Arch Lens Deployment

Deployment/Physical Architecture Lens

Cognitive Mode: Physical Primary Question: "Where does it run?" Focus: Infrastructure Topology, Process Boundaries, Data Storage Locations, Network Communication

When to Use

• Need to understand physical deployment
• Documenting infrastructure and processes
• Analyzing where components execute
• User invokes /autoskillit:arch-lens-deployment or /autoskillit:make-arch-diag deployment

Critical Constraints

NEVER:

• Modify any source code files
• Include code-level details
• Show internal logic
• Run subagents in the background (run_in_background: true is prohibited)

ALWAYS:

• Focus on PHYSICAL deployment
• Show process boundaries
• Include network/communication protocols
• Document storage locations
• BEFORE creating any diagram, LOAD the /autoskillit:mermaid skill using the Skill tool - this is MANDATORY
• If the Skill tool cannot be used (disable-model-invocation) or refuses this invocation, do NOT proceed with diagram creation. Abort this step and omit the diagram from output.
• After writing the diagram file, emit the absolute path as a structured output

token as your final output. Resolve the relative temp/arch-lens-deployment/... save path to absolute by prepending the full CWD: `` diagram_path = /absolute/cwd/temp/arch-lens-deployment/{filename}.md `` This token is MANDATORY — the pipeline cannot proceed without it.

Arguments

/autoskillit:arch-lens-deployment [context_path]

• context_path (optional) — Absolute path to a PR context file containing new files

(★-prefixed) and modified files (●-prefixed) from the PR diff. When provided, read this file before beginning analysis and focus the diagram on the architectural areas affected by these specific files. When absent, explore the full CWD.

---

Analysis Workflow

Step 0: Read PR context (when provided)

If a context_path positional argument is present:

1. Read the file at context_path
2. Extract: new files list (★-prefixed), modified files list (●-prefixed)
3. Focus Step 1 exploration on the modules/components these files belong to
4. Apply ★ prefix on diagram nodes representing new files/components
5. Apply ● prefix on diagram nodes representing modified files/components

If no context_path is provided, skip this step and explore the full CWD in Step 1.

Step 1: Launch Parallel Exploration Subagents

Spawn Explore subagents to investigate:

Process Boundaries

• Find main process entry points
• Identify subprocess spawning
• Look for: main, entry_points, subprocess, process spawning, daemon processes

Container/Docker

• Find containerization config
• Identify services
• Look for: Dockerfile, docker-compose.yml, container definitions, Kubernetes configs

Local Storage

• Find file storage locations
• Identify database paths
• Look for: data directories, database files, storage volumes, persistent storage

Network Services

• Find service definitions
• Identify ports and protocols
• Look for: port, bind, listen, server, API, endpoint, network services

External Services

• Find external API calls
• Identify cloud services
• Look for: external APIs, cloud services, third-party integrations

Web/Frontend

• Find frontend deployment
• Identify static file serving
• Look for: web servers, frontend builds, static assets, CDN

Step 2: Map Physical Topology

| Component | Location | Technology | Port/Protocol | |-----------|----------|------------|---------------| | {name} | {where} | {tech} | {port/protocol} |

CRITICAL - Analyze Read/Write Direction: For EVERY process and storage location:

• Reads from: What does this process READ? (files, databases, APIs)
• Writes to: What does this process WRITE? (files, databases, APIs)
• Network direction: Client->Server or bidirectional?

For storage locations:

• Read/write storage: Process both reads and writes (databases, state files)
• Write-only storage: Process writes, humans or other systems read (logs, artifacts)
• Read-only sources: Process reads, doesn't modify (config, external APIs)

Label all connections with direction (reads, writes, or both)

Step 3: Identify Communication Paths

• Process-to-process (IPC, subprocess)
• Network (HTTP, WebSocket, gRPC)
• File system (shared files)
• Database (connections)

Step 4: Create the Diagram

Use flowchart with:

Direction: TB for infrastructure layers

Subgraphs by Physical Location:

• Developer Machine (local processes)
• Local Storage (files, DBs)
• Docker Stack (if containerized)
• Web Stack (if applicable)
• External Services (cloud, APIs)

Node Styling:

• cli class: Main processes
• stateNode class: Local storage, databases
• output class: File artifacts
• handler class: Services, APIs
• phase class: Frontend, web UI
• integration class: External services

Connection Labels:

• Show protocols (HTTP, subprocess, file)
• Show ports where relevant

Step 5: Write Output

Write the diagram to: {{AUTOSKILLIT_TEMP}}/arch-lens-deployment/arch_diag_deployment_{YYYY-MM-DD_HHMMSS}.md (relative to the current working directory)

