2024

Architectural Guidelines for

[Your Project Name]

[AUTHOR NAME]
[COMPNAY]
9/17/2024
Contents
1.0 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 2
2.0 Architecture Overview ........................................................................................................................... 2
2.1 Key Architectural Principles ................................................................................................................ 2
3.0 Domain Layer .......................................................................................................................................... 2
3.1 Entities................................................................................................................................................. 2
3.2 Value Objects ...................................................................................................................................... 3
3.3 Aggregates and Aggregate Roots ........................................................................................................ 3
3.4 Domain Services .................................................................................................................................. 4
3.5 Domain Events .................................................................................................................................... 4
4. Application Layer ....................................................................................................................................... 5
4.1 Commands and Command Handlers .................................................................................................. 5
4.2 Queries and Query Handlers ............................................................................................................... 5
4.3 Application Services ............................................................................................................................ 6
5. Infrastructure Layer ................................................................................................................................... 6
5.1 Repositories ........................................................................................................................................ 6
5.2 Messaging and Event Handling ........................................................................................................... 7
5.3 External Services and APIs .................................................................................................................. 7
6. Presentation Layer (Interfaces) ................................................................................................................. 8
6.1 REST APIs ............................................................................................................................................. 8
6.2 Security and Authentication................................................................................................................ 8
7. Testing ....................................................................................................................................................... 9
7.1 Unit Testing ......................................................................................................................................... 9
7.2 Integration Testing............................................................................................................................... 9
8. Error Handling and Logging ....................................................................................................................... 9
8.1 Error Handling ..................................................................................................................................... 9
8.2 Logging .............................................................................................................................................. 10
9. Documentation ....................................................................................................................................... 10
9.1 Code Documentation ........................................................................................................................ 10
9.2 Architectural Documentation............................................................................................................ 10
10. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 10

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1.0 Introduction

This document provides developers with a set of rules and best practices
for building software systems using Clean Architecture, Domain-Driven
Design (DDD), and CQRS. It ensures consistency, maintainability, and
scalability in our codebase. Adhering to these guidelines will help
developers create modular, testable, and scalable applications that
separate concerns and encapsulate core business logic.

2.0 Architecture Overview

2.1 Key Architectural Principles
Separation of Concerns: Each layer (Domain, Application, Infrastructure,
Interfaces) must have a clear responsibility and remain independent of the
others.
Dependency Inversion: High-level modules should not depend on low-level
modules. Both should depend on abstractions, allowing infrastructure
changes without impacting business logic.
Explicit Dependencies: Avoid tight coupling between components.
Dependencies must be injected (prefer constructor injection).
Isolation of Business Logic: Core domain logic should remain free from
external concerns such as database or messaging.

3.0 Domain Layer

3.1 Entities
Entities represent the main domain objects, and they must encapsulate their
behaviour. They should not be just "data holders" but include all business
rules and invariants within the entity.
Behaviour-Driven: Entities should contain methods that manipulate their
state based on business rules. Example: `Order.AddOrderLine()`, which
ensures business rules around adding items to an order.
Invariant Protection: Ensure that all domain invariants (rules that must
always hold true) are protected at the entity level.

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3.2 Value Objects
Immutable: Once created, value objects cannot change. If a value needs to
change, a new instance must be created. This immutability ensures safety
and prevents bugs.
Equals and Hashcode: Since value objects are compared based on their
properties (not identity), override `Equals()` and `GetHashCode()` to ensure
proper comparisons.

3.3 Aggregates and Aggregate Roots

Aggregate Design Principles:
Consistency Boundaries: All changes to an aggregate must happen through
the aggregate root. The aggregate root is responsible for maintaining the
integrity of the entire aggregate.
Transaction Boundaries: Each aggregate is the transactional boundary.
Changes to the aggregate must be committed or rolled back in a single
transaction.

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Aggregate Root Guidelines:
Aggregate roots control the lifecycle and persistence of all other entities
within the aggregate.
Aggregate roots are responsible for publishing domain events when
changes occur.

3.4 Domain Services

When to Use: Use domain services when logic spans multiple aggregates
or when business logic doesn’t naturally fit within any one entity or value
object.
Pure Business Logic: Domain services should only deal with business logic,
not infrastructure concerns like databases or web APIs.
3.5 Domain Events
Domain events are used to model events that have occurred in the business
domain and may trigger actions in other parts of the system. These events
help to decouple the system.
Raise Domain Events: Entities or aggregate roots should raise domain
events to signal state changes.

