LikeC4 API

You can access and traverse your architecture model programmatically using the LikeC4 Model API.

Note

API allows to query and traverse the model from DSL, but not modify or create a new one.

Ensure you have likec4 in your dependencies:

npm

npm i likec4

pnpm

pnpm add likec4

yarn

yarn add likec4

bun

bun add likec4

Usage

You can initiate LikeC4 API from a directory with source files or from a string with DSL source.

From workspace

Recursively search and parse source files:

import { LikeC4 } from 'likec4'

const likec4 = await LikeC4.fromWorkspace('/path/to/workspace')

Method also accepts options:

Property	Description
printErrors	if model is invalid, errors are reported to the logger (default true)
throwIfInvalid	return rejected promise if model is invalid (default false)
logger	Whenever to use default (console), vite logger or your custom implementation Disable with false
graphviz	wasm (default) or binary - use local binaries of Graphviz (“dot”) or bundled WASM
watch	Whether to watch for changes in the workspace. (default false)
mcp	Whether to start MCP server. - false - do not start MCP server (default) - "stdio" - use stdio transport, - {"port": number} - use http transport on specified port

Tip

Take a look at Validate your model for examples of how to enforce custom rules on your model with the LikeC4 API

From source

Parse from the string:

import { LikeC4 } from "likec4"

const likec4 = await LikeC4.fromSource(`
  specification {
    element system
    element user
  }
  model {
    customer = user 'Customer'
    cloud = system 'System'
  }
  views {
    view index {
      include *
    }
  }
`)

Dispose

If you initialized LikeC4 with watch mode or enabled MCP server, you should dispose it:

import { LikeC4 } from 'likec4'

const likec4 = await LikeC4.fromWorkspace('/path/to/workspace', {
  watch: true,
  mcp: { port: 33335 },
})

// Cleanup resources
await likec4.dispose()

LikeC4 is automatically disposed with await using declaration:

import { LikeC4 } from 'likec4'

async function() {
  await using likec4 = await LikeC4.fromWorkspace('/path/to/workspace', {
    watch: true,
    mcp: { port: 33335 },
  })

  // ...
  // likec4 is disposed automatically
}

API

When the model is initialized, you can use the following methods to query and traverse it.

Two types of model (with similar API):

• LikeC4Model.Computed - includes computed views (from predicates), fast, synchronous, enough to traverse but not ready for rendering.
• LikeC4Model.Layouted - extends computed model with layout data (dimensions, positions), that is needed for rendering.

Tip

Low-level API is available from @likec4/core.

Example

import { LikeC4 } from "likec4"

const likec4 = await LikeC4.fromSource(`....`)

// Validation errors
console.log(likec4.getErrors())

// Traverse the model
const model = likec4.computedModel()

// Get elements of some kind
const elements = model.elementsOfKind('kind1')

// Use where operator to filter elements:
//  kind is 'kind1' and (tag is 'tag2' or tag is not 'tag3')
const elements = model.elementsWhere({
  and: [
    { kind: 'kind1' },
    {
      or: [
        { tag: 'tag2' },
        {
          tag: {
            neq: 'tag3',
          },
        },
      ],
    },
  ],
})

// Get views that include the element
model
  .element('cloud.backend.api')
  .views()

// Get source elements of incoming relationships (filter by tags)
model
  .element('cloud.backend.api')
  .incoming() // relationships incoming to the element
  .filter(r => r.isTagged('http')) // filter by tags
  .map(r => r.source) // get source elements

To get layouted model:

import { LikeC4 } from "likec4"

const likec4 = await LikeC4.fromSource(`....`)

const model = await likec4.layoutedModel()

const diagram = model.view('index')

// Working with metadata (including array values)
const element = model.element('cloud.backend.api')

// Get all metadata
const allMetadata = element.getMetadata()
console.log(allMetadata)
// Output: { version: '3.2.1', tags: ['backend', 'gateway'], regions: ['us-east-1', 'eu-west-1'] }

// Get specific metadata field (could be string or string[])
const tags = element.getMetadata('tags')
if (Array.isArray(tags)) {
  console.log(`Element has ${tags.length} tags: ${tags.join(', ')}`)
} else if (tags) {
  console.log(`Element has single tag: ${tags}`)
}

// Filter elements by array metadata values
const elementsWithBackendTag = model.elements().filter(el => {
  const tags = el.getMetadata('tags')
  return Array.isArray(tags)
    ? tags.includes('backend')
    : tags === 'backend'
})

LikeC4Model

Tip

It is possible to generate Typed API from your model, see Code generation

Model API provides methods to query and traverse the whole model.

