# Big Ball of Mud

> A defect in which a system has no discernible boundaries, so any part can depend on and change any other.

Record: `architecture:big-ball-of-mud`
Kind: anti-pattern
Layer: [Enforcement Core](https://banes-lab.com/records/layer/enforcement-core.md)
Severity: discouraged
Scope: modularity, state_transaction
Canonical: https://banes-lab.com/ontology#architecture-big-ball-of-mud

Listed in [Architecture principles](https://banes-lab.com/api/records/architecture.md), before [God Object](https://banes-lab.com/records/architecture/god-object.md).

## Repair

- Refactored by: define_boundaries, split_modules, enforce_dependency_rules, assign_ownership, add_fitness_functions
- Detected by: [cyclic_dependencies](https://banes-lab.com/records/architecture/circular-dependency.md), high_graph_density, unowned_modules, cross_layer_imports, large_change_blast_radius
- Violated by: Allow boundaries to remain implicit, permit unrestricted dependencies, mix concerns freely, share mutable state broadly, and accumulate changes without architectural segmentation.
- Measured by: dependency-cycle count, graph density, share of modules without an owner
- Enforced by: dependency rules, architecture fitness functions, module ownership map

## Contracts

- [<Architecture Anti-Pattern>](https://banes-lab.com/records/algorithms/architecture-anti-pattern.md)

## Severity

- [discouraged](https://banes-lab.com/records/vocabulary/severity-discouraged.md)

## Category

- [Anti-patterns](https://banes-lab.com/records/architecture-category/anti-patterns.md)

## Force

- [Modularity](https://banes-lab.com/records/force/modularity.md)
- [State transaction](https://banes-lab.com/records/force/state-transaction.md)

## Negated by

- [Modularity](https://banes-lab.com/records/architecture/modularity.md)
- [Component-Based Architecture](https://banes-lab.com/records/architecture/component-based-architecture.md)

## Linked from

- [Principles are typed](https://banes-lab.com/software-architecture/principles/principles-are-typed.md)
- [Anti-patterns](https://banes-lab.com/ontology/principles/architecture-category-anti-patterns.md)
- [Core Modular Design](https://banes-lab.com/ontology/principles/architecture-category-core-modular-design.md)
- [Codebase / System Architecture Styles](https://banes-lab.com/ontology/principles/architecture-category-codebase-system-architecture-styles.md)
- [Anti-patterns](https://banes-lab.com/ontology/algorithms/algorithms-domain-anti-patterns.md)
- [Severity levels](https://banes-lab.com/ontology/schema/the-vocabulary-severity.md)
- [The forces](https://banes-lab.com/ontology/schema/the-forces.md)