Micro-Frontends in the trenches

Hosted by Luca Mezzalira

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May 2026

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About the show

Welcome to "Micro-Frontends in the Trenches," a podcast where Luca Mezzalira interviews practitioners from all over the world sharing their experiences. Learn how to scale your organisation and teams, optimising for fast flow and independence in the trenches. From fixing problems to organisation structure, we cover it all. Whether you're new to web development or a pro, this podcast has something for you.

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17 recent

May 7, 2026Episode 744 min

How to build real-time applications using micro-frontends with Peter Eijgermans

In this episode of Micro-Frontends in the Trenches, Luca Mezzalira sits down with Peter Eijgermans to unpack a five-year journey building Spoorviewer, the real-time dashboard powering operations at the Dutch Railways (NS / ProRail).Peter walks through how four teams modernized a slowing Angular monolith into a dashboard-style shell hosting five remote applications, loaded dynamically at runtime via Module Federation. You'll hear what worked, what didn't, and why the first attempt with Web Components (Custom Elements) failed to deliver on performance.CHAPTERS00:00 Cold open: shipping without fear01:26 Welcome and introductions03:02 Meet Peter: full-stack, real-time data, and OIDC05:16 Spoorviewer: a dashboard, not a page-based app07:22 The five remote apps: Spoorzicht, Plan, Baanvak, Track Occupancy, Maintenance10:34 Why micro-frontends? The organizational and technical breaking point12:47 The performance trap of Custom Elements14:54 Switching to Module Federation: Lighthouse 30 → 7516:50 Domain-Driven Design and identifying overlapping boundaries20:11 Recap: shell, lazy loading, DDD, and team independence23:30 WebSockets aligned to bounded contexts26:46 How developers felt about the move to micro-frontends28:11 Guardrails: framework alignment, versioning, shared libraries31:14 From client-side OIDC to a Backend-for-Frontend "Lego brick"34:27 Drawbacks and lessons learned along the way36:41 Architecture surfaces friction, it doesn't create it39:17 AI on the horizon: predicting train delays40:39 AI in the developer workflow42:31 Closing reflections: start with good design43:21 Wrap-up and outro

April 1, 2026Episode 643 min

Micro-Frontends & Angular with Manfred Steyer

Modern Angular ebook by Manfred Steyer: https://payhip.com/AngularArchitectssubscribe to the MFEs newsletter: https://www.buildingmicrofrontends.comIn this episode, host Luca sits down with Manfred Steyer — Angular GDE, trainer, consultant, and creator of Native Federation — to explore the world of micro frontends in the Angular ecosystem.They cover:How popular micro frontends are in the Angular community and when they actually make senseThe different approaches to implementing micro frontends in Angular (hyperlinks, hydration, Module Federation)State management and communication between micro frontends using signals and subjectsHandling multiple Angular versions across a distributed systemHow and why Manfred created Native Federation as a build-tool-agnostic alternative to Webpack Module FederationHow import maps and ES modules power Native Federation under the hoodMigrating from a monolith to micro frontends — key questions to ask before you startThe relationship between the Angular team and Native FederationTop 3 recommendations for developers getting started with micro frontends

February 10, 2026Episode 549 min

A new framework for building micro-frontends with Chris Fryer

“We adopted micro-frontends… and suddenly authentication became everyone’s problem.”That sentence alone has probably cost teams months of rework, endless Slack threads, and architecture diagrams that aged badly after the first production incident. In the latest episode of Micro-Frontends in the Trenches, I sit down with Chris Fryer to unpack the realities behind his #microfrontends Framework, the evolving Module Federation ecosystem, and much more☢️ WARNING: This is not a theoretical conversation. Listen to the episode and let me know what challenged your perspective the most.

December 23, 2025Episode 443 min

Migrating to micro-frontends with Boris Besemer from Vercel

In this episode, I’m joined by Boris Besemer from Vercel to unpack what it really takes to start a migration to micro-frontends without turning it into a never-ending transformation.We focus on the very first steps teams should take: how to identify the right starting point and how to avoid the most common early mistakes that slow teams down or create unnecessary complexity.A big part of the conversation explores how the Vercel platform can simplify platform engineering during a migration. We discuss how tooling, deployment workflows, preview environments, and developer experience can reduce cognitive load while multiple teams progressively move toward a micro-frontend architecture.

