System design

OpenAI System Design Questions

Every system design problem candidates reported at OpenAI between September 2025 and September 2026, most-asked first. Each one links to a full solution. Tick them off as you go.

Practice a OpenAI system design round with me

I'm Alex. I'll pick one of these OpenAI questions and interview you on it: scope, design, and deep dives.

Start mock with Alex
22problems
69candidate reports
11asked more than once
23topics
Start OpenAI System Design Interview→

Companies

Meta26Microsoft24Amazon23OpenAI22Google20TikTok16Salesforce15Anthropic15Uber12LinkedIn11Apple11JPMorgan11Atlassian11Snowflake9Netflix9Oracle9Goldman Sachs8Rippling8Databricks7Walmart7Airbnb7Capital One7NVIDIA6Pinterest6Roblox6Flipkart4Bloomberg4Visa4Adobe4Anduril1

Topics

Design Payment Authorization, Capture, and Batch Settlement
14 reports · last seen Aug 2026PaymentsFintechDistributed Systems
Advanced+1▶ Mock
Design a Cloud Development Environment
7 reports · last seen Aug 2026Distributed SystemsSecurityScheduling
Advanced▶ Mock
Design an Asynchronous Text-to-Video Generation Service
7 reports · last seen Aug 2026AI / MLSchedulingDistributed Systems
Advanced▶ Mock
Design a Large-Scale Streaming AI Product Feature
6 reports · last seen Aug 2026AI / MLReal-timeDistributed Systems
Advanced+2▶ Mock
Design a Distributed Crossword Solver
6 reports · last seen May 2026AlgorithmsDistributed SystemsScheduling
Advanced▶ Mock
Monitor Devices Over an Unreliable Network
5 reports · last seen Aug 2026IoTDistributed SystemsReal-time
Advanced▶ Mock
Design a Slack-Like Messaging System
5 reports · last seen Apr 2026Real-timeMessagingDistributed Systems
Advanced+5▶ Mock
Design CI/CD Build Caching
2 reports · last seen May 2026SchedulingDistributed SystemsStorage
Advanced▶ Mock
Design a Distributed Rate Limiter
2 reports · last seen May 2026Rate LimitingDistributed SystemsAPI Design
Intermediate+9▶ Mock
Design a ChatGPT Playground
2 reports · last seen Apr 2026AI / MLFrontendStorage
Intermediate▶ Mock
Design a URL Shortener
2 reports · last seen Jan 2026Distributed SystemsCachingStorage
Beginner+4▶ Mock
Design an IoT Logging Platform with Late-Arriving Metrics
1 report · last seen Sep 2026IoTData PipelinesStorage
Intermediate+1▶ Mock
Design a Content-Addressed Photo Storage Service
1 report · last seen Aug 2026StorageDistributed SystemsAPI Design
Advanced▶ Mock
Design a Digital Game Distribution Platform
1 report · last seen Aug 2026E-commercePaymentsCDN
Intermediate▶ Mock
Design an Instagram-like Feed System
1 report · last seen May 2026Distributed SystemsMediaSearch
Advanced+2▶ Mock
Design Android MVVM API Architecture
1 report · last seen May 2026FrontendAPI DesignCaching
Intermediate▶ Mock
Prevent Duplicate Request Processing
1 report · last seen Apr 2026API DesignDistributed SystemsPayments
Beginner▶ Mock
Design Duplicate File Detection
1 report · last seen Apr 2026StorageAlgorithmsDistributed Systems
Intermediate▶ Mock
Design Real-Time Collaborative Editing
1 report · last seen Mar 2026CollaborationReal-timeDistributed Systems
Advanced▶ Mock
Design a search query autocomplete system
1 report · last seen Dec 2025SearchCachingData Pipelines
Intermediate▶ Mock
Design a regional surge pricing strategy
1 report · last seen Dec 2025Real-timeGeospatialAlgorithms
Advanced▶ Mock
Design a multi-device calendar application
1 report · last seen Nov 2025SchedulingDistributed SystemsStorage
Intermediate+2▶ Mock

Duplicate reports of the same problem are merged and counted.

Practice with a Mock Interview

Apply these questions in a live system design mock interview with InterviewSkool's AI interviewer.

Start System Design Interview →

Frequently Asked Questions

What system design questions does OpenAI ask?

Candidates reported 22 distinct system design problems at OpenAI between September 2025 and September 2026, including Design Payment Authorization, Capture, and Batch Settlement, Design a Cloud Development Environment, Design an Asynchronous Text-to-Video Generation Service.

How to prepare for OpenAI system design interview?

Start with the OpenAI problems reported most often, work through each full solution, then practice explaining a design end to end under time pressure in a mock interview.

What is the difference between HLD and LLD at OpenAI?

HLD (High-Level Design) focuses on system architecture, scalability, and component interactions. LLD (Low-Level Design) dives into class diagrams, API contracts, and database schemas. OpenAI tests both.