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Design a swipeable video feed backend

SnapchatSoftware Engineer · Onsite
MediumSoftware EngineerOnsiteSystem Design

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This question evaluates system-design competence for building scalable, low-latency backend services that handle feed vending, pagination, personalized ranking, caching, storage, and content eligibility; it is categorized under System Design and tests practical application of distributed systems and backend data engineering principles.

Design the backend service for a short-video product similar to a “Spotlight”-style feed.

Scope: only the backend “feed vending” functionality that powers the client’s swipe up/down experience.

Functional requirements:

  • Client requests a feed and receives an ordered list of video IDs (and minimal metadata) to display.
  • Supports endless scrolling/swiping (pagination) with low latency.
  • Personalized ranking (can be simplified), plus fallback to non-personalized if needed.
  • Avoid showing the same video too often; support “next/previous” navigation.

Non-functional requirements:

  • Very high read QPS, low p95 latency.
  • Ability to update rankings frequently.
  • Basic abuse/spam controls and content eligibility (e.g., blocked creators, geo/age restrictions).

Provide components, APIs, storage, caching, and how you generate and serve ranked results.