Why we love Axon Framework

Here at CROZ, we love technology.
We believe a smart framework can enormously contribute to software architecture, user functionality, and especially the sustainability of the application system. Even more, when we deliver a project, a good framework helps us to be more productive and deliver quicker to the end-customer.

Axon Framework s one of those pieces of smart technology that we like very much. Based on architectural principles of Event Sourcing and Command-Query Responsibility Segregation (CQRS), and paired with practices such as Domain Driven Design (DDD), Axon Framework provides the building blocks needed to create scalable and extensible applications while maintaining application consistency in distributed systems

Recently we had to deliver a very challenging project including the development of new modules with many complex integrations with legacy mainframe systems. Modernization of a system this large and complex can only be done in phases, using the Strangler pattern and implementing new ways of interacting with the end users. For providing brand new user experience, we have built a set of user-facing applications that are independent but still communicate and exchange data and events. And this is where Axon Framework really shined.

During the project, we have faced some challenges but looking in hindsight we have also found an acceptable solution for each one of them. And now we’re turning lessons learned from using Axon Framework in a complex legacy environment to an open-source Project Klokwrk, hoping others will benefit from our experiences.

Project Klokwrk aims to become a showcase and blueprint of a complex system based on clean architecture principles. More info about the project.

Project Klokwrk aims to become a showcase and blueprint of a complex system based on clean architecture principles.

We have noticed that the internet is flooded with fragmented and oversimplified Hello World examples that become useless for starting complex implementations. Drawing from our experience of modernizing a 50-year-old legacy system, we wanted to consolidate the lessons we have learned and turned them into an open-source project. Following CQRS and event sourcing principles, Project Klokwrk leverages Axon Framework to demonstrate an opinionated way to structure an application in a clean architecture manner.