Strangler Fig Migration
Strangler Fig Migration governs legacy replacement, shaping system behavior under specific failure modes and workloads.
Definition
Strangler Fig Migration is a design property concerning legacy replacement. It defines how the system behaves under specific conditions — what guarantees hold, what trade-offs apply, and how the mechanism interacts with related techniques. The property is only meaningful when its preconditions are met; outside those conditions it provides no benefit and may add cost.
Context and scope
Apply Strangler Fig Migration when designing systems where legacy replacement matters. It is most useful under partial failure, high load, or correctness requirements. Pair it with observability to verify the claimed behavior in production. Do not assume the property holds without testing the specific configuration and workload.
Common misconceptions
- Strangler Fig Migration eliminates all problems in its domain — it only bounds or shapes specific failure modes, not all pathologies.
- Strangler Fig Migration is free once you adopt the right tool — the property depends on configuration, workload, and failure pattern, not the product label alone.
Anti-patterns
- Enabling Strangler Fig Migration without measuring its cost in latency, availability, or operational complexity under production-like conditions.
- Assuming Strangler Fig Migration composes safely with other guarantees — combining mechanisms can introduce new failure modes or negate benefits.
Related concepts
Authoritative source
What it is
Strangler Fig Migration is a design property concerning legacy replacement. It defines how the system behaves under specific conditions — what guarantees hold, what trade-offs apply, and how the mechanism interacts with related techniques. The property is only meaningful when its preconditions are met; outside those conditions it provides no benefit and may add cost.
When to use
Apply Strangler Fig Migration when designing systems where legacy replacement matters. It is most useful under partial failure, high load, or correctness requirements. Pair it with observability to verify the claimed behavior in production. Do not assume the property holds without testing the specific configuration and workload.
Common misconceptions
- Strangler Fig Migration eliminates all problems in its domain — it only bounds or shapes specific failure modes, not all pathologies.
- Strangler Fig Migration is free once you adopt the right tool — the property depends on configuration, workload, and failure pattern, not the product label alone.
Anti-patterns to avoid
- Enabling Strangler Fig Migration without measuring its cost in latency, availability, or operational complexity under production-like conditions.
- Assuming Strangler Fig Migration composes safely with other guarantees — combining mechanisms can introduce new failure modes or negate benefits.
Related concepts
- Strangler Fig (strangler-fig)
- Strangler Metrics: Proving the Old Path Is Really Dying (strangler-metrics)