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System Design Case Studies Tracker

90 case studies tagged Distributed Systems with full breakdowns.

176case studies
30companies
31topics
~5 minaverage read

Companies

Meta28Microsoft27Amazon23OpenAI23Google20TikTok16Anthropic15Salesforce15Apple12Uber12Atlassian11JPMorgan11LinkedIn11Goldman Sachs9Netflix9Oracle9Snowflake9Rippling8Airbnb7Bloomberg7Capital One7Databricks7Walmart7Flipkart6NVIDIA6Pinterest6Roblox6Adobe4Visa4Anduril1

Topics

Distributed Systems 90Real-time 51Storage 43Data Pipelines 42API Design 41Databases 38Caching 37Security 32AI / ML 23Algorithms 20Scheduling 20Search 19Event Driven 14Fintech 14Analytics 11E-commerce 11Geospatial 11Observability 11Payments 11Messaging 10CDN 9Ads 8Concurrency 8Frontend 8Booking System 6Networking 5IoT 4Collaboration 3Media 3Media Streaming 3Rate Limiting 2
Distributed Systems✕Clear all
Coupon Distribution System
7 min readDistributed SystemsSecurityEvent Driven
Advanced—▶ Mock
Gaming Leaderboard (Top K)
16 min readDistributed SystemsReal-timeStorage
Beginner▶ Mock
Google Drive
16 min readStorageCDNDistributed Systems
Advanced▶ Mock
Instagram
17 min readDistributed SystemsMediaSearch
Advanced+2▶ Mock
Push Notification Service
17 min readReal-timeMessagingDistributed Systems
Advanced+5▶ Mock
MakeMyTrip – Hotel Booking System
20 min readDistributed SystemsPaymentsBooking System
Beginner+3▶ Mock
Messenger App
9 min readReal-timeMessagingDistributed Systems
Advanced+5▶ Mock
Search Engine (Google)
15 min readSearchDistributed SystemsStorage
Advanced—▶ Mock
Web Crawler
15 min readDistributed SystemsStorageSearch
Advanced+2▶ Mock
Live Location Sharing App
4 min readGeospatialReal-timeDistributed Systems
Beginner—▶ Mock
Snap Map Design
5 min readGeospatialReal-timeDistributed Systems
Beginner—▶ Mock
BookMyShow
9 min readDistributed SystemsPaymentsBooking System
Beginner▶ Mock
Uber Design (Ride-Hailing)
5 min readGeospatialReal-timeDistributed Systems
Advanced+2▶ Mock
A/B Testing (Experimentation) Platform
5 min readAnalyticsData PipelinesDistributed Systems
Intermediate▶ Mock
Ad Frequency Capping Service (Netflix Ads)
7 min readAdsReal-timeCaching
Advanced▶ Mock
Ad Budget Pacing System
5 min readAdsReal-timeDistributed Systems
Advanced▶ Mock
Tracing and Debugging AI Agent Tool Calls
5 min readAI / MLObservabilityDistributed Systems
Intermediate▶ Mock
Reviewing an Existing Architecture for Risks
6 min readDistributed SystemsSecurityObservability
Intermediate▶ Mock
Bidirectional Data Sync Dashboard
5 min readDistributed SystemsEvent DrivenDatabases
Intermediate▶ 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 Console Home Page (Backend-for-Frontend)
4 min readFrontendAPI DesignCaching
Intermediate▶ 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
Cross-Region Event Processing Platform
4 min readEvent DrivenDistributed SystemsMessaging
Advanced▶ Mock
Real-Time Data Stream Processor
4 min readData PipelinesReal-timeDistributed Systems
Intermediate▶ Mock
Distributed Cache and the Hot Key / Cache Stampede Problem
6 min readCachingDistributed SystemsDatabases
Intermediate▶ Mock
Distributed Crossword Solver
6 min readAlgorithmsDistributed SystemsScheduling
Advanced▶ Mock
Distributed File System (GFS / HDFS)
5 min readStorageDistributed SystemsDatabases
Advanced▶ Mock
Distributed Job Scheduler (Cron at Scale)
7 min readSchedulingDistributed SystemsEvent Driven
Advanced+7▶ Mock
Distributed Key-Value Store (DynamoDB / Cassandra)
7 min readDatabasesDistributed SystemsStorage
Advanced+2▶ Mock
Finding the Mode of Data Spread Across Many Machines
