Designing and Evaluating an Agentic AI Pipeline for Microservice Architecture Generation from User Stories
Resumo
Large Language Models (LLMs) have shown promising capabilities for generating software architectures directly from natural language requirements. However, most existing approaches rely on a single LLM, providing limited support for collaborative architectural reasoning and validation. This study investigates the feasibility of an Agentic AIworkflowfor generating microservice architectures from user stories. We propose a multi-agent pipeline comprising two software architect agents with complementary design perspectives and a validator agent responsible for consolidating candidate architectures through different collaboration strategies. The approach was evaluated on two benchmark systems (BookStore and Pet-Clinic) by comparing the generated architectures against reference decompositions in terms of service identification and inter-service communication links. The proposed workflow achieved F1-scores of up to 1.00 for service identification and 0.88 for interaction recovery. Although the multi-agent workflow achieved performance comparable to a strong Few-Shot baseline, the results indicate that its main benefit lies in providing a structured and extensible architectural reasoning process through collaborative validation rather than consistently improving decomposition accuracy.
Palavras-chave:
Software Architecture, Agentic AI, Microservices, User Stories, Architectural Decomposition
Referências
Yalemisew Abgaz, Andrew McCarren, Peter Elger, David Solan, Neil Lapuz, Marin Bivol, Glenn Jackson, Murat Yilmaz, Jim Buckley, and Paul Clarke. 2023. Decomposition of monolith applications into microservices architectures: A systematic review. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering 49, 8 (2023), 4213–4242.
Marco Calamo, Flavia Monti, Fabio Spaziani, Francesco Leotta, and Massimo Mecella. 2026. From User Stories to Architectures: Using LLM-powered Agents to Design and Improve Microservice-based Software . IEEE Software 01 (Feb. 2026), 1–8. DOI: 10.1109/MS.2026.3668669
Rafael Capilla, Anton Jansen, Antony Tang, Paris Avgeriou, and Muhammad Ali Babar. 2016. 10 years of software architecture knowledge management: Practice and future. Journal of Systems and Software 116 (2016), 191–205.
Fabiano Dalpiaz and Sjaak Brinkkemper. 2021. Agile requirements engineering: from user stories to software architectures. In 2021 IEEE 29th international requirements engineering conference (RE). IEEE, 504–505.
Rudra Dhar, Karthik Vaidhyanathan, and Vasudeva Varma. 2024. Can llms generate architectural design decisions?-an exploratory empirical study. In 2024 IEEE 21st International Conference on Software Architecture (ICSA). IEEE, 79–89.
Jonas Fritzsch, Justus Bogner, Alfred Zimmermann, and Stefan Wagner. 2018. From monolith to microservices: A classification of refactoring approaches. In International Workshop on Software Engineering Aspects of Continuous Development and New Paradigms of Software Production and Deployment. Springer, 128–141.
Matthias Gysel, Lukas Kölbener, Peter Gantenbein, and Olaf Zimmermann. 2016. Service cutter: A systematic approach to service decomposition. In European Conference on Service-Oriented and Cloud Computing. Springer, 185–200.
Christine Hofmeister, Robert Nord, and Dilip Soni. 2000. Applied software architecture. Addison-Wesley Professional.
Xinyi Hou, Yanjie Zhao, Yue Liu, Zhou Yang, Kailong Wang, Li Li, Xiapu Luo, David Lo, John Grundy, and Haoyu Wang. 2024. Large language models for software engineering: A systematic literature review. ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology 33, 8 (2024), 1–79.
Mohammad Imranur, Sebastiano Panichella, Davide Taibi, et al. 2019. A curated dataset of microservices-based systems. arXiv preprint arXiv:1909.03249 (2019).
Jasmin Jahić and Ashkan Sami. 2024. State of Practice: LLMs in Software Engineering and Software Architecture. In 2024 IEEE 21st International Conference on Software Architecture Companion (ICSA-C). IEEE, 311–318.
Munezero Immaculee Joselyne, Gaurav Bajpai, and Frederic Nzanywayingoma. 2021. A systematic framework of application modernization to microservice based architecture. In 2021 International Conference on Engineering and Emerging Technologies (ICEET). IEEE, 1–6.
Vinicius L Nogueira, Fernando S Felizardo, Aline MMM Amaral, Wesley KG Assunção, and Thelma E Colanzi. 2024. Insights on Microservice Architecture Through the Eyes of Industry Practitioners. In 2024 IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance and Evolution (ICSME). IEEE, 765–777.
Idris Oumoussa and Rajaa Saidi. 2024. Evolution of microservices identification in monolith decomposition: A systematic review. IEEE Access 12 (2024), 23389–23405.
