T-Engine has a scalable layered software architecture that is configurable depending on the system being developed. T-Kernel is the core of the architecture with various appendable schemes to encourage the reuse of software. The following shows the features and benefits of each architectural component.

T-Kernel consists of: The T-Kernel/Operating System (T-Kernel/OS), the T-Kernel/System Manager (T-Kernel/SM), and T-Kernel/Debugger Support (T-Kernel/DS). The list below shows their functions. T-Kernel/OS is the main part of T-Kernel and includes all task management features, memory management features, and system control features included in a standard realtime OS such as µITRON. T-Kernel/OS can only be called T-Kernel in a strict sense.

T-Engine defines a standard driver interface and device driver specification. This is applied to device drivers for all peripherals loaded on a standard T-Engine board. Standardizing the driver interface makes middleware portable from one hardware environment to another.

A subsystem is a shared library with an interface defined by T-Engine. As indicated in the diagram, a subsystem operates on T-Kernel, while T-Kernel/OS controls the subsystem within T-Kernel. It can be linked to T-Kernel statically or loaded dynamically. For example, middleware like a file system or TCP/IP protocol stack can be implemented as a subsystem. A user library can also be implemented as a subsystem. Implementing middleware or a library created by a user as a subsystem provides a common interface to upper layer applications. Because a subsystem is not dependent on a CPU or board, even when hardware is changed, a subsystem does not need to be modified; only recompiling is required to migrate to a new platform.