Microservices

Microservices is an architectural style where a large application is composed of small, independently deployable services that each perform a specific function and communicate via APIs. Rather than one monolithic codebase, microservices break functionality into pieces that can be developed, scaled, and deployed independently.

In data platform contexts, microservices often manifest as separate services for ingestion, transformation, enrichment, and serving - each with its own API and data store. An API call to a property search service might internally trigger calls to a listing service, a pricing service, and a geolocation service, each independently maintained.

The API-based integration model aligns well with microservices: each service exposes a documented REST API, making it possible to swap implementations without affecting callers. This is part of why API-first design has become standard practice in modern software architecture.