Scaling

Design Pastebin · Part 4

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.

Ready for the scaling interview?

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