C4 Architecture Diagrams, Generated From Plain English
Describe your system once and get all three C4 layers — System Context, Containers, and Components — as clean, presentation-ready diagrams. No manual box-dragging required.
Most teams know they should document their architecture with the C4 model, but drawing the boxes by hand takes hours and the diagram is out of date by the next sprint. CloudSketch AI reads a plain-English description of your system and draws the C4 view for you: people, containers, databases and external systems, with every relationship labelled the way the C4 model expects.
See an example
“A cloud-native e-commerce platform: a React frontend, a Node.js API gateway, a catalog microservice, an orders microservice backed by PostgreSQL, and a Redis cache for sessions.”
Drawing the diagram…
An example of the diagram this prompt describes. Your own result can differ in layout and detail.
Swipe sideways to see the whole diagram.
All three C4 layers, one prompt
System Context, Container, and Component diagrams generated together and kept consistent with each other automatically.
Seconds, not hours
Skip the manual box-and-arrow work in Lucidchart or draw.io — describe the system and get a first draft instantly.
Export-ready
PNG and PDF export for architecture decision records, RFCs, and stakeholder decks.
Where teams use it
Architecture reviews
Bring a current Container diagram to design reviews and ADR discussions instead of a photo of a whiteboard.
Onboarding engineers
Give new joiners a System Context and Container view of the platform on their first day.
Client proposals
Consultants and solution architects can sketch a target architecture for a proposal in minutes, then refine it with the client.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a C4 model diagram?
The C4 model (by Simon Brown) documents software architecture at four zoom levels: Context, Containers, Components, and Code. CloudSketch AI generates the first three directly from a text description.
Can I edit the generated C4 diagram?
Yes — the underlying Mermaid code is editable, and you can drag nodes on the canvas to fine-tune layout.
Is the C4 diagram generator free?
C4 diagrams are part of CloudSketch Pro. The free plan includes 10 diagrams a day with a free account (3 without signing in) in types such as flowcharts, sequence diagrams and ERDs, so you can try the tool before upgrading.
What should I put in my prompt?
Name the users, the main applications or services, the data stores and any external systems, and say how they talk to each other (for example, 'the API calls Stripe over HTTPS'). The more specific the description, the more accurate the diagram.