# Abstract Factory

> Create families of related objects without specifying their concrete classes — the factory guarantees everything it produces is compatible with each other.

- **Category**: Software Design
- **Subcategory**: creational
- **Canonical URL**: https://designpattern.fyi/patterns/abstract-factory/

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## Description
**Intent**: Produce sets of related objects that are designed to work together, with one factory per 'theme' or 'family'.

**Context**: You're building a cross-platform UI toolkit that needs to render Windows-style or Mac-style components. A Windows Button should pair with a Windows Checkbox — mixing platforms breaks the visual consistency. You need a way to swap the entire family at once.

**Solution**: Define an Abstract Factory interface with methods like `createButton()`, `createCheckbox()`. Implement concrete factories per family (WinFactory, MacFactory). Client code uses the factory interface — it gets back compatible products regardless of which factory was injected.


## Use Cases
Use when your system needs to work with multiple families of related objects (OS themes, database drivers, payment method suites) and products within a family must be compatible with each other.



## Implementation Example

```javascript
// Abstract Factory
class GUIFactory {
  createButton() {}
  createCheckbox() {}
}

// Concrete Factories
class WinFactory extends GUIFactory {
  createButton() { return { paint: () => "Windows Button" }; }
  createCheckbox() { return { paint: () => "Windows Checkbox" }; }
}

class MacFactory extends GUIFactory {
  createButton() { return { paint: () => "Mac Button" }; }
  createCheckbox() { return { paint: () => "Mac Checkbox" }; }
}

```



## Trade-offs


### Advantages

- Products from the same factory are guaranteed to work together.

- Swap the entire product family by swapping the factory.

- Client code never imports concrete product classes — fully decoupled.




### Considerations & Drawbacks

- Adding a new product type (e.g., a new widget) requires updating every factory implementation.







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**Reference**: [Original Source](https://refactoring.guru/design-patterns/abstract-factory)