What is Microservice? — UK Software Development Guide
Direct Answer
A microservice is a small, independently deployable software service that is responsible for a specific business capability. A microservices architecture is a system composed of many such services communicating via APIs. Each microservice has its own process, can be deployed independently of other services, and can be built using different technologies.
Microservice in the UK
Microservices have specific UK compliance implications that are not widely discussed. UK GDPR right to erasure across microservices requires each service to implement erasure for the personal data it owns — a system-level requirement, not just a database operation. FCA operational resilience: microservices must have individual health monitoring and circuit breakers — a failing microservice cannot cascade to take down the entire platform. NHS DSP Toolkit: each microservice processing patient data is technically a separate system and may require separate DSP Toolkit evidence. ClickMasters designs microservice architectures with these compliance requirements as first-class concerns.
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