# Middle Man

> A defect in which a module delegates almost every call without adding behavior of its own.

Record: `architecture:middle-man`
Kind: anti-pattern
Layer: [Enforcement Core](https://banes-lab.com/records/layer/enforcement-core.md)
Severity: discouraged
Scope: modularity, correctness_verification, control_coordination
Canonical: https://banes-lab.com/ontology#architecture-middle-man

Listed in [Architecture principles](https://banes-lab.com/api/records/architecture.md), after [Message Chain](https://banes-lab.com/records/architecture/message-chain.md) and before [Data Clumps](https://banes-lab.com/records/architecture/data-clumps.md).

## Repair

- Refactored by: remove_layer, inline_delegate, promote_to_real_facade_if_boundary_needed
- Detected by: thin_methods_only_delegate, low_logic_density, one_to_one_wrapper_methods
- Violated by: Insert a module that delegates almost everything without adding policy, abstraction, validation, orchestration, or simplification.
- Measured by: share of methods that only delegate
- Enforced by: delegation-ratio analysis, [design review](https://banes-lab.com/records/architecture/design-review.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

- [Control coordination](https://banes-lab.com/records/force/control-coordination.md)
- [Correctness verification](https://banes-lab.com/records/force/correctness-verification.md)
- [Modularity](https://banes-lab.com/records/force/modularity.md)

## Negated by

- [Abstraction](https://banes-lab.com/records/architecture/abstraction.md)

## Linked from

- [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)
- [Severity levels](https://banes-lab.com/ontology/schema/the-vocabulary-severity.md)
- [The forces](https://banes-lab.com/ontology/schema/the-forces.md)