java VS cli

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.

You can import a Structurizr workspace JSON by exporting your DSL using the Structurizr CLI tool. https://structurizr.com/help/cli Reach out if you need more support on this

Structurizr CLI - https://github.com/structurizr/cli

Scripting support is available now, via the open source Structurizr CLI and the free Structurizr Lite. See the Structurizr DSL language reference - Scripts and the Structurizr DSL cookbook - Scripts for more details.

This says, "create a container view showing the user, service 1, and anything directly connected to service 1". It's compatible with a number of diagramming formats too via the Structurizr CLI export command. Here's a PlantUML version of the above diagram, created from the same Structurizr DSL code.

Sounds great! My Structurizr tooling supports zoom-in (example), as does Ilograph and Terrastruct. You can even now define your model using the Structurizr DSL and export it to Ilograph format using the open source Structurizr CLI. Icepanel is also starting to head down the modelling route too.

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.