Curriculum
The chapter order follows the source guide exactly. Page numbers refer to the PDF.
PART I · Foundations
Think in systems before you draw boxes
PART II · Core Building Blocks
Scaling, caching, storage, distributed theory, messaging, APIs, reliability
- 4Scalability and Load Balancingpp. 1–8
- 5Caching and Content Deliverypp. 1–7
- 6Databases and Storagepp. 1–10
- 7Distributed Systems Theorypp. 1–9
- 8Messaging, Streaming and Async Processingpp. 1–9
- 9APIs, Rate Limiting and Securitypp. 1–9
- 10Architecture Patterns and Reliabilitypp. 1–8
- 11Observability and Operationspp. 1–7
- 12Algorithms and Data Structures for Scalepp. 1–7
PART III · Classic Designs
Twelve end-to-end systems, one repeatable template
- 13Design a URL Shortenerp. 49
- 14Design a Distributed Key-Value Storepp. 50–51
- 15Design a News Feedp. 52
- 16Design a Chat Systemp. 53
- 17Design a Notification Systemp. 54
- 18Design a Video Streaming Platformp. 55
- 19Design a Ride-Hailing / Proximity Servicepp. 56–57
- 20Design Search Autocomplete (Typeahead)p. 58
- 21Design a Web Crawlerp. 59
- 22Design Cloud File Storage and Syncp. 60
- 23Design Ticket Booking and Paymentsp. 61
- 24Design Real-Time Analytics (Ad Click Aggregation)pp. 62–63
PART IV · AI System Design
ML platforms, ranking, LLM serving, RAG, agents and AI case studies
- ★Primer: What is AI, an AI agent and agentic AI?Supplementary
- 25ML System Design Foundationspp. 65–67
- 26Data, Features and Training Infrastructurepp. 68–70
- 27Model Serving, MLOps and Monitoringpp. 71–73
- 28Recommendation, Search and Ranking Systemspp. 74–76
- 29LLM Fundamentals and Inference Systemspp. 77–79
- 30Embeddings, Vector Search and RAGpp. 80–82
- 31Agents, Tool Use and MCPpp. 83–85
- 32LLM Application Architecture and LLMOpspp. 86–87
- 33Fine-Tuning, Evaluation and Safetypp. 88–90
- 34AI Case Studies I: Assistant, Enterprise RAG, Coding Assistantpp. 91–93
- 35AI Case Studies II: Support Agent, Fraud, Voice, Image Generationpp. 94–97
PART V · Playbook and Reference
The design playbook, cheat-sheets, glossary and study plan