From Monolith to Modularity: How Wunder Co Rebuilt for the Future of Loyalty

At The Wunder Co., we don’t just build apps, we build ecosystems. And in 2025 we faced a tough truth, our codebase wasn’t keeping up with our ambition. As we looked to scale Wunderfan across new sports, new venues, and entirely new brand experiences, our infrastructure was holding us back.

So, we tore it down and rebuilt it. From the ground up.

This isn’t just a technical story. It’s a transformation tale, from brittle and bloated to modular and lightning fast. And it’s the foundation for a future where any Wunder app can spin up, plug in, and deliver real-world rewards to real fans with zero friction.

Why We Rebuilt: From Chaos to Constraints

Picture this: every time we added a new feature, we had to tiptoe through a minefield of conditionals. The original codebase was built when Wunderpar (our golf-focused app) was the main product. As we expanded to Wunderfan for broader sports audiences, our code became a twisted maze of logic like:

if (appName === 'Wunderpar') {
  return <GreenButton />;
} else if (appName === 'Wunderfan') {
  return <BlueButton />;
}

It only got worse from there. Every feature, theme, translation, and screen became a brittle stack of exceptions. Adding one new thing meant editing dozens of places,risking everything else in the process.

The future we were aiming for,scaling to new apps like WunderArena, WunderPyramids, or WunderColosseum,was dead on arrival unless we made a hard pivot.

The Breakthrough: Micro App Architecture

The game-changer came from a YouTube talk by Jacob from Chase Bank, introducing the concept of micro app architecture. His question struck a chord:

“What if every feature was its own mini app,but still played nicely with the big picture?”

Instead of one giant app, Jacob’s teams built independent, reusable “micro apps.” We took that philosophy and ran with it,tailoring it to our React Native + Expo stack,and the results were transformational.

We built a modular universe:

📁 apps/
├── wunderfan/
├── wunderpar/
└── _microapps/
    ├── _auth/
    ├── _shop/
    ├── _attend2earn/
    ├── _watch2earn/
    └── _news2earn/
📁 packages/
├── core-*/       # Shared design systems & utilities
└── feat-*/       # Business logic by feature

How It Works: A Lego Set for Loyalty

Think of our new system like a LEGO set. Each feature is a perfectly shaped block,authentication, shopping, attendance rewards, video engagement,that can snap into any app we build.

Want Wunderfan with Attend-to-Earn and Watch-to-Earn? Snap them in.
Want Wunderpar without news or video? Leave those blocks out.

Each app has its own theme, its own translations, and its own feature loadout,without duplicating code or introducing spaghetti logic.

const getTheme = (appName) => {
  switch (appName) {
    case 'wunderfan':
      return wunderfanPalette;
    case 'wunderpar':
      return wunderparPalette;
  }
};

And now, those themes, colors, and copy live in dedicated files,no more global search-and-replace for “BlueButton” or “WunderparGreen.”

The Benefits: Built for Builders

What’s under the hood might seem like a developer story, but it directly impacts every user and partner:

Developer Agility

Any engineer can spin up just one micro app and get to work. No need to load the whole system. Testing authentication? Boot just _auth. Need to tweak rewards? Launch only _attend2earn.

Speed of Innovation

Features go live faster. Because teams aren’t stepping on each other’s toes, new releases are quicker and safer.

Partner Flexibility

Brands and venues get tailored apps. Want geolocation perks but not commerce? We can do that. Want rewards embedded at live events but not across all sports? That’s now a simple config,not a months-long dev project.

Future-Proofed

We’re now platform-agnostic. When Apple Vision Pro or new web formats hit, we’ll just create new micro apps that reuse our core logic. The same logic that powers Wunderfan today could power WunderStadium tomorrow,on any device.

A New Era of Loyalty

Let’s be clear,this wasn’t just a facelift. It was foundational. Our new monorepo + micro app architecture is our platform for:

• Scaling to new markets, teams, and fandoms

• Powering venue-based WunderZones with geofenced rewards

• Plugging into third-party ticketing, point-of-sale, or marketing systems

• Supporting co-branded experiences for sponsors and partners
  

The rebuilt Wunder system is lean, fast, and infinitely extensible. Whether you're a fan tapping in from your couch or a brand looking to engage a stadium, we can meet you there.

What’s Next?

We’re just getting started.

This new architecture gives us the freedom to experiment, to grow, and to deliver loyalty that actually feels modern. Expect smarter rewards. Expect tighter integrations. Expect more ways for fans and partners to win.

And if you’re building something bold and want to plug into the Wunder ecosystem,we’re ready.

Let’s build the future of fandom, together.