Key concepts

Fourteen entries cover most of iyedy. Each has one meaning, the same in the app, in these docs and in every export. The rule behind all of them: one model, many views, and nothing changes before a person applies it.

Diagram

A diagram is one file in iyedy: one model of a system and all the views drawn from it. The Claims Platform is a diagram. Diagrams are listed in the Library and live in a workspace.

Model

The model is what the diagram knows about your system: its elements and their relationships, with their names, kinds, technologies and details. Every view of the diagram shares the same model. Change an element once and every view shows the change.

View

A view is a projection of the model for one question and one audience. iyedy offers Landscape, System context, Containers, Components, Logical layers, Deployment, Data flow, Integration, Dynamic, Sequence, BPMN and Network views. A view chooses which elements it shows and how; it never copies them. See View types.

Element and relationship

An element is one part of the system: a person, a software system, a container (an app, a service, a database, a queue), a component, a cloud service, a network zone. A relationship joins two elements and says what kind of link it is, for example a synchronous request or an asynchronous message. See Elements and relationships.

Check

A check is a rule iyedy runs on the model, without AI: single points of failure, unencrypted crossings of a trust boundary, long chains of synchronous calls, missing details. Checks cost no credits and send nothing anywhere. See Run the checks.

Finding

A finding is the result of a check or of an analysis by the Assistant, attached to the elements it is about. It has a severity, HIGH, MED, LOW or INFO. You decide what to do with each one: fix the model, accept it with a reason, or dismiss it.

Assistant

The Assistant is iyedy's built-in AI. You type in your words: a question, a description of a system, a change you want. It works out the job from your words, cites the elements it relies on, and proposes changes. Some answers are Instant: computed in the page, without AI and without credits. See How the Assistant works.

Proposal

A proposal is a set of changes suggested by the Assistant, by Claude or by another tool. It shows on the canvas as ghosts. Nothing changes until someone who can edit the diagram selects Apply; Discard drops it, and Undo takes back an applied one. See Review and apply a proposal.

Version

A version is a numbered snapshot of the diagram, such as v14. iyedy saves your changes on its own as you work, and each applied proposal saves a version. Save a named version to mark a milestone you want to show or come back to. See Save and restore versions.

Review and sign-off

A review is how a version gets checked by other people before it is approved. On your own, you sign off your own diagram and can ask invited people for their opinion. In an organisation, approvers give their verdict and the review policy says how many are needed. See How review works.

Stamp

A stamp shows the status of a drawing on its sheet: Draft, In review, Changes requested, Approved, Withdrawn or Superseded. An Approved drawing is frozen; editing it starts a new revision as Draft. See Status stamps.

Workspace and organisation

A workspace holds diagrams and the people who can open them. My diagrams is your personal workspace. An organisation (Team or Enterprise) has its own workspaces, members and roles: Viewer, Commenter, Contributor, Editor and Owner. Viewers and commenters are free; the other roles take a seat. See Roles and permissions.

Classification and AI ceiling

Every diagram has a classification: Public, Internal, Confidential or Restricted. The AI ceiling is the highest level the Assistant, and Claude, may read. A diagram above it does not exist for them, and Restricted diagrams are never read. See Classification and AI ceiling.

Credits

Credits pay for the Assistant's AI work. One credit is worth US$0.01. Before a request that uses AI, the Assistant shows about how many credits it will take and how many you have left. Checks and Instant answers use none. See Credits and credit packs.

What this means for you

• You draw and maintain one model; the views follow.
• The checks are free and always available; the Assistant uses credits and only proposes.
• A version is what you review, approve, share and come back to.