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Architecture Views & Visual Projections

Architecture models often contain hundreds of interconnected entities spanning business, software, infrastructure, security, and governance domains. Views in the Scapius DSL allow architects to define declarative, repeatable visual projections tailored to specific stakeholder audiences and technical disciplines.

Views are authored inside a views { ... } block within the root workspace.

workspace enterprise_architecture "Corporate Architecture" {
# Architecture entities, layers, and groups...

views {
landscape v_core_landscape "Core Banking Landscape" {
include system
include capability
auto_layout TopToBottom
}
}
}

10 Specialized View Types

Scapius provides 10 purpose-built projection types. Explore the dedicated reference guide for each:

View TypePrimary AudienceSupported Entity TypesKey Relationships
landscapeEnterprise Architects, ExecutivesAny explicitly selected entity kindcomposed_of, realizes, serves, hosts, depends_on, migrates_to, influences, triggers
containerSolution Architects, Tech Leadssystem, app, component, data_objectcomposed_of, reads, writes, flows_to, depends_on
integrationIntegration Engineers, API Designerssystem, app, actor, environment, agentreads, writes, flows_to, depends_on, triggers
capability_mapBusiness Architects, Product Leaderscapabilitycomposed_of
threat_modelSecurity Architects, AppSec Teamscapability, process, system, app, component, infrastructure, data_object, actor, agent, trust_boundary, threat, risk_scenario, vulnerability, controltargets, mitigates, protects, flows_to, reads, writes, depends_on, encloses
risk_heatmapRisk Officers, GRC Leadsthreat, risk_scenariotargets, mitigates, governed_by
compliance_matrixCompliance Officers, Auditorsstandard, policy, system, app, data_objectgoverned_by
data_flowData Architects, Privacy Officersdata_object, system, app, component, actor, agentreads, writes, flows_to, protects
attack_surfaceSecOps, Cloud Security Engineersapp, system, trust_boundary, control, threat, vulnerability, infrastructureencloses, protects, mitigates, targets
dashboardMetadata only in v1; use workspace_home for the functional dashboardRuntime metadata; does not scope dashboard metricsNone for dashboard rendering

Universal View Syntax & Capabilities

Every view type shares the following declarative statements:

views {
<view_type> <view_id> "<View Title>" {
# 1. View Metadata
description "<text>"
owner "<team>"
tags ["tag1", "tag2"]
attr <key> <value>

# 2. Inclusion & Exclusion Filtering
include <target> (where <predicate>)?
exclude <target> (where <predicate>)?

# 3. Relationship Verb Filtering
include_verb <verb> (incoming | outgoing | both)?
exclude_verb <verb> (incoming | outgoing | both)?

# 4. Layout Direction
auto_layout TopToBottom | LeftToRight

# 5. View-Scoped Style Rules
style <selector> (where <predicate>)? { ... }

# 6. Text Annotations (Canvas-Rendered Views)
text <note_id> """
Markdown annotation content
""" {
anchor <target_entity_id>
}
}
}

Theme-Aware Diagram Support

All Scapius diagram projections support automated Light and Dark themes. Toggling the theme switch in the documentation header toggles the visual diagram renderers in real time.

landscape view visual diagramlandscape view visual diagram

Interactive theme-aware architectural projection