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Getting started with Structurizr Lite
First we need to create a directory somewhere to store our workspace.
Next we need to create a file called
workspace.dsl inside that directory, with the following content.workspace {
model {
user = person "User"
softwareSystem = softwareSystem "Software System"
user -> softwareSystem "Uses"
}
views {
systemContext softwareSystem "Diagram1" {
include *
autoLayout
}
theme default
}
}You can find more about the Structurizr DSL at https://github.com/structurizr/dsl, but essentially this DSL file says:
default theme for styling elements and relationships.Assuming that you have Docker installed, you can now start Structurizr Lite with the following commands:
docker pull structurizr/lite
docker run -it --rm -p 8080:8080 -v PATH:/usr/local/structurizr structurizr/liteBe sure to replace
PATH with the full path to the directory created in step 1. For example, if the directory is located at /Users/alice/structurizr, the commands would be:docker pull structurizr/lite
docker run -it --rm -p 8080:8080 -v /Users/alice/structurizr:/usr/local/structurizr structurizr/liteOpen the workspace in a web browser by heading to http://localhost:8080 and you should see your diagram.
If you make a change to the DSL file and save it, you should see that change immediately reflected when you refresh your web browser.
Let's add some documentation to describe our software system. To do this, create a subdirectory named
docs and create a file named 01-context.md inside that subdirectory, with the following content:## Context
Here is a description of my software system...
Now change the content of the
workspace.dsl file to be as follows (notice the addition of the !docs line):workspace {
model {
user = person "User"
softwareSystem = softwareSystem "Software System" {
!docs docs
}
user -> softwareSystem "Uses"
}
views {
systemContext softwareSystem "Diagram1" {
include *
autoLayout
}
theme default
}
}Save all files, refresh your web browser, and click on the top-left button with the icon that looks like a book. You should now see the Markdown documentation page that we just created, which itself is embedding our existing system context diagram.
Structurizr Lite provides a quick and free way to get started with the Structurizr tooling. It supports the full set of C4 model diagrams, along with the ability to publish Markdown/AsciiDoc documentation, and architecture decision records (ADRs). Enjoy!
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