Distributed Architecture Reconstruction of Polyglot and Multi-Repository Microservice Projects

TL;DR

This paper introduces a flexible framework for static architecture reconstruction of polyglot, multi-repo microservice projects, enabling accurate documentation despite architectural complexity and independent service evolution.

Contribution

It proposes a novel, extensible framework supporting technology-specific extractors and distributed analysis, improving over existing static reconstruction approaches.

Findings

Supports multi-repo environments for architecture reconstruction

Enables integration with existing static analysis tools

Provides a modular, technology-agnostic analysis framework

Abstract

Microservice architectures encourage the use of small, independently developed services; however, this can lead to increased architectural complexity. Accurate documentation is crucial, but is challenging to maintain due to the rapid, independent evolution of services. While static architecture reconstruction provides a way to maintain up-to-date documentation, existing approaches suffer from technology limitations, mono-repo constraints, or high implementation barriers. This paper presents a novel framework for static architecture reconstruction that supports technology-specific analysis modules, called \emph{extractors}, and supports \emph{distributed architecture reconstruction} in multi-repo environments. We describe the core design concepts and algorithms that govern how extractors are executed, how data is passed between them, and how their outputs are unified. Furthermore, the framework is interoperable with existing static analysis tools and algorithms, allowing them to be invoked from or embedded within extractors.