Architext

Design your software architecture visually before coding with AI.

Architext is an open-source tool where you describe your project in natural language, an AI proposes an initial architecture (data models, endpoints, views, security, cache, integrations...), you edit it visually on an interactive canvas, and export an instruction package ready for any AI coding assistant (Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, etc.).

The product does NOT generate code. It generates the blueprint that code generators need to not go off the rails.

Features

• AI-powered architecture generation — Describe your project, get a complete architecture
• 14 block types — DataModel (ER-style), Endpoint, View, Auth, Integration, Security, Cache, Queue, Storage, SEO, Job, UserFlow, Note, Group
• Visual canvas — React Flow with drag & drop, connections, multi-select, right-click menu
• BYOK (Bring Your Own Key) — Use your own AI provider: Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, OpenRouter, or Ollama
• Export to 4 formats — CLAUDE.md, prompt for any AI, PRD markdown, SQL schema
• CLI integration — Pull architecture directly into your VS Code project with one command
• 5 starter templates — B2B SaaS, E-commerce, Internal Dashboard, Mobile + Backend, AI Tool
• Snapshots — Save and restore canvas versions
• i18n — English and Spanish

Installation

Prerequisites

• Node.js 22+
• pnpm (npm install -g pnpm)
• PostgreSQL 16+ (installed locally or via Docker)

Setup

# 1. Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/DelvyG/Architext.git
cd Architext

# 2. Install dependencies
pnpm install

# 3. Configure environment
cp .env.example .env

Edit .env with your values:

# PostgreSQL connection (change to your local PostgreSQL)
DATABASE_URL="postgresql://postgres@localhost:5432/architext"

# Generate these with: node -e "console.log(require('crypto').randomBytes(32).toString('base64'))"
AUTH_SECRET="paste-generated-value-here"
ENCRYPTION_KEY="paste-generated-value-here"

NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL="