Archive - The System Design Newsletter

What You Need to Master (And Avoid) to Build Fast, Reliable, and Scalable APIs

#165: Nine Tips for High-Performance APIs

Jul 29 • Neo Kim

I struggled with "microservices" until I learned these 22 patterns

#164: A field guide to splitting systems, keeping data correct, and surviving failure in production

Jul 23 • Neo Kim

What Happens When Your Coding Agent Actually Knows Your Architecture?

#163: How I turned NotebookLM into a grounded knowledge layer for PR reviews, design reviews, debugging, and onboarding

Jul 20 • Neo Kim and Gencay

How to Build a Domain Expert AI

#162: Part 4 - Generative AI Masterclass

Jul 17 • Louis-François Bouchard and Neo Kim

Kubernetes - A Deep Dive

#161: Part 3 - DevOps Mastermind

Jul 13 • Neo Kim and Ayaan

How to use AI agents better than 99% of people

#160: A full guide to graph shaped memory for AI agents

Jul 7 • Neo Kim

Content Delivery Network (CDN) - A Deep Dive

#159: A clear introduction to CDNs and their core concepts

Jul 2 • Neo Kim

June 2026

A2A Protocol - Deep Dive

#158: How AI agents collaborate to solve complex tasks

Jun 26 • Eric Roby and Neo Kim

You Won’t Use Claude The Same Way After Understanding This Folder

#157: A map of every file inside, and why it controls what Claude does before you type a word

Jun 24 • Ilia Karelin and Neo Kim

mobile system design was HARD until I learned these 53 concepts

#156: Part 3 - Modular Architecture, Feature Flags, Staged Rollouts, and 11 others.

Jun 22 • Shefali Jangid and Neo Kim

The Secret Architecture Behind AI Data Centers

#155: Why AI breakthroughs are really infrastructure breakthroughs

Jun 19 • Neo Kim and Ashish

30 Core Agentic Engineering Concepts, Explained Simply

#154: What an agent is, how to configure one, when to use multiple, and how to keep them from doing damage.

Jun 17 • Neo Kim and Paul Hoekstra

#nojs-banner { position: fixed; bottom: 0; left: 0; padding: 16px 16px 16px 32px; width: 100%; box-sizing: border-box; background: red; color: white; font-family: -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px; } #nojs-banner a { color: inherit; text-decoration: underline; } This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Please turn on JavaScript or unblock scripts