serverbacked

Server-backed describes software components or systems where critical data, state, or logic reside on and are controlled by a remote server rather than on the client. In a server-backed model, clients such as web browsers or mobile apps submit requests to a central server, which processes the request, enforces security and business rules, and stores the canonical data in a server-side database or storage system. The server is typically the single source of truth; cached or denormalized copies on the client may exist for performance but are considered non-authoritative.

The server can perform tasks such as authentication, authorization, data validation, and complex computations. Communication often uses APIs (REST, GraphQL) or remote procedure calls, with data transmitted in formats like JSON or Protobuf. Server-backed architectures contrast with client-only or offline-first designs, which place more logic and data on the user device and require synchronization later.

Use cases include content management systems, collaborative tools, e-commerce platforms, and financial applications, where having a centralized, secure, auditable source of truth matters. Advantages include consistent data, easier enforcement of security policies, simpler backups and auditing, and centralized updates. Disadvantages include added network latency, potential outages, and a dependency on server availability; offline support is typically limited unless complemented with caching and synchronization strategies.

Reliability can be improved with redundancy, load balancing, and distributed databases; scalability is addressed through stateless server design, horizontal scaling, and caching layers. The term is sometimes specialized to refer to storage or identity management that is explicitly maintained on the server side, as opposed to being replicated or computed on the client.