Engineering
See what a software change can break.
Architecture notes explain pieces one file at a time. A dependency map shows the path between services, the teams responsible for them, and the systems downstream of a change.
What belongs in the map
Keep the subjects separate. Name what connects them.
Use the vocabulary already present in the work. Card types identify the subjects; relationship labels state what one subject does to another.
Cards
- Services
- APIs, workers, gateways, and the application boundaries engineers change.
- Data systems
- Queues, databases, object stores, caches, and legacy systems.
- Jobs
- Scheduled reconciliation, imports, exports, and other background work.
- Owners
- Teams, vendors, and people responsible for operation or review.
Connections
A label should read as a plain statement between two cards. These verbs fit this map:
Questions the map can answer
Open one card and inspect its immediate context.
- What sits immediately upstream and downstream of this service?
- Which team owns each dependency in the change path?
- Where does data cross a queue, database, or legacy boundary?
- Which unowned component creates the largest operational risk?
Build it from the record
Give your agent the notes and the question.
The included skill defines the markdown format. Your prompt defines which subjects and relationships matter in this map.
PromptRead my onboarding and architecture notes. Map services, queues, datastores, scheduled jobs, owning teams, and the direction of every dependency in the payment path.
- 01
Gather system notes
Use architecture docs, runbooks, onboarding notes, and incident summaries as the source.
- 02
State direction
Write each connection as an action so the map distinguishes reads from, writes to, and depends on.
- 03
Trace the change
Focus the component being changed and inspect every owner and downstream system around it.
Then follow the map. Open the service you plan to change. Its dependencies and downstream systems line up around it.
Keep exploring
Build the next connected view.
Turn the notes into a map you can follow.
Start with this prompt, revise the markdown in your own words, and keep the file as the record.