What is the difference between a headless setup and a classic monolith?

Monolith: one whole that lives together 

In a classic (web) monolith, much of the logic sits in one codebase: user interface, business logic, sometimes admin and APIs in the same application or close together. Advantages: simpler local development, often faster consistent behaviour, fewer moving parts in smaller teams. Disadvantages: as the system grows, everything can scale together when you only want to change one part; connecting to other channels (app, partners) requires extra discipline. 

Headless: content or service detached from the "head" 

Headless means the back-end or service (CMS, commerce, own domain API) delivers data via API, while the front end (web, app, kiosk) handles presentation itself. Advantages: faster iteration on UX and other areas, multiple clients on the same core, teams can work in parallel. Disadvantages: more integration and governance (contracts, caching, errors, versioning), more operational complexity. 

What Codana does 

We choose no dogma: for some products a solid monolith is the smartest start; for others headless or modular is essential. In Create, the choice sits alongside Imagine: domain, teams, chain, scale and time-to-market. 

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