Patterns and Anti-Patterns Explorer

Proven architectural patterns (✅) and common pitfalls to avoid (⚠️) organized by the Well-Architected Framework's five pillars.

Trust

Protect your solution, its data, and its users through modern security, least-privilege access, privacy controls, and clear governance.

Trust - Patterns and Anti-Patterns
Identity and Access Authentication, Authorization, Critical Impact Accounts, Identity Lifecycle	Data Protection and Privacy Data Classification, Encryption, Masking, Privacy by Design, Data Residency	Compliance and Governance Regulatory Compliance, Audit Trails, Security Posture, Risk Management
Incident Response Detection, Triage, Forensics, Recovery, Post-Incident Review	Shared Responsibility Platform vs Customer Responsibilities, Certifications, Compliance Boundaries

Reliability

Design for continuous availability, fast recovery from disruption, and the capacity to scale under unexpected demand.

Reliability - Patterns and Anti-Patterns
Availability and Performance Risk Management, Failure Mitigation, SLOs, High Availability, Latency, Throughput	Scalability and Capacity Data Modeling, Data Volume, Bulk Loads, Governor Limits, Horizontal Scaling	Disaster Recovery Backup and Restore, Business Continuity, RPO/RTO, Redundancy

Operational Excellence

Build comprehensive observability into your solution and manage it through well-defined procedures and automation.

Operational Excellence - Patterns and Anti-Patterns
DevOps and Release Management Source-Driven Development, Environment Strategy, Release Management, CI/CD, Testing, Packaging	Automation and Efficiency KPIs, Operational Logic, Process Design, Data Integrity, Error Handling	Observability Monitoring, Logging, Alerting, SLIs/SLOs, Platform Health
Incident Management Detection, On-Call, Escalation, Post-Incident Review, Runbooks

Resource and Cost Optimization

Use resources efficiently, minimize latency, keep systems composable, sustain performance over time, and align what you spend with the business value you deliver.

Resource and Cost Optimization - Patterns and Anti-Patterns
Code Quality and Maintainability Standard vs Custom, Technical Debt, Design Standards, Documentation, Governance	Architecture and Composability Functional Units, Separation of Concerns, State Management, API Management, Messaging	License Optimization Right-Sizing, Add-Ons, Governance, Contracts, Multi-Org Impact
Storage and API Data Lifecycle, File Storage, Sandbox Strategy, API Efficiency	Cost Governance Monitoring, Budgets, FinOps, Build vs Buy	Agentic Patterns Design Agents for Resource and Cost Efficiency

Fairness

Ensure your solution is accessible, non-discriminatory, and transparent, with appropriate human oversight of AI-driven decisions.

Fairness - Patterns and Anti-Patterns
Accessibility and User Experience WCAG Compliance, Screen Reader Support, Keyboard Navigation, Visual Design, Accessibility Testing	AI Ethics and Governance Bias Detection, Mitigation, Explainability, Human Oversight, Non-Discrimination, Consent, Regulatory Compliance, Audit Trails