This repository hosts a major part of The Guardian’s web application stack, historically the Play Framework–based code that serves the newspaper’s content at scale. It orchestrates rendering of articles, live blogs, and interactive pieces while integrating advertising, analytics, identity, and paywall-adjacent features. The codebase coordinates with upstream content APIs, image services, and media platforms to compose pages dynamically with caching and edge-friendly layouts. Operationally, it’s engineered for high traffic spikes—breaking news or live sports—through aggressive caching strategies, feature switches, and robust fault isolation between services. The project reflects a long-running evolution from a monolith toward a service-oriented architecture, with portions moved to separate rendering services and modern front-end stacks while this repo remains the glue for core routes and legacy paths.
Features
- Implemented as Play Framework 2 applications in Scala for server-side logic and rendering
- Client-side build process using make / asset pipeline for CSS, JS, images etc to ensure optimized assets delivery
- Emphasis on speed and performance: fast page load, efficient resource usage, caching etc
- Accessibility and inclusive design (responsive layout, good support across devices / browsers)
- Maintainable code structure, separation of concerns (frontend assets vs backend rendering/logics)
- Open source under Apache-2.0 license, inviting community contributions and transparency in how the site operates