Vertical Slices in software architecture are pictured right now as the best thing since sliced bread. I won’t try to hide that, like it. I've written about CQRS and Vertical Slices over the years - how to slice the codebase effectively, shown examples, and explained why generic doesn't mean simple, yet…I still get questions about Vertical Slices Architecture (VSA). After a recent Discord discussion, I want to share some additional thoughts on how I see Vertical Slices Architecture, how it relates to CQRS, what different slicing strategies are, and (of course) the tradeoffs.

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Explores the relationship between Vertical Slice Architecture (VSA) and CQRS, arguing that VSA is essentially CQRS with more prescriptive organizational guidance. Discusses two main approaches to implementing vertical slices: pure self-contained slices versus slices with thin coordination layers. Addresses how semantic diffusion corrupts architectural patterns over time, turning simple concepts like CQRS and VSA into complex, misunderstood implementations with unnecessary constraints. Emphasizes that both patterns work well for simple CRUD systems and can evolve as complexity grows.

My thoughts on Vertical Slices, CQRS, Semantic Diffusion and other fancy words

What Vertical Slices Architecture actually is

Semantic Diffusion: How good ideas get corrupted

I’m a firm believer in Clean Architecture (CA) . This, however, does have merit and potential.
I have not yet tried it, but there should be a way to do a combination of CA and VSA. They are not mutually exclusive unless you make them mutually exclusive.
I have not tried it, yet, so this may work or it might not. We all love Bob’s CA, because it works. We also like this VSA, because it can solve the problem of having to modify 3 different projects whenever you whenever you have to add a new feature. A mix of the two would make sense.
You keep the separation of concerns, but keep the CA approach of separating BL from DAL. I would still keep the front-end separately from the back-end. I suppose, that if you’re coding in a MERN stack that you could merge them, but even then I might keep them separate.
Keep in mind that my world is .NET so it might and probably won’t apply to every other programming language/paradigm.

Awesome 👌🏻 Thank you for sharing