Microfrontend architecture

Microfrontends are an architectural style composing independently deployable frontend applications into a unified whole, similar to microservices. They offer benefits over traditional npm packages, enabling independent deployments and faster updates for shared components. In the microfrontend approach, updates to a header component by one team are readily consumed by other teams, improving agility. This architecture allows teams to use different frameworks and deploy independently on their own schedules. Key advantages include incremental upgrades, decoupled codebases, and autonomous teams leading to faster delivery. However, microfrontends introduce trade-offs like increased payload size and potential environment mismatches. Operational and governance complexity also arises, requiring consideration of management infrastructure and decentralization. Teams must assess scaling needs and maintain quality, design consistency, and shared standards. Microfrontends can be transformative for large-scale frontend architectures by providing improved flexibility and scalability. Adopting this approach should be driven by team size, structure, and velocity requirements, avoiding adoption solely for trendiness.