app

ArchiMate 3.2 Equivalent: Application Component (Business Layer / Application Layer)

Represents an individual software application, microservice API, or frontend client within an enterprise system.

Visual Styling

To apply custom shapes, badges, icons, or CSS to applications, use a Style Rule (e.g. style app where internet_facing == true { icon "globe" }).

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Syntax

app <id> "<Display Name>" {
    description "<text>"
    owner "<team>"
    tags ["tag1", "tag2"]
    time "Tolerate" | "Invest" | "Migrate" | "Eliminate"
    cost <amount> <unit>
    version "<version>"
    status "<status>"
    tier "Tier-1" | "Tier-2" | "Tier-3"
    deployment_model "Cloud" | "Container" | "Serverless"
    internet_facing true | false

    # Special Blocks
    lifecycle { phase ... }
    score { business_value ... tech_fit ... }
    security { confidentiality ... integrity ... availability ... }

    # Child Modules
    component <comp_id> "<Component Name>" { ... }
    agent <agent_id> "<Agent Name>" { ... }

    relationships { ... }
}

---

Properties

Property	Type	Allowed Values	Description
description	string	Free text	Explanation of application functionality
owner	string	Free text	Responsible engineering team
tags	string[]	Array of strings	Categorization tags
time	enum	"Tolerate", "Invest", "Migrate", "Eliminate"	TIME portfolio classification
cost	cost	cost 10000 month or block form	Operating spend
version	string	e.g. "1.2.0"	SemVer release version
status	string	e.g. "Active", "Deprecated"	Operational state
tier	string	e.g. "Tier-1", "Tier-2"	Criticality tier
deployment_model	string	e.g. "Kubernetes", "AWS Lambda"	Runtime deployment target
technology	string	e.g. "ASP.NET Core / .NET 10", "React"	Implementation stack or runtime
api_type	string	e.g. "REST", "GraphQL", "gRPC"	Exposed interface protocol
internet_facing	boolean	true | false	Public web exposure flag

---

Allowed Relationship Verbs & Targets

Verb	ArchiMate Relation	Allowed Target Entity Types
composed_of	Composition	component, agent
realizes	Realization	capability, goal
serves	Serving	actor, process, system, app, agent
reads, writes	Access	data_object
flows_to	Flow	system, app, component, process, data_object, agent
triggers	Triggering	process, system, app, component, agent
influences	Influence	goal, kpi
migrates_to	Transformation	system, app, component, infrastructure, environment, agent
depends_on	Dependency	system, app, component, infrastructure, environment, agent
governed_by	Governance	policy, standard
protects	Protection	system, app, component, infrastructure, data_object, process, agent, trust_boundary

---

Complete Example

app app_customer_portal "Customer Web Portal" {
    description "React SPA providing online banking capabilities to consumers"
    owner "Digital Banking Squad"
    tags ["frontend", "customer-facing"]
    version "2.8.0"
    status "Active"
    internet_facing true

    component comp_auth_guard "OIDC Auth Guard" {
        description "Handles OAuth 2.0 PKCE authentication flow"
    }

    relationships {
        this serves actor_customer_vip "Serves premium banking customers"
        this depends_on app_pay_api "Invokes payment REST APIs"
        this reads data_customer_profile "Displays user profile info"
    }
}