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Clean Architecture

Clean Architecture is a set of principles from Robert C. Martin for organizing software systems so that business rules are isolated from frameworks, databases, and delivery mechanisms. The core idea is the Dependency Rule: source code dependencies must always point inward, toward higher-level policies. This produces systems that are testable without UI or database, framework-independent, and resilient to change in external concerns. This skill covers the concentric layer model, component design principles, and practical boundary-crossing patterns.

When to use this skill

Trigger this skill when the user:

Asks how to structure a new project or application
Wants to separate business logic from framework/infrastructure code
Needs to design use cases or application services
Asks about dependency direction or the Dependency Rule
Wants to refactor a monolith or tightly-coupled codebase
Asks about component cohesion, coupling, or package organization
Needs to cross architectural boundaries (e.g. use case to database)
Asks about Screaming Architecture or making intent visible in structure

Do NOT trigger this skill for:

Code-level refactoring (naming, function size, comments) - use the clean-code skill
Infrastructure/DevOps decisions (container orchestration, CI/CD pipelines)

Key principles

The Dependency Rule - Source code dependencies must point inward only. Nothing in an inner circle can know anything about something in an outer circle. This includes names, functions, classes, and data formats. The inner circles are policy; the outer circles are mechanisms.
Screaming Architecture - Your project structure should scream its purpose. A healthcare system's top-level folders should say patients/, appointments/, prescriptions/ - not controllers/, models/, services/. The architecture should communicate the use cases, not the framework.
Policy over detail - Business rules are the most important code. They change for business reasons. Frameworks, databases, and UI are details that change for technical reasons. Protect policy from detail by making detail depend on policy, never the reverse.
Defer decisions - A good architecture lets you delay choices about frameworks, databases, and delivery mechanisms. If you must choose a database before writing business logic, the architecture has failed.
Testability as a design metric - If you can't test your business rules without a database, web server, or UI, the architecture is wrong. Use cases should be testable with plain unit tests.

Core concepts

Clean Architecture organizes code into concentric layers, each with a distinct responsibility. From innermost to outermost:

Entities are enterprise-wide business rules. They encapsulate the most general, high-level rules that would exist even if there were no software system. An entity can be an object with methods or a set of data structures and functions. They are the least likely to change when something external changes.

Use Cases contain application-specific business rules. Each use case orchestrates the flow of data to and from entities, directing them to apply their enterprise-wide rules. Use cases don't know about the UI, database, or any external agency. They define input/output data structures (request/response models) at the boundary.

Interface Adapters convert data between the format most convenient for use cases and the format required by external agents (database, web, etc.). Controllers, presenters, gateways, and repositories live here. This layer contains no business logic - only translation.

Frameworks & Drivers is the outermost layer. Web frameworks, database drivers, HTTP clients, message queues. This is glue code that wires external tools to the interface adapters. Keep this layer thin.

See references/layer-patterns.md for detailed code patterns in each layer.

Common tasks

Structure a new project

Organize by domain feature, not by technical layer. Each feature module contains its own layers internally.

Before (framework-screaming):

src/
  controllers/
    UserController.ts
    OrderController.ts
  models/
    User.ts
    Order.ts
  services/
    UserService.ts
    OrderService.ts
  repositories/
    UserRepository.ts
    OrderRepository.ts

After (domain-screaming):

src/
  users/
    entities/User.ts
    usecases/CreateUser.ts
    usecases/GetUserProfile.ts
    adapters/UserController.ts
    adapters/UserRepository.ts
  orders/
    entities/Order.ts
    entities/OrderItem.ts
    usecases/PlaceOrder.ts
    usecases/CancelOrder.ts
    adapters/OrderController.ts
    adapters/OrderRepository.ts
  shared/
    entities/Money.ts
    interfaces/Repository.ts

Define a use case

Each use case is a single class/function with one public method. It accepts a request model, orchestrates entities, and returns a response model.

// usecases/PlaceOrder.ts
interface PlaceOrderRequest {
  customerId: string;
  items: Array<{ productId: string; quantity: number }>;
}

interface PlaceOrderResponse {
  orderId: string;
  total: number;
}

interface OrderGateway {
  save(order: Order): Promise<void>;
}

interface ProductGateway {
  findByIds(ids: string[]): Promise<Product[]>;
}

class PlaceOrder {
  constructor(
    private orders: OrderGateway,
    private products: ProductGateway,
  ) {}

  async execute(request: PlaceOrderRequest): Promise<PlaceOrderResponse> {
    const products = await this.products.findByIds(
      request.items.map((i) => i.productId),
    );
    const order = Order.create(request.customerId, request.items, products);
    await this.orders.save(order);
    return { orderId: order.id, total: order.total.amount };
  }
}

Note: OrderGateway and ProductGateway are interfaces defined in the use case layer. The database implementation lives in the adapters layer and is injected.

Cross a boundary with Dependency Inversion

When an inner layer needs to call an outer layer (e.g. use case needs to persist data), define an interface in the inner layer and implement it in the outer layer.

