Laptop Capacity
There is no single “max services” number for FlowLayer.
Capacity depends on CPU cores, RAM, storage speed, and how heavy each service is.
Practical ranges (development context)
Section titled “Practical ranges (development context)”- lightweight stacks: usually comfortable on typical dev laptops
- mixed stacks (DB + API + worker + frontend + broker): often workable with tuning
- heavy stacks with multiple databases/brokers: quickly constrained by memory and IO
Treat these as orientation only, not guarantees.
What usually bottlenecks first
Section titled “What usually bottlenecks first”- database memory footprint
- local disk IO during startup spikes
- language toolchains in watch mode
- log volume in very chatty services
Capacity checklist
Section titled “Capacity checklist”- start from minimal service set
- add readiness only where it gates correctness
- monitor CPU/RAM while adding services incrementally
- keep non-critical services optional for daily development
- split stack when startup time or resource contention dominates feedback loops
See When to Split Stacks.