core practice · system design prompt
Design exercise: Dependency & Blast-radius Analysis
Direct and transitive dependencies, affected targets, ownership, runtime consumers, schema impact, and change risk. Implement designOutline() returning non-empty values for: dependencyGraph, affectedSet, riskPrioritization. Each value must name a concrete mechanism or decision.
The mechanism
Blast radius is the set of consumers whose behavior can change. Combine dependency graphs, runtime evidence, public contracts, ownership, and test selection.
Expected evidence
A design outline with dependencyGraph, affectedSet, riskPrioritization plus an explicit failure mode or trade-off.
Try this drill in the practice workspace →
Hints when you need them
- Name the failure mode before selecting the mechanism.