← Back to all products

System Design Cheat Sheets

$39

50+ system architecture diagrams covering load balancers, caches, databases, message queues, and real-world systems like URL shortener, chat app, newsfeed.

📁 31 files🏷 v1.0.0
JSONMarkdown

📄 Product Preview

Try the interactive reader and demo tools below, or get the full product with all content unlocked.

📖 Interactive Reader (Free Preview) ⚙ Try Demo Tools 📦 Download Free Sample

📁 File Structure 31 files

system-design-cheatsheets/ ├── LICENSE ├── README.md ├── cheatsheets/ │ ├── common-tradeoffs.md │ ├── estimation-cheatsheet.md │ ├── interview-framework.md │ └── scaling-patterns.md ├── fundamentals/ │ ├── api-design.md │ ├── caching-strategies.md │ ├── cdn-and-dns.md │ ├── consistency-patterns.md │ ├── databases.md │ ├── load-balancers.md │ ├── message-queues.md │ ├── networking.md │ ├── security-fundamentals.md │ └── storage-systems.md ├── real-world-systems/ │ ├── chat-application.md │ ├── e-commerce-platform.md │ ├── file-storage.md │ ├── metrics-monitoring.md │ ├── notification-system.md │ ├── payment-system.md │ ├── rate-limiter.md │ ├── ride-sharing.md │ ├── search-engine.md │ ├── social-media-feed.md │ ├── ticket-booking.md │ ├── url-shortener.md │ ├── video-streaming.md │ └── web-crawler.md └── study-plan/ └── system-design-study-plan.md

📖 Documentation Preview README excerpt

System Design Cheat Sheets

50+ system architecture diagrams and walkthroughs for acing system design interviews at top tech companies.

Whether you're preparing for your first L5 interview or brushing up for a staff-level loop, these cheatsheets give you the building blocks, patterns, and real-world system breakdowns you need — all in portable Markdown with ASCII architecture diagrams.

Table of Contents

  • [What's Included](#whats-included)
  • [How to Use These Cheatsheets](#how-to-use-these-cheatsheets)
  • [Recommended Study Order](#recommended-study-order)
  • [File Index](#file-index)
  • [Fundamentals](#fundamentals-10-topics)
  • [Real-World System Designs](#real-world-system-designs-14-systems)
  • [Quick-Reference Cheatsheets](#quick-reference-cheatsheets-4-sheets)
  • [Study Plan](#study-plan)
  • [Tips for Interview Day](#tips-for-interview-day)
  • [FAQ](#faq)
  • [Support](#support)
  • [License](#license)

What's Included

CategoryCountDescription
Fundamentals10Core building blocks — load balancers, caching, databases, queues, APIs, CDN/DNS, storage, networking, consistency, security
Real-World Systems14End-to-end designs — URL shortener, chat app, newsfeed, video streaming, ride-sharing, e-commerce, search engine, and more
Cheatsheets4Quick-reference cards — estimation numbers, interview framework, tradeoff matrices, scaling patterns
Study Plan14-week structured plan with daily topics and practice problems
Total diagrams50+ASCII architecture diagrams embedded throughout every file

How to Use These Cheatsheets

For Interview Prep (recommended)

1. Start with the study plan (study-plan/system-design-study-plan.md) — it maps out a 4-week schedule

2. Learn fundamentals first — you can't design a system if you don't know what a load balancer does

3. Work through real-world systems — try designing each system on a whiteboard before reading the walkthrough

4. Keep cheatsheets handy — use the estimation and framework sheets as quick references during practice

For Quick Reference

  • Jump directly to any topic via the [File Index](#file-index) below
  • Each file is self-contained — no need to read in order
  • Use Ctrl+F / Cmd+F to search within any file

For Mock Interviews

1. Pick a random system from real-world-systems/

2. Set a 35-minute timer

3. Design the system on paper/whiteboard without looking at the walkthrough

4. Compare your design against the cheatsheet

5. Note what you missed — those are your weak spots to study

... continues with setup instructions, usage examples, and more.

📄 Content Sample cheatsheets/common-tradeoffs.md

Common Tradeoffs Cheatsheet

Decision matrices for the most common architectural tradeoffs in system design interviews. For each tradeoff, know both sides and when to pick which.

SQL vs NoSQL


  ┌────────────────────┬──────────────────┬───────────────────┐
  │ Factor             │ SQL              │ NoSQL             │
  ├────────────────────┼──────────────────┼───────────────────┤
  │ Data relationships │ Complex (JOINs)  │ Simple (embedded) │
  │ Schema             │ Fixed, enforced  │ Flexible          │
  │ Transactions       │ ACID             │ BASE (usually)    │
  │ Scaling writes     │ Vertical (hard)  │ Horizontal (easy) │
  │ Query flexibility  │ Very flexible    │ Limited patterns  │
  │ Consistency        │ Strong (default) │ Eventual (tunable)│
  └────────────────────┴──────────────────┴───────────────────┘

  Decision:
  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
  │ Use SQL when:                                          │
  │   • Data is relational (users ↔ orders ↔ products)     │
  │   • You need ACID transactions (payments, inventory)   │
  │   • Query patterns are complex or unpredictable        │
  │   • Data integrity is critical                         │
  │                                                        │
  │ Use NoSQL when:                                        │
  │   • Schema varies (product catalogs with attributes)   │
  │   • Write-heavy with simple access patterns            │
  │   • Need horizontal scaling beyond single-node limits  │
  │   • Key-value or document lookups dominate             │
  └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Push vs Pull (Fan-Out)


  ┌──────────────────┬──────────────────┬───────────────────┐
  │ Factor           │ Fan-Out on Write │ Fan-Out on Read   │
  │                  │ (Push)           │ (Pull)            │
  ├──────────────────┼──────────────────┼───────────────────┤
  │ Read speed       │ Fast (precomputed)│ Slow (compute on │
  │                  │                  │ read)             │
  │ Write cost       │ High (N writes   │ Low (1 write)     │

*... and much more in the full download.*
Buy Now — $39 Back to Products