GOF Mediator Pattern

Decouple components by routing communication through a central mediator or event bus.

When to Use

• Components are tightly coupled to each other and changes in one break others
• You have many-to-many communication that's hard to track
• You're building a chat room, collaborative editor, or workflow engine where multiple parties react to shared events
• You want components to be reusable independently, not coupled to specific counterparts

Instructions

Classic mediator interface:

interface ChatMediator {
  sendMessage(message: string, sender: ChatUser): void;
  addUser(user: ChatUser): void;
}

class ChatRoom implements ChatMediator {
  private users: ChatUser[] = [];

  addUser(user: ChatUser): void {
    this.users.push(user);
    console.log(`${user.name} joined the chat`);
  }

  sendMessage(message: string, sender: ChatUser): void {
    for (const user of this.users) {
      if (user !== sender) {
        user.receive(message, sender.name);
      }
    }
  }
}

class ChatUser {
  constructor(
    public readonly name: string,
    private readonly mediator: ChatMediator
  ) {
    mediator.addUser(this);
  }

  send(message: string): void {
    console.log(`${this.name} sends: ${message}`);
    this.mediator.sendMessage(message, this);
  }

  receive(message: string, from: string): void {
    console.log(`${this.name} receives from ${from}: ${message}`);
  }
}

const room = new ChatRoom();
const alice = new ChatUser('Alice', room);
const bob = new ChatUser('Bob', room);
alice.send('Hello, Bob!'); // Bob receives it, Alice does not

Typed event bus (practical Node.js mediator):

type EventMap = Record<string, unknown>;

type EventCallback<T> = (payload: T) => void | Promise<void>;

class EventBus<Events extends EventMap> {
  private listeners = new Map<keyof Events, Set<EventCallback<unknown>>>();

  on<K extends keyof Events>(event: K, callback: EventCallback<Events[K]>): () => void {
    if (!this.listeners.has(event)) this.listeners.set(event, new Set());
    this.listeners.get(event)!.add(callback as EventCallback<unknown>);
    // Return unsubscribe function
    return () => this.listeners.get(event)?.delete(callback as EventCallback<unknown>);
  }

  async emit<K extends keyof Events>(event: K, payload: Events[K]): Promise<void> {
    const callbacks = this.listeners.get(event) ?? new Set();
    await Promise.all([...callbacks].map((cb) => cb(payload)));
  }
}

// Define your event map for type safety
interface AppEvents {
  'user.created': { userId: string; email: string };
  'order.placed': { orderId: string; userId: string; amount: number };
  'payment.failed': { orderId: string; reason: string };
}

const bus = new EventBus<AppEvents>();

// Components subscribe without knowing about each other
const unsubEmail = bus.on('user.created', async ({ userId, email }) => {
  await sendWelcomeEmail(email);
});

bus.on('order.placed', async ({ orderId, userId, amount }) => {
  await notifyFulfillment(orderId);
  await updateUserStats(userId, amount);
});

// Emit events
await bus.emit('user.created', { userId: 'u1', email: 'alice@example.com' });
// Later, unsubscribe
unsubEmail();

Mediator for form components:

interface FormMediator {
  componentChanged(component: string, value: unknown): void;
}

class CheckoutFormMediator implements FormMediator {
  private giftWrap = false;
  private includeCard = false;

  componentChanged(component: string, value: unknown): void {
    if (component === 'giftWrap') {
      this.giftWrap = value as boolean;
      // When gift wrap selected, show/enable gift card option
      this.updateCardVisibility(this.giftWrap);
    }
    if (component === 'includeCard') {
      this.includeCard = value as boolean;
    }
  }

  private updateCardVisibility(visible: boolean): void {
    console.log(`Gift card field ${visible ? 'shown' : 'hidden'}`);
  }
}

Details

Mediator vs. Observer: In Observer, subjects notify observers directly (subject knows about observers). In Mediator, components notify a central hub which then routes to other components (components know only about the mediator). Mediator is more decoupled but the mediator itself can become complex.

When the mediator becomes a god object: A mediator that orchestrates too many components becomes a maintenance burden. Split it into domain-specific mediators (OrderMediator, UserMediator) rather than one global hub.

Anti-patterns:

• Components that bypass the mediator and call each other directly — the pattern only works if all communication goes through the mediator
• Mediator that contains business logic — it should route, not process
• Single global event bus for all events in the app — namespace events and consider multiple focused mediators

Mediator vs. Service Bus: In microservices, a message queue or service bus IS the mediator at the network level. The pattern scales from in-process event buses to distributed message brokers (Kafka, RabbitMQ).

Source

refactoring.guru/design-patterns/mediator

Process

1. Read the instructions and examples in this document.
2. Apply the patterns to your implementation, adapting to your specific context.
3. Verify your implementation against the details and edge cases listed above.

Harness Integration

• Type: knowledge — this skill is a reference document, not a procedural workflow.
• No tools or state — consumed as context by other skills and agents.

Success Criteria

• The patterns described in this document are applied correctly in the implementation.
• Edge cases and anti-patterns listed in this document are avoided.