Configuration
Table of contents
The configuration file for YAMLtecture has two main building blocks, nodes that define the various elements in the architecture and links that define the links between the nodes. Both nodes and links can have attributes that provide additional metadata.
The core concept of YAMLtecture is the ability to define a detailed architecture in a simple-to-maintain YAML file, establishing the different components and relationships between them.
Nodes & Links
A node is uniquely identified by its id. Within a given YAMLtecture scope, the id must be unique. The id is used to reference the node with the optional parent attribute as well as links referencing it with the source and target attributes.
Each node and link has a required type attribute. The type attribute is used to define the type of the node or link.
Both nodes and links can have optional attributes. The attributes are used to provide additional metadata about the node or link as key value pairs.
Node Attributes
A node defines each part of the architecture.
id
The id attribute is the required unique identifier for the node within the configuration used to reference the node in the parent attribute and in the source and target attributes of links.
type
The type attribute is required and defines the type of the node. This is the only mandatory attribute for a node that defines the metadata for the node as the intent here is that type would commonly be used for filtering or styling the nodes.
parent
The parent attribute is an optional attribute that defines the parent node of the node. This is used to define the hierarchy of the nodes as an acyclic graph. The parent node enables specialized filtering due to the tree structure it enforces.
attributes
The attributes field is a key-value set of additional metadata for a node, where the keys are not predefined. This allows for maximum flexibility in defining the attributes of the node. These attributes can be used for styling or filtering the nodes.
Link Attributes
A link defines the relationship between two nodes.
source
The source attribute is required and references the id of the source node. This is used to define the source of the link.
target
The target attribute is required and references the id of the target node. This is used to define the target of the link.
type
The type attribute is required and defines the type of the link. This is the only mandatory attribute for a link that defines the metadata for the link as the intent here is that type would commonly be used for filtering or styling the links.
attributes
The attributes is a key value set of additional metadata for a link where the key is not predefined. This allows for maximum flexibility in defining the attributes of the link. These attributes can be used for styling or filtering the links.
Example Configuration
nodes:
- id: cluster
type: Infrastructure
attributes:
name: "Container Hosting"
- id: service_foo
type: Microservice
parent: cluster
attributes:
name: "Foo Service"
language: "Java"
- id: service_bar
type: Microservice
parent: cluster
attributes:
name: "Bar Service"
language: "Go"
links:
- source: service_foo
target: service_bar
type: "API"
attributes:
payload: "example"