Common Architecture DiagrammingSAFE

A collection of Agent Skills Standard and Best Practice for Programming Languages, Frameworks that help our AI Agent follow best practies on frameworks and programming laguages

The instruction file, verbatim from the audited commit — this is the text the model reads, and the surface the audit's instruction layer examines. Quoted here so you can judge it without cloning anything.

---
name: common-architecture-diagramming
description: Draws architecture diagrams as editable draw.io files with a fixed house style, C4 levels, evidence-tagged shapes, and optional multi-view identity checks. Use when producing a system context, container, component, deployment, data flow, sequence, state, or ERD, or redrawing an ASCII or Mermaid one.
metadata:
  triggers:
    files:
      - "ARCHITECTURE.md"
      - "**/*.drawio"
      - "**/*.mermaid"
      - "docs/architecture/**"
    keywords:
      - diagram
      - c4
      - drawio
      - mermaid
      - erd
      - entity relationship
      - schema diagram
      - aws
      - architecture diagram
      - solution architecture
      - system context
      - deployment diagram
---
# Architecture Diagramming Standard

## **Priority: P1 (HIGH)**

## Pipeline

Never hand-write mxGraph XML. Write a spec; the scripts own every visual decision,
so diagrams stay identical across authors, repositories, and sessions.

1. Write `spec.json` — schema in [diagram-spec.md](references/diagram-spec.md). For an ERD,
   generate it: `python3 scripts/schema_to_spec.py db/schema.sql --title "<System> — ERD" -o spec.json`
2. `python3 scripts/validate_spec.py spec.json`
3. `python3 scripts/render_drawio.py spec.json -o docs/architecture/<slug>.drawio --strict`
   (exit 2 = a layout finding; change the spec, per [layout-rules.md](references/layout-rules.md))
4. For related views, optionally validate [view-manifest.md](references/view-manifest.md):
   `python3 scripts/validate_manifest.py view-manifest.json`
5. Export the image: a draw.io MCP tool if the session has one, else
   `python3 scripts/export_drawio.py docs/architecture/<slug>.drawio -f png -o docs/architecture/<slug>.png`,
   else ship the `.drawio` and say the image was not exported. See [export paths](references/mermaid-fallback.md).
6. Inspect the exported image at normal reading size; strict validation cannot prove labels and edges are legible. Fix the spec and re-export before handoff.

The JSON spec is the semantic source of truth; `.drawio` is the editable presentation and the
image is a copy for a deck. Generated XML records its own baseline; regeneration protects
manual edits by default. Use `--acknowledge-manual-edits` only after returning semantic changes to the spec.

## Guidelines

- **Name the audience and the decision** before drawing anything.
- **One C4 level per diagram**: context, container, or component, never mixed.
- **Pick the type from the message**, not from habit. See [diagram-selection.md](references/diagram-selection.md).
- **Evidence and confidence are separate.** Code citations are documented evidence, not runtime
  observations; use `assumed` or `unverified` for honest design uncertainty.
- **Put the number on the box.** `metric` carries the load or SLO that sized the node,
  `constraint` says why it exists; never invent either.
- **Label every edge** with its protocol or event; use `style: async` for events.
- **Cloud icons only where verified.** `gcp:*` and `aws:*` are official icons; every other
  vendor is a `cloud:*` kind with the service named in `sublabel`. No Azure logos exist in
  the bundle, so Azure is always `cloud:*`.
- **Exec audience caps at 12 nodes.** Past that, split by level or by flow.
- **Legend and title block are generated.** Do not remove or duplicate them.
- **Refine in the spec, not by mutating generated XML.** Regeneration preserves files with a
  valid own baseline, but refuses hand mutation until explicitly acknowledged.

## Anti-Patterns

- **No hand-written XML**: Write the spec, run the renderer.
- **No invented boxes**: Omit what the evidence does not support.
- **No mixed levels**: Table columns never appear in a context diagram.
- **No unlabeled arrows**: State the protocol or the event.
- **No mystery acronyms**: Expand every abbreviation on first use.
- **No orphan nodes**: Connect it or cut it.

## Red Flags

| Thought | Reality |
|---------|---------|
| "It is one box, I will write the XML" | The renderer owns style, legend, and title block. Use it. |
| "Close enough, I will guess this service" | Guesses ship as facts. Omit the evidence and let it render UNVERIFIED. |
| "Managers want the whole system on one page" | Past 12 nodes they stop reading. Split it. |

## References

- [Diagram spec](references/diagram-spec.md) · [View manifest](references/view-manifest.md) · [Style catalog](references/style-catalog.md) · [House style](references/house-style.md)
- [Source extraction](references/source-extraction.md) · [Exec readability](references/exec-readability.md)
- [C4 model](references/c4-model.md) · [Cloud](references/cloud-architecture.md) · [Best practices](references/best-practices.md)
- [Layout rules](references/layout-rules.md) · [Checklist](references/checklist.md) · [Export paths and Mermaid fallback](references/mermaid-fallback.md)
- Runnable examples: `assets/fixtures/<type>.spec.json`, one per diagram type, plus schema samples under `assets/fixtures/schemas/`.
- Batch or delegated drawing: `specialist-solution-diagrammer`.

SAFEgrade B · trust 89/100 Nothing in the source contradicts what it says it does. Grade A is reserved for packages that have also passed the behavioural sandbox.

What the source does

Filesystem

declared (1 observation(s))

Network

none-observed

Shell

none-observed

Dependencies

pinned

Secrets in source

none-found

Findings (0)

No findings outside the package's declared scope.

Gates applied: no_behavioural_pass.