture

Microkernel Architecture, AKA Plug-In

• It is monolithic but can evolve into a distributed architecture.
• Adequate for products and technical tools.
• Composed of a core system and plug-ins.
• The Core system is sometimes called the happy path.
• The Core system can incorporate other architectures (ex: layered).
• The plug-ins have the application business logic.
• The plug-ins can be grouped by domains.
• The plug-ins can be remote services (the architecture turns to distributed).
• The core system needs a registry of the plug-ins.
• Most IDEs use this architecture (Eclipse, VSCode, IntelliJ, Jira, Jenkins, etc.).
• Jars, Nuggets, and Gems work as plug-ins for the core Java,.NET and Ruby.
• Weak on elasticity, fault tolerance, and scalability.
• Good on simplicity, cost, deployability, modularity, and reliability.