4 min readAlgorithmsDistributed SystemsData Pipelines
Intermediate▶ Mock
Distributed Rate Limiter
8 min readRate LimitingDistributed SystemsAPI Design
Intermediate+9▶ Mock
Duplicate File Detection at Scale
6 min readStorageAlgorithmsDistributed Systems
Intermediate▶ Mock
E-commerce Shopping Website (and Fixing Cart Latency)
5 min readE-commerceCachingDatabases
Intermediate▶ Mock
911 Emergency Call Routing Platform
5 min readReal-timeDistributed SystemsGeospatial
Advanced▶ Mock
Enterprise AI Agent for a Global Company
5 min readAI / MLSecurityDistributed Systems
Advanced▶ Mock
Expense Policy and Violation Processing (Rippling)
5 min readFintechDistributed SystemsEvent Driven
Advanced▶ Mock
Faceted Product Search at Large Scale (Amazon)
4 min readSearchE-commerceDistributed Systems
Intermediate▶ Mock
First-Time Kubernetes Deployment in a New Cloud
4 min readDistributed SystemsSecurityNetworking
Intermediate▶ Mock
Food and Quick-Commerce Delivery Platform (Uber Eats / DoorDash)
6 min readGeospatialReal-timeE-commerce
Advanced▶ Mock
Globally Consistent (Linearizable) Metadata Service
4 min readDistributed SystemsDatabasesStorage
Advanced▶ Mock
GPU Cluster Control Plane (Host Health, Repair and Job Dispatch)
7 min readObservabilitySchedulingDistributed Systems
Advanced▶ Mock
Hosting Many Websites on One Server with One IP Address
4 min readNetworkingSecurityDistributed Systems
Beginner▶ Mock
Preventing Duplicate Request Processing (Idempotency Keys)
4 min readAPI DesignDistributed SystemsPayments
Beginner▶ Mock
Incident Ticket Correlation Platform
3 min readObservabilityData PipelinesDistributed Systems
Advanced▶ Mock
Automated Jira-Ticket-to-Pull-Request System
4 min readAI / MLSchedulingDistributed Systems
Advanced▶ Mock
Scalable Likes System and Like Counter
5 min readDistributed SystemsCachingDatabases
Intermediate▶ Mock
Live Comments for Live Video (Facebook Live / TikTok Live)
6 min readReal-timeMessagingDistributed Systems
Intermediate▶ Mock
Guardrails and Fallbacks for Reliable LLM Systems
4 min readAI / MLSecurityDistributed Systems
Intermediate▶ Mock
LLM Inference API with Dynamic Batching
7 min readAI / MLConcurrencyScheduling
Advanced▶ Mock
Highly Available Software Load Balancer
7 min readDistributed SystemsNetworkingAPI Design
Intermediate▶ Mock
Malicious IP and URL Detection Service
5 min readSecurityReal-timeCaching
Advanced▶ Mock
Real-Time Market Data Distribution and VWAP (Bloomberg)
5 min readFintechReal-timeDistributed Systems
Advanced▶ Mock
Matching Tagged Problems to Skilled Programmers at Scale
4 min readAlgorithmsDistributed SystemsScheduling
Advanced▶ Mock
Mobile Banking App Backend
3 min readFintechSecurityPayments
Intermediate▶ Mock
Distributing Large Model Weights to Thousands of GPU Hosts
6 min readAI / MLDistributed SystemsStorage
Advanced▶ Mock
Multi-Carrier Parcel Shipping System
4 min readE-commerceAPI DesignEvent Driven
Intermediate▶ Mock
Multi-Tenant Data Ingestion and Processing Platform
4 min readData PipelinesDistributed SystemsSecurity
Advanced▶ Mock
Multi-Vendor Integration Platform (Connectors for Email, Slack, CRMs)
4 min readAPI DesignSecurityEvent Driven
Intermediate▶ Mock
Evaluating and Executing a MySQL to MongoDB Migration
4 min readDatabasesDistributed Systems
Intermediate▶ Mock
News Aggregator (Google News)
6 min readSearchData PipelinesCaching
Intermediate▶ Mock
Object Storage Service (Amazon S3) with Deduplication
6 min readStorageDistributed SystemsAPI Design
Advanced▶ Mock
Real-Time Online Auction (eBay / Live Auctions)
7 min readReal-timeDistributed SystemsPayments
Advanced▶ Mock
Online Bookstore with Price Aggregation