Jose Pereira, Danyllo Albuquerque, Mirko Perkusich, Guillermo Rodríguez, Jorge Díaz-Pace, Kyller Gorgônio, and Angelo Perkusich. 2025. Toward Generating Microservice Architectures from Textual Requirements with Large Language Models. In Anais do XIX Simpósio Brasileiro de Componentes, Arquiteturas e Reutilização de Software (Recife/PE). SBC, Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil, 79–89. DOI: 10.5753/sbcars.2025.14591
Mirko Perkusich, Lenardo Chaves e Silva, Alexandre Costa, Felipe Ramos, Renata Saraiva, Arthur Freire, Ednaldo Dilorenzo, Emanuel Dantas, Danilo Santos, Kyller Gorgônio, et al. 2020. Intelligent software engineering in the context of agile software development: A systematic literature review. Information and Software Technology 119 (2020), 106241.
Mark Richards and Neal Ford. 2020. Fundamentals of software architecture: an engineering approach. O’Reilly Media.
Yamina Romani, Okba Tibermacine, and Chouki Tibermacine. 2022. Towards migrating legacy software systems to microservice-based architectures: a data-centric process for microservice identification. In 2022 IEEE 19th International Conference on Software Architecture Companion (ICSA-C). IEEE, 15–19.
Ana Martínez Saucedo, J Andres Diaz-Pace, Hernán Astudillo, and Guillermo Rodríguez. 2024. On the Variability of Microservice Decompositions: A Data-Driven Analysis. In 2024 L Latin American Computer Conference (CLEI). IEEE, 1–9.
Ana Martínez Saucedo, Guillermo Rodríguez, Fabio Gomes Rocha, and Rodrigo Pereira dos Santos. 2025. Migration of monolithic systems to microservices: A systematic mapping study. Information and Software Technology 177 (2025), 107590.
Alberto Tagliaferro, Simone Corbo, and Bruno Guindani. 2025. Leveraging llms to automate software architecture design from informal specifications. In 2025 IEEE 22nd International Conference on Software Architecture Companion (ICSA-C). IEEE, 291–299.
Claes Wohlin, Per Runeson, Martin Höst, Magnus C Ohlsson, Björn Regnell, Anders Wesslén, et al. 2012. Experimentation in software engineering. Vol. 236. Springer.
EberhardWolff. 2016.Microservices: flexible software architecture. Addison-Wesley Professional.
Zibin Zheng, Kaiwen Ning, Qingyuan Zhong, Jiachi Chen, Wenqing Chen, Lianghong Guo, Weicheng Wang, and Yanlin Wang. 2025. Towards an understanding of large language models in software engineering tasks. Empirical Software Engineering 30, 2 (2025), 50.
Marco Calamo, Flavia Monti, Fabio Spaziani, Francesco Leotta, and Massimo Mecella. 2026. From User Stories to Architectures: Using LLM-powered Agents to Design and Improve Microservice-based Software . IEEE Software 01 (Feb. 2026), 1–8. DOI: 10.1109/MS.2026.3668669
Rafael Capilla, Anton Jansen, Antony Tang, Paris Avgeriou, and Muhammad Ali Babar. 2016. 10 years of software architecture knowledge management: Practice and future. Journal of Systems and Software 116 (2016), 191–205.
Fabiano Dalpiaz and Sjaak Brinkkemper. 2021. Agile requirements engineering: from user stories to software architectures. In 2021 IEEE 29th international requirements engineering conference (RE). IEEE, 504–505.
Rudra Dhar, Karthik Vaidhyanathan, and Vasudeva Varma. 2024. Can llms generate architectural design decisions?-an exploratory empirical study. In 2024 IEEE 21st International Conference on Software Architecture (ICSA). IEEE, 79–89.
Jonas Fritzsch, Justus Bogner, Alfred Zimmermann, and Stefan Wagner. 2018. From monolith to microservices: A classification of refactoring approaches. In International Workshop on Software Engineering Aspects of Continuous Development and New Paradigms of Software Production and Deployment. Springer, 128–141.
Matthias Gysel, Lukas Kölbener, Peter Gantenbein, and Olaf Zimmermann. 2016. Service cutter: A systematic approach to service decomposition. In European Conference on Service-Oriented and Cloud Computing. Springer, 185–200.
Christine Hofmeister, Robert Nord, and Dilip Soni. 2000. Applied software architecture. Addison-Wesley Professional.
Xinyi Hou, Yanjie Zhao, Yue Liu, Zhou Yang, Kailong Wang, Li Li, Xiapu Luo, David Lo, John Grundy, and Haoyu Wang. 2024. Large language models for software engineering: A systematic literature review. ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology 33, 8 (2024), 1–79.
