Senior Architect

What This Skill Does

• The Senior Architect skill provides architecture design and analysis tools.
• It helps make informed technical decisions. It is designed for software architects and senior engineers needing to visualize, analyze, and document system architectures.

When to Use

• Visualize system architecture.
• Analyze dependencies for issues. Assess project architecture. Select a database. Choose an architecture pattern. Decide between monolith and microservices.

Key Features

• Generates architecture diagrams.
• Analyzes project dependencies. Provides architecture assessments. Supports multiple diagram formats. Offers decision workflows for key choices.

Manual Installation

Manual installationView Full Skill ContentThe complete markdown content that gets installedSenior Architect

Architecture design and analysis tools for making informed technical decisions.

Table of Contents

Quick Start

Tools Overview

• Architecture Diagram Generator
• Dependency Analyzer
• Project Architect Decision Workflows
• Database Selection
• Architecture Pattern Selection
• Monolith vs Microservices Reference Documentation Tech Stack Coverage Common Commands

Quick Start

Generate architecture diagram from project

python scripts/architecture_diagram_generator.py ./my-project --format mermaid

Analyze dependencies for issues python scripts/dependency_analyzer.py ./my-project --output json

Get architecture assessment python scripts/project_architect.py ./my-project --verbose

Tools Overview

1. Architecture Diagram Generator

Generates architecture diagrams from project structure in multiple formats.

Solves: "I need to visualize my system architecture for documentation or team discussion"

Input: Project directory path Output: Diagram code (Mermaid, PlantUML, or ASCII)

Supported diagram types: component - Shows modules and their relationships layer - Shows architectural layers (presentation, business, data) deployment - Shows deployment topology

Usage:

Mermaid format (default)

python scripts/architecture_diagram_generator.py ./project --format mermaid --type component

PlantUML format python scripts/architecture_diagram_generator.py ./project --format plantuml --type layer

ASCII format (terminal-friendly) python scripts/architecture_diagram_generator.py ./project --format ascii

Save to file python scripts/architecture_diagram_generator.py ./project -o architecture.md

Example output (Mermaid): graph TD A[API Gateway] --> B[Auth Service] A --> C[User Service] B --> D[(PostgreSQL)] C --> D

2. Dependency Analyzer

Analyzes project dependencies for coupling, circular dependencies, and outdated packages.

Solves: "I need to understand my dependency tree and identify potential issues"

Input: Project directory path Output: Analysis report (JSON or human-readable)

Analyzes: Dependency tree (direct and transitive) Circular dependencies between modules Coupling score (0-100) Outdated packages

Supported package managers: npm/yarn (package.json)

• Python (requirements.
• txt, pyproject.toml).
• Go (go.
• mod).
• Rust (Cargo.
• toml).

Usage:

Human-readable report

python scripts/dependency_analyzer.py ./project

JSON output for CI/CD integration python scripts/dependency_analyzer.py ./project --output json

Check only for circular dependencies python scripts/dependency_analyzer.py ./project --check circular

Verbose mode with recommendations python scripts/dependency_analyzer.py ./project --verbose

Example output: Dependency Analysis Report

Total dependencies: 47 (32 direct, 15 transitive) Coupling score: 72/100 (moderate)

Issues found: CIRCULAR: auth → user → permissions → auth

• OUTDATED: lodash 4.
• 17.15 → 4.17.21 (security).

Recommendations: Extract shared interface to break circular dependency Update lodash to fix CVE-2020-8203

3. Project Architect

Analyzes project structure and detects architectural patterns, code smells, and improvement opportunities.

Solves: "I want to understand the current architecture and identify areas for improvement"

Input: Project directory path Output: Architecture assessment report

Detects: Architectural patterns (MVC, layered, hexagonal, microservices indicators) Code organization issues (god classes, mixed concerns) Layer violations Missing architectural components

Usage:

Full assessment

python scripts/project_architect.py ./project

Verbose with detailed recommendations python scripts/project_architect.py ./project --verbose

JSON output python scripts/project_architect.py ./project --output json

Check specific aspect python scripts/project_architect.py ./project --check layers

Example output: Architecture Assessment

Detected pattern: Layered Architecture (confidence: 85%)

Structure analysis: ✓ controllers/ - Presentation layer detected ✓ services/ - Business logic layer detected ✓ repositories/ - Data access layer detected ⚠ models/ - Mixed domain and DTOs

Issues:

• LARGE FILE: UserService.
• ts (1,847 lines) - consider splitting. MIXED CONCERNS: PaymentController contains business logic

Recommendations: Split UserService into focused services Move business logic from controllers to services Separate domain models from DTOs

Decision Workflows

Database Selection Workflow

Use when choosing a database for a new project or migrating existing data.

Step 1: Identify data characteristics

Step 2: Evaluate scale requirements <1M records, single region → PostgreSQL or MySQL 1M-100M records, read-heavy → PostgreSQL with read replicas

100M records, global distribution → CockroachDB, Spanner, or DynamoDB High write throughput (>10K/sec) → Cassandra or ScyllaDB

Step 3: Check consistency requirements Strong consistency required → SQL or CockroachDB Eventual consistency acceptable → DynamoDB, Cassandra, MongoDB

Step 4: Document decision Create an ADR (Architecture Decision Record) with: Context and requirements Options considered Decision and rationale Trade-offs accepted

Quick reference: PostgreSQL → Default choice for most applications MongoDB → Document store, flexible schema Redis → Caching, sessions, real-time features DynamoDB → Serverless, auto-scaling, AWS-native TimescaleDB → Time-series data with SQL interface

Architecture Pattern Selection Workflow

Use when designing a new system or refactoring existing architecture.

Step 1: Assess team and project size

Step 2: Evaluate deployment requirements Single deployment unit acceptable → Monolith Independent scaling needed → Microservices Mixed (some services scale differently) → Hybrid

Step 3: Consider data boundaries Shared database acceptable → Monolith or modular monolith Strict data isolation required → Microservices with separate DBs Event-driven communication fits → Event-sourcing/CQRS

Step 4: Match pattern to requirements

• See references/architecture_patterns.
• md for detailed pattern descriptions.

Monolith vs Microservices Decision

Choose Monolith when: [ ] Team is small (<10 developers) [ ] Domain boundaries are unclear [ ] Rapid iteration is priority [ ] Operational complexity must b