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Design from a repository

Updated October 26, 2026Plans: Free, Pro, Enterprise

Overview

Archie can read a connected repository and design the infrastructure the code needs: a container for each app, the database or cache its packages point at, and the settings its code reads. It reads the branch's manifests, Dockerfile, Procfile and example env file, never a .env file or any secret value. Nothing is deployed. You can then commit the diagram's Terraform to a branch and open a pull request.

Prerequisites

  • A connected repository. See Connect a GitHub or GitLab repository.
  • To commit, a connection that can write. The row under Repositories says read and write or read only.
  • To open a pull request from ArchFoundry, an owner or admin role.

Steps

  1. On the canvas, open the command palette (Ctrl+K) and choose Version control: branches, history and changes. The Source control panel opens.
  2. Pick the repository and the branch at the top of the panel.
  3. Click Design from this repo. Archie reads the branch and draws the design on a new diagram, with its reasons in the chat. You can also ask in the chat, for example "design from my repo". Archie uses the repository you name, else the one this diagram came from, else your only one, and asks which when you have several.
  4. Ask follow-up questions in the chat. Archie keeps working from the same repository while the diagram points at it.
  5. If an app has no Dockerfile, Archie offers Open a PR that adds a Dockerfile. Click it to open a pull request with one, then review it on GitHub before merging.
  6. To commit the Terraform, open the Changes tab, write a Commit message, and click Commit to followed by the branch name.
  7. To propose it, click Open a pull request into followed by the default branch.

Example

A repository with a Node API that uses Postgres and Redis might get a prompt-free design like this from Design from this repo:

text
A container service for the API behind a load balancer, a small Postgres
and a small Redis in private subnets, and a Secrets card for the API's
DATABASE_URL and REDIS_URL.

Archie's exact design varies with the code it reads, and its replies vary from one answer to the next. It picks the smallest size the price book has unless you ask for more.

Verify it worked

  • A new diagram opens with cards for what the code needs, each priced.
  • In Deploy, the app's container offers your repository to build from, and lists the names under Your code reads that still need values.
  • After a commit, the History tab shows it.

Troubleshooting

That repository is no longer connected, so I am working from the diagram alone. The repository was disconnected. Connect it again to design from it.

The connected token can read but not write. The badge read only means commits are refused. Connect with a token or app permission that includes Contents: Read and write.

Archie names a dependency ArchFoundry cannot deploy. Some services, such as MongoDB or MySQL, may not have a card. Archie says so rather than drawing one.

Next steps