Skip to main content

System context maps

View as Markdown
Added in eventcatalog@4.0

System context maps help teams understand how systems fit together across an architecture.

They give users a high-level view of all systems, the actors that interact with them, and the relationships between systems. From there, users can drill into a specific system to see the resources that make it up, including APIs, services, messages, data stores, and flows.

Start with the system context map​

The global system context map shows your systems and how they relate to each other.

Use this view when you want to answer questions like:

  • What systems exist in this architecture?
  • Which systems depend on each other?
  • Which people or roles interact with these systems?
  • Where should I drill in for more detail?

System context map showing systems, actors, and relationships

You can open the global system context map at:

/visualiser/system-context-map

Drill into a system​

After users understand the high-level context, they can click into a system and view its resource diagram.

The resource diagram shows the detailed architecture inside that system. For example, a payment processing system can show the APIs, workers, commands, events, and data stores that work together to process payments.

System resource map showing APIs, messages, services, and data stores inside a system

You can open a system resource diagram at:

/visualiser/systems/{system-id}/{version}

For example:

/visualiser/systems/search-system/1.0.0

High-level to detailed architecture​

The goal of systems is to let users move through your architecture at the right level of detail:

  • Start with a high-level context map to understand the systems and relationships.
  • Select a system to understand what it owns and depends on.
  • Drill into the resources inside that system to inspect APIs, messages, services, data stores, and flows.

This gives teams a path from architecture overview to implementation detail without forcing every user to start at the lowest level.