October 14, 2025Episode 31 hr 16 min

Microservices × Micro-Frontends: Uncovered with Sam Newman

I don't think you need to know more than the name of the guest to love this episode: Sam Newman, author of Building Microservices and other best sellers on distributed systems.This is an episode you don't want to miss where I talk about micro-frontends with Sam drawing parallelisms between the 2 layers of a distributed system.Enjoy this fantastic episode===================================My gear: https://www.amazon.co.uk/shop/my50cents?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_aipsfshop_W744H9NEJG7C9T3JMFC2Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0W5YEY5T3ApuYS8H9I3DzL?si=c279c2df086b4d8fTwitter: https://twitter.com/lucamezzaliraLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucamezzaliraInstagram: https://instagram.com/mezzalabTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lucamezzalira

September 24, 2025Episode 249 min

Platform Engineering for Micro-Frontends with Jeremy Colin

In this episode of Micro-Frontends in the Trenches, I talk with Jeremy Colin (ex-Zalando) about the journey that led to Tailor.js and later Mosaic, two pioneering frameworks that shaped how micro-frontends are built at scale.Jeremy shares the technical challenges, trade-offs, and lessons learned while building these platforms, and why platform engineering is essential for making micro-frontends practical in real-world organizations.We dive into:- The story behind Tailor.js and its role in Zalando’s architecture.- How Mosaic evolved and why it mattered.- The hidden complexities of adopting micro-frontends.- Why platform engineering is key to simplifying and sustaining the practice.I highly encourage all of you to listen to this episode that is part of the micro-frontend history!

August 20, 2025Episode 144 min

The future of Frontend is on Vercel with Malte Ubl

We’ve been cooking something new—Remote Components.Imagine pushing a tiny change to your e-commerce site like updating a free shipping banner and having to wait hours for the entire site to build and test. That’s the reality of traditional monolithic frontends, where even the smallest updates can ripple across the codebase, slowing teams down and widening the blast radius for potential problems.Vercel is changing the game with micro-frontends providing an unmatched developer experience so farIn this episode you’ll learn how Vercel micro-frontends implementation can:- Speed up build and deploy times- Reduce risks when releasing features- Empower teams to ship independently without stepping on each other’s toesMore information at: https://vercel.com/microfrontends

November 14, 2024Episode 858 min

The Module Federation Revolution with Zack Jackson from ByteDance

In this can't-miss episode, Zack takes us behind the scenes of Module Federation's inception and its game-changing impact on micro-frontend architecture. But that's just the beginning! We dive deep into Zack's current adventures at ByteDance, where Module Federation is being pushed to mind-blowing scales you won't believe. Get ready for some serious tech excitement as we unpack the freshly released Module Federation 2.0. Zack breaks down the new features like the possibility to use Module Federation across multiple bundlers. But wait, there's more! We tackle the elephant in the room - Module Federation and Next.js. Zack shares the challenges of maintaining support for this popular framework and the tough decision to shift gears. Don't worry though, he's got plans to make Module Federation available across the JavaScript ecosystem! What about the future? What mind-bending innovations does Zack have up his sleeve? Also this part is present in this episode! Module Federation website: https://module-federation.io =================================== Follow me for more tips! Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0W5YEY5T3ApuYS8H9I3DzL?si=c279c2df086b4d8f Twitter: https://twitter.com/lucamezzalira LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucamezzalira Instagram: https://instagram.com/mezzalab TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lucamezzalira

October 31, 2024Episode 932 min

Generative AI + Micro-Frontends + Community = WebCrumbs with Julia Machado

In this engaging conversation, Julia Machado, the founder of WebCrumbs.org, shares her journey and the inspiration behind WebCrumbs, a platform designed to make micro-frontends more accessible for developers, especially those working on smaller-scale applications. Julia discusses the innovative components of WebCrumbs and highlights the advantages of adopting micro-frontends in various projects. She introduces the concept of a "global micro-frontend platform" and its potential to transform collaboration among developers across different companies. Additionally, Julia addresses comparisons between WebCrumbs and Vercel v0, shedding light on how both platforms are evolving in response to growing expectations in the tech landscape. Tune in to hear Julia's vision for the future of collaborative development using micro-frontends and discover how WebCrumbs is paving the way for a more inclusive approach to web development. Links from the episode: - WebCrumbs - I Found a Tool Even Better than v0

October 9, 2024Episode 845 min

From minutes to seconds: deploy in a flash with Zephyr Cloud! - Zackary Chapple

In this episode of "Micro-Frontends in the Trenches," we speak with Zack, co-founder of Zephyr Cloud, about how their platform is changing the landscape of micro-frontend deployment. Zack shares insights into how Zephyr Cloud operates, allowing developers to deploy updates in seconds instead of minutes or more. This rapid deployment to the edge enhances the feedback loop, enabling teams to iterate on their code more efficiently. Zack also discusses the platform's flexibility, which supports various frameworks and cloud providers without locking teams into a specific technology stack. With minimal setup required—just 1 line of code to get started—Zephyr Cloud aims to simplify deployment processes and allow developers to concentrate on coding. This episode offers practical insights for those involved with micro-frontends or looking to enhance their deployment strategies. Zephyr Cloud presents a thoughtful approach to improving how modern web applications are built and deployed. Zephyr Cloud: https://www.zephyr-cloud.io