Mohammad Imranur, Sebastiano Panichella, Davide Taibi, et al. 2019. A curated dataset of microservices-based systems. arXiv preprint arXiv:1909.03249 (2019).
Jasmin Jahić and Ashkan Sami. 2024. State of Practice: LLMs in Software Engineering and Software Architecture. In 2024 IEEE 21st International Conference on Software Architecture Companion (ICSA-C). IEEE, 311–318.
Munezero Immaculee Joselyne, Gaurav Bajpai, and Frederic Nzanywayingoma. 2021. A systematic framework of application modernization to microservice based architecture. In 2021 International Conference on Engineering and Emerging Technologies (ICEET). IEEE, 1–6.
Vinicius L Nogueira, Fernando S Felizardo, Aline MMM Amaral, Wesley KG Assunção, and Thelma E Colanzi. 2024. Insights on Microservice Architecture Through the Eyes of Industry Practitioners. In 2024 IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance and Evolution (ICSME). IEEE, 765–777.
Idris Oumoussa and Rajaa Saidi. 2024. Evolution of microservices identification in monolith decomposition: A systematic review. IEEE Access 12 (2024), 23389–23405.
Jose Pereira, Danyllo Albuquerque, Mirko Perkusich, Guillermo Rodríguez, Jorge Díaz-Pace, Kyller Gorgônio, and Angelo Perkusich. 2025. Toward Generating Microservice Architectures from Textual Requirements with Large Language Models. In Anais do XIX Simpósio Brasileiro de Componentes, Arquiteturas e Reutilização de Software (Recife/PE). SBC, Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil, 79–89. DOI: 10.5753/sbcars.2025.14591
Mirko Perkusich, Lenardo Chaves e Silva, Alexandre Costa, Felipe Ramos, Renata Saraiva, Arthur Freire, Ednaldo Dilorenzo, Emanuel Dantas, Danilo Santos, Kyller Gorgônio, et al. 2020. Intelligent software engineering in the context of agile software development: A systematic literature review. Information and Software Technology 119 (2020), 106241.
Mark Richards and Neal Ford. 2020. Fundamentals of software architecture: an engineering approach. O’Reilly Media.
Yamina Romani, Okba Tibermacine, and Chouki Tibermacine. 2022. Towards migrating legacy software systems to microservice-based architectures: a data-centric process for microservice identification. In 2022 IEEE 19th International Conference on Software Architecture Companion (ICSA-C). IEEE, 15–19.
Ana Martínez Saucedo, J Andres Diaz-Pace, Hernán Astudillo, and Guillermo Rodríguez. 2024. On the Variability of Microservice Decompositions: A Data-Driven Analysis. In 2024 L Latin American Computer Conference (CLEI). IEEE, 1–9.
Ana Martínez Saucedo, Guillermo Rodríguez, Fabio Gomes Rocha, and Rodrigo Pereira dos Santos. 2025. Migration of monolithic systems to microservices: A systematic mapping study. Information and Software Technology 177 (2025), 107590.
Alberto Tagliaferro, Simone Corbo, and Bruno Guindani. 2025. Leveraging llms to automate software architecture design from informal specifications. In 2025 IEEE 22nd International Conference on Software Architecture Companion (ICSA-C). IEEE, 291–299.
Claes Wohlin, Per Runeson, Martin Höst, Magnus C Ohlsson, Björn Regnell, Anders Wesslén, et al. 2012. Experimentation in software engineering. Vol. 236. Springer.
EberhardWolff. 2016.Microservices: flexible software architecture. Addison-Wesley Professional.
Zibin Zheng, Kaiwen Ning, Qingyuan Zhong, Jiachi Chen, Wenqing Chen, Lianghong Guo, Weicheng Wang, and Yanlin Wang. 2025. Towards an understanding of large language models in software engineering tasks. Empirical Software Engineering 30, 2 (2025), 50.
Publicado
11/09/2026
Como Citar
SILVA, Daniel Anderson; ALBUQUERQUE, Danyllo; PERKUSICH, Mirko; RODRÍGUEZ, Guillermo; DÍAZ-PACE, Jorge Andrés; GORGÔNIO, Kyller; PERKUSICH, Angelo.
Designing and Evaluating an Agentic AI Pipeline for Microservice Architecture Generation from User Stories. In: WORKSHOP BRASILEIRO DE ENGENHARIA DE SOFTWARE INTELIGENTE (ISE), 5. , 2026, São Paulo/SP.
Anais [...].
Porto Alegre: Sociedade Brasileira de Computação,
2026
.
p. 83-88.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5753/ise.2026.33018.
