Invoke specialists yourself
Call /archi-orchestrator. The orchestrator dispatches after you approve the plan.
Layer guide
Theory then practice for this pack. Written for a technology architect who already lives in infra, platforms, and Archi. Six layers, one template. Technology and physical is the home altitude.
The guide is the map. The orchestrator is the run.
§00 · Theory
Companion, not a second catalog
Archi is the canvas. MCP resources are the language reference. This page does not copy those tables. Skills read them at runtime.
One entrypoint: /archi-orchestrator. Specialists run after View Plan approval. The shared contract is docs/CREATE_PATH.md. Consume-only toward the Bridge. You govern scope.
Other layers exist so you can trace a stack up to outcomes and down to plateaus. Do not fill every layer because this page has six sections.
§01 · Motivation
Why the change is on the board
One-line type
Drivers, goals, principles, requirements, stakeholders, assessments, and outcomes that justify change. Specialist: archi-motivation.
Question
Why is this change on the board, and what outcome counts?
What lands in Archi
Those motivation families, named in the user's language. Legal relationships and viewpoint composition stay on MCP resources.
When the specialist fires
After View Plan confirmation is approved, when the run needs a motivation overview. Orchestrator-dispatched only. Typical view: Motivation Overview (board pack, merger).
Skip
Application boxes on a board pack. Project slogans as goals.
Keep
A short motivation overview the board can read, plus outcomes that later layers can realize.
Sample ask
/archi-orchestrator board pack: drivers, goals, and outcomes for cutting quote time from 4 hours to 30 minutes. No applications.
Trace up/down
Outcomes and requirements are realized by capabilities and, further down, by applications and technology. A motivation-only run keeps applications off the canvas. archi-traceability reports gaps; do not invent edges in chat.
§02 · Strategy / capability
What the organisation must be able to do
One-line type
Capabilities, resources, courses of action, and value streams, aligned to motivation outcomes. Specialist: archi-capability-strategy.
Question
What must the organisation be able to do, regardless of the current stack?
What lands in Archi
Named capabilities and the strategy elements that support them. Product names are not capabilities. Legal relationships stay on MCP resources.
When the specialist fires
After View Plan approval when the run needs a capability map. Typical view: Capability Map (invoice-to-cash, plant operations).
Skip
Treating a product name as a capability. Drawing the whole industry.
Keep
A named capability map reused on every view that shows those capabilities.
Sample ask
/archi-orchestrator invoice-to-cash capability map for finance and ops
Trace up/down
Capabilities realize motivation. Business behaviour realizes capabilities. Applications serve that behaviour.
§03 · Business
Who does the work
One-line type
Actors, roles, processes, services, objects, and events that realize capabilities. Specialist: archi-business.
Question
Who does the work, and which processes and services realize those capabilities?
What lands in Archi
The processes and services that actually run, with stable names across views. Legal relationships stay on MCP resources.
When the specialist fires
After View Plan approval when operations views are in scope. Typical views: Order-to-Cash Operations, Production Operations, Current and Target Customer Onboarding.
Skip
Rewriting the operating model when the user asked for a landing-zone move. Naming a process after an application.
Keep
The processes and services that actually run, with stable names across views.
Sample ask
/archi-orchestrator invoice-to-cash capability map for finance and ops
Trace up/down
Business services are served by application services. Processes are assigned to actors. Technology does not replace this layer. Plant physical adjacency (mill, comms room) belongs on technology/physical, not as a rewritten process.
§04 · Application
Which systems serve those services
One-line type
Application components, services, interfaces, data objects, and collaborations supporting business services. Specialist: archi-application.
Question
Which systems serve those services, and where is the overlap?
What lands in Archi
The as-is landscape with overlap visible, plus serving relationships to business services. Legal relationships stay on MCP resources.
When the specialist fires
After View Plan approval when application views are in scope. Typical views: Application Support, Application Landscape.
Skip
A second copy of shared customer data. Drawing CRM as if it replaces MES.
Keep
As-is landscape with overlap visible, and serving relationships to business services.
Sample ask
/archi-orchestrator on the current model, add a second CRM for the European branch and show impact; do not duplicate shared customer data
Trace up/down
Applications are served by technology nodes. Applications realize or serve business. Data objects are not a second customer master.
§05 · Technology / physical
What hosts those systems
One-line type
Nodes, devices, system software, networks, artifacts, and physical equipment hosting applications. Specialist: archi-technology-physical.
Question
What hosts those systems, and what is as-is versus the landing zone?
What lands in Archi
Named hosts, system software, networks, artifacts, and physical equipment when the user put the mill, comms room, or device in scope. Legal relationships stay on MCP resources.
Mechanics
Current versus target technology views. Hosting and communication in plain language. Dual-run of on-prem versus landing zone is a plateau, not a second business process. Plateaus themselves belong in implementation/migration.
When the specialist fires
After View Plan approval when technology or physical views are in scope. Typical views: Technology Current, Technology Target, Technology and Physical.
Skip
Redrawing business processes to justify a move. Unnamed cloud blobs. Dumping a device catalog.
Keep
Named as-is host, named target landing zone, the application that sits on each, and the decommission path pointed at migration.
Sample ask
/archi-orchestrator move the legacy TMS to a cloud landing zone; plateaus and work packages only. Do not redesign the business.
Trace up/down
Nodes assign or serve application components. Migration plateaus snapshot this layer. Business stays untouched when the user said so.
§06 · Implementation / migration
Plateaus, gaps, work packages
One-line type
Work packages, deliverables, plateaus, gaps, and roadmaps from baseline to target. Specialist: archi-implementation-migration.
Question
What are the plateaus, gaps, and work packages, without redrawing the business?
What lands in Archi
Named plateaus, explicit gaps, and work packages an infrastructure lead can schedule. Legal relationships stay on MCP resources.
When the specialist fires
After View Plan approval when a migration roadmap is in scope. Typical view: Migration Roadmap (TMS landing zone; insurance merger at programme scale).
Skip
A single big-bang work package named cutover. Silent core replacement.
Keep
Named plateaus (dual-run, then retire), gaps, and work packages an infrastructure lead can schedule.
Sample ask
/archi-orchestrator move the legacy TMS to a cloud landing zone; plateaus and work packages only. Do not redesign the business.
Trace up/down
Plateaus bind baseline and target technology, and applications when those are in scope. This specialist does not invent new business capabilities.
§07 · Skip vs keep
A living model beats an exhaustive one
Approve the View Plan before mutations. Do not expand scope in silence. Inspect before create. Every new element starts with an evidence line. The first generation is a draft.
Keep the few artifacts that pay: a readable motivation overview, a reused capability map, as-is application overlap, named hosts, named plateaus. Skip catalogs in chat and views that are not projections of one model.
§08 · Where it pays
Triggers a technology architect already has
Landing zone move: plateaus and work packages, business untouched (TMS card).
Dual-run merger: two cores stay distinct on the current view, then a retire plateau (insurance card).
Shadow tooling: four quoting tools mapped to the business services they serve.
Natural-language change: a second CRM without a second customer master.
Plant CRM programme: CRM must not swallow MES; mill equipment stays on the technology and physical view.
§09 · Anti-patterns
Ways to miss the run
Paste element-create commands
That skips elicitation and the confirmation gate.
Dump metamodel tables into chat
MCP resources are the reference. Skills read them. Pages and chat do not copy them.
Technology with no serving path
A node that does not host or serve an application is decoration.
Archi as Visio
Views are projections of one model, not disconnected pictures.
Fill every layer
Six sections on this page are a template, not a checklist for every run.