# Under Deconstruction: The State of Shopify's Monolith

DevFeed: [Under Deconstruction: The State of Shopify's Monolith](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/under-deconstruction-the-state-of-shopify-s-monolith-1603.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://shopify.engineering/shopify-monolith>)

Author: Philip Müller

Published: 2020-09-16T17:00:00Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [Shopify Engineering](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/shopify-engineering.md>), [Shopify Engineering - Shopify Engineering](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/shopify-engineering-shopify-engineering.md>)

Topics: [Rails](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/rails.md>), [Shopify](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/shopify.md>), [Architecture & Design](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/architecture-design.md>), [Software Engineering](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/software-engineering.md>), [web applications](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/web-applications.md>)

Tags: [architecture](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/architecture.md>), [complexity](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/complexity.md>), [components](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/components.md>), [modular](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/modular.md>), [rails](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/rails.md>), [shopify](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/shopify.md>), [software-design](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/software-design.md>), [tooling](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/tooling.md>)

## AI overview

Shopify describes the ongoing effort to make its large Ruby on Rails monolith more modular by organizing code into smaller, independent components. The approach aims to simplify developer onboarding, run more focused and stable tests, and reduce the time and risk involved in changing parts of the system. The article reviews the current state of the work and reflects on what the team would do differently if starting again.

## Source excerpt

It's been 18 months since we talked about our Rails modular monolith. We lay out the current state of the work, and things we'd do differently if we started again.