5 Open-Source Repositories for Faster Development in Monolithic Architecture

Many companies choose to level up their feature flags and come to Flagsmith because they’re moving from a monolith to a microservice architecture. However, as engineers, we find ourselves moving in the monolith direction to support them. We even chose to build our monolith and write about that decision.

The monolith vs microservice argument rages on, but there’s no right answer. There’s also no silver bullet! Architecture should always be driven by the use case, business, and product.

If you’re building in a monolith, it helps to use tools that can let you release faster without having to build the functionality yourself. That lets you focus on your core business and application.

Here are five open-source repositories that can lead to a safer and more productive development process in monolithic environments.

1. Flagsmith: Feature Flags

Feature flags give you a safety net to push code and not break the application. (This is especially important for monoliths.) Ship to production with the security of a safety flag and avoid impacting user experience.

With feature flags, you can release gradually and run beta tests to select groups of users before pushing for wider adoption. You can also run A/B tests to experiment and make data-driven decisions before pushing application changes to your whole user base.

Flagsmith is an open-source tool that lets you manage your feature flags. You can also monitor the impact of features, implement kill switches, and quickly roll back without having to redeploy.

Star the GitHub repo ⭐: https://github.com/flagsmith/flagsmith

2. BoxyHQ: Security and Authentication

Security is vital when deploying in a monolithic environment. BoxyHQ lets you avoid having to build your own authentication mechanism, observability, or methods for dealing with encrypting secrets and tracking sensitive data.

BoxyHQ provides the building blocks for safely deploying in a monolith. It has a suite of APIs for security and privacy, designed to help engineering teams build and ship compliant cloud applications faster.

Focus on building your core product without sacrificing security or worrying about enterprise readiness. It offers features like Enterprise SSO, Directory Sync, Audit Logs, and a Privacy Vault for protecting sensitive data.

Star the GitHub repo ⭐: https://github.com/boxyhq/jackson

3. Firecamp: API Testing and Debugging

Testing and debugging APIs is critical when building robust and reliable applications, yet it can be challenging in a monolithic codebase. Products like Postman exist, though they aren’t open source.

For a top-notch Developer experience, Firecamp offers API testing and debugging. Firecamp allows API collections, automated documentation, integrations with CI/CD tooling, and so on. This ensures the safety and reliability of APIs in a monolithic system. Plus, it’s open source.

Star the GitHub repo ⭐: https://github.com/firecamp-dev

4. Prometheus: Monitoring and Alerting

With a monolith, you want metrics—and the history of those metrics. You want to be able to generate alerts and charts so that you can make sense of the metrics.

Prometheus lets you set up effective monitoring and ensure the system stability of your monolith. It can help identify and address issues before they impact the production environment.

Star the GitHub repo ⭐: https://github.com/prometheus/prometheus

5. Novu: Version Control and Notifications

Version control is vital in monolithic environments. So is communicating with users in your app.

Novu offers simple components and APIs for managing user communication across all channels in one place. Manage user content without needing to redeploy your code—and risk affecting your monolith.

Star the GitHub repo ⭐: https://github.com/novuhq/novu

Conclusion

These tools can be used together to develop faster—but still safely—in a monolithic architecture. Plus, they’re open-source!

Try them out, check the code, and give them a star. 🚀