Monolith system design (2/10): Single-server MVP architecture
MVP system design: monolith, Nginx, single PostgreSQL—URL shortener API, SQL schema, redirect flow, failure modes before scaling.
· 1 min read
System Design course for beginners — scale systems from 1 to 1M users · Part 2/10▼
Table of contents▼
Architecture
User → Nginx → Monolith → PostgreSQL (+ local logs).
API & schema
POST /api/links, GET /:slug redirect, simple short_links table with indexed slug.
Failure modes
Single point of failure, deploy downtime, no backups, no rate limits — fixed in later parts.
Frequently asked questions
Does monolith mean one source file?
No — it means one deployable unit, not a single file.
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