Microservices Documentation Template

A template for documenting microservices architecture including service catalogue, responsibilities, communication patterns, and operational guidance.

January 23, 2026

The Microservices Documentation template provides a structure for documenting microservices architectures. It covers service catalogues, responsibilities, communication patterns, and operational considerations.

Template Sections

This template includes eight sections covering service architecture and operations.

Architecture Overview

Service landscape diagrams, dependency graphs, and microservices principles.

Service Catalogue

Complete list of services with responsibilities, ownership, and documentation links.

Service Boundaries

Bounded contexts, domain boundaries, and boundary rules documentation.

Communication Patterns

Synchronous and asynchronous patterns, event formats, and API contracts.

Data Management

Data ownership, database per service patterns, and data consistency strategies.

Resilience Patterns

Circuit breakers, retries, timeouts, and failure handling documentation.

Deployment

Deployment topology, container orchestration, and deployment procedures.

Observability

Distributed tracing, logging standards, metrics, and alerting configuration.

Section Details

Section Requirements

Required and optional sections for microservices documentation
Section	Required	Primary Block Types
Architecture Overview	Yes	Diagram, Graph Diagram, Principle
Service Catalogue	Yes	Component Responsibility, Rich Text, Link
Service Boundaries	Yes	Diagram, Constraint, Assumption
Communication Patterns	Yes	Schema, REST API, Rich Text
Data Management	Recommended	Diagram, Data Lifecycle, Principle
Resilience Patterns	Recommended	Failure Scenario, NFR, Rich Text
Deployment	Yes	Diagram, Operational Note, Constraint
Observability	Recommended	NFR, Operational Note, Rich Text

Getting Started

How to Document Microservices

Step-by-step guide to creating microservices documentation including service catalogues, responsibilities, APIs, and communication patterns.

Microservices Architecture

Create microservices and API architecture diagrams showing independent services, API gateways, and service interactions.

Technical Blocks

Reference for the 7 technical category blocks: Component Responsibility, Data Lifecycle, REST API Endpoint, API Schema, Search Model, Operational Note, and Mermaid Diagram.