11 - Risks and Technical Debt

11.1 Technical risks

Technical risks mainly result from external dependencies and from combining several frontend and backend technologies. They can affect availability, maintainability, or security.

ID	Risk	Description
TR1	External API Dependency	The system depends on the TMDB API for movie information
TR2	External API Data Changes	TMDB API response formats may change over time
TR3	Integration Complexity	Integrating TanStack components with backend APIs and state management may become complex
TR4	Supply chain attack	The project depends on external Python (pip) and JavaScript (npm) packages, which are common targets for supply chain attacks

11.2 Business/domain risks

The main business risks are connected to TMDB because MovieTracker does not maintain its own movie catalogue. Changes to the provider can therefore directly affect important features.

ID	Risk	Description
BR1	API Policy Changes	TMDB may change pricing, authentication methods, or API usage policies
BR2	TMDB Service Availability	The functionality relies heavily on TMDB services

11.3 Technical debt

The current architecture is suitable for the scope of the project, but some decisions may become limiting as the application grows. The following items should be reviewed before adding significantly more features or users.

ID	Technical debt	Description
TD1	Monolithic Backend Structure	The MVC backend may become difficult to maintain as features grow
TD2	Tight Coupling to TanStack APIs and Fast API	Frontend implementation may become strongly dependent on TanStack-specific patterns and backend on Fast API

These risks are currently reduced through automated tests, architecture tests, continuous integration, and static analysis. External API risks cannot be removed completely, but caching and retry mechanisms reduce their immediate impact.