c4-architecture

C4 Structurizr Plugin for Claude Code

A Claude Code plugin that analyses software architecture and generates C4 model using the Structurizr DSL.

Features

• Architecture analysis - Scans codebases to identify systems, containers, components, and relationships
• Structurizr DSL generation - Produces valid workspace.dsl files following C4 model conventions
• Diagram export - Exports diagrams to PlantUML, Mermaid, or static HTML via Structurizr vNext, with optional PNG/SVG rendering

Structure

c4-skill/
├── .claude-plugin/
│   └── plugin.json                          # Plugin metadata
├── commands/
│   └── c4.md                                # /c4 slash command
├── skills/
│   └── c4-architecture/
│       ├── SKILL.md                         # Skill definition
│       ├── references/
│       │   └── structurizr-dsl-reference.md # Full DSL syntax reference
│       ├── examples/
│       │   └── example-workspace.dsl        # Sample bookstore workspace
│       └── scripts/
│           └── export-diagrams.sh           # Structurizr vNext export wrapper
├── .gitignore
└── README.md

Prerequisites

• Claude Code installed
• Docker installed and running (for diagram export and rendering)

Installation

1. Clone into your Claude config directory

git clone git@github.com:bitsmuggler/c4-skill.git ~/.claude/c4-skill

2. Symlink the command

mkdir -p ~/.claude/commands
ln -s ~/.claude/c4-skill/commands/c4.md ~/.claude/commands/c4.md

3. Pull the Docker images

docker pull structurizr/structurizr
docker pull plantuml/plantuml

4. Restart Claude Code

Restart Claude Code (or open a new VS Code window). The /c4 command is now available globally across all projects.

Usage

Slash Command

/c4

Invoke the /c4 command to analyse the current project and generate a C4 model.

Rendering Diagrams

After generating the workspace.dsl, Claude will ask if you want to render diagram images. If you say yes, it exports to PlantUML and renders to PNG - all via Docker.

You can also run the export script manually:

bash skills/c4-architecture/scripts/export-diagrams.sh workspace.dsl plantuml/c4plantuml ./diagrams

Supported Diagram Types

Level	View	Description
0	System Landscape	All systems in the enterprise
1	System Context	One system + its interactions
2	Container	Internal structure of a system
3	Component	Internal structure of a container
-	Deployment	Infrastructure mapping
-	Dynamic	Behavioural/sequence flows