C4-PlantUML
dsl
DISCONTINUED
Our great sponsors
C4-PlantUML | dsl | |
---|---|---|
23 | 12 | |
5,948 | 1,398 | |
2.0% | - | |
7.1 | 0.0 | |
6 days ago | 3 months ago | |
PlantUML | Java | |
MIT License | Apache License 2.0 |
Stars - the number of stars that a project has on GitHub. Growth - month over month growth in stars.
Activity is a relative number indicating how actively a project is being developed. Recent commits have higher weight than older ones.
For example, an activity of 9.0 indicates that a project is amongst the top 10% of the most actively developed projects that we are tracking.
C4-PlantUML
-
Documentation as Code for Cloud - C4 Model & Structurizr
C4-PlantUML: Export your model as C4-PlantUML diagrams.
-
Which tools do you use to create diagrams?
PlantUML + C4 plugin;
-
Add quick sketches in emacs org mode
Yes. I use this all the time for software diagramming. With c4 model (https://github.com/plantuml-stdlib/C4-PlantUML) and AWS icons (https://github.com/awslabs/aws-icons-for-plantuml)
-
Architecture diagrams should be code
The C4 model (https://c4model.com/) is great for architecture diagrams. You can use different tools to generate them. Here are the ones I've been using:
- D2 language, open source alternative to PlantUML
- Keep your diagrams updated with continuous delivery
-
C4 model for system architecture design
3️⃣ Text-based diagramming- C4-PlantUML
-
Ask HN: Confluence Alternative(s) Supporting Markdown?
> onboarding docs
yes, they're don't changing frequently
> system design docs
yes - see C4-PlantUML[1]
> meeting notes
no, unless they're directly code related like ADRs [2,3].
Although one can abuse Github Issues + comments for this, in my opinion it's better to use modern SaaS tools for this, i.e. Loom, Descript, Linear.app, etc. - you can automate this process, e.g. transcribe the meeting's recording and add the issue/repo using Github Actions.
--
[1] https://github.com/plantuml-stdlib/C4-PlantUML
[3] https://docs.aws.amazon.com/prescriptive-guidance/latest/arc...
-
Do you take physical notes while working on your game? Or just play around and learn by doing?
I use a combination of: * Markdown (for notes and code blocks) * Mermaid markdown (for architectural diagrams in markdown documents) * PlantUML markdown (again for arch. docs in markdown, but mainly for C4 diagrams) * a Docker container to render PlantUML markdown to images * Joplin, installed on every device I regularly use * NextCloud, to store, secure, encrypt, and make available everywhere, the markdown notes managed by Joplin
- Diagram as Code
dsl
-
D2 is now open source – a new, modern language that turns text to diagrams
1. not currently, but it's on the roadmap!
2. with any integration, if there's enough demand, we'll do it. Once we add interactivity to diagrams, it should be trivial to emulate. However I should mention that Simon Brown (the creator of C4) has his own DSL for C4 https://github.com/structurizr/dsl)! We have no intention of competing with it.
3. Currently the options to tune are limited. The Terrastruct app has granular layout control via drag-and-drop, and we're working to bring some of that to native/open-source.
-
How is your time spent in the architecture role?
It's really just an evolution of the original Structurizr for Java library that I built 5+ years ago. Some people really liked the ability to create a model+views using a programming language (ports are now available for .NET, PHP, Python, TypeScript, etc), but many thought it was silly. So I've always wanted to do something "text-based", but I wanted to do "models as code" rather than "diagrams as code". The lockdown in 2020 gave me some time to do this, and the DSL is really just a thin wrapper on that original Java library. Being a wrapper for the Java library provides a way for you to create parts of your model via scripts (Groovy, Kotlin, JRuby) or by mixing the DSL and code. This creates opportunities for manually defining a high level model, and then perhaps inserting a deployment architecture that's automatically generated by parsing AWS/Azure/Terrform/etc.
-
Diagrams as Code 2.0
Structurizr DSL - https://github.com/structurizr/dsl
-
Software to build a visual representation of the solution?
The C4 model and the Structurizr DSL (demo) are pretty much designed to do exactly this. Disclaimer: I'm the author of both.
-
A visual C4 model tool for your team
This (icepanel.io) is just a graphical editor for C4 Model diagrams.
The actual standard (if you can call it that, because it is quite light weight, and that is a good thing) is open source as far as I know.
This means that you can create C4 diagrams with PlantUML [0] or using the C4 specific DSL [1].
-
Alternatives to c4 model?
With this in mind, the Structurizr DSL provides a way to create a model as code, which can then be rendered using tooling of your choice. The Structurizr renderer is one option, but there are others, and you can build your own to meet the style that you're looking for. See structurizr.org - Rendering tools for more.
-
Scripting support added to the Structurizr DSL
The Structurizr DSL now provides a way to run scripts written in Groovy, Kotlin, Ruby, and JavaScript, via the new !script keyword. This gives you access to the underlying Structurizr for Java workspace, for when you need to do something not supported by the DSL.
-
Practical experience of using Structurizr?
This diagram provides an overview of the Structurizr tooling. In short, a Structurizr workspace is described using a JSON document - all authoring methods (code or text) allow you to create/manipulate that JSON document, for rendering using a number of tools (the Structurizr service, PlantUML, Mermaid, DOT, etc). The DSL parser is written in Java (source), so you could use that directly to parse a local DSL file ... this is essentially what the Structurizr CLI does.
What are some alternatives?
mermaid - Generation of diagrams like flowcharts or sequence diagrams from text in a similar manner as markdown
d2 - D2 is a modern diagram scripting language that turns text to diagrams.
aws-icons-for-plantuml - PlantUML sprites, macros, and other includes for Amazon Web Services services and resources
Azure-PlantUML - PlantUML sprites, macros, and other includes for Azure services
backstage - Backstage is an open platform for building developer portals
swagger-ui - Swagger UI is a collection of HTML, JavaScript, and CSS assets that dynamically generate beautiful documentation from a Swagger-compliant API.
c4-draw.io - Draw.io template/diagram containing C4 Model shapes. Drawio Diagrams.net
gcp-icons-for-plantuml - PlantUML sprites, macros, and other includes for Google Cloud Platform services and resources
plantuml-syntax - vim syntax file for plantuml
uml-reverse-mapper - Automatically generate class diagram from code. Supports Graphviz, PlantUML and Mermaid output formats.
diagrams - :art: Diagram as Code for prototyping cloud system architectures
java - Structurizr for Java