C4 Designer
The C4 Designer is Nodinite's interactive canvas for creating and editing Architecture Diagrams. Drag element shapes onto the canvas, draw connections between them, manage connector message members, bind nodes to real Systems and Services in your Repository, and when UseContracts is enabled, bind nodes to Contracts as first-class participants. Manage the Draft/Active lifecycle with automatic saving and live monitoring state.
When the current Diagram Set has enough context, the Designer can also surface Diagram Assistance. Use it to review Built-in Suggestions, Add from Set, Coverage, and Review Impacts. If EnableDiagramAiAssistance is enabled, the same workspace also exposes an AI Assistance tab.
Architecture Diagrams is part of experimental builds. This capability is actively evolving. Contact your sales representative to enable the feature.
The full Designer documentation is organised as a step-by-step guide in the Designer section:
| Guide | What you will learn |
|---|---|
| C4 Designer Overview | The two-page model (View vs Designer), Draft/Active states, navigating to the editor |
| Navigating the Canvas | Pan, zoom, viewport controls, and the toolbar |
| Building a Diagram | Adding shapes from the Toolbox, drag-and-drop, Auto-arrange |
| Organising with Boundaries | Binding to Domains, collapse/expand, Focus and Isolate modes |
| Drawing Connectors | Port handles, C4 validation rules, connector types, connector message members, labels, and protocols |
| Editing Elements | Node, Connector, and Boundary Inspector panels, auto-save |
| Repository Bindings | Linking shapes to Systems, Services, and Contracts, monitoring state, drill-through links |
| Diagram Lifecycle | Draft, Active, Archived; Promote, Clone, and delete |
| Diagram Assistance | Add from Set, Coverage, Review Impacts, and optional AI guidance |
| Keyboard Shortcuts | Quick reference |
| Technical Reference | Layout constants and the full View vs Designer feature matrix |
How the Designer Works
Every change you make on the canvas is saved automatically and immediately. There is no Save button.
| Action | What is saved |
|---|---|
| Drag a shape from the Toolbox | Element placement and position on the canvas |
| Move a node | Updated position on the canvas |
| Add or move a boundary | Boundary position and nesting |
| Draw a connector | Connector shell plus its first message member |
| Remove a node | Node removed from the diagram — the underlying Repository entity is unchanged |
Because only the specific change is saved, multiple people can edit the same diagram simultaneously without overwriting each other's work.
Next Steps
- C4 Designer Overview — start here
- Creating Your First C4 Diagram
- Diagram Assistance
- Mermaid View
- Export and Sharing