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Technical Architecture

This section describes the high-level architecture of the Tower Defense project, following the C4 model.

System Context​

The following diagram illustrates the primary components of the Tower Defense ecosystem and their interactions.

Core Components​

1. Frontend: Angular Game Client​

The frontend is built using Angular and provides the primary user interface and game logic. It communicates with the backend API to handle authentication, profile management, and game data persistence.

  • Location: apps/game
  • Key Technologies: Angular, RxJS, Tailwind CSS (optional).

2. Backend: NestJS API Gateway​

The backend is powered by NestJS and serves as the central hub for the application. It handles business logic, security, and data persistence.

  • Location: apps/api
  • Key Technologies: NestJS, Webpack.

3. Identity and Access: Better Auth​

We use Better Auth v1 for secure authentication and account management. This handles session management, email verification, and password resets.

  • Location: Integrated as a library and service within the API.

4. Persistence: MySQL & Drizzle ORM​

Data is stored in a MySQL database. We use Drizzle ORM for type-safe database interactions and automated migrations.

  • Location: libs/api/db
  • Key Technologies: MySQL, Drizzle ORM.

Communication Protocols​

  • HTTP/REST: Primary protocol for authentication and standard business logic.
  • WebSockets: (Planned) For real-time game state synchronization.
  • SMTP: For outgoing transactional emails.

Scaling Strategy​

The architecture is designed to be highly scalable:

  • Stateless API: The NestJS backend is largely stateless, allowing for horizontal scaling behind a load balancer.
  • Micro-Services Ready: The monorepo structure allows for easy extraction of specific logic into dedicated micro-services if needed.
  • Game Server Provisioning: (Future) Dynamically instantiated game servers for high-performance multiplayer sessions.
info

For detailed component-level documentation, see the API Docs and Game Docs sections.

For the end-to-end authentication and profile change flow, see Auth Flow End to End.