Deliverables

The curriculum covers what an architect should know. This covers what an architect actually hands over: 55 artifacts, each with a worked example, a note on when it is worth producing, who reads it, and the ways it usually goes wrong. Filter by the artifact's type, the kind of engagement that calls for it, the stack or industry it is drawn against, or the audience it is written for.

Identify the deliverable → 42 diagrams, shown one at a time with the answer withheld. Nothing to submit.

8 of 55 deliverables shown.

flowchart TB
  cust(["Customer"])
  subgraph boundary["Order Management"]
    direction TB
    web["Web Application<br/><i>Next.js</i>"]
    api["Order API<br/><i>Java / Spring Boot</i>"]
    worker["Fulfilment Worker<br/><i>Java / Spring Boot</i>"]
    db[("Order Store<br/><i>PostgreSQL</i>")]
    queue[["Order Events<br/><i>Kafka</i>"]]
    cache[("Session Cache<br/><i>Redis</i>")]
  end
  pay["Payment Gateway"]

  cust -->|"HTTPS"| web
  web -->|"JSON over HTTPS"| api
  api -->|"reads and writes"| db
  api -->|"reads and writes"| cache
  api -->|"publishes"| queue
  queue -->|"consumes"| worker
  worker -->|"reads and writes"| db
  worker -->|"HTTPS"| pay

Structural View

Container Diagram

One level inside the system boundary — the separately deployable and runnable pieces, each named with the technology it is built on.

C4 Model Design

flowchart LR
  commit(["commit to main"]) --> build

  subgraph ci["Continuous Integration"]
    direction TB
    build["build<br/><i>pinned deps, hermetic</i>"]
    unit["unit tests<br/><i>&lt; 4 min</i>"]
    scan["SAST + dependency<br/>+ secret scan"]
    sign["sign artifact<br/>+ emit SBOM"]
    build --> unit --> scan --> sign
  end

  sign --> reg[("artifact registry<br/><i>immutable, digest-addressed</i>")]

  subgraph cd["Continuous Delivery"]
    direction TB
    dev["deploy dev<br/><i>auto</i>"]
    ctest["contract tests"]
    stage["deploy staging<br/><i>auto</i>"]
    nft["performance +<br/>resilience suite"]
    dev --> ctest --> stage --> nft
  end

  reg --> dev
  nft --> gate{"release gate<br/><i>automated checks +<br/>change record</i>"}
  gate -->|"pass"| canary["canary 5%<br/><i>15 min bake</i>"]
  gate -->|"fail"| stop(["blocked"])
  canary --> analyse{"error rate and<br/>latency within SLO?"}
  analyse -->|"yes"| full["progressive rollout<br/><i>25% → 50% → 100%</i>"]
  analyse -->|"no"| rollback(["automatic rollback"])

Behavioural View

CI/CD Pipeline Diagram

The path from commit to production as ordered stages, showing what each one proves, what it produces, and where a human is still in the loop.

Pipeline Architecture Build

flowchart TB
  users(["Users"]) --> dns["Global DNS<br/><i>latency routing + health checks</i>"]

  subgraph r1["Region: primary"]
    direction TB
    lb1["Load Balancer<br/><i>public</i>"]
    subgraph az1["Zone A"]
      n1["Node Pool<br/><i>api ×3, worker ×2</i>"]
    end
    subgraph az2["Zone B"]
      n2["Node Pool<br/><i>api ×3, worker ×2</i>"]
    end
    subgraph az3["Zone C"]
      n3["Node Pool<br/><i>api ×2, worker ×1</i>"]
    end
    db1[("Primary DB<br/><i>synchronous replica in Zone B</i>")]
    lb1 --> n1
    lb1 --> n2
    lb1 --> n3
    n1 --> db1
    n2 --> db1
    n3 --> db1
  end

  subgraph r2["Region: secondary"]
    direction TB
    lb2["Load Balancer<br/><i>warm</i>"]
    n4["Node Pool<br/><i>api ×2, scaled down</i>"]
    db2[("Read Replica<br/><i>asynchronous — RPO 30s</i>")]
    lb2 --> n4 --> db2
  end

  dns --> lb1
  dns -.->|"failover only"| lb2
  db1 -.->|"async replication"| db2

Deployment & Infrastructure View

Deployment Diagram

Which runtime artifact runs on which infrastructure, in which zone and region, and what fails when one of those boundaries fails.

Deployment Diagrams Design

flowchart LR
  subgraph e1["Ephemeral / PR"]
    direction TB
    a1["scaled to 1<br/>mocked externals<br/>synthetic data<br/><i>proves: it builds and unit-passes</i><br/>auto-destroy 24h"]
  end
  subgraph e2["Dev"]
    direction TB
    a2["shared<br/>real internal deps<br/>synthetic data<br/><i>proves: integration wiring</i><br/>anyone deploys"]
  end
  subgraph e3["Staging"]
    direction TB
    a3["prod-shaped topology<br/>real deps · sandbox externals<br/>masked prod-like data<br/><i>proves: contracts + performance</i><br/>pipeline only"]
  end
  subgraph e4["Production"]
    direction TB
    a4["full scale · multi-AZ<br/>real data<br/><i>proves: nothing — it serves</i><br/>pipeline + gate"]
  end
  e1 --> e2 --> e3 --> e4
  note["Same artifact promoted throughout.<br/>Config differs; the image digest does not."]

Deployment & Infrastructure View

Environment Topology

Which environments exist, what each one proves, what data it holds and who may deploy to it.

