arc42 Documentation Skill
When to Use This Skill
Use this skill when:
- Arc42 Documentation tasks - Working on arc42 architecture documentation template and guidance
- Planning or design - Need guidance on Arc42 Documentation approaches
- Best practices - Want to follow established patterns and standards
Overview
Create comprehensive architecture documentation using the arc42 template.
MANDATORY: Documentation-First Approach
Before creating arc42 documentation:
- Invoke
docs-managementskill for architecture documentation patterns - Verify arc42 current version via MCP servers (perplexity)
- Base guidance on official arc42 template
arc42 Template Structure
arc42 Template (12 Sections):
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 1. Introduction and Goals │
│ Requirements overview, quality goals, stakeholders │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 2. Architecture Constraints │
│ Technical, organizational, and convention constraints │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 3. System Scope and Context │
│ Business context, technical context │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 4. Solution Strategy │
│ Technology decisions, top-level decomposition, quality approaches │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 5. Building Block View │
│ Static decomposition: whitebox/blackbox at multiple levels │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 6. Runtime View │
│ Important scenarios, interactions, behaviors │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 7. Deployment View │
│ Technical infrastructure, mapping of building blocks │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 8. Cross-cutting Concepts │
│ Recurring patterns, approaches, principles │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 9. Architecture Decisions │
│ Important decisions with rationale (may link to ADRs) │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 10. Quality Requirements │
│ Quality tree, quality scenarios │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 11. Risks and Technical Debt │
│ Known risks, technical debt items │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 12. Glossary │
│ Important domain and technical terms │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Complete arc42 Template
# Architecture Documentation: [System Name]
**Version:** 1.0
**Date:** [Date]
**Status:** Draft | Review | Final
---
## 1. Introduction and Goals
### 1.1 Requirements Overview
[Brief description of the system and its purpose. What business problem
does it solve? Who are the main users?]
**Key Features:**
- [Feature 1]
- [Feature 2]
- [Feature 3]
### 1.2 Quality Goals
| Priority | Quality Goal | Description |
|----------|--------------|-------------|
| 1 | [Goal] | [Description] |
| 2 | [Goal] | [Description] |
| 3 | [Goal] | [Description] |
### 1.3 Stakeholders
| Role | Name/Team | Expectations |
|------|-----------|--------------|
| Product Owner | [Name] | [Expectations] |
| Development Team | [Team] | [Expectations] |
| Operations | [Team] | [Expectations] |
| Security | [Team] | [Expectations] |
---
## 2. Architecture Constraints
### 2.1 Technical Constraints
| Constraint | Description | Background |
|------------|-------------|------------|
| [TC-1] | [Description] | [Why this constraint exists] |
| [TC-2] | [Description] | [Why this constraint exists] |
### 2.2 Organizational Constraints
| Constraint | Description | Background |
|------------|-------------|------------|
| [OC-1] | [Description] | [Why this constraint exists] |
| [OC-2] | [Description] | [Why this constraint exists] |
### 2.3 Conventions
| Convention | Description |
|------------|-------------|
| [CON-1] | [Description] |
| [CON-2] | [Description] |
---
## 3. System Scope and Context
### 3.1 Business Context
[Diagram showing the system in its business environment, with actors
and external systems it interacts with.]
```mermaid
C4Context
title System Context Diagram
Person(user, "User", "End user of the system")
System(system, "System Name", "System description")
System_Ext(ext1, "External System 1", "Description")
System_Ext(ext2, "External System 2", "Description")
Rel(user, system, "Uses")
Rel(system, ext1, "Calls API")
Rel(system, ext2, "Sends events")
| Actor/System | Description | Communication | |--------------|-------------|---------------| | [Actor 1] | [Description] | [Protocol/Format] | | [External System 1] | [Description] | [Protocol/Format] |
3.2 Technical Context
[Technical details of integration: protocols, data formats, interfaces.]
| Interface | Technology | Description | |-----------|------------|-------------| | [API 1] | REST/JSON | [Description] | | [Queue 1] | Kafka | [Description] | | [File 1] | SFTP/CSV | [Description] |
4. Solution Strategy
4.1 Technology Decisions
| Decision | Technology | Rationale | |----------|------------|-----------| | Programming Language | C# (.NET 10) | [Rationale] | | Database | PostgreSQL | [Rationale] | | Message Broker | Kafka | [Rationale] | | Cloud Platform | Azure | [Rationale] |
4.2 Top-Level Decomposition
[High-level description of how the system is structured.]
Approach: [Microservices / Modular Monolith / etc.]
Key Modules:
4.3 Approaches to Achieve Quality Goals
| Quality Goal | Approach | |--------------|----------| | Performance | Caching, async processing, optimized queries | | Reliability | Redundancy, circuit breakers, retry patterns | | Security | Defense in depth, encryption, audit logging |
5. Building Block View
5.1 Level 1: Whitebox Overall System
C4Container
title Container Diagram
Container(api, "API Gateway", "Kong", "Routes and secures API calls")
Container(web, "Web Application", "Blazor", "User interface")
Container(svc1, "Service 1", ".NET", "Business logic")
Container(svc2, "Service 2", ".NET", "Business logic")
ContainerDb(db, "Database", "PostgreSQL", "Stores data")
ContainerQueue(queue, "Message Queue", "Kafka", "Async messaging")
Rel(web, api, "Calls", "HTTPS")
Rel(api, svc1, "Forwards", "gRPC")
Rel(api, svc2, "Forwards", "gRPC")
Rel(svc1, db, "Reads/Writes")
Rel(svc1, queue, "Publishes")
Rel(svc2, queue, "Subscribes")
Contained Building Blocks:
| Building Block | Purpose | |----------------|---------| | API Gateway | Request routing, authentication, rate limiting | | Web Application | User interface and presentation | | Service 1 | [Core business function] | | Service 2 | [Core business function] |
5.2 Level 2: [Building Block Name]
[Whitebox description of a specific building block, showing its internal structure.]
