Model Objects

Model objects are the nodes in your architecture graph. They represent the actors, systems, services, and components that make up your software architecture.

Object types

IcePanel uses the C4 model’s levels of abstraction. Each object type maps to a C4 level:

The parent–child hierarchy

Model objects form a tree. Every object except root has a parentId pointing to its parent:

root
├── actor: Customer
├── system: Payment Service
│   ├── app: API Gateway
│   │   ├── component: Auth Middleware
│   │   └── component: Rate Limiter
│   ├── app: Payment Processor
│   └── store: Transactions DB
└── system: Auth Platform (external)

Creating objects

To create a new object, specify the landscapeId and either the versionId or latest:

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import { IcePanelClient } from "@icepanel/sdk";
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async function main() {
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    const client = new IcePanelClient({
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        apiKey: "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE",
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    });
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    await client.model.objects.create("landscapeId", "versionId", {
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        body: {
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            name: "string",
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            parentId: "string",
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            type: "actor",
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        },
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    });
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}
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main();

Filtering objects

To find the root object (required as parentId when creating top-level objects), use the query parameter ?filter[type]=root

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import { IcePanelClient } from "@icepanel/sdk";
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async function main() {
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    const client = new IcePanelClient({
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        apiKey: "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE",
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    });
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    await client.model.objects.list("landscapeId", "versionId", {});
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}
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main();

The GET /model/objects endpoint supports the following filters:

Status lifecycle

Objects and connections share a four-state lifecycle representing their architectural status:

live  →  deprecated  →  removed →  future

Use the filter[status] query parameter to retrieve only objects with a given status.

Related concepts

• Model Connections