The Question
DesignScalable Real-Time Messaging System
Design a high-concurrency instant messaging platform supporting millions of users. The system must ensure real-time delivery with sub-second latency, maintain persistent message history for offline retrieval, and provide accurate user presence status. Address how the architecture handles massive write throughput and manages persistent connections across a distributed fleet of servers.
WebSockets
Cassandra
Redis
Kafka
Pub/Sub
February 16, 2026