# Notion Architecture Variants — Examples

## Architecture Decision Checklist

Pick the variant that matches the workload rather than defaulting to whichever pattern you built first. This helper encodes the tradeoffs: non-technical authors + infrequent updates favor the CMS; real-time status changes favor the task tracker; high read volume favors an extract-to-analytics pipeline instead of live Notion queries.

```typescript
function recommendArchitecture(requirements: {
  contentAuthors: 'technical' | 'non-technical';
  updateFrequency: 'realtime' | 'minutes' | 'hourly' | 'daily';
  readVolume: 'low' | 'medium' | 'high';
}): string {
  if (requirements.contentAuthors === 'non-technical' && requirements.updateFrequency === 'daily') {
    return 'CMS: Non-technical authors + infrequent updates = perfect Notion CMS fit';
  }
  if (requirements.updateFrequency === 'realtime') {
    return 'Task Tracker: Real-time status updates via API + webhooks';
  }
  if (requirements.readVolume === 'high') {
    return 'Data Pipeline: High read volume — extract to analytics DB, not live queries';
  }
  return 'Knowledge Base: Default to wiki pattern with search';
}
```

## Choosing between variants at a glance

| Workload signal | Recommended variant | Why |
| ----------------- | -------------------- | ----- |
| Non-technical authors, daily publishing | Headless CMS | Notion is the editor; site reads published rows |
| Real-time status changes, assignees | Task Tracker | Board grouping + `pages.update` on status |
| Searchable internal docs | Knowledge Base | Workspace `search` filtered to the wiki DB |
| Inbound contact / lead capture | Form Handler | One `pages.create` per submission, capped text |
| Feeding a warehouse / dashboards | Data Pipeline | Watermark on `last_edited_time`, flatten props |