interface LikeC4Model {
  /**
   * Returns the root elements of the model.
   */
  roots(): Element[];
  /**
   * Returns all elements in the model.
   */
  elements(): Element[];
  /**
   * Returns a specific element by its FQN.
   */
  element(id: Fqn): Element;
  /**
   * Returns all relationships in the model.
   */
  relationships(): Relationship[];
  /**
   * Returns a specific relationship by its ID.
   */
  relationship(id: RelationID): Relationship;
  /**
   * Returns all views in the model.
   */
  views(): ReadonlyArray<LikeC4ViewModel>;
  /**
   * Returns a specific view by its ID.
   */
  view(viewId: ViewID): LikeC4ViewModel;
  /**
   * Returns the parent element of given element.
   * @see ancestors
   */
  parent(element: ElementOrFqn): Element | null;
  /**
   * Get all children of the element (only direct children),
   * @see descendants
   */
  children(element: ElementOrFqn): Element[];
  /**
   * Get all sibling (i.e. same parent)
   */
  siblings(element: ElementOrFqn): Element[];
  /**
   * Get all ancestor elements (i.e. parent, parent’s parent, etc.)
   * (from closest to root)
   */
  ancestors(element: ElementOrFqn): Element[];
  /**
   * Get all descendant elements (i.e. children, children’s children, etc.)
   */
  descendants(element: ElementOrFqn): Element[];
  /**
   * Incoming relationships to the element and its descendants
   * @see incomers
   */
  incoming(element: ElementOrFqn, filter?: 'all' | 'direct' | 'to-descendants'): Relationship[];
  /**
   * Source elements of incoming relationships
   */
  incomers(element: ElementOrFqn, filter?: 'all' | 'direct' | 'to-descendants'): Element[];
  /**
   * Outgoing relationships from the element and its descendants
   * @see outgoers
   */
  outgoing(element: ElementOrFqn, filter?: 'all' | 'direct' | 'from-descendants'): Relationship[];
  /**
   * Target elements of outgoing relationships
   */
  outgoers(element: ElementOrFqn, filter?: 'all' | 'direct' | 'from-descendants'): Element[];
}

Check sources for methods - LikeC4Model

Working with Element Metadata

Elements can have metadata with both single string values and string arrays. The API provides convenient methods to access and work with this metadata:

import { LikeC4 } from "likec4"

const likec4 = await LikeC4.fromSource(`
  specification {
    element service
    element application
  }
  model {
    api = service 'API Gateway' {
      metadata {
        version '3.2.1'
        maintainer 'Platform Team'
        tags ['backend', 'gateway', 'microservice']
        regions ['us-east-1', 'eu-west-1']
        critical true
      }
    }

    frontend = application 'Frontend' {
      metadata {
        framework 'React'
        features ['auth', 'dashboard', 'reports']
        team_members ['alice', 'bob', 'carol']
        release_branch 'main'
      }
    }
  }
`)

const model = likec4.computedModel()

// Get element and access metadata
const api = model.element('api')

// Check if element has any metadata
if (api.hasMetadata()) {
  console.log('API has metadata')

  // Get all metadata as an object
  const metadata = api.getMetadata()
  console.log('All metadata:', metadata)

  // Get specific metadata fields
  const version = api.getMetadata('version')        // string: '3.2.1'
  const tags = api.getMetadata('tags')              // string[]: ['backend', 'gateway', 'microservice']
  const regions = api.getMetadata('regions')        // string[]: ['us-east-1', 'eu-west-1']

  // Handle array metadata values
  if (Array.isArray(tags)) {
    console.log(`API has ${tags.length} tags:`)
    tags.forEach(tag => console.log(`  - ${tag}`))

    // Check if specific value exists in array
    if (tags.includes('backend')) {
      console.log('API is tagged as backend service')
    }
  }

  // Handle mixed metadata types
  const handleMetadataValue = (key: string, value: string | string[] | undefined) => {
    if (Array.isArray(value)) {
      return `${key}: [${value.join(', ')}]`
    } else if (value) {
      return `${key}: ${value}`
    }
    return `${key}: undefined`
  }

  console.log(handleMetadataValue('version', version))
  console.log(handleMetadataValue('tags', tags))
  console.log(handleMetadataValue('regions', regions))
}

// Advanced filtering using metadata
const backendServices = model.elements()
  .filter(element => {
    const tags = element.getMetadata('tags')
    return Array.isArray(tags) ? tags.includes('backend') : tags === 'backend'
  })

const multiRegionServices = model.elements()
  .filter(element => {
    const regions = element.getMetadata('regions')
    return Array.isArray(regions) && regions.length > 1
  })

