From Vibe Coding to Understanding: Visualize Your Software with Archify

Vibe coding has made building software easier than ever.

Today, you can describe an idea to an AI coding agent and quickly get a working application, feature, or prototype. The barrier between an idea and working software has become much smaller.

But there is another challenge that comes with this speed:

Understanding what you have built.

As applications grow, understanding their structure, components, dependencies, workflows, and data flow can become quite complicated. The code may work perfectly, but answering questions like:

• How does this system actually work?
• Which component calls which service?
• Where does the data go?
• What happens when a request fails?
• How are different services connected?

can require going through many files and large amounts of code.

This is where Archify comes in.

Vibe coding is easy. Understanding the result is harder.

AI coding agents are great at helping developers move quickly from an idea to implementation.

But creating something and understanding something are two different problems.

Vibe coding can help you build quickly.

Archify helps you see and understand what was built.

Instead of only reading through source code, Archify can turn technical ideas, workflows, and repositories into interactive visual diagrams. You can explore components, follow relationships, trace paths, and understand how different parts of a system fit together.

Turn an idea into an interactive visual

You can start with something as simple as a description:

Use Archify to diagram a web request: Browser calls the API, the API checks Redis, and a cache miss queries PostgreSQL and fills the cache.

Archify can transform that description into an interactive HTML artifact that you can explore and customize.

You can then continue refining it through your AI agent:

• Add authentication
• Highlight the cache-miss path
• Move a component
• Change the visual theme
• Focus on a specific relationship
• Explore upstream or downstream connections

You don't necessarily need a repository to get started. You can begin with an idea, question, or plan.

Understand an existing codebase

Archify can also be used with an existing repository.

Instead of manually trying to understand a large codebase, you can ask your AI agent to analyze the repository and create a high-level architecture diagram.

For example:

Analyze this repository, then use Archify to create a high-level runtime architecture diagram. Show 8–12 core components, one primary path, external dependencies, and trust boundaries.

This creates a visual representation that can make a complex system easier to explore and communicate.

More than architecture diagrams

Archify supports multiple types of diagrams depending on what you want to understand.

Architecture

Useful for visualizing components, services, storage, system boundaries, and relationships.

Workflow

Useful for CI/CD pipelines, approvals, tool calls, operational processes, and runbooks.

Sequence

Useful for understanding API calls, authentication flows, cache fallbacks, and interactions over time.

Data Flow

Useful for visualizing how data moves between sources, transformations, stores, and consumers.

Lifecycle

Useful for representing states, events, retries, waits, cancellations, and terminal outcomes.

Choosing the right diagram type allows you to represent the same kind of complexity in a format that matches the problem you are trying to understand.

Interactive instead of static

One of the interesting parts of Archify is that the result is not simply a static image.

The generated artifact can be explored interactively.

You can focus on nodes, trace upstream or downstream relationships, inspect routes, compare semantic roles, explore the overall map, and play guided stories or change chapters.

This makes the diagram useful not only for documentation, but also for actually understanding a system.

Keep improving the diagram

Understanding a system is rarely a one-step process.

After generating a diagram, you can continue refining it through your AI agent.

For example:

Add Redis.

Highlight the rollback path.

Move authentication to the left.

Show the relationship between the backend and database.

Archify keeps the typed source available so you can make focused changes without rebuilding everything from scratch.

Validation is part of the workflow

Archify uses typed JSON as an intermediate representation and includes validation throughout the generation workflow.

The process can be thought of as:

Generate → Validate → Preview → Deliver → Iterate

Validators check areas such as the schema, layout, generated HTML/SVG, routes, and label-to-route clearance.

When something fails validation, structured diagnostics can identify the relevant issue and supported repair controls.

This helps ensure that the generated artifact remains consistent as it evolves.

Share the result

Archify generates self-contained HTML artifacts that can be opened in a browser and shared with others.

You don't need an Archify installation simply to view a generated artifact.

The project also supports exporting diagrams and share cards, making the output useful for:

• Technical documentation
• README files
• Architecture reviews
• Team discussions
• Presentations
• Project documentation
• Social sharing

Works with AI coding agents

Archify is designed to work with AI coding agents such as:

• Cursor
• Claude Code
• Codex CLI
• OpenCode

A basic installation can be started with:

npx skills add tt-a1i/archify -g