windsurf-architecture-variants

Windsurf Architecture Variants

Overview

Workspace and project architectures for Windsurf AI IDE. How you structure your workspace directly impacts Cascade's effectiveness -- large monorepos, multi-project setups, and team configurations each require different approaches.

Prerequisites

• Windsurf installed
• Understanding of Cascade's workspace indexing
• Git workflow established

Instructions

Step 1: Single Project Workspace (Simple)

Best for: Individual developers, single-service projects.

my-project/
├── .windsurfignore      # Exclude build artifacts
├── src/
├── tests/
├── package.json
└── README.md

Cascade indexes the entire workspace. Keep it focused on one project for best AI context.

Step 2: Focused Monorepo Windows (Moderate)

Best for: Teams with monorepo, multiple services.

# DON'T: open the entire monorepo root in Windsurf
# Cascade will index thousands of files, slow context

# DO: open individual service directories
code packages/api/        # One Windsurf window for API
code packages/frontend/   # Another window for frontend

# .windsurfignore at monorepo root (if you must open root)
packages/*/node_modules/
packages/*/dist/
packages/*/coverage/
**/build/
**/generated/

Step 3: Multi-Window Team Workflow (Scale)

Best for: Large teams, microservices, shared codebase.

Developer A: Windsurf -> services/auth/      (auth service)
Developer B: Windsurf -> services/payments/  (payments service)  
Developer C: Windsurf -> shared/libs/        (shared libraries)

# Each developer gets focused Cascade context
# Shared libraries in a separate workspace

Team conventions:

1. One Windsurf window per service/package
2. Use .windsurfignore in every package
3. Cascade tasks scoped to current workspace only
4. Cross-service changes: open both workspaces
5. Tag cascade commits: git commit -m "[cascade] description"

Decision Matrix

Factor	Single Project	Focused Monorepo	Multi-Window Team
Team Size	1-2	3-10	10+
Codebase	< 10K files	10K-100K files	100K+ files
Cascade Speed	Fast	Moderate	Fast (per window)
Setup	None	.windsurfignore	Per-service windows

Error Handling

Issue	Cause	Solution
Cascade is slow	Too many files indexed	Open smaller workspace, add .windsurfignore
Wrong file context	Monorepo root open	Open specific service directory
Conflicting edits	Multiple devs, same files	Use feature branches per Cascade session

Examples

Optimized .windsurfignore

node_modules/
dist/
build/
.next/
coverage/
*.min.js
*.map
__pycache__/
.venv/
*.log

Resources

• Windsurf Docs

Output

• Configuration files or code changes applied to the project
• Validation report confirming correct implementation
• Summary of changes made and their rationale