Rebuilding The Monolith With Composable Apps
Strategies for modernizing complex, scaled products without complete rewrites - moving from server-side templates to API-driven, component-based applications.
At Sky Betting & Gaming, we faced the challenge of modernising a complex, scaled product without the luxury of a complete rewrite. The existing skybet.com codebase had grown organically over years, mixing PHP templates with JavaScript in ways that made iteration increasingly difficult. We needed a path forward that would let us continue delivering value while fundamentally improving the architecture.
Our team’s approach was to remove reliance on server-side templates and the monolithic codebase, replacing them with a clean front-end supported by focused APIs. We developed API-driven, component-based applications which, when combined, form a cohesive, resilient and performant customer experience.
The talk covered our journey breaking apart monolithic front-ends, building component-based applications, and creating focused APIs to support UI components. I spent time on strategies for incremental migration - you can’t stop delivering features while you rebuild - and how we maintained business continuity during the architectural change.
This was my first time speaking at QCon, and it felt like a significant milestone. Sharing what we’d learned with such an engaged audience, and the conversations that followed, reinforced how many teams are wrestling with similar challenges.