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TangleGuard Docs

Getting Started

TangleGuard is the place for you see all visualizations and where you can configure and document your architecture.

When opening TangleGuard for a specific codebase for the first time, it will create a configuration file. Add this file to your repository. It is supposed to be committed.

  1. Define the Big Picture of your Codebase To be able to detect architecture erosion, TangleGuard needs to know about your target architecture. This can be done with the Desktop App - the so called Designer. The target architecture is stored in the configuration file within your repository. You have to define layer (group of components) and their allowed dependencies (rules).

  2. Validate Then, Validate your Architecture regularly. TangleGuard traverses your source code and compares the actual dependencies against the allowed dependencies. Once a violation is found, you better fix it. Alternatively, you enforce the rules via your CI/CD pipeline and eliminate not-allowed dependencies from the beginning.

Configuration File

Section titled “Configuration File”

All information and configurations associated to your architecture is stored in a file in the root of your project. If you run tangle-guard for the first time, it will create that file for you.

  • src
  • Cargo.toml
  • tangleguard.json

The file is supposed to be included in Git. That way changes will be tracked over time and can be reviewed before merging like a normal code changes.

Below you see an example configuration.

{
  "layers": [
    {
      "name": "Interaction",
      "description": "",
      "packages": ["rest-api", "graphql-api"]
    }
  ],
  "packages": [
    {
      "name": "rest-api",
      "dependencies": ["utils"],
      "focus": "technical"
    }
  ],
  "rules": [
    {
      "from": "Interaction",
      "to": "Services"
    }
  ],
  "domains": [
    {
      "name": "User Management",
      "dsl": ["OAuth", "Token", "Role"],
      "domain_type": "Generic"
    }
  ]
}

You can edit the file manually but it’s highly recommended to use the UI instead.