C4 model tool: generate your C4 diagrams from code
Create interactive C4 model diagrams online. Visualize software architecture at 4 levels: Context, Containers, Components, and Code.
The best C4 model tool for modern software teams
Create interactive C4 model diagrams online. Visualize your software architecture at every level -- from system context to code -- with AI-powered discovery and real-time collaboration.
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What is the C4 model?
The C4 model is a lean, hierarchical approach to software architecture visualization created by Simon Brown. It describes software architecture at four levels of abstraction -- Context, Containers, Components, and Code -- making it easy for both technical and non-technical stakeholders to understand your system.
System Context (Level 1)
The highest level of abstraction. Shows your software system as a single box surrounded by the users and other systems it interacts with. Perfect for communicating scope and boundaries to non-technical stakeholders.
Bird's-eye view of your system landscape
Show users, actors, and external systems
Define system boundaries and interactions
Ideal for stakeholder presentations
Container Diagram (Level 2)
Technical building blocks
Zoom into a single system to reveal the high-level technical building blocks: web applications, APIs, databases, message queues, and file systems. Each container is a separately deployable unit that runs code or stores data.
Web apps, APIs, databases, and queues
Technology stack per container
Communication protocols and ports
Deployment-ready overview
Component Diagram (Level 3)
Inside each container
Decompose each container into its major structural components -- services, controllers, repositories, and modules. This level bridges the gap between architecture and code, showing how responsibilities are organized.
Services, controllers, and repositories
Internal responsibility mapping
Interface and dependency visualization
Bridge between architecture and code
Code Level (Level 4)
Implementation details
The most detailed level maps directly to your source code. Track individual classes, functions, and files alongside their architectural role. Archyl links code elements to your repository so documentation stays connected to reality.
Classes, functions, and files