KontexBIDiagram Studio

C4 architecture

The big picture.
The useful detail.

Explain how software fits together at the level your audience needs. C4 lets you focus on a system, look inside it, then examine the parts of an application.

Try the architecture example Create a C4 document

When is this useful?

Use C4 to introduce an architecture, discuss responsibilities and integrations, or help a new team member understand a system. Choose the view that answers their question.

Explore the levels of detail

One architecture. Several useful views.

Begin with the wider landscape, then zoom through the first three C4 levels. Select a view to see what it explains.

Landscape

The wider environment

Which systems exist, and how do they relate?

See the ordering platform alongside inventory, payments, shipping, analytics, and the warehouse team. This wider view gives you a starting point before focusing on one system.

Try this view ↗
Ordering platform architecture: the wider environment.
The same architecture, shown at the landscape view. Elements retain their identity as you move between views. Open the editable view to zoom in and inspect the details.

1 · Context

One system in its surroundings

Who uses this system, and what does it connect to?

Focus on the ordering platform as one software system. Its customer, inventory connection, and payment provider show the people and systems it directly interacts with.

Try this view ↗
Ordering platform architecture: one system in its surroundings.
The same architecture, shown at the context view. Elements retain their identity as you move between views. Open the editable view to zoom in and inspect the details.

2 · Containers

Inside a software system

Which applications and data stores do the work?

Follow an order from the Web application to the Web API, through stock reservation and payment, into the Order database. A separate Receipt worker completes the background work. In C4, each container is an application or data store with its own responsibility.

Try this view ↗
Ordering platform architecture: inside a software system.
The same architecture, shown at the container view. Elements retain their identity as you move between views. Open the editable view to zoom in and inspect the details.

3 · Components

Inside one container

How is this application organised internally?

Inside the Web API, the Order controller and Order service coordinate Inventory and Payment clients. The database and Receipt worker show where work continues outside the API boundary. Follow the labeled connections to read the order flow.

Try this view ↗
Ordering platform architecture: inside one container.
The same architecture, shown at the component view. Elements retain their identity as you move between views. Open the editable view to zoom in and inspect the details.

The full C4 model also includes a fourth, code-level view. This demonstration covers landscape, context, containers, and components. Landscape is a supporting view of the wider environment.

What the parts mean

Names, responsibilities, and connections.

1Typed elements
A box names a person, software system, container, or component. The text describes its responsibility, and technology where useful.
2Directed relationships
Read the action along the arrow, such as Reserves stock. A protocol such as HTTPS adds communication detail.
3Scope and boundaries
A dashed boundary groups the elements inside the system or container you are examining. An External label identifies something outside your ownership.

Based on the C4 model’s diagram guidance and container terminology.

Choose your audience

Start wide. Zoom in when it helps.

The example keeps all four supported views in one document. Open it, switch views in the sidebar, and try changing a shared element’s name or responsibility.

Explore the architecture ↗

Try the current editor

Publish the views your audience needs

Use View → Document Views… to assemble prose and selected diagrams into a briefing. Add System Context for the overview and Containers for the technical audience. A diagram can appear in several briefings. Choose File → Export Document View… to download the selected briefing.