Laptop Capacity
There is no single "max services" number for FlowLayer.
Capacity depends on CPU cores, RAM, storage speed, and how heavy each service is.
Practical ranges (development context)
- lightweight stacks: usually comfortable on typical dev laptops
- mixed stacks (DB + API + worker + frontend + broker): often workable with tuning
- heavy stacks with multiple databases/brokers: quickly constrained by memory and IO
Treat these as orientation only, not guarantees.
What usually bottlenecks first
- database memory footprint
- local disk IO during startup spikes
- language toolchains in watch mode
- log volume in very chatty services
Capacity checklist
- start from minimal service set
- add readiness only where it gates correctness
- monitor CPU/RAM while adding services incrementally
- keep non-critical services optional for daily development
- split stack when startup time or resource contention dominates feedback loops
See When to Split Stacks.