MINOS Configuration Platform: Turning Technical Configurations into Business Language for NetEase Yanxuan

Background : NetEase Yanxuan’s C‑end large‑scale promotions require frequent configuration changes. Historically, these configurations were stored in Apollo and maintained by developers, leading to heavy R&D resource consumption.

Key Problems :

Rapid product iteration forces compromises between development resources and a mature management UI.

Many configurations are short‑lived or low‑frequency, making dedicated UI development seem unnecessary.

Apollo’s developer‑friendly nature encourages ad‑hoc configuration without proper governance.

Manual email‑based workflow (business → email → developer translates to Apollo → another developer publishes) results in 15‑20 minutes per simple form and up to half a day for complex forms during peak periods.

To address these pain points, the MINOS (Lego) configuration platform was created as an OKR project.

Core Positioning :

Target audience : Developers who generate forms and product/业务 users who configure them.

Value : Quickly build visual business forms and improve efficiency.

Design Challenges :

How to convert technical language (Apollo data model) into business‑friendly language with minimal changes.

How to move the previously offline configuration process online and provide a unified approval flow for all roles.

How to ensure long‑term usability by focusing on business experience, product experience, and overall ease of use.

Technical Implementation :

UI Configuration : Adopted Alibaba’s X‑Render low‑code engine. X‑Render offers a rich set of functional components (input, dropdown, etc.) and allows custom components (e.g., SKU selector) to generate JSON Schema for business forms.

Data Storage : The platform’s core = UI display + underlying data storage. While final data is still distributed via Apollo, the platform temporarily stores form state and supports a state‑machine‑driven approval flow.

Apollo Model : Uses the concepts of application , namespace , and item . A form may map to multiple AppIds, namespaces, and items, allowing fine‑grained configuration.

Approval Flow : Introduced a business‑filled + review mechanism, with developers performing the final audit before invoking Apollo’s OpenAPI to publish. The flow is integrated into Yanxuan’s existing workflow platform to reuse notification and ticketing features.

Outcomes :

After one year of production, the platform has generated over 4,000 forms across multiple business lines.

Significant reduction in manual R&D involvement for configuration tasks.

Rapid support for new business scenarios (e.g., the “i Moutai” project).

Future Directions :

Separate business‑oriented configurations from system‑oriented ones; keep Apollo for system parameters only.

Gradually migrate business configuration management to dedicated business back‑ends.

Expand data source support, adopt micro‑frontend techniques for seamless embedding, and provide mature business components to lower building costs.

The platform’s evolution is driven by concrete business pain points and ROI considerations, aiming to maximize value for NetEase Yanxuan.