Element

A node in the architecture model — a system, container, component, actor, datastore, and so on. Elements are nested arbitrarily deep and keyed by a dot-separated path that doubles as their unique ID (e.g. onlineshop.api.catalog).

Element kind

The type of an element (actor, system, container, component, …). Kinds are not hardcoded; each model defines its own set in the specification. A kind may be marked as a container (allowed to have children).

Relationship

A directed connection between two elements, with a from, a to, a label, and a kind (e.g. uses). Stored on the element and rendered as a connector.

View

A named filter over the model that becomes one draw.io page. A view lists what to include/exclude (wildcards allowed) and optionally a scope and layout. The same element can appear in many views; it exists once in the model.

Scope

The element a view drills into. A scoped view shows that element’s children inside its boundary and powers page-based drill-down navigation.

Dynamic view

A behavioral view: an ordered list of interaction steps between elements, rendered by export-sequence as a PlantUML/Mermaid sequence diagram. See ADR-008.

Specification

The model section that defines the vocabulary: which element kinds and relationship kinds exist, plus tags, patterns, and decision records.

Lifecycle status

An optional element field tracking its stage: proposed, design, implementation, deployed, deprecated, archived. Queryable via status.

Pattern

A reusable element/relationship template that add from-pattern instantiates into the model.

Forward sync

Applying model changes to the draw.io diagram (model → draw.io).

Reverse sync

Applying draw.io edits (titles, descriptions, technology, new shapes/connectors) back to the model (draw.io → model).

Model-wins

The conflict-resolution policy: when the same element changed on both sides since the last sync, the model value is kept and a warning is shown — never a silent overwrite.

Sync state

The checksummed JSON snapshot of the last synchronized state, stored in .bausteinsicht-sync, so the next sync can tell what changed on each side.

bausteinsicht_id

The attribute carried by every synced draw.io cell that anchors it to its model element — the link between the two file formats.

Endpoint lifting

When a relationship’s endpoint is not directly visible in a view, the connector is attached to the nearest visible ancestor element instead.

Boundary

A container shape in draw.io that visually encloses a scoped element’s children; it auto-expands to fit them.

Drill-down navigation

Page-based navigation between abstraction levels: one draw.io page per view, with sync-generated cross-page links and a back button. See ADR-009.

Template

A draw.io file whose shapes carry a bausteinsicht_template attribute naming the element kind they style. Sync clones the matching shape for each new element. Templates are versioned (bausteinsicht_template_version).

Overlay

A metric heatmap applied on top of a diagram (e.g. coloring elements by a metric), added/removed by the overlay command without altering the underlying model.

Badge

A small visual marker attached to an element in the diagram (e.g. a decision badge).

Snapshot

A versioned capture of the whole architecture model, stored under .bausteinsicht-snapshots/, semantically diffable via snapshot diff.

Stale element

An element flagged by the stale command as possibly forgotten — shown in no view, touched by no relationship, or unchanged for longer than a threshold (derived from git history).

Workspace

A multi-model grouping that lets several Bausteinsicht models be validated and related together.

REPL

The interactive shell (bausteinsicht repl) for guided, validated model editing; pure additions are patched into the JSONC preserving comments.