Modern systems are distributed, but our design language still treats integration as a technical desadftail. We name bounded contexts, define ubiquitous language, and protect models with anti-corruption layers. Then we wire everything together with brokers, iPaaS flows, and glue code, and we act surprised when semantics drift, coupling explodes, and integration becomes the bottleneck.

This talk introduces the Interchange Context as a first-class bounded context whose domain is interoperability. An Interchange Context sits between bounded contexts and owns the meaning of what they exchange: contracts, translations, versioning policies, and cross-context coordination rules. It is not an ACL that lives inside one context. It is a standalone context that can protect both sides.

We will classify Interchange Contexts into practical types: Neutral Relay, Conforming, Transforming, Supervising, and the cautiously used Canonical Interchange. You will learn how these types show up differently across architectures. In Event-Driven Architecture, bitsemantic work belongs at the edges, and the backbone should remain a relay. In Broker Architecture, the integration platform becomes the natural host for Interchange Contexts.In API-led Architecture, contracts can become stable published languages that enable transforming interchange without forcing every participating system to conform.

We will show how to design an explicit Interchange Context with clear semantic ownership.