// Group elements by metadata values
const elementsByFramework = new Map<string, typeof model.elements>()
for (const element of model.elements()) {
  const framework = element.getMetadata('framework')
  if (typeof framework === 'string') {
    if (!elementsByFramework.has(framework)) {
      elementsByFramework.set(framework, [])
    }
    elementsByFramework.get(framework)!.push(element)
  }
}

// Collect all unique tags from all elements
const allTags = new Set<string>()
for (const element of model.elements()) {
  const tags = element.getMetadata('tags')
  if (Array.isArray(tags)) {
    tags.forEach(tag => allTags.add(tag))
  } else if (typeof tags === 'string') {
    allTags.add(tags)
  }
}
console.log('All unique tags:', Array.from(allTags).sort())

Metadata Merging with Extends

When using extend to add metadata to elements, duplicate metadata keys are automatically merged:

• String + String = Array (if different values)
• String + Array = Array (merged)
• Array + Array = Array (merged)
• Duplicate values are automatically de-duplicated
• Single-value arrays are converted back to strings

This allows you to progressively build up metadata across multiple files. See the extend documentation for more details.

LikeC4DeploymentModel

API provides methods to query and traverse deployment model.

import { LikeC4 } from "likec4"

const likec4 = await LikeC4.fromSource(`....`)
const model = likec4.computedModel()

// Get deployment model
const deployment = model.deployment

// Get elements of some kind
for (const instance of deployment.instancesOf('cloud.backend.api')) {
  // ...
}

LikeC4ViewModel

View model API provides methods to query and traverse elements and relationships that are included in the view.

import { LikeC4 } from "likec4"

const likec4 = await LikeC4.fromSource(`....`)
const model = likec4.computedModel()

for (const view of model.views()) {
  if (view.isDynamicView()) {
    // ...
  }
}

Model Builder

Type-safe builder available from @likec4/core/builder (and likec4/model/builder).
Builder can be used to create model programmatically and supports two styles:

Chain

import { Builder } from "@likec4/core/builder"

const m = Builder
  .specification({
    elements: {
      actor: {
        style: {
          shape: 'person',
        },
      },
      system: {},
      component: {},
    },
    relationships: {
      likes: {},
    },
    tags: ['tag1', 'tag2', 'tag1'],
  })
  .model(({ actor, system, component, relTo, rel }, _) =>
    _(
      actor('alice'),
      actor('bob'),
      rel('alice', 'bob', {
        tags: ['tag1'], // you get code completion for tags
        kind: 'likes',  // code completion for kind
      }),
      system('cloud', { tags: ['tag1', 'tag2'] }).with(
        component('backend').with(
          component('api'),
          component('db'),
          // code completion for relationships
          rel('cloud.backend.api', 'cloud.backend.db')
        ),
        component('frontend').with(
          relTo('cloud.backend.api')
        ),
      ),
    )
  )
  .views(({ view, viewOf, $include, $style }, _) =>
    _(
      view('index', 'Index').with(
        $include('cloud.*'),
      ),
      viewOf('ui', 'cloud.ui').with(
        // code completion for predicates
        $include('* -> cloud.**'),
        $style('cloud.ui', { color: 'red' }),
      ),
    )
  )
  .toLikeC4Model()

Composition

import { Builder } from "@likec4/core/builder"

// Get composition functions for given specification
const {
  model: {
    model,
    actor,
    system,
    component,
    rel,
    relTo,
  },
  views: {
    view,
    viewOf,
    views,
    $include,
    $style,
  },
  builder,
} = Builder.forSpecification({
  elements: {
    actor: {
      style: {
        shape: 'person',
      },
    },
    system: {},
    component: {},
  },
  relationships: {
    likes: {},
  },
  tags: ['tag1', 'tag2', 'tag1'],
})

const b1 = builder.with(
  model(
    actor('alice'),
    actor('bob'),
    rel('alice', 'bob', {
      tags: ['tag1'],
      kind: 'likes',
    }),
    system('cloud', { tags: ['tag1', 'tag2'] }).with(
      component('backend').with(
        component('api'),
        component('db'),
        rel('cloud.backend.api', 'cloud.backend.db')
      ),
      component('frontend').with(
        relTo('cloud.backend.api')
      ),
    ),
  )
)

const b2 = b1.with(
  views(
    view('index', 'Index').with(
      $include('cloud.*'),
    ),
    viewOf('ui', 'cloud.ui').with(
      $include('* -> cloud.**'),
      $style('cloud.ui', { color: 'red' }),
    ),
  )
)
.toLikeC4Model()

You can mix both styles, depending on your preference and use cases.

Tip

Check unit tests in our repository for examples:

• Builder-style1
• Builder-style2