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 /arch-lens-deployment or /make-arch-diag deployment

Critical Constraints

NEVER:

• Modify any source code files
• Include code-level details
• Show internal logic

ALWAYS:

• Focus on PHYSICAL deployment
• Show process boundaries
• Include network/communication protocols
• Document storage locations
• BEFORE creating any diagram, LOAD the /mermaid skill using the Skill tool - this is MANDATORY

---

Analysis Workflow

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: temp/arch-lens-deployment/arch_diag_deployment_{YYYY-MM-DD_HHMMSS}.md

---

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 `/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

- `/make-arch-diag` - Parent skill for lens selection
- `/mermaid` - MUST BE LOADED before creating diagram
- `/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:** [Trecek](https://github.com/Trecek)
- **Source:** [Trecek/useful-claude-skills](https://github.com/Trecek/useful-claude-skills)
- **License:** MIT

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