A pull-based communication method for microservices-based real-time streaming video analytics pipelines is provided. The method includes receiving a plurality of frames from a plurality of cameras, each camera including a camera sidecar, arranging a plurality of detectors in layers such that a first detector layer includes detectors with detector sidecars and detector business logic, and the second detector layer includes detectors with only sidecars, arranging a plurality of extractors in layers such that a first extractor layer includes extractors with extractor sidecars and extractor business logic, and the second extractor layer includes extractors with only sidecars, and enabling a mesh controller, during registration, to selectively assign inputs to one or more of the detector sidecars of the first detector layer and one or more of the extractor sidecars of the first extractor layer to pull data items for processing.