java VS C4-PlantUML

Structurizr is used for describing and visualizing architecture using the C4 model. One of the main selling points is the fact you can define an entire (IT) architecture model using text. A typical model consists of:

I've been using https://structurizr.com/ to automatically generate C4 diagrams from a model (rather than drawing them by hand). It works well with the approach for written documentation as proposed in https://arc42.org/. It's very easy to embed a C4 diagram into a markdown document.

The result is a set of documents and diagrams under version control that can be rendered using the structurizr documentation server (for interactive diagrams and indexed search).

I also use https://d2lang.com/ for declarative diagrams in addition to C4, e.g., sequence diagrams and https://adr.github.io/ for architectural decision records. These are also well integrated into structurizr.

Structurizr, available at https://structurizr.com/ and also has a free plan available with a single workspace available, is a tool that allows you to build out a C4 model using its Structurizr DSL to outline the Containers, Components, and Contexts of the architecture. It is a valuable tool for designing and visualizing a software architecture. In this example we'll build out a simple Machine Learning Pipeline, I mean a very basic one, featuring an ETL Pipeline and a model that trains images that classifies it as a image of planet earth or not. To begin, lets define our work space.

Structurizr builds upon "diagrams as code", allowing you to create multiple diagrams from a single model using a number of tools and programming languages.

As a customer since 2021, is this re-launch HN?

Loved the concept, found it fell over for real-sized things on even the most powerful machines, had to switch to Structurizr to do our C4 modeling: https://structurizr.com/

Was very disappointed, bet I'd get more devs to model architecture with this tool. If it's relaunching because perf problems were resolved, will look forward to try it again.

Depending on scope of people's needs, either highly recommended or, try it first.

Hats off to Victor for great support back then, and I see the docs are a reflection of that, like this section on embedding into popular tools:

https://docs.icepanel.io/features/sharing#embedding-share-li...

TL;DR: Helpful team, thoughtful UI, thoughtful docs, a product capability (c4 modeling) very worth understanding and using.

He built a tool called Structurizr for this.

Ah this is like https://structurizr.com which is based on C4.

C4-PlantUML: Export your model as C4-PlantUML diagrams.

PlantUML + C4 plugin;

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)

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:

- https://github.com/plantuml-stdlib/C4-PlantUML

3️⃣ Text-based diagramming- C4-PlantUML

> 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.

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[1] https://github.com/plantuml-stdlib/C4-PlantUML

[2] https://adr.github.io/

[3] https://docs.aws.amazon.com/prescriptive-guidance/latest/arc...

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