Responsibility: [What this block does]
Interfaces:
Internal Structure:
| Component | Responsibility | |-----------|---------------| | [Component 1] | [Description] | | [Component 2] | [Description] |
6. Runtime View
6.1 Scenario: [User Creates Order]
sequenceDiagram
participant U as User
participant W as Web App
participant A as API Gateway
participant O as Order Service
participant I as Inventory Service
participant D as Database
participant Q as Message Queue
U->>W: Submit order
W->>A: POST /orders
A->>O: CreateOrder
O->>I: CheckInventory
I->>D: Query stock
D-->>I: Stock levels
I-->>O: Available
O->>D: Save order
O->>Q: Publish OrderCreated
O-->>A: Order confirmed
A-->>W: 201 Created
W-->>U: Order confirmation
Description: [Explanation of the scenario and any important details]
6.2 Scenario: [Another Important Scenario]
[Similar structure...]
7. Deployment View
7.1 Infrastructure Level 1
C4Deployment
title Deployment Diagram
Deployment_Node(cloud, "Azure", "Cloud Platform") {
Deployment_Node(aks, "AKS Cluster", "Kubernetes") {
Container(api, "API Pods", "3 replicas")
Container(svc, "Service Pods", "3 replicas")
}
Deployment_Node(data, "Data Tier") {
ContainerDb(db, "Azure PostgreSQL", "Managed database")
ContainerDb(redis, "Azure Redis", "Caching")
}
}
7.2 Infrastructure Elements
| Element | Technology | Description | |---------|------------|-------------| | Kubernetes Cluster | AKS | Container orchestration | | Load Balancer | Azure LB | Traffic distribution | | Database | Azure PostgreSQL | Persistent storage | | Cache | Azure Redis | In-memory caching |
8. Cross-cutting Concepts
8.1 Domain Model
[Core domain entities and their relationships]
8.2 Security
Authentication: OAuth 2.0 / OpenID Connect Authorization: Role-based access control (RBAC) Data Protection: Encryption at rest (AES-256), in transit (TLS 1.3)
8.3 Error Handling
Strategy: Structured error responses with correlation IDs Logging: Structured logging with severity levels Monitoring: Distributed tracing with OpenTelemetry
8.4 Testability
Unit Testing: xUnit, Moq, FluentAssertions Integration Testing: TestContainers E2E Testing: Playwright
9. Architecture Decisions
| ID | Decision | Status | Date | |----|----------|--------|------| | ADR-001 | [Decision title] | Accepted | [Date] | | ADR-002 | [Decision title] | Accepted | [Date] |
[Link to detailed ADR documents]
10. Quality Requirements
10.1 Quality Tree
mindmap
root((Quality))
Performance
Response Time
Throughput
Reliability
Availability
Recoverability
Security
Confidentiality
Integrity
Maintainability
Modifiability
Testability
10.2 Quality Scenarios
| ID | Scenario | Attribute | Target | |----|----------|-----------|--------| | QS-1 | API response under load | Performance | P95 < 200ms | | QS-2 | System availability | Reliability | 99.9% | | QS-3 | Add new payment provider | Modifiability | < 5 days |
11. Risks and Technical Debt
11.1 Risks
| ID | Risk | Impact | Probability | Mitigation | |----|------|--------|-------------|------------| | R-1 | [Risk description] | High | Medium | [Mitigation] | | R-2 | [Risk description] | Medium | Low | [Mitigation] |
11.2 Technical Debt
| ID | Debt Item | Impact | Priority | |----|-----------|--------|----------| | TD-1 | [Debt description] | [Impact] | High | | TD-2 | [Debt description] | [Impact] | Medium |
12. Glossary
| Term | Definition | |------|------------| | [Term 1] | [Definition] | | [Term 2] | [Definition] | | [Term 3] | [Definition] |
Section Guidelines
When to Include Each Section
| Section | Always Include | Include If... | |---------|----------------|---------------| | 1. Introduction | ✓ | - | | 2. Constraints | ✓ | - | | 3. Context | ✓ | - | | 4. Solution Strategy | ✓ | - | | 5. Building Blocks | ✓ | - | | 6. Runtime | | Important scenarios exist | | 7. Deployment | ✓ | - | | 8. Cross-cutting | ✓ | - | | 9. Decisions | ✓ | - | | 10. Quality | | Quality requirements defined | | 11. Risks | | Known risks exist | | 12. Glossary | | Domain-specific terms |
Workflow
When creating arc42 documentation:
- Start with context: Sections 1-3 establish the "what" and "why"
- Document decisions: Section 4 captures strategic choices
- Detail structure: Section 5 shows how it's built
- Show behavior: Section 6 demonstrates how it works
- Map to infrastructure: Section 7 shows where it runs
- Capture patterns: Section 8 documents recurring solutions
- Record decisions: Section 9 links to ADRs
- Define quality: Section 10 sets expectations
- Acknowledge risks: Section 11 shows awareness
- Define terms: Section 12 ensures shared understanding
References
For detailed guidance:
Last Updated: 2025-12-26