Architecture diagrams

Use a view that answers one question. Large all-purpose diagrams become difficult to read.

The fastest way to look at every view is the Diagrams page of the BC Atlas panel in VS Code: pick a view, set its options, zoom, and save the SVG. The commands below write the same diagrams as files. For a first overview in your repository, bca export --view report renders the project, module, data, contracts, events, and UI views into one Markdown page. See Architecture reports.

Select a view

Question	View	Example
What does the application contain?	project	bca export ./app --view project -o project.svg
How do modules depend on each other?	module	bca export ./app --view module -o modules.svg
What depends on one AL object?	object	bca export ./app --view object --object codeunit:50100 -o object.svg
Which tables does code read or write?	data	bca export ./app --view data -o data.svg
Which procedures call each other?	call	bca export ./app --view call -o calls.svg
Which dependencies cross a boundary?	boundary	bca export ./app --view boundary --scope namespace:Contoso.Sales -o boundary.svg
Which types implement a contract?	contracts	bca export ./app --view contracts -o contracts.svg
Which publishers connect to subscribers?	events	bca export ./app --view events -o events.svg
How do pages connect to data and actions?	ui	bca export ./app --view ui -o ui.svg
What happens after an entry point?	workflow	bca export ./app --view workflow --entry ProcessDocument -o workflow.svg

Read a data view

Data views keep schema relationships separate from runtime access. Dashed relates edges come from AL schema declarations such as TableRelation; solid reads and writes edges come from detected record operations.

Repeated runtime access is aggregated without losing evidence. JSON edges include separate read or write weight values, operations, sourceProcedures, and per-occurrence locations and transaction segments. Table nodes include readCount, writeCount, and a dataAccess value of read-only, write-only, read-write, or never-accessed. The top-level dataSummary counts tables in each state.

BC Atlas adds cardinality only when a TableRelation explicitly names the target field and that field is the target table's single-field primary key. Otherwise it leaves cardinality unspecified instead of guessing.

Explicit Commit() and Database.Commit() calls are preserved as transaction boundaries on procedures and owning objects. Runtime access occurrences include their transaction segment. This is static evidence about explicit commits; it does not claim to model implicit runtime transaction starts, ends, or rollbacks.

In D2 and SVG output, hover an access edge to see its operation names, source procedures, relation class, transaction segments, and cardinality evidence.

Read permissions

Permission edges keep table-data rights separate from execute access. JSON uses permissionKind: "tabledata" with expanded tableDataRights for RIMD grants, and permissionKind: "execute" with execute: true for X grants on reports, pages, codeunits, queries, and XMLports. Diagrams label these edges as tabledata and executes.

Permission-set nodes expose assignable, objectAccess, included, includedBy, and permissionSetRoles. Included permission sets resolve against workspace apps and symbols loaded from dependent .app packages. This keeps assignable sets, internal building blocks, and sets included by other sets visible as separate facts.

Reduce a large diagram

Apply filters before you increase the edge limit:

bca export ./app \
  --namespace "Contoso.Sales.**" \
  --type table,codeunit,page \
  --exclude "**/test/**" \
  --max-edges 300 \
  -o sales.svg

Repeat --namespace, --type, --include, --exclude, --scope, and --entry when you need multiple values.

Select an output format

• Use D2 to edit diagram source.
• Use JSON for scripts and integrations.
• Use SVG for documents and web pages.
• Use PNG or PDF when another tool requires those formats.

PNG and PDF output require the D2 executable on PATH. BC Atlas keeps the intermediate D2 file beside rendered output.

Add source links

Use a repository URL template:

bca export ./app --source-url "https://github.com/example/repo/blob/main/{file}#L{line}" -o architecture.svg

For detailed selectors and view behavior, read the CLI reference.