HEXAGONAL-ARCHITECTURE

Domain at the center, adapters at the periphery.

Definition

Hexagonal separates Application Core (use cases, domain), Ports (driving/driven interfaces), Adapters (HTTP, EDI, SQL). Tests: domain testable without infra. Variants: Onion (Palermo 2008), Clean (Martin 2012). Typical EDI app: EDIFACT adapter → InvoiceImporter port.

Origin

Published by Alistair Cockburn January 2005 in Hexagonal Architecture pattern.

Example in context

An EDI platform exports an InvoiceReceived port and exposes AS2, PEPPOL, SFTP adapters — all interchangeable.

Related terms

• Onion — variant.