Micro-frontends: application of microservices to web front-ends

Andrey Pavlenko^{1, 2+}, Nursultan Askarbekuly¹, Swati Megha¹, and Manuel Mazzara¹

¹Innopolis University, Innopolis, Russia
a.pavlenko@innopolis.ru, {n.askarbekuly, s.megha}@innopolis.university, m.mazzara@innopolis.ru

²Sitronics Telecom Solutions (MTS Group), Innopolis, Russia

Abstract

This paper explores the concept of micro-frontends in web-development. Micro-frontends are the logical evolution of architecture for the front-end side of web-applications. It was evolved in conditions of continuous development browser platform that allowed to create rich applications that are easy to distribute and deliver to the user and at the same time provide an experience close to desktop applications. The article begins with an overview of how web-development and the architectural approaches within it evolved, including emergence of micro-services concept in back-end development, and existing researches on micro-frontends. Then, a case study on implementing the concept in an actual project is presented and issues risen during development are discussed. Topics of routing, static assets serving, and repository organization in the projects are discussed based on the experience of development. As a result of the case study, the micro-frontends architecture is found to better suit complex large-scale projects and big teams with experienced developers. The approach increases the complexity of project structure and development. At the moment of publication, the community does not have any ready-to-use solutions that can bootstrap the project and handle the additional complexity.

Keywords: web-development, frontend, micro-frontends, architecture

+: Corresponding author: Andrey Pavlenko
Universitetskaya St, 1, Innopolis, Republic of Tatarstan, 420500, Russia, Tel: +7-9874100455

Journal of Internet Services and Information Security (JISIS), 10(2): 49-66, May 2020

DOI: 10.22667/JISIS.2020.05.31.049 [pdf]