How I Architected nuzur's Backend
Three years ago this was a plan. Today it's a real, running system. I walk through nuzur's backend layer by layer—the web editor, CLI, MCP server, the generated core, extensions, auth, and deployment—and end with four things I'd change if I started over.
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I built nuzur, a visual database modeling tool: you design your schema as a diagram, and nuzur generates the boring parts—SQL migrations, CRUD and list operations, and a full Go entity-management module. The philosophy is model-first: your schema is the source of truth, and everything downstream is generated from it.
In this video I break down the real architecture behind it—what I chose, why I chose it, and what I'd do differently. We cover the gRPC-web + Envoy setup, the generated-core / hand-written-edge pattern (the NEM module), pod-per-extension isolation, Keycloak for auth, and a Helm + Kubernetes deployment running across Linode and AWS.
If you're learning system design or thinking about code generation in your own stack, the four regrets at the end are the most honest part.
Chapters
00:00 The plan vs. what it became
00:16 What is nuzur?
00:56 System at a glance
01:08 Layer 1 - The edge: web app, CLI, AI agents
01:35 gRPC-web + Envoy (web editor)
03:01 The CLI tool (Go, urfave, GoReleaser)
04:13 AI assistants & the MCP server
05:54 Layer 2 - The generated core (NEM) & product layer
08:39 Layer 3 - Extensions (pod per extension)
09:51 Layer 4 - Auth with Keycloak
10:58 Layer 5 - Deployment (Helm, Kubernetes, AWS, Linode)
12:28 4 things I'd change
Stack: Go · gRPC · Protobuf · Envoy · React · Kubernetes · Helm · Keycloak · MySQL (AWS RDS) · S3 · Linode · MCP
Check out the blog post: https://maykelfarha.com/page/nuzur-ar...
Try nuzur → https://nuzur.com
#systemdesign #golang #grpc #kubernetes #softwarearchitecture #backenddevelopment