C4InterFlow
Architecture as Code (AaC) framework that lets you describe Architecture Model once and then generates many diagrams. Inspired by C4 Model
Install / Use
/learn @SlavaVedernikov/C4InterFlowREADME
Vision 💡
Transform the landscape of Application Architecture by bridging the gap between Architecture Model and Code.
Mission 🎯
Provide a comprehensive Application Architecture framework for IT Professionals to
- Effortlessly express Application Architecture as Code (AaC)
- Use AaC to build Business Processes as Code (BPaC)
- Automatically generate Application and Business Architecture diagrams and other documentation from AaC and BPaC
- Intuitively analyse Application Architecture by issuing simple queries against AaC
Overview
C4InterFlow is a comprehensive Application Architecture focused framework designed for anyone in an organisation, who wants to either contribute to (or just to explore) the Application Architecture documentation.
Problem statements ❗
Documenting Application Architecture with diagram drawing tools like Visio, Miro, LucidCharts etc., while popular and often effective, poses several key (genetically unsolved) problems that stem from the inherent limitations of these tools and the complex nature of software architecture. Here are some of these problems
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Complexity Management: Modern Application Architecture can become very complex, with many layers, services, components and technologies. Diagrams can get too crowded and hard to understand, making it hard to clearly express the Architecture.
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Dynamic and Evolving Architectures: Architecture structures change over time. Manually updating diagrams is slow and error-prone, causing documentation to become inaccurate and outdated.
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Architecture Model - Code gap: There is a mismatch between diagramming and coding tools. Changes in code don't automatically update diagrams, causing inconsistencies between Architecture representation and the actual code.
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Standardisation and Consistency: Different diagramming tools and different diagram authors use different symbols and styles, leading to inconsistent documentation. This can confuse and slow down communication among team members.
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Duplication: Different teams drawing Architecture diagrams at different times will inevitably create different views of the same Architecture structures and their relationships using slightly different terminology. This leads to duplications and confusions.
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Collaboration and Version Control: Many diagramming tools have limited features for teamwork and tracking changes over time, making it hard to handle updates, especially with large or remote teams.
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Interoperability and Exporting: Sharing diagrams between different tools or platforms can lose details, as there's no common standard for diagram formats. This makes it harder to share and collaborate on architectural designs.
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Architecture Analysis: Diagramming tools often provide static representations that lack interactive capabilities for in-depth analysis. This limitation makes it difficult to understand how changes in one component might affect others, leading to inefficient planning and potential oversights in managing complex systems.
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Business Process Modelling: Diagramming tools require users to create new static diagrams each time they want to model new interactions between different structures, their behaviours, and actors, such as business processes. This method leads to significant duplication of structures and behaviours across diagrams, making it cumbersome to update, maintain, and understand the holistic view of the system.
Solutions 💡
The table below maps Problems to Possible Solutions and C4InterFlow Capabilities.
| ❗ Problem | 💡 Proposed solution | 🌟 C4Interflow Capability | |---------|-------------------|------------------------| | Complexity Management | Modular Architecture Definitions: define architecture in code, so that it can be modularised into smaller, manageable components, making complex systems easier to understand and manage. | Definition of Architecture as Code in C#, YAML or JSON at any level of modularity e.g. Software System, Container, Component, Interface etc. | | Complexity Management | Adaptive Visualization: allow the user to adjust the number of structures and their relationships (boxes and lines) they see, and at what level of detail, when they visualise Application Architecture. Manage complexity by displaying only relevant information based on the user's context, focus, or specific task at hand. | Generation of Architecture diagrams of different Types (e.g. C4, C4 Static and Sequence), of different Scopes (e.g. all Software Systems, Software System, Container, Interface(s), Business Process etc.) and at different Levels of Details (e.g. Context, Container and Component) | | Dynamic and Evolving Architectures | Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) for Architecture: implement of CI/CD pipelines for architecture code, managing evolving architecture through automated integration, and deployment processes. | Using Command Line Interface (CLI) in CI/CD pipelines for automating AaC generation, AaC querying and diagrams and other documentation generation| | Architecture Model - Code gap | Code-driven Architecture and Diagrams generation: generate architecture diagrams directly from metadata in the codebase, using code analysis and other techniques. | Automatic generation of Architecture as Code in C#, YAML or JSON from .NET (C#) source code. Extensible C4InterFlow architecture allows generation of Architecture as Code from codebases in other languages as well as from Infrastructure as Code (IaC) | | Standardization and Consistency | Architecture Domain-Specific Languages (DSLs): create standardized DSLs for defining architectures, ensuring consistency in how architectures are described and understood across tools and teams. | Use C4InterFlow Architecture as Code DSL, inspired by C4 Model and ArchiMate, to express architecture Structures and Behaviours in C#, YAML or JSON | | Standardization and Consistency | Adopt Standards for Diagramming: work towards a widely adopted standard(s) for software architecture diagramming that includes symbols, notation, and abstraction levels, similar to UML. | Automatic generation of C4 Model and UML Sequence diagrams using a single Visualisation Engine that guaranties consistency in visual architecture representations | | Duplication | Architecture Model driven visualisation: allows for generation of architecture diagrams for different view points from a single Architecture Model | Create multiple architecture views by querying Architecture as Code to find relevant Structures and Behaviours (Interfaces) and generating diagrams using query results | | Collaboration and Version Control | Architecture Catalog: use it as a collaborative platform where teams can contribute, share, and discuss architectural structures and their relationshi
