GLOSSARY

A modular approach in which systems are assembled from independent, interchangeable capabilities connected through defined interfaces.

Composable architecture can shorten change cycles, limit dependence on a single suite, and let organisations evolve capabilities selectively. The benefit depends on disciplined platform engineering and governance rather than the number of products used.

A retailer combines a headless content platform, search service, pricing engine, and checkout capability through APIs. Each capability has an owner and contract tests, allowing the search service to be replaced without rebuilding the customer experience.

More components create integration, security, testing, observability, data-consistency, and vendor-management overhead. A distributed system is not automatically composable; tightly coupled services or unstable interfaces can reproduce monolithic constraints.

The architecture decomposes a solution into packaged business capabilities, services, data products, and experience components that can be selected, integrated, deployed, and replaced independently. APIs and events define boundaries; loose coupling, independent ownership, observability, and versioned contracts reduce the effect of changing one component.