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Components

Overview​

A component is a software that uses or provides an API (e.g. web-apps, microservices, SaaS providers, etc.).

By listing all your components you can track all of your services and systems, creating a comprehensive software catalog. Developers can find what they need, when they need it and team leads can have full visibility into their company’s technology landscape.

Components​

You can add, edit, or delete components, dependencies, and metadata at any point, as your system evolves and as you add new features.

Create a Component​

You can create a new component two ways:

(1) From “Platforms”

  • Open your project
  • In the left-side menu, open “Platforms”
  • Open the desired platform where you want to add the new component
  • If your platform doesn’t have any components, click “Add components” in the centre prompt
  • If your platform already has components you can click the “+” icon in the platform top menu or the “+” icon when you hover over the dependency lines between components
  • In the pop up menu, select the desired components or click “Create a new component”
  • Name the component, select its type, and click “Create component”

Add component to platform.png

(2) From “Components”

  • Open your project
  • In the left-side menu, open “Components”
  • Click “Create a component”
  • In the pop up menu, select the desired components or click “Create a new component”
  • Name the component, select its type, and click “Create component”

Add component from components.png

Arrange Components and Add Dependencies​

  • Open your project
  • In the left-side menu, open “Platforms”
  • Open the desired platform
  • Drag and drop the components to the required section
  • Connect your components with arrows to signify the dependencies between them. Align your cursor with the component edge until it turns into a “+”. Drag the arrow to the component you want to link to.

With the auto-layout feature you don’t have to worry about reconnecting components when you move them within your platform, all dependency connection will remain intact.

Edit a Component​

You can edit components two ways:

(1) From “Platforms”

  • Open your project
  • (Optional) Create a new design branch if you want to review your changes with your team before merging into main
  • In the left-side menu, open “Platforms”
  • Open the desired platform
  • Double click on the component you want to edit
  • Add, edit, delete the component information in the right-side panel that opens

(2) From “Components”

  • Open your project
  • (Optional) Create a new design branch if you want to review your changes with your team before merging into main
  • In the left-side menu, open “Components”
  • Select the component you want to edit

We recommend always creating a new design branch when editing elements of your system architecture to fully leverage all version control functionalities, such as viewing diffs and changes.

You can view a component diffs and changes by clicking the pencil icon in the tool bar (first on the right). Your changes will be highlighted in a different color.

Component Information - About & Variables​

Each component has two tabs: “About” and “Variables”.

This is the information you edit in the “About” tab:

  • Name
  • Type
  • Scope
  • Owner
  • Slug
  • Short description
  • Tags
  • *Platforms where this components is being used
  • Implementations
  • APIs
  • Readme

*This information is auto populated

Component environment variables can be set in the “Variables” tab.

Environment variables help developers set up dynamic parameters at the application component level without hardcoding sensitive information like database passwords or API keys into the codebase.

Here you can:

  • Select/Deselect development environments from the drop down menu
  • Add/edit/delete a component variable
  • Search component variables

Add a Component Alias​

The same component might have multiple names in your system. For example you may use the naming convention “(Component name)-(environment)” to identify the same component in different environments.

To avoid duplication and misunderstandings, you can list all the aliases a component has in your system:

  • Open your project
  • (Optional) Create a new design branch if you want to review your changes with your team before merging into main
  • In the left-side menu, open “Components”
  • Select the component you want to edit
  • In the "About" tag scroll down to the "Alias" field and list here all the alternative names for this component.

Delete a Component​

You can delete components two ways:

(1) From “Platforms”

  • Open your project
  • (Optional) Create a new design branch if you want to review your changes with your team before merging into main
  • In the left-side menu, open “Platforms”
  • Open the desired platform
  • Select a component
  • Enter “delete” on your keyboard

(2) From “Components”

  • Open your project
  • (Optional) Create a new design branch if you want to review your changes with your team before merging into main
  • In the left-side menu, open “Components”
  • Click on the ellipsis button “…” for the component you want to delete
  • Select “Delete”
  • Confirm your action in the prompt - please note that you can’t undo or recover deleted components.

Search Components​

Search all the components across your current project, by clicking “Search” in the left-side menu.

Search components.png

Next Steps​

You did it! What’s next?