System design you can run.
Learn it in a free course. Build it on a canvas. Push simulated load and failures through it until something breaks, then defend every decision in an AI mock interview.
- Free course, no card
- Runs in your browser
- High- and low-level design
- 151free lessons in 7 tracks, each with recall questions
- 71graded problems: 41 high-level, 30 low-level
- 33component types that carry capacity, latency and cost
- 45 minAI mock interviews, by voice or text
Where are you starting from?
Pick the one that fits. Same product, a different first hour.
One design, four steps.
The same design moves from the lesson to the canvas to the run to the interview, so every piece of feedback is about what you built.
Say it out loud before the real one.
A timed system design interview, spoken or typed, with an AI interviewer who asks about the design on your canvas and what its run showed.
- 20, 30 or 45 minutes, from requirements and estimation to the deep dive and wrap-up.
- Follow-ups come from your design: what saturated, what failed, what it cost.
- A report scores 10 dimensions out of 5, quotes your answers as evidence and estimates your level, from SDE-1 to Staff.
- Recording is optional and off by default.
On Pro, paid from prepaid credits.
Dev
AI interviewer · speaking
You · mic onDeep dive
Dev
Your checkout service writes to Postgres on every order. What happens at the sale peak?
You
The write path holds, but reads pile onto the primary. I would move order history to a replica and cache the catalogue.
Dev
Your run shows the replica lagging two seconds at peak. What does a customer see?
You
SpeakingSample reportLeaning hireLevel estimate SDE-2
Each score links to the quote, the canvas or the run it came from, with a study plan, a PDF and an annotated replay.
- Requirements
- 4 of 5
- Estimation
- 3 of 5
- API design
- 4 of 5
- Data modelling
- 3 of 5
- High-level design
- 4 of 5
- Deep dive
- 3 of 5
- Scalability
- 4 of 5
- Reliability
- 2 of 5
- Trade-offs
- 4 of 5
- Communication
- 4 of 5
Check your instinct. 3 questions from the course.
Every lesson asks questions like these, and a review queue brings back the ones you miss until they stick.
151 lessons, 7 tracks
Browse the course- FoundationsHow Systems Work · Core Trade-offs · The Interview Toolkit11 lessons
- Building BlocksNetworking · APIs · Caching and Delivery · Databases · Messaging and Streams · Specialised Systems20 lessons
- HLDConsistency and Coordination · Services and Transactions · Case Studies11 lessons
- LLDObject-Oriented Design · Services, APIs and Data · Production Readiness · Case Studies18 lessons
- Design PatternsFoundations · Creational Patterns · Structural Patterns · Behavioural Patterns · Concurrency Patterns · Architectural Patterns · Distributed Patterns · Delivering Change · Applying Patterns47 lessons
- Reliability & SecurityReliability · Security10 lessons
- AI SystemsFoundations · Retrieval and Context · Agents · Models and Outputs · Evaluation and Safety · Operations · Applied Systems34 lessons
Graded by what your design does.
71 problems with targets for latency, errors, failure and cost. Hidden tests run your design against them, so the grade comes from evidence, not keywords.
- Tests, not a reference diagramFunctionality, scalability, reliability, performance and cost targets, run against your design.
- Stuck? Ask for less than the answerA nudge first, then a hint, then the reveal with its reasoning and the rejected alternatives.
- Low-level design and machine codingClasses graded on structure, SOLID, coupling and concurrency, and coding rounds in Java, Python or TypeScript.
- HLDCheckout and payment ledgersMoney moves once, even when requests retry.
- HLDChat and presenceFan-out, ordering and who is online.
- HLDVideo deliveryEdges, storage and the cost of a cold cache.
- HLDEvent streams and metersThroughput, backpressure and replay.
- HLDMulti-tenant APIs and rate limitsFairness when one tenant spikes.
- HLDRegional failoverWhat degrades when a zone goes away.
- HLDGrounded AI answersRetrieval, caching and guardrails.
- LLDParking lots to job schedulersEntities, interfaces and how they relate.
- CODEMachine coding roundsLRU caches, pub-sub brokers, undo and redo.
- DRILLDesign pattern drillsSpot a pattern, then compare two.
Interview readinessSample
SDE 2 needs 65. 7 points to go: work on scalability and reliability.
- Requirements & estimation
- 62
- Architecture & data
- 60
- Scalability
- 48
- Focus
- Reliability
- 44
- Focus
- Trade-offs & communication
- 57
- Low-level design
- 71
- Review queue
- 6 due today
- Streak
- 9 days
- This week
- 1,240 XP
Know when you are ready.
Every lesson, problem and mock adds to one readiness score, measured against the level you are aiming for.
- Focus tags point at your weakest areas.
- A review queue brings back what you are about to forget.
- Streaks, a weekly challenge, discussions and an opt-in leaderboard.
- A certificate for each track you finish; on Pro, with a code anyone can verify.
Watch it in action, one short video at a time.
Short tutorials, each one a recording of the product. Press one to play it right here.
Hiring engineers? Interview on a design that runs.
Structured system design interviews on the canvas candidates already practise on. Every interviewer judges the same evidence.
Opening with a small group of design partners first.
A canvas that runs
Load and failures show what holds, in the interview itself.
Anchored scorecards
Every interviewer scores the same dimensions, each tied to evidence.
A debrief after every round
AI summarises and suggests follow-ups. People make the decision.
Candidate data, handled
Recordings, transcripts and notes under DPDP-ready controls, kept only as long as you choose.
Start free. Go Pro when you are ready.
Learn the fundamentals and solve your first problems for free. Pro opens every problem, the Sandbox and the AI that reviews your designs and runs your mock interviews.
Questions? We have answers.
Why learn system design when AI can write the code?
Can companies use ArchiDepth to hire system design talent?
What is ArchiDepth and how does it work?
How do I prepare for a system design interview?
Does ArchiDepth have AI mock interviews for system design?
Can I practise low-level design and machine coding?
What is free, and what needs Pro?
Who is this platform for?
How is this different from other system design resources?
Do I need prior system design experience?
What kind of problems can I practice?
AI writes the code. Decision still needs you.
Start with the free course, build your first system on the canvas, and see how it holds under load.