Introduction to Archyl - Archyl Docs

Learn what Archyl is and how it helps you document your software architecture using the C4 model

Introduction to Archyl

Archyl is an AI-powered architecture documentation platform that helps software teams visualize, document, and maintain their system architecture using the C4 model.

What is the C4 Model?

The C4 model is a hierarchical approach to software architecture documentation created by Simon Brown. It consists of four levels of abstraction:

  1. System Context (Level 1): Shows how your system fits into the world around it, including users and external systems
  2. Container (Level 2): Zooms into your system to show the high-level technical building blocks (applications, data stores, microservices)
  3. Component (Level 3): Decomposes containers into their constituent components
  4. Code (Level 4): Maps components to actual code elements like classes and functions

Key Features

AI-Powered Discovery

Connect your Git repository and let Archyl's AI automatically discover and document your architecture. The AI analyzes your codebase to identify:

  • Systems and their boundaries
  • Containers (services, databases, message queues)
  • Components and their relationships
  • Code-level elements

Interactive Diagrams

Create beautiful, interactive architecture diagrams that your team can:

  • Navigate between abstraction levels
  • Pan and zoom to explore large architectures
  • Export to PNG, SVG, or PDF
  • Embed in Confluence, Notion, or any website

Team Collaboration

Work together with your team to document architecture:

  • Invite team members with different roles (Admin, Editor, Viewer)
  • Track changes with history
  • Share public links for stakeholders

Architecture Insights

Get automated insights about your architecture:

  • Identify potential issues
  • Track architectural decisions with ADRs
  • Document user flows
  • Monitor dependencies

Getting Started

Ready to start documenting your architecture? Follow our Quickstart Guide to create your first project in minutes.

Use Cases

Archyl is perfect for:

  • Engineering Teams documenting microservices architectures
  • Architects communicating system design to stakeholders
  • DevOps Teams understanding deployment landscapes
  • New Team Members onboarding onto complex systems
  • Technical Writers creating architecture documentation

Next Steps