Circles

See how your system fits together.

Circles is a canvas for thinking in parts. Every circle is a piece of your system, and every circle has parts of its own. Link them to show what they exchange, then zoom in to see how it really happens.

Open the demo How it works
Three linked circles: Frontend, Backend and Database. A signal travels from Frontend to Backend and on to Database. Frontend Backend Database

How it works

Draw the big picture first. The detail lives inside the circles, one level at a time.

  • Zoom in to go deeper

    Every circle holds its own level of parts. Zoom into one, or double-click it, and its parts fill the screen. Zoom out to step back.

  • Hold and pull to link

    Hold a circle and a bubble of goo pops out. Drop it on another circle to link the two, or on empty space to make a new circle.

  • Links become doors

    Inside a circle, each of its links shows up as a door on the border. Open a link to pair the parts on each side that actually talk to each other.

  • Watch it run

    Make a part runnable and press Play. Signals travel along the links, hop by hop, so you can see what reaches what.

  • Talk it through

    Leave comment threads on any circle or link. Ones with open questions glow until the thread is resolved.

  • Describe as you go

    Give every circle and link a description: what it is and why it matters, right where it sits in the picture.

Getting around

It works like a design tool. On a phone, one finger pans and two fingers zoom.

Pan
Scroll, or Space + drag
Zoom
Pinch, or ⌘/Ctrl + scroll
Go into a circle
Double-click, or zoom in
Go back up
Zoom out, or the breadcrumb
Link two circles
Hold one, drop on the other
Open a link
Double-click it
Select several
Drag on empty space
Delete
Delete or Backspace

Try it

The demo runs in your browser and keeps nothing: your changes are gone when you reload. Use Export to download your model as a file, and Import to bring it back.

Open the demo