openedx / openedx/docs.openedx.org

Architecture diagram updates

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@sarina is already working on this.

Since Apr 14, 2025.

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Description

An update was made to the Open edX architecture diagram at https://github.com/openedx/docs.openedx.org/blob/main/source/developers/references/developer_guide/images/open-edx-architecture.png when it was moved from the edx-documentation repository (to add Aspects, among other tweaks), but there are a few points that should still be cleaned up to prevent confusion:

  • The "Programs" IDA has been unsupported for years: https://github.com/edx-unsupported/programs
  • The previous version of the diagram is still present at https://github.com/openedx/edx-documentation/blob/master/en_us/shared/images/edx-architecture.png despite nothing seeming to reference it now
  • There's no mention of the registrar or edx-notes-api services.
  • There's no mention of the enterprise-focused IDAs in the openedx organization: enterprise-access, enterprise-catalog, and license-manager (although that may be deliberate).
  • Does "Configuration" still merit a mention, now that Tutor is the only supported Open edX deployment option?
  • If "API Manager" is the 2U-specific https://github.com/edx/api-manager , does it still merit a mention?
  • edx-ui-toolkit and ux-pattern-library are both being actively phased out; should Paragon be mentioned instead of "UX Toolkit & Pattern Library"? It kind of falls under "MFEs", but it is a noteworthy tool in its own right.
  • Typo: "Persistance" -> "Persistence" in the bottom section label
  • "Memcache" -> "Memcached"
  • Maybe rename "Redis and Celery workers" to "Celery Broker (Redis)"? That would avoid conflating persistence with async execution, and make the next point less confusing.
  • Add a persistence system entry for "Event Bus (Kafka or Redis)".

There are probably more things worth calling out in the edx-platform block, but I'll avoid opening that can of worms for now.

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