Use Case layer:     defines OrderGateway (interface)
Adapter layer:      implements PostgresOrderGateway (class)
Framework layer:    wires PostgresOrderGateway into PlaceOrder via DI

// Inner: usecases/gateways/OrderGateway.ts (interface)
interface OrderGateway {
  save(order: Order): Promise<void>;
  findById(id: string): Promise<Order | null>;
}

// Outer: adapters/persistence/PostgresOrderGateway.ts (implementation)
class PostgresOrderGateway implements OrderGateway {
  constructor(private db: Pool) {}

  async save(order: Order): Promise<void> {
    await this.db.query("INSERT INTO orders ...", [order.id, order.total]);
  }

  async findById(id: string): Promise<Order | null> {
    const row = await this.db.query("SELECT * FROM orders WHERE id = $1", [id]);
    return row ? this.toEntity(row) : null;
  }
}

See references/dependency-rule.md and references/boundaries.md for more patterns.

Design an interface adapter (Controller)

Controllers translate HTTP requests into use case request models, then translate use case responses back into HTTP responses. No business logic lives here.

// adapters/http/OrdersController.ts
class OrdersController {
  constructor(private placeOrder: PlaceOrder) {}

  async handlePost(req: Request, res: Response) {
    const request: PlaceOrderRequest = {
      customerId: req.body.customerId,
      items: req.body.items,
    };
    const result = await this.placeOrder.execute(request);
    res.status(201).json(result);
  }
}

The controller knows about HTTP. The use case does not. If you switch from Express to Fastify, only this layer changes.

Enforce the Dependency Rule

Use these practical enforcement strategies:

Import linting - Configure ESLint (e.g. eslint-plugin-boundaries) or similar tools to forbid imports from outer layers into inner layers
Package/module boundaries - In languages with module systems (Go, Java, Rust), use package visibility to enforce access
Code review checklist - Check that entities import nothing from use cases, use cases import nothing from adapters, and adapters import nothing from frameworks directly

ALLOWED:            Adapter -> UseCase -> Entity
FORBIDDEN:          Entity -> UseCase, UseCase -> Adapter, Entity -> Adapter

See references/dependency-rule.md for enforcement tooling by language.

Organize components

Apply the component cohesion and coupling principles to decide what goes in the same package/module and how packages relate to each other.

Cohesion (what goes together):

REP (Reuse/Release Equivalence) - Classes released together should be reusable together
CCP (Common Closure) - Classes that change together should be packaged together
CRP (Common Reuse) - Don't force consumers to depend on things they don't use

Coupling (how packages relate):

ADP (Acyclic Dependencies) - No cycles in the package dependency graph
SDP (Stable Dependencies) - Depend in the direction of stability
SAP (Stable Abstractions) - Stable packages should be abstract

See references/component-principles.md for the full breakdown.

Anti-patterns / common mistakes

Mistake	Why it's wrong	What to do instead
Framework coupling	Letting annotations (`@Entity`, `@Injectable`) leak into entities/use cases ties business rules to a framework	Keep entities as plain objects. Apply framework decorators only in the adapter/framework layer
Skipping use cases	Putting business logic in controllers makes it untestable and couples it to HTTP	Always model operations as use cases, even simple ones. They're cheap to create
Over-engineering small apps	Full Clean Architecture for a 3-endpoint CRUD API adds layers without benefit	Scale the architecture to the complexity. A simple app might only need 2 layers
Wrong dependency direction	Use cases importing from controllers, or entities depending on ORM types	Draw the dependency arrows. If any point outward, invert with an interface
Database-driven design	Starting with the schema and generating entities from it	Start with entities and use cases. The database schema is a detail that adapts to the domain
Treating layers as folders	Creating `entities/`, `usecases/` folders but not enforcing import rules	Folders aren't boundaries. Use linting, module visibility, or build tools to enforce the rule
Premature microservices	Splitting into services before understanding domain boundaries	Start as a well-structured monolith. Extract services along proven component boundaries

References

For detailed content on specific topics, read the relevant file from references/:

references/dependency-rule.md - The Dependency Rule, enforcement strategies, and tooling by language
references/component-principles.md - Cohesion (REP, CCP, CRP) and Coupling (ADP, SDP, SAP) with examples
references/layer-patterns.md - Detailed code patterns for each architectural layer
references/boundaries.md - Boundary crossing strategies, humble objects, DTOs, partial boundaries

Only load a references file if the current task requires deep detail on that topic.

Related skills

When this skill is activated, check if the following companion skills are installed. For any that are missing, mention them to the user and offer to install before proceeding with the task. Example: "I notice you don't have [skill] installed yet - it pairs well with this skill. Want me to install it?"

clean-code - Reviewing, writing, or refactoring code for cleanliness and maintainability following Robert C.
system-design - Designing distributed systems, architecting scalable services, preparing for system...
microservices - Designing microservice architectures, decomposing monoliths, implementing inter-service...
backend-engineering - Designing backend systems, databases, APIs, or services.

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