Most debates about cloud architecture focus on the wrong question. Teams argue over which database or identity provider is best for their workload. The better question is, how hard will this be to change in three years?
Your identity provider feels like a configuration choice
When building new platforms, selecting an identity provider (IdP) is often treated as a mere configuration step. You plug in the SDK, map the tokens, and move on.
However, identity weaves itself into every layer of your application:
- Frontend Routing: Redirecting unauthenticated users.
- API Gateways: Validating JWTs at the edge.
- Database Row-Level Security: Filtering data based on user claims.
By the time you realize a choice has become permanent, changing it means rebuilding systems that already work. In this edition, I’ll walk you through four decisions that fall into this category more often than teams expect.
