Lava Flow

The lava flow anti-pattern in software engineering describes code deployed under sub-optimal conditions—often due to deadline pressure—that hardens into production systems and becomes difficult to remove. The term derives from natural lava flows: once cooled, lava solidifies into rock that resists removal. Similarly, such code accumulates dependencies over time, requiring maintenance of backward compatibility with the original, incomplete design. The exact origin is uncertain, though the concept appeared in software engineering literature by the late 1990s as practitioners formalized anti-patterns.