Clean Architecture

Welcome to the introductory article of our documentation section focused on Clean Architecture. Clean Architecture is an architectural design that supports good software engineering—from writing clean code to managing dependencies. In this article, we will explore the basics of Clean Architecture, its advantages, the impact on the development cycle, and introduce our Eli CLI tool, which helps you adhere to these standards.

Clean Architecture

Clean Architecture was formulated by Robert C. Martin, also known as "Uncle Bob," and is based on several older principles such as Hexagonal architecture, Onion architecture, and Boundaries. The main goal of this architecture is to minimize dependencies between different parts of the application, which allows for greater separation and thus facilitates maintenance and scalability.

The structure of Clean Architecture divides the system into several layers, usually with an independent core containing the business logic, surrounded by other layers handling user interfaces, databases, network operations, and other external agents. Each layer communicates with another only through well-defined interfaces.

Advantages of using

Adopting Clean Architecture in your projects brings several key benefits:

• Flexibility and Scalability: Easy to adapt or extend the application without significantly altering the existing code.
• Reduced Component Interdependency: The layered design separates dependencies, simplifying changes in individual parts of the system.
• Facilitated Testing: Independent layers can be more easily tested in isolation, supporting the writing of reliable tests.
• Separation of Business Logic from UI: Increases the cleanliness and readability of the code when business logic is clearly separated from the user interface and infrastructure elements.

Impact on developer cycle

Cleaner code and better project structure lead to faster onboarding of new developers and easier code maintenance. Overall, this architecture can lead to faster iterations and lower maintenance costs over time.

Our in-house tooling

To facilitate working with our implementation of Clean Architecute, we have developed the Eli CLI. Eli helps developers generate basic code templates, check adherence to architectural patterns, and automate common tasks such as creating of unit or widget testing. With Eli, you can easily maintain high code quality and ensure that all parts of your project comply with the principles of Clean Architecture and fit to your App Development.