🏗️ Contact Center Architecture Hub

Welcome to the Switchboard Architecture documentation. This section helps you make informed decisions when designing and building your Amazon Connect contact center.

🎯 What You'll Learn

• How to structure your contact center project
• When to use different architectural patterns
• How to integrate Lambda functions (in any language)
• Best practices for production deployments
• Dynamic configuration strategies

📚 Documentation Guide

Quick Start

• Quick Reference - Decision summary and cheat sheet
• Attribute Quick Guide - Fast attribute lookup

Architecture & Design

• Architecture Patterns - Choose the right patterns for your use case
• Dynamic Configuration - Runtime configuration without redeployment
• Lambda Integration - Integrate Lambda functions in any language
• Project Structure - Organize your contact center project

Flow Design

• Flow Blocks Reference - Complete flow block documentation
• ASR & DTMF Design - Voice input and touch-tone patterns
• Sequential Input - Multi-step input collection

Best Practices

• Deployment Strategies - CI/CD and deployment patterns
• Production Examples - Real-world project structures

🔑 Key Decisions at a Glance

Question	Options	Guidance
Project Structure?	Layer-based, Domain-centric, Hybrid	Choose based on team size and complexity
Lambda Language?	JavaScript, Python, C#, Go, etc.	Use what your team knows best
Dynamic Config?	DynamoDB, SSM Parameter Store, S3	DynamoDB for complex configs, SSM for simple
Flow Design?	Fluent API, Attribute-based, Hybrid	Fluent for simple, Attributes for complex

🚀 Getting Started

1. Choose Your Project Structure

See Project Structure Examples for different approaches:

• Layer-based - Organized by resource type (Flows/, Queues/, Lambdas/)
• Domain-centric - Organized by business domain (Sales/, Support/, Billing/)
• Hybrid - Mix of both based on your needs

2. Plan Your Lambda Integration

Switchboard makes it easy to integrate Lambda functions written in any language:

// Add a Lambda function to your contact center
var customerLookup = ConnectLambda
    .Create("customer-lookup")
    .WithId("CustomerLookupLambda")
    .WithCode("./lambdas/customer-lookup")  // Your Lambda code (any language)
    .WithHandler("index.handler")            // Node.js example
    .WithMemory(512)
    .WithTimeout(30)
    .AssociateWithConnect(stack.InstanceId)
    .Build(stack);

See Lambda Integration Guide for:

• JavaScript/TypeScript Lambda examples
• Python Lambda examples
• .NET Lambda examples
• Performance considerations for each language

3. Design Your Flows

Use the Flow Blocks Reference to understand all available flow actions, then choose your design approach:

Fluent API - Great for straightforward flows:

Flow.Create("MainMenu")
    .PlayPrompt("Welcome!")
    .GetCustomerInput("Press 1 for Sales, 2 for Support")
    .Branch()
        .When("1", b => b.TransferToQueue("Sales"))
        .When("2", b => b.TransferToQueue("Support"))
    .Build(stack);

Attribute-based - Better for complex, reusable flows:

[ContactFlow("MainMenu")]
public partial class MainMenuFlow : FlowDefinitionBase
{
    [PlayPrompt("Welcome!")]
    public partial void Welcome();

    [GetInput(MaxDigits = 1)]
    public partial void GetMenuChoice();
}

4. Configure for Production

Follow Deployment Strategies to:

• Set up multi-environment deployments
• Configure CI/CD pipelines
• Implement monitoring and alerting

💡 Architecture Tips

Start Simple

Don't over-engineer your first deployment. Start with:

• Basic project structure
• A few core flows
• Simple queue configuration

Iterate Based on Needs

Add complexity as needed:

• Dynamic configuration when you need runtime updates
• More sophisticated routing as call volume grows
• Additional Lambda integrations as requirements evolve

Use What You Know

• Lambda Language: Use JavaScript, Python, or whatever your team is comfortable with
• Project Structure: Adapt to your team's preferences
• Testing: Use your existing testing frameworks

🔗 Related Resources

• User Guide - Getting started with Switchboard
• Building Guide - Step-by-step resource creation
• Examples - Complete working examples
• API Reference - Detailed API documentation