Architecture diagrams for client work.
You are handed a codebase, given a fortnight, and expected to explain it back. Uploading it to a SaaS tool is usually not an option.
The situation
Consulting engagements start with an unfamiliar system and a short assessment window, and the deliverable is frequently a document explaining what the client has. The work is the same as onboarding except compressed and repeated across clients, so anything that shortens the first pass compounds across engagements.
The confidentiality constraint
Client code is under an NDA and running it through a hosted service is often a contract breach regardless of the vendor's security posture, because the agreement names who may process it. A desktop application running a local model keeps the code on your machine, which is a materially different position to be in when the question comes up, and it will.
Repeatable across engagements
Because the tooling is local and the process is the same each time, the first-pass diagram is a routine step rather than a bespoke effort. What varies is the analysis you layer on top, which is the part clients are paying for.
Deliverables that survive handover
Diagrams export as SVG and as Excalidraw scenes, so the client can edit them afterwards in a free tool rather than needing your licence. A deliverable that decays into an image the moment the engagement ends is worth less than one they can maintain.
First pass
Questions
Does client code leave my machine?
Not with a local model. That is the specific reason this tends to matter for consulting work, and it is worth being able to say precisely rather than approximately.
Can I hand the diagrams to the client?
Yes. They are Excalidraw scenes and SVG, editable in free tools, so the client is not dependent on your licence to maintain them.
Is there a team licence?
It is $3 per user per month with a seven-day trial, so a small team is inexpensive. Model costs are yours and are zero if you run locally.
Related
- Onboarding Engineers to a CodebaseThe first week is spent building a mental model that somebody already has. A diagram transfers it in an afternoon.
- Documenting Legacy CodeIncluding the newest kind of legacy code: what a coding agent wrote for you over several sessions that nobody has looked at as a whole.
- Architecture ReviewMost of the effort in an architecture review goes into producing the diagrams, and most of those diagrams describe the system as remembered rather than as built.
- System Design Interview PreparationThe diagram is the easy part. Interviews are decided by the tradeoffs you can defend when the interviewer pushes.
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