WAF Backends for Frontends Pattern
May 27, 2025•263 words•2 min read•
azure
design patterns
reliability
security
performance efficiency
| Category | Description | WAF Description |
|---|---|---|
| What | A pattern where a dedicated backend service is created for each frontend interface (e.g., web, mobile, IoT) to handle its unique needs. | Improves modularity and maintainability by separating concerns, aligning with the reliability and performance efficiency pillars. |
| Used with | Applications with multiple frontends that require different data shapes or aggregation logic (e.g., mobile vs. desktop apps). | Supports performance efficiency by reducing over-fetching/under-fetching and enhances reliability through focused, simplified APIs for each frontend. |
| When | When frontends have unique requirements or interaction models that would make a shared backend overly complex or inefficient. | Promotes operational excellence by making services easier to develop, deploy, and monitor individually per frontend. |
| Not Suitable For | Applications with simple or uniform frontend requirements that can be met by a single API without complexity. | May increase operational overhead and cost if not justified by distinct frontend needs. Could reduce efficiency and maintainability in small/simple systems. |
| Related To | API Gateway pattern, Microservices architecture, Facade pattern, GraphQL. | Gateway Aggregation pattern, Gateway Offloading pattern, Gateway Routing pattern, Serverless web application reference architecture |
A basic implementation of the Backends for Frontends Pattern can be found here.
The full WAF description of the pattern can be found here.