Enterprise Edna
“Everything is a plugin once it has configuration.”
Who decides connector, plugin, or step?
Elevator answer
Calculating tax is a step. Calling the tax API is a connector operation. Recording every step’s duration is a plugin or aspect. If one class does all three, it is a cupboard.
3 coffee-machine misconceptions
Spring Sam
“Everything is a service once it can be injected.”
Platform Priya
“Everything is platform if it once caused an incident.”
The real explanation
Suppose TaxStep calculates tax, calls Avalara, records metrics, and writes replay state. The name has become a small lie. Keep the business calculation in a typed step; put the external call in a connector operation; apply telemetry or persistence across flows as a plugin, aspect, or runtime authority. Three names, three reasons to change, no taxonomy page required during the incident.
The test is ownership. If a function’s main reason to exist is a domain decision, it belongs in a step or focused domain behavior. If it converts external reality into a typed contract or publishes outward, it is a connector. If it changes how many flows execute without becoming a business action itself, it is a plugin.
This protects the core. A Kafka client hidden in a business step makes a connector boundary invisible. A retry policy hidden in a connector makes a platform concern impossible to coordinate. A business discount hidden in a plugin makes the application’s meaning impossible to review. The framework’s categories are a way to expose those mistakes before they become conventions.
The trade-off is that unusual integrations may need a design discussion rather than a fast class name. That is appropriate when the code will determine who owns retries, credentials, durability, or business intent.
Trade-offs
TPF gains clearer boundaries. It gives up a universal bucket called service.
When TPF is not a good fit
If a team refuses to distinguish domain behavior from operational behavior, the model will feel restrictive because it is exposing a real disagreement.