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Real-time System Design Case Studies

11 Real-time case studies from Microsoft with full breakdowns.

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Push Notification Service
17 min readReal-timeMessagingDistributed Systems
Advanced+5▶ Mock
Messenger App
9 min readReal-timeMessagingDistributed Systems
Advanced+5▶ Mock
BookMyShow
9 min readDistributed SystemsPaymentsBooking System
Beginner▶ Mock
Ad Click and Impression Aggregator
6 min readAdsAnalyticsData Pipelines
Advanced+2▶ Mock
ChatGPT-Style Conversational AI Service
7 min readAI / MLReal-timeDistributed Systems
Advanced+2▶ Mock
IoT / Sensor Telemetry Pipeline
7 min readIoTData PipelinesStorage
Intermediate+1▶ Mock
Live Comments for Live Video (Facebook Live / TikTok Live)
6 min readReal-timeMessagingDistributed Systems
Intermediate▶ Mock
Metrics Monitoring and Alerting System
7 min readObservabilityData PipelinesStorage
Advanced+3▶ Mock
Online Chess Platform (chess.com)
6 min readReal-timeDistributed SystemsMessaging
Intermediate▶ Mock
To-Do List Service (REST API and Real-Time Shared Lists)
5 min readAPI DesignReal-timeCollaboration
Beginner▶ Mock
Top-K Trending Items (Heavy Hitters)
7 min readAnalyticsReal-timeAlgorithms
Advanced+4▶ Mock

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Real-time in system design?

Real-time is a core system design topic covered in 51 case studies on InterviewSkool. It appears frequently in FAANG interviews, especially at Google, Amazon, and Meta.

How should I prepare Real-time 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.

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