7 min readE-commerceAPI DesignCaching
Intermediate▶ Mock
Online Chess Platform (chess.com)
6 min readReal-timeDistributed SystemsMessaging
Intermediate▶ Mock
Online Judge and Coding Contest Platform (LeetCode)
6 min readDistributed SystemsSecurityScheduling
Intermediate▶ Mock
Payment Processing System (Stripe-style)
6 min readPaymentsFintechDistributed Systems
Advanced+1▶ Mock
"Played by Your Friends" Social Summary (Roblox)
3 min readDistributed SystemsCachingReal-time
Intermediate▶ Mock
Post Privacy and Visibility System (Facebook-style)
4 min readSecurityDistributed SystemsCaching
Advanced▶ Mock
Social Post Search (Keyword and Boolean Queries)
6 min readSearchDistributed SystemsAlgorithms
Intermediate▶ Mock
Smart Grid Control over Unreliable Devices
7 min readIoTDistributed SystemsReal-time
Advanced▶ Mock
High Availability and Failover for a Primary-Replica Database
4 min readDatabasesDistributed Systems
Intermediate▶ Mock
Explaining Your Own Project Architecture (and Scaling It Up)
5 min readDistributed SystemsDatabasesCaching
Beginner▶ Mock
Publisher Configuration Rules and Safe Global Rollout
5 min readAdsDistributed SystemsCaching
Intermediate▶ Mock
Pub/Sub System with Replay (Seek Back in Time)
3 min readMessagingDistributed SystemsStorage
Advanced▶ Mock
Recommendation System (Candidate Generation + Ranking)
6 min readAI / MLData PipelinesDistributed Systems
Advanced▶ Mock
Relational Database Internals (Write Path and Recovery)
7 min readDatabasesStorageDistributed Systems
Advanced▶ Mock
Enterprise Remote Browser Isolation System
3 min readSecurityDistributed SystemsScheduling
Advanced▶ Mock
Global Restaurant Chain Menu Update System
4 min readDistributed SystemsCDNCaching
Intermediate▶ Mock
Scaling a Rules Engine for High Traffic (Rippling)
3 min readDistributed SystemsAlgorithmsEvent Driven
Advanced▶ Mock
Secure Multi-Tenant API for an Enterprise AI Copilot
4 min readAI / MLSecurityAPI Design
Advanced▶ Mock
Secure Internal Web App for Sensitive Financial Data
4 min readSecurityAPI DesignDatabases
Intermediate▶ Mock
Aggregator Service over Many Downstream Microservices
3 min readDistributed SystemsAPI DesignCaching
Intermediate▶ Mock
Highly Available Spring Boot Service with Background Jobs
4 min readDistributed SystemsSchedulingDatabases
Intermediate▶ Mock
Stock Trading Platform (Zerodha / Robinhood)
6 min readFintechPaymentsReal-time
Advanced▶ Mock
Text-to-Video Generation Service (Sora)
6 min readAI / MLSchedulingDistributed Systems
Advanced▶ Mock
Troubleshooting a Slow or Failing Production System
5 min readObservabilityDistributed SystemsDatabases
Intermediate▶ Mock
URL Shortener (TinyURL / bit.ly)
7 min readDistributed SystemsCachingStorage
Beginner+4▶ Mock

Frequently Asked Questions

What are system design case studies?

System design case studies are real-world architecture problems broken down into structured breakdowns. Each case study covers requirements, high-level design, scale estimates, API designs, and deep dives into key components.

How many system design case studies should I prepare?

For FAANG interviews, preparing 15-20 case studies covering core topics like caching, load balancing, and database sharding is recommended. Focus on understanding trade-offs rather than memorizing solutions.

Which companies ask system design case studies?

All FAANG companies (Google, Amazon, Meta, Apple, Microsoft) plus top tech companies like Netflix, Uber, and Airbnb ask system design case studies. Senior-level interviews almost always include at least one system design round.

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