Module 6: When to Use Micro Frontends in Angular Projects

When to Use Micro Frontends in Angular Projects

Use Micro Frontends when:

• Applications are large and long-lived - Scale and maintenance matter
• Multiple teams work independently - Team autonomy required
• Independent deployments are required - Deployment safety critical
• Organizational complexity is high - Clear boundaries needed

Common examples:

• ERPs
• Enterprise portals
• Large e-commerce platforms

Decision Criteria

1. Application Size

Use Micro Frontends if:

• ✅ Application has 50+ components
• ✅ Codebase > 50,000 lines
• ✅ Multiple business domains
• ✅ Long-term maintenance expected

Avoid if:

• ❌ Small application (< 20 components)
• ❌ Simple domain model
• ❌ Short-term project

2. Team Structure

Use Micro Frontends if:

• ✅ 10+ developers
• ✅ Multiple teams
• ✅ Teams work on different domains
• ✅ Teams have different release cadences

Avoid if:

• ❌ Single team
• ❌ Small team (< 5 developers)
• ❌ Tight collaboration required

3. Deployment Requirements

Use Micro Frontends if:

• ✅ Independent deployments needed
• ✅ Different release schedules
• ✅ Risk isolation critical
• ✅ A/B testing required

Avoid if:

• ❌ Single deployment acceptable
• ❌ Coordinated releases work
• ❌ Simple deployment process

4. Business Domain Complexity

Use Micro Frontends if:

• ✅ Clear domain boundaries
• ✅ Minimal cross-domain dependencies
• ✅ Different business rules per domain
• ✅ Domain-specific teams

Avoid if:

• ❌ Tightly coupled domains
• ❌ Shared business logic everywhere
• ❌ No clear boundaries

Real-World Examples

Example 1: E-Commerce Platform

Structure:

• Products Team → Products Micro Frontend
• Checkout Team → Checkout Micro Frontend
• Admin Team → Admin Micro Frontend
• Customer Service Team → Support Micro Frontend

Why Micro Frontends:

• ✅ 50+ developers across teams
• ✅ Different release schedules
• ✅ Independent feature development
• ✅ Clear domain boundaries

Example 2: Enterprise Portal

Structure:

• HR Team → HR Micro Frontend
• Finance Team → Finance Micro Frontend
• IT Team → IT Services Micro Frontend
• Operations Team → Operations Micro Frontend

Why Micro Frontends:

• ✅ Different business domains
• ✅ Independent teams
• ✅ Different compliance requirements
• ✅ Long-term maintenance

Example 3: SaaS Platform

Structure:

• Dashboard Team → Dashboard Micro Frontend
• Analytics Team → Analytics Micro Frontend
• Settings Team → Settings Micro Frontend
• Billing Team → Billing Micro Frontend

Why Micro Frontends:

• ✅ Feature teams
• ✅ Independent releases
• ✅ Different update frequencies
• ✅ A/B testing capabilities

Organizational Indicators

Strong Indicators

• ✅ Multiple product teams
• ✅ Different release cadences
• ✅ Team autonomy important
• ✅ Long-term project (> 3 years)
• ✅ Enterprise scale

Weak Indicators

• ❌ Single product team
• ❌ Coordinated releases work
• ❌ Tight collaboration needed
• ❌ Short-term project (< 1 year)
• ❌ Small scale

Technical Indicators

Strong Indicators

• ✅ Large codebase (> 50K lines)
• ✅ Multiple Angular modules
• ✅ Complex routing
• ✅ Multiple build pipelines needed
• ✅ Performance optimization critical

Weak Indicators

• ❌ Small codebase (< 10K lines)
• ❌ Simple routing
• ❌ Single build pipeline sufficient
• ❌ Performance not critical

Cost-Benefit Analysis

Benefits at Scale

• ✅ Faster development (team autonomy)
• ✅ Safer deployments (risk isolation)
• ✅ Better scalability (independent scaling)
• ✅ Technology flexibility (different versions)

Costs

• ❌ Initial setup complexity
• ❌ Infrastructure overhead
• ❌ Debugging complexity
• ❌ Shared dependency management

Break-Even Point

Micro Frontends become beneficial when:

• Team size > 10 developers
• Application lifetime > 2 years
• Deployment frequency > weekly
• Codebase > 30,000 lines

Migration Path

Start Monolithic

1. Build core features
2. Establish patterns
3. Identify boundaries

Identify Boundaries

1. Map business domains
2. Identify team ownership
3. Plan module boundaries

Gradual Migration

1. Extract one domain
2. Test in isolation
3. Integrate with Host
4. Repeat for other domains

When NOT to Use

See the next module for when to avoid Micro Frontends.

The key is: Use Micro Frontends when scale and team autonomy matter more than simplicity.