feed 1 · source code
What the service intends to call.
A parser walks the repo: gRPC/OpenAPI client imports, Kafka topics in code, DB config. Builds a declarative graph — what should talk to what. Refreshed on every merge.
Initiative · C4
The diagram
that stays true.
IcePanel shows a beautiful C4 diagram right up until someone forgets to update it by hand. Our C4 is different: code and traces refresh it on every merge. MCP for any question. JSON for any AI agent.
"A map goes stale the second you print it. A living map grows with the knowledge."
Query 01 · full picture
Ask the graph. Watch it answer.
c4 · live
you > The full picture of a card payment — who's involved?
solidgate · payment flow · simplified syncasync · Kafka
Query 02 · who does CardGate call?
One hub. Three outbound patterns.
c4 · live
you > What does CardGate Backend consume?
solidgate · payment flow · simplified syncasync · Kafka
Query 03 · who touches card data?
PCI scope in one query.
c4 · live
you > Which services touch card data?
solidgate · payment flow · simplified syncasync · Kafka
Why it doesn't rot
Two feeds. Zero manual editing.
feed 2 · distributed traces
What the service actually calls.
Aggregated spans from OTel. Shows real runtime patterns: which connections are live, which are dead code. Drift between code and production becomes visible, not buried in Confluence.
Code and traces rarely match perfectly. C4 doesn't hide that gap — it shows both feeds and the delta. Drift is a signal, not noise.
When you'll reach for it
Four questions C4 answers in seconds.
A new engineer joins the team.
Instead of a week on the wiki — one question to C4: “what do I break if I touch CardGate?” The answer is structured, current, precise.
You're prepping an incident review.
Blast radius comes from the graph, not from memory. Every downstream effect — a ready-made paragraph for the post-mortem.
AI agents read the architecture.
The JSON export is compact and stable. Claude, Cursor, local agents consume it as plain context. MCP — for live queries.
Security review without interviews.
“Which services touch PAN?” “Which gates does card data flow through?” — one query instead of a week of meetings.
"But wait —"
Three honest objections. Three honest answers.
“
Static analysis can't find dynamic calls.
answer
That's why there's a second feed — traces. Code gives you the declaration, traces give you runtime truth. C4 surfaces both and the delta between them.
“
We already have IcePanel.
answer
Great — IcePanel stays the UI. C4 is the MCP layer underneath. Agent-ready: JSON instead of clicks. The IcePanel diagram updates from the same graph.
“
Won't this just add another stale artifact?
answer
Artifacts go stale when they're updated by hand. C4 is a pipeline, not an artifact. Every merge refreshes the code feed, every hour refreshes the trace feed. Stale means a broken pipeline, not a forgotten wiki.