Migrating a Legacy Code Base to Contemporary Clean-Architecture Solution: A Design Science Research Approach — Case Study in Migration Challenges and Developer Experience
Isroilkhon Salikhodjaev · Aaltodoc (Aalto University) · 2026
As mobile applications scale in complexity during their lifespan, legacy codebases frequently accumulate technical debt. In enterprise environments, tightly coupled monolithic architectures can significantly hinder the development velocity. This thesis addresses the architectural modernization of a legacy Android network diagnostics application. Guided by the Design Science Research Methodology (DSRM), this research designs, implements, and evaluates a hybrid migration toward Compose Multiplatform (CMP) and strict Clean Architecture principles. The designed artifact was successfully demonstrated on the application's core authentication feature. Evaluation of the migrated architecture indicated clear improvements in structural maintainability and developer experience. The migration reduced cognitive complexity of the codebase and enabled parallel feature development. However, evaluation also demonstrated certain trade-offs: average incremental machine compilation times increased nearly fourfold, and the development team was faced with a learning curve related to adoption of declarative UI paradigms. Furthermore, the study highlighted current maturity limitations within the CMP ecosystem, which necessitated platform-specific workarounds to access native device capabilities. This research concludes that migrating a legacy monolithic project towards Clean Architecture is a strategically sound decision. Despite the learning curve and compilation trade-offs, the resulting structural resilience and improved developer experience provide a robust foundation for long-term enterprise software maintenance.