Stone Payments
45 → 2 minutes: Rethinking frontend delivery at scale
A focused architecture migration changed how a core application was delivered for 108 engineers across 14 teams.
Problem
A core Stone Payments application used by 108 engineers across 14 teams had a 45-minute build and delivery cycle. That delay slowed feedback for every team working in the application.
Constraints
The application was a shared, high-risk part of the product. Teams were wary of breaking it, which created organisational resistance to change. The migration also needed to avoid a larger rewrite without a clear product or engineering benefit.
Decision and implementation
I led a frontend architecture migration that finished in about a month instead of pursuing an unnecessary full Next.js → Vite migration. The architecture used the browser's postMessage communication, and dependencies loaded from correctly versioned CDN URLs so boundaries and versions stayed explicit.
Trade-off
The approach favoured a smaller, safer migration over a clean-slate framework change. It required careful versioning, communication, and support for the teams working in the shared application.
Impact and lesson
Build and delivery time dropped from 45 minutes to 2 minutes. At this scale, migration strategy and trust are part of the architecture: a focused change can create more value than a broader rewrite.