After writing the diagram file, emit a structured output line:

> IMPORTANT: Emit the structured output tokens as literal plain text with no > markdown formatting on the token names. Do not wrap token names in **bold**, > *italic*, or any other markdown. The adjudicator performs a regex match on the > exact token name — decorators cause match failure.

diagram_path = {absolute_path_to_diagram_file}

---

Output Template

# Deployment Diagram: {System Name}

**Lens:** Deployment/Physical
**Question:** Where does it run?
**Date:** {YYYY-MM-DD}
**Scope:** {What was analyzed}

## Deployment Topology

| Component | Port | Technology | Purpose |
|-----------|------|------------|---------|
| {name} | {port} | {tech} | {purpose} |

## Deployment Diagram

```mermaid
%%{init: {'flowchart': {'nodeSpacing': 50, 'rankSpacing': 60, 'curve': 'basis'}}}%%
flowchart TB
    %% CLASS DEFINITIONS %%
    classDef cli fill:#1a237e,stroke:#7986cb,stroke-width:2px,color:#fff;
    classDef stateNode fill:#004d40,stroke:#4db6ac,stroke-width:2px,color:#fff;
    classDef handler fill:#e65100,stroke:#ffb74d,stroke-width:2px,color:#fff;
    classDef phase fill:#6a1b9a,stroke:#ba68c8,stroke-width:2px,color:#fff;
    classDef output fill:#00695c,stroke:#4db6ac,stroke-width:2px,color:#fff;
    classDef integration fill:#c62828,stroke:#ef9a9a,stroke-width:2px,color:#fff;

    subgraph LocalMachine ["LOCAL MACHINE"]
        direction TB
        MAIN["Main Process━━━━━━━━━━RuntimeOrchestration"]
        SUB["Subprocess━━━━━━━━━━Isolated execution"]
    end

    subgraph LocalStorage ["LOCAL STORAGE"]
        direction TB
        DB[("Database━━━━━━━━━━TechnologyLocation")]
        FILES["Files━━━━━━━━━━ArtifactsPath"]
    end

    subgraph Docker ["DOCKER STACK"]
        direction TB
        SERVICE1["Service━━━━━━━━━━:portPurpose"]
    end

    subgraph Web ["WEB STACK"]
        direction TB
        API["API Server━━━━━━━━━━:portProtocol"]
        FRONTEND["Frontend━━━━━━━━━━:portTechnology"]
    end

    subgraph External ["EXTERNAL"]
        direction TB
        CLOUD["Cloud API━━━━━━━━━━ProtocolThird-party"]
    end

    %% CONNECTIONS %%
    MAIN -->|"spawns"| SUB
    MAIN -->|"reads/writes"| DB
    MAIN -->|"writes"| FILES
    MAIN -->|"HTTPS"| CLOUD

    SERVICE1 -->|"connects"| DB
    API -->|"REST"| FRONTEND

    %% CLASS ASSIGNMENTS %%
    class MAIN,SUB cli;
    class DB,FILES stateNode;
    class SERVICE1,API handler;
    class FRONTEND phase;
    class CLOUD integration;

Color Legend: | Color | Category | Description | |-------|----------|-------------| | Dark Blue | Processes | Local CLI and subprocess | | Teal | Storage | Databases and file storage | | Orange | Services | Backend services and APIs | | Purple | Frontend | Web UI | | Red | External | External/cloud services |

Communication Protocols

| From | To | Protocol | Purpose | |------|-----|----------|---------| | {source} | {target} | {protocol} | {purpose} |

Storage Locations

| Data | Location | Technology | |------|----------|------------| | {data} | {path} | {tech} |

---

## Pre-Diagram Checklist

Before creating the diagram, verify:

- [ ] LOADED `/autoskillit:mermaid` skill using the Skill tool
- [ ] Using ONLY classDef styles from the mermaid skill (no invented colors)
- [ ] Diagram will include a color legend table

---

## Related Skills

- `/autoskillit:make-arch-diag` - Parent skill for lens selection
- `/autoskillit:mermaid` - MUST BE LOADED before creating diagram
- `/autoskillit:arch-lens-c4-container` - For container-level view

## Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

- **Author:** [TalonT-Org](https://github.com/TalonT-Org)
- **Source:** [TalonT-Org/AutoSkillit](https://github.com/TalonT-Org/AutoSkillit)
- **License:** MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.