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Event Handlers: Event handlers should process domain events
asynchronously and can trigger side effects such as sending notifications
or updating other systems.
Example of raising a domain event:

4. Application Layer
4.1 Commands and Command Handlers
Commands: Commands represent actions that change the state of the
system. They encapsulate all the information needed to perform an
operation but should not contain business logic.
Command Handlers: The logic for executing commands resides in command
handlers, which orchestrate the domain model and repositories.
Key points:
 Commands must be immutable.
 Command handlers must not contain business logic; instead, they
delegate to the domain layer.
4.2 Queries and Query Handlers
Queries: Queries retrieve data from the system without changing the state.
They are responsible for reading optimized data models (DTOs).
Query Handlers: Query handlers retrieve data, typically from the database
or other external sources. They should be optimized for performance,
potentially bypassing domain logic to ensure efficiency.

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4.3 Application Services
Application services are responsible for orchestrating multiple commands
and queries, coordinating cross-aggregate operations, and handling
application-level concerns like authentication or transaction management.
They must avoid containing business logic—leave that to domain models or
domain services.

5. Infrastructure Layer
5.1 Repositories
Definition: Repositories abstract the logic for storing and retrieving domain
aggregates. They should be the only part of the system that directly
interacts with the database.

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Repository Patterns: Follow repository patterns to keep data access code
separate from business logic.
Guidelines for Repository Design:
Return Aggregates: Repositories should always return complete
aggregates. They should never return individual entities that belong to an
aggregate.
Single Responsibility: A repository should only handle a single aggregate
root.

5.2 Messaging and Event Handling

Event Sourcing: Consider using event sourcing for capturing every state
change as a series of events. This helps with system audits, history tracking,
and decoupling.
Message Bus: A message bus (such as RabbitMQ or Kafka) should be used
to publish and subscribe to domain events across the system.
5.3 External Services and APIs
Abstractions for External Services: Wrap external service calls (e.g.,
external APIs, third-party services) in abstractions so that the
infrastructure is decoupled from the business logic.

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Use interfaces and dependency injection to inject external services into
application services.

6. Presentation Layer (Interfaces)

6.1 REST APIs
RESTful APIs should adhere to standard HTTP practices, using appropriate
HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE).
DTOs (Data Transfer Objects) should be used for API responses and
requests to avoid exposing domain models directly to the client.

6.2 Security and Authentication

Authentication: Use token-based authentication (e.g., OAuth2, JWT) to
secure APIs.
Authorization: Enforce authorization rules at the application layer. Avoid
embedding security concerns into domain logic.
Role-based Access Control (RBAC): Ensure that APIs are secure and follow
least privilege access principles.

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7. Testing
7.1 Unit Testing
Focus on Business Logic: Unit tests should primarily focus on domain
entities, value objects, and services.
Use Mocks: Mocks should be used for external dependencies (e.g.,
repositories, external services).

7.2 Integration Testing

Database-Driven Tests: Ensure integration tests interact with actual
databases or use in-memory databases like SQLite for testing persistence
layers.
API Testing: Use frameworks like Postman or automated tools to verify
that the API behaves as expected.

8. Error Handling and Logging

8.1 Error Handling
Consistent Error Handling: Ensure all errors are handled in a consistent
manner across the application. Use exceptions for unexpected behaviour
and return meaningful error messages in the API layer.
Domain-Specific Exceptions: Use custom exceptions for domain-specific
errors, such as `OrderLimitExceededException`.

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8.2 Logging
Centralized Logging: Use a centralized logging system like Serilog, ELK
(Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana), or Azure Application Insights to capture
important system events and errors.
Log Levels: Use appropriate log levels (`Info`, `Warning`, `Error`, `Critical`)
to distinguish between various severities of issues.

9. Documentation
9.1 Code Documentation
 Ensure code is self-documenting, with clear method names,
comments where necessary, and unit tests to explain behaviour.
 Use XML comments or similar mechanisms to auto-generate API
documentation (e.g., using Swagger).
9.2 Architectural Documentation
 Maintain up-to-date architectural diagrams (e.g., UML, sequence
diagrams) to illustrate how components interact.
 Create API documentation using tools like Swagger for REST APIs to
provide developers with an understanding of available endpoints and
payloads.

10. Conclusion
By following these architectural guidelines, developers will create modular,
scalable, and testable applications that adhere to Clean Architecture,
Domain-Driven Design (DDD), and CQRS principles. The primary goal is to
ensure that the core business logic remains decoupled from infrastructure
concerns, making the system easier to maintain, extend, and scale over
time.

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