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Distributed Systems System Design Case Studies

17 Distributed Systems case studies from OpenAI with full breakdowns.

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Companies

Meta20OpenAI17Microsoft16Amazon14Google14Anthropic10Salesforce10TikTok10JPMorgan7LinkedIn7Uber7Oracle6Airbnb5Apple5Atlassian5Bloomberg5Databricks5Flipkart5Goldman Sachs5Netflix5Rippling5Snowflake5NVIDIA4Roblox4Walmart4Capital One3Visa3Pinterest2Anduril1

Topics

Distributed Systems 90Real-time 51Storage 43Data Pipelines 42API Design 41Databases 38Caching 37Security 32AI / ML 23Algorithms 20Scheduling 20Search 19Event Driven 14Fintech 14Payments 11Geospatial 11Analytics 11Observability 11E-commerce 11Messaging 10CDN 9Concurrency 8Ads 8Frontend 8Booking System 6Networking 5IoT 4Media 3Media Streaming 3Collaboration 3Rate Limiting 2
OpenAI✕Distributed Systems✕Clear all
Instagram
17 min readDistributed SystemsMediaSearch
Advanced+2▶ Mock
Messenger App
9 min readReal-timeMessagingDistributed Systems
Advanced+5▶ Mock
Calendar Service (Google Calendar)
6 min readSchedulingDistributed SystemsStorage
Intermediate+2▶ Mock
ChatGPT-Style Conversational AI Service
7 min readAI / MLReal-timeDistributed Systems
Advanced+2▶ Mock
CI/CD Platform (GitHub Actions / Jenkins)
7 min readSchedulingDistributed SystemsStorage
Advanced▶ Mock
Cloud Development Environment (Codespaces / Replit / DevBox)
7 min readDistributed SystemsSecurityScheduling
Advanced▶ Mock
Real-Time Collaborative Editor (Google Docs / Sheets)
7 min readCollaborationReal-timeDistributed Systems
Advanced▶ Mock
Distributed Crossword Solver
6 min readAlgorithmsDistributed SystemsScheduling
Advanced▶ Mock
Distributed Rate Limiter
8 min readRate LimitingDistributed SystemsAPI Design
Intermediate+9▶ Mock
Duplicate File Detection at Scale
6 min readStorageAlgorithmsDistributed Systems
Intermediate▶ Mock
Preventing Duplicate Request Processing (Idempotency Keys)
4 min readAPI DesignDistributed SystemsPayments
Beginner▶ Mock
Object Storage Service (Amazon S3) with Deduplication
6 min readStorageDistributed SystemsAPI Design
Advanced▶ Mock
Online Chess Platform (chess.com)
6 min readReal-timeDistributed SystemsMessaging
Intermediate▶ Mock
Payment Processing System (Stripe-style)
6 min readPaymentsFintechDistributed Systems
Advanced+1▶ Mock
Smart Grid Control over Unreliable Devices
7 min readIoTDistributed SystemsReal-time
Advanced▶ Mock
Text-to-Video Generation Service (Sora)
6 min readAI / MLSchedulingDistributed Systems
Advanced▶ Mock
URL Shortener (TinyURL / bit.ly)
7 min readDistributed SystemsCachingStorage
Beginner+4▶ Mock

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Distributed Systems in system design?

Distributed Systems is a core system design topic covered in 90 case studies on InterviewSkool. It appears frequently in FAANG interviews, especially at Google, Amazon, and Meta.

How should I prepare Distributed Systems for system design interviews?

Study the case studies above, focusing on architecture trade-offs, scale estimates, and API designs. Practice explaining your decisions aloud — this is exactly what interviewers evaluate.

Practice with a Mock Interview

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