End-to-End Design

Design Pastebin · Part 3

Problem context

A developer debugging a production issue copies 200 lines of error logs and pastes them into a text box. They click "Create Paste" and receive a short URL like pb.example/a7x3k. They post this link in a GitHub issue asking for help. Over the next week, dozens of developers investigating the same bug click that link.

Pastebin User Flow

This simple interaction hides interesting challenges: How do we generate millions of unique short URLs without collisions? Where do we store text that ranges from 10 bytes to 1 megabyte? How do we serve content fast when reads vastly outnumber writes?

What a strong answer sounds like

State the decision, connect it to a requirement, and name the tradeoff. Keep the design focused on the workload in the prompt.

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The AI interviewer asks about this part of Design Pastebin. The interviewer guides you through topics one by one.