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C4 model

The C4 model for visualising software architecture. Context, Containers, Components, and Code.

C4 model Reviews and details

Screenshots and images

  • C4 model Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-05-14

Features & Specs

  1. Simplicity

    The C4 model promotes a simple and clear approach for visualizing software architecture by limiting the number of diagram types and focusing on different levels of detail, making it easy to understand and use.

  2. Scalability

    The C4 model scales well with systems of varying complexity, offering different levels of abstraction (Context, Container, Component, and Code) tailored to different audiences and detailed needs.

  3. Clarity of Communication

    By dividing the representation of the system into different levels, the C4 model improves communication among stakeholders by providing the right level of detail to the right audience.

  4. Standardization

    The model introduces a standard way to create architecture diagrams, making it easier to maintain consistency and understandability across different teams and projects.

  5. Focus on Architecture

    C4 places a strong emphasis on architectural elements without becoming tied into specific tooling or technology choices, thus focusing on high-level designs rather than low-level implementation details.

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Videos

Visualising software architecture with the C4 model - Simon Brown, Agile on the Beach 2019

Social recommendations and mentions

We have tracked the following product recommendations or mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you see what people think about C4 model and what they use it for.
  • Show HN: UML diagram for the DDD example in Evans' book
    For the architectural documentation like this one, the C4 Model [0] is a much better fit than UML - primarily because it's less rigid in notation and modeling components. And in terms of tooling, I find IcePanel [1] to have the right combination of flexibility and simplicity. [0] https://c4model.com/ [1] https://icepanel.io/. - Source: Hacker News / 29 days ago
  • How I think about Vaadin application architecture today
    Instead, inspired by the C4 model of visualizing software, I've explored a component based approach, where an application consists of multiple components that interact with each other. These components aren't classified into any particular layer (except, maybe the presentation layer and application layer). - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • Common Mistakes in Architecture Diagrams (2020)
    I’m surprised no one has mentioned the C4 approach to diagramming yet, which is a prescriptive approach that helps to avoid most of these mistakes: https://c4model.com/. - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • Step outside the Happy Path
    Start by formalizing the architecture. You don’t need heavy enterprise methodologies like TOGAF; use formats that fit the team and product. Frameworks like arc42 are suitable for complex systems, while simpler projects may only need C4 diagrams supplemented with a few additional visualizations. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • C4 Model - The Basics
    Software Architecture is all about developing systems that scale and are maintainable. Clear visualizations will help teams to communicate the design effectively. The C4 model comes in handy for this task! But what is C4, and why should you care? - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • Turning the Crank: Design as a Mechanical Process
    Https://c4model.com/ is very useful for this. :-) I've told it before, but when we were doing some clean sheet work a while ago I decided to use the C4 model and drew out the obligatory "Context" diagram with "user" "phone" "laptop" "app" sort of stuff... And then two hours later realized that because we had both an online and a semi-disconnected mobile app that could be offline, certain things -had- to use a... - Source: Hacker News / 7 months ago
  • Vega – A declarative language for interactive visualization designs
    What sort of maps are you wanting to build? https://c4model.com/ seems to be the more popular standard for this style at the moment. https://github.com/plantuml-stdlib/C4-PlantUML makes this somewhat easy to code out. (And I think most cloud providers have addons for it.). - Source: Hacker News / 9 months ago
  • Ask HN: Best tool to create cloud architecture diagrams
    Could you define "best"? I think it depends on your requirements. There are many tools available. Here are some I suggest. * Excalidraw https://excalidraw.com/ * The C4 model https://c4model.com/. - Source: Hacker News / 9 months ago
  • Ask HN: Visualize Software Architecture/Concepts
    C4 modelling (with associated diagrams using whatever tools) can be powerful, part of the value is that they help capture the nested and relational nature of many software systems. https://c4model.com/. - Source: Hacker News / 9 months ago
  • Devs need system design tools, not diagramming tools
    As others have said the C4 model is a great way to address a number of these issues. I can’t find the right video at the moment but Simon Brown (creator of C4) gives a great talk about creating his DSL, Structurizr, for C4, which he developed during COVID lockdown (if memory serves). There are many videos on YouTube of Simon talking about “C4 Models as Code” so I’m sure any one of those will suffice. The focus is... - Source: Hacker News / 10 months ago
  • Devs need system design tools, not diagramming tools
    It sounded like it was working up to a C4 pitch but never got there. It bears a look exactly for this post's title. https://c4model.com. - Source: Hacker News / 10 months ago
  • Devs need system design tools, not diagramming tools
    Maybe checkout https://c4model.com/. - Source: Hacker News / 10 months ago
  • Book: Just Enough Software Architecture
    Simon Brown is another person who has done a far better job than me of "democratizing" software architecture for developers. His talks [1] and workshops on architecture are exceptionally effective and his C4 architecture modeling language [2] is getting real traction. I have youtube videos too [3] but they aren't as effective. [1] https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=simon+brown+architecture [2]... - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago
  • Ask HN: Guidelines for making clear architecture diagrams
    Keep it simple and use https://c4model.com/. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • Ask HN: Guidelines for making clear architecture diagrams
    Second this. Reference for anyone looking I to it: https://c4model.com/ There is also quite a lot of options for helping create these diagrams. I've found https://structurizr.com/ to be the best of what I've tried so far. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • Show HN: Flyde – an open-source visual programming language
    What you are describing sounds a lot like C4: https://c4model.com/. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • Ask HN: How do you document complex software systems?
    The C4 model [0] provides a mostly sensible structure and techniques for representing pure software systems across different abstraction levels. For systems involving software and hardware, or other complex interfacing (both technology and bureaucracy) this starts to delve into the universe of systems engineering. There's a decent assembly of knowledge on that in the SEBoK [1]. As another commenter has already... - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • A View on Functional Software Architecture
    There a various standards for documenting software architecture, like arc42 or C4. While useful and somewhat well-known (there is certainly a correlation here), here architecture documentation can be further simplified, particularly due to the self-similarity of project and component. Following is a small template, that can also serve as a project's and component's README:. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Inkscape Cloud Architect
    I would suggest that if your architecture diagrams are a bunch of icons provided by AWS/Azure/GCP with lines pointing at each other... You are doing it wrong. The 'what does this box do for my system' is vastly more important than the 'which in vogue offering from my cloud provider implements it'. I highly suggest folks take a look at the C4 Model: https://c4model.com/. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • How to create interactive zoomable software architecture diagrams
    We often use abstractions in software engineering to communicate complex architectures and software systems. In this article, we’ll discuss how abstractions are inherently hierarchical and how the C4 model provides a nested structure for defining your software architecture. We’ll then cover how IcePanel allows you to create interactive and zoomable diagrams for your audience to zoom in and out of different levels... - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Architecture diagrams enable better conversations
    You probably want https://c4model.com/ which explains what a C4 architecture diagram is. (See the first footnote in the article.). - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago

External sources with reviews and comparisons of C4 model

5 great diagramming tools for enterprise and software architects
The C4 model is derived from physical maps: You can look at a location from a high level, like a country, and see your city in the context of other cities and countries. Then you can zoom in to a city level and see major roads and the city's structure. Take another step, and you can see your district or neighborhood; finally, you might zoom down to a street view. C4 mimics this approach, starting with the general...

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