ShopSTAR3 is built on Java 25 + Quarkus (native compilation), deployed on Kubernetes, using PostgreSQL as the primary store, Redis for ephemeral and cache state, and Kafka (AWS MSK) for async messaging. The platform is cloud-primary on AWS and must remain portable to Azure and GCP. All services follow a microservices architecture with strict bounded-context ownership.
Runtime#
| Concern | Choice |
|---|---|
| Language | Java 25+ |
| Framework | Quarkus — native compilation, low memory footprint |
| Architecture | Microservices |
| Admin interface | React SPA |
| Primary cloud | AWS (portable to Azure / GCP) |
Data Layer#
| Store | Role |
|---|---|
| PostgreSQL | Primary relational store — source of truth for all domain data |
| Redis | Caching, sessions, and ephemeral state |
| OpenSearch | Product search index |
Service Mesh & Gateway#
| Component | Technology |
|---|---|
| Service mesh | Istio |
| GraphQL gateway | Apollo Router |
| API gateway | gateway-service (custom Quarkus) |
Sections#
Platform Architecture
Store isolation, identity service, API gateway, RBAC.
Config Management
HashiCorp Vault, GitOps secrets, Kubernetes auth.
Inter-Service Communication
Kafka (async), gRPC (sync internal), REST (external), Istio mesh, schema registry.
Observability
OTel-first stack, Datadog export, traces, metrics, structured logs.
Cross-Cutting Concerns
Audit trail, soft delete, error format, rate limiting, idempotency, feature flags.
Services
Per-service architecture specs for all bounded contexts.
GraphQL Gateway
Apollo Router, federation subgraphs, persisted queries.
Storefront Service
SSR-first, Pebble templates, sections/blocks, Lua resolvers, custom domain routing.
ss3-quarkus Extension
Shared Quarkus extension — RequestContext, audit, idempotency, soft delete, feature flags.