Environment Strategy Build

flowchart TB
  subgraph prod["Cluster: prod-eu (regional, 3 AZ)"]
    direction TB
    cp["Control plane<br/><i>managed · private endpoint</i>"]
    subgraph pools["Node pools"]
      direction LR
      np1["system<br/><i>taint: CriticalAddonsOnly</i>"]
      np2["general<br/><i>3–30 nodes · spot 40%</i>"]
      np3["memory<br/><i>taint: workload=memory</i>"]
      np4["gpu<br/><i>taint: workload=gpu</i>"]
    end
    subgraph ns["Namespaces"]
      direction LR
      n1["team-orders<br/><i>quota · NetworkPolicy<br/>default-deny</i>"]
      n2["team-pricing<br/><i>quota · NetworkPolicy</i>"]
      n3["platform<br/><i>mesh · ingress · logging</i>"]
    end
    cp --- pools
    pools --- ns
  end
  subgraph nonprod["Cluster: nonprod-eu"]
    direction TB
    x1["shared node pool<br/><i>spot 90%</i>"]
  end
  reg[("Image registry<br/><i>signed images only</i>")] --> prod
  reg --> nonprod
  gitops["GitOps reconciler"] -.->|"applies desired state"| prod

Deployment & Infrastructure View

Kubernetes Cluster Topology

How many clusters, split by what, which node pools exist and what isolates one tenant from another.

Cluster Architecture Design

flowchart TB
  inet(["Internet"])
  dc["Corporate Data Centre<br/><i>10.0.0.0/8</i>"]

  subgraph hub["Hub — 10.100.0.0/16"]
    direction TB
    fw["Egress Firewall<br/><i>FQDN allow-list</i>"]
    vpn["VPN / Direct Link<br/><i>BGP</i>"]
    dns["Private DNS Resolver"]
  end

  subgraph spokeA["Spoke: Prod — 10.101.0.0/16"]
    direction TB
    pub["Public Subnet<br/><i>10.101.0.0/24 — ingress LB only</i>"]
    app["App Subnet<br/><i>10.101.10.0/23 — no public IPs</i>"]
    data["Data Subnet<br/><i>10.101.20.0/24 — private endpoints</i>"]
    pub --> app --> data
  end

  subgraph spokeB["Spoke: Non-Prod — 10.102.0.0/16"]
    appn["App Subnet<br/><i>10.102.10.0/23</i>"]
  end

  inet -->|"443 only"| pub
  app -->|"all egress"| fw --> inet
  appn --> fw
  dc <-->|"BGP"| vpn
  vpn --- spokeA
  vpn --- spokeB
  spokeA x--x spokeB

Deployment & Infrastructure View

Network Topology Diagram

Segments, address ranges, routes and the control points between them — the view that says what can reach what at layer three.

Networking Design

flowchart TB
  hsm[("HSM / Key Service<br/><i>root of trust · FIPS 140-2 L3</i>")]
  cmk["Customer Master Key<br/><i>per environment · rotate 1y</i>"]
  dek["Data Encryption Keys<br/><i>per dataset · rotate 90d</i>"]

  hsm --> cmk -->|"wraps"| dek

  subgraph vault["Secret Store"]
    direction TB
    v1["Static secrets<br/><i>rotate 90d</i>"]
    v2["Dynamic credentials<br/><i>DB · TTL 1h</i>"]
    v3["PKI issuer<br/><i>mTLS certs · TTL 24h</i>"]
  end
  cmk -->|"encrypts vault at rest"| vault

  subgraph wl["Workloads"]
    direction TB
    w1["Service A<br/><i>workload identity</i>"]
    w2["Pipeline<br/><i>OIDC federation</i>"]
  end

  w1 -->|"attests identity — no stored secret"| vault
  w2 -->|"short-lived token — no stored secret"| vault
  vault -->|"lease · auto-renew · revocable"| w1
  dek -->|"envelope decrypt"| w1
  audit[("Audit log<br/><i>every issue and revoke</i>")]
  vault --> audit

Security View

Key & Secret Management Diagram

Where keys and secrets live, what wraps what, how workloads get them without a stored credential, and how rotation actually happens.

Secrets Management Design

flowchart LR
  u1(["Employee<br/><i>managed laptop</i>"])
  u2(["Contractor<br/><i>unmanaged device</i>"])
  u3["Workload<br/><i>service identity</i>"]

  subgraph pep["Policy Enforcement"]
    direction TB
    px["Proxy / Gateway<br/><i>terminates every session</i>"]
  end

  subgraph pdp["Policy Decision"]
    direction TB
    eng{"Policy engine"}
    sig1["Identity + MFA"]
    sig2["Device posture"]
    sig3["Risk + location"]
    sig4["Resource sensitivity"]
    sig1 --> eng
    sig2 --> eng
    sig3 --> eng
    sig4 --> eng
  end

  subgraph res["Resources"]
    direction TB
    r1["Internal app"]
    r2[("Database")]
    r3["SaaS"]
  end

  u1 --> px
  u2 --> px
  u3 --> px
  px <-->|"authorise this request"| eng
  px -->|"allow · scoped · time-bound"| r1
  px -->|"allow · read-only"| r2
  px -->|"deny · posture fail"| r3
  log[("Decision log<br/><i>every allow and deny</i>")]
  eng --> log

Security View

Zero Trust Architecture Diagram

Access decided per request from identity, device and context rather than from network position, with the policy decision point drawn explicitly.

Network Security Design