Camunda — Operate UI, Observability & API Strategy

Context

Camunda’s Operate UI is used by operations and engineering teams worldwide to monitor and manage process instances. The product needed to move to a new API surface while supporting both SaaS and self-managed (engine-only) deployments with different constraints.

Challenge

Operate UI had to migrate to the v2 API without regressions or downtime. The product also lacked unified observability—teams had no consistent way to understand system health and SLOs—and API contracts were inconsistent between deployment modes, making integration and tooling harder.

Approach

Structured the work in three strands: (1) migrate the UI to v2 with a clear data layer and refactored front-end architecture; (2) design and implement cross-product observability with Grafana and SLO research; (3) standardize API contracts and support engine-only deployments to simplify infrastructure.

Implementation

Migrated Operate UI to v2 API using TanStack Query for data fetching and caching, and refactored the front-end for maintainability and clearer separation of concerns. Designed and shipped cross-product observability with Grafana dashboards and SLO definitions. Supported engine-only deployment options to reduce infrastructure complexity for customers who don’t need the full stack. Implemented OpenAPI support across SaaS and self-managed APIs so documentation and tooling stay consistent.

Technical decisions

• TanStack Query for server state: predictable caching, refetch behavior, and less custom logic.
• Unified observability layer: one approach for metrics and SLOs across deployment modes.
• OpenAPI-first for public APIs: generated docs and consistent contracts for internal and external consumers.

Selected stack