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Components

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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.

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

Add / Edit Components​

đź’ˇ When editing your components, it's a good idea to create a new design branch: you can easily discard any incorrect changes or ask your team to review and approve them before merging into main.

Create a Component​

You can create a new component from:

(1)The platforms tab

  • Open your project
  • In the left-side menu, open “Platforms”
  • Open the desired platform where you want to add the new component
  • Add / edit the components within the platform

(2)The components tab

  • 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”

Edit a Component​

You can edit components from:

(1)The platforms tab

  • Open your project
  • 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)The components tab

  • Open your project
  • 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 the following tabs:

(1) About

  • Icon (Upload icon / Choose from Library)
  • Name
  • Type
  • Scope
  • Owner
  • Short description
  • Color
  • Tags
  • Aliases
  • *Used in XYZ platforms
  • **Implementations
  • **APIs
  • Readme

*Used in XYZ platforms: This information is auto-populated as you add a component to a platform.

**This information is available only when a Git integration is enabled or you have connected to a public Git repository.

(2) Variables

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

(3) Releases

Here you can keep track of all the releases that involved that component.

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
  • 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 from:

(1)The platforms tab

  • Open your project
  • In the left-side menu, open “Platforms”
  • Open the desired platform
  • Select a component
  • Hit “delete” on your keyboard

ℹ️ Please note that components deleted from a platform are also deleted from all contextual views. Components deleted from a single view, affect only that single view.

(2)The components tab

  • Open your project
  • 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.

Next Steps​

You did it! What’s next?