Archie AI Assistant
Context-aware AI assistant with 100+ tools for architecture analysis, documentation, and creation
Archie is Archflow's built-in AI assistant that helps you understand, analyze, and build your architecture. It's context-aware, meaning it automatically knows which project, diagram, and system you're looking at --- and it adapts its available tools accordingly.
What Can Archie Do?
Architecture Analysis
Ask Archie about your systems and it will analyze relationships, dependencies, and patterns:
- "What can you tell me about this system?"
- "How does data flow through the order processing pipeline?"
- "What systems depend on the payment gateway?"
Business Process Insights
Archie can analyze workflows and their relationship to your technical architecture:
- "Which systems are critical for order fulfillment?"
- "Are there any business processes without documented systems?"
- "What's the workflow coverage for my core services?"
Infrastructure Review
Get insights about your deployment configurations:
- "What's our deployment coverage?"
- "Which systems aren't deployed to production?"
- "Compare our AWS and Azure deployments"
Documentation Generation
Archie uses an approval-based workflow to generate and save documentation:
- Generate system documentation with interview-based workflows
- Enhance existing connection documentation with AI
- Create Arc42 section content for both systems and projects
- Generate custom documentation pages with block-based editing
Architecture Creation
Archie can create and modify your architecture with your approval:
- Create systems, connections, and hierarchies
- Bulk-create multiple systems or connections at once
- Suggest missing connections based on architecture patterns
- Create workflows from business process descriptions
Complexity & Health Assessment
Advanced analysis tools for architectural quality:
- Blast radius analysis --- understand the impact of changes to any system
- Coupling analysis using the Kauffman NK model
- Architecture health assessment combining complexity and context mapping
- Identify high-coupled systems that may need refactoring
Hybrid Tool Loading
Archie uses a hybrid tool loading strategy to stay fast while maintaining full capability:
- Core tools --- Always available (project info, tool discovery, navigation, ArchDeck)
- Context tools --- Page-specific tools loaded based on your current route
- On-demand tools --- Available via the discovery system when you need them
This keeps the initial tool set small while giving Archie access to 100+ tools when needed.
Tool Categories
Archie's tools are organized into categories that adapt based on your current page context:
| Category | Examples | Description |
|---|---|---|
| System | getSystemHierarchy, getSystemDetails, interviewSystem | Query and document systems |
| Connection | getConnectionDetails, suggestMissingConnections, interviewConnection | Analyze and create connections |
| Visual | getDiagramVisualData, getWorkflowVisualData, getDeploymentVisualData | Access canvas and diagram data |
| View Diagram | getViewDiagram, addSystemToView, removeSystemFromView | Manage what appears on diagram canvases |
| Documentation | searchDocumentation, generateComprehensiveDocumentation | Search and generate docs |
| Arc42 | listArc42Sections, generateArc42Section, analyzeArc42Completeness | Architecture profiles |
| Workflow | listWorkflows, createWorkflow, smartWorkflowDetection | Business process tools |
| Doc Blocks | listProjectDocBlocks, suggestSaveContext, getDocBlockContent | Project-level knowledge |
| Complexity | getProjectComplexity, analyzeSystemCoupling, getHighCoupledSystems | NK model analysis |
| Context Relationships | getContextRelationships, suggestContextRelationships, analyzeContextMap | DDD bounded contexts |
| Blast Radius | getBlastRadius | Change impact analysis |
| Architecture Health | getArchitectureHealth | Combined assessment |
| Core | getProjectInfo, analyzeProject, navigate, searchArchDeck | Always-available essentials |
| Tool Discovery | searchTools, requestTool, listToolCategories, getToolInfo | Find and load additional tools |
Sub-Agent Architecture
For complex tasks, Archie uses specialized sub-agents:
- Creation Agent --- Handles system and connection creation with approval workflows
- Documentation Agent --- Generates and saves documentation
- Arc42 Agent --- Architecture profile generation and updates
- Analysis Agent --- Deep architecture analysis
- Navigation Agent --- Guides you to relevant pages
- Workflow Agent --- Workflow creation and management
Intent Classification & Plan Execution
When you ask Archie to do something complex, it follows a structured process:
- Process Intent --- Classifies what you're asking for
- Generate Plan --- Creates an execution plan with steps
- Preview Plan --- Shows you what it will do before executing
- Execute with Approval --- Runs each step with your confirmation
This human-in-the-loop workflow ensures you're always in control of changes to your architecture.
Context Awareness
Archie automatically detects your current context and displays it in the sidebar header:
- Project Level --- Shows "Dashboard" and understands all systems, connections, and workflows
- Systems Page --- Shows "Systems" and prioritizes system-related tools
- Diagram/Views --- Shows "Views" and includes visual data and view management tools
- System Detail --- Automatically knows which system you're viewing
- Workflows --- Includes workflow detection and connection analysis tools
- Deployments --- Focuses on infrastructure and deployment tools
This means you can ask questions like "tell me about this system" without specifying which system --- Archie already knows from the page context.
Using Archie
The Archie panel is always available in the right sidebar on every page:
- The sidebar shows the context indicator at the top (e.g., "Systems", "Views", "Dashboard")
- Below that, a brief description of how Archie can help on this page
- Type your question in the chat input at the bottom
- Archie analyzes your architecture context and responds
- For creation or modification tasks, you'll see an approval card before any changes are made
Session Management
- New Chat --- Start a fresh conversation
- History --- Browse previous conversations
- Memories --- Access Archie's stored memories about your architecture
- Archive --- Archive old sessions to keep things tidy
- Summarize --- Auto-summarize long conversations to preserve context