Top 5 resources to get started with the C4 model

IcePanel
3 min readSep 17, 2024

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⚡️ TL;DR

Get started with the C4 model with these ✋ helpful resources:

🗺️ C4 model website

This is Simon Brown’s definitive website on the C4 model. It’s the place to start if you’re starting from step 0. It’s easy to follow, has plenty of examples, and is comprehensive. Simon’s ‘Maps of your code’ metaphor is a useful way to think about the C4 model.

Simon Brown’s “Maps of your code” metaphor for the C4 model

🎥 Visualising software architecture with the C4 model

If you prefer to watch instead of read, there are plenty of videos on YouTube (mainly from Simon Brown 😅). We recommend this talk he gave at Agile on the Beach in 2019. It’s a fun and straight-to-the-point talk about the value of the C4 model. You’ll learn a lot in 35 minutes.

🎶 Spotify: Software Visualization — Challenge, Accepted

The Spotify engineering team published an article in 2022 on how they adapted the C4 model with their internal Spotify System model. Like most things, there are no hard rules on how you should use the C4 model. The beauty of the C4 model is that it’s simple and flexible enough to adapt to your unique team needs.

Spotify’s strategy for adapting the C4 model to their internal System model

🎖️ Architecture Kata Log

O’Reilly organizes several Architecture Katas every year hosted by Neal Ford, Mark Richards, and judged by Jacqui Read. Architecture Katas are competitions that bring together architects worldwide to share ideas and solve architectural problems.

If you’re looking for more concrete examples of C4 model diagrams, we recommend browsing through past entries. You can view submissions from 2020.

Architecture Kata entries from 2020 to 2024

🌐 Online communities

If you want to get on-the-ground thoughts and conversations on the C4 model, we recommend checking out a few threads on Reddit and Hacker News from the software community. Here are a few that we found helpful:

🏁 Final thoughts

Learning a new modelling language can be daunting, but the C4 model is a simple methodology that can be learned fairly quickly. Take a look at these resources to get started, and don’t hesitate to contact us if you need a hand (support@icepanel.io).

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IcePanel
IcePanel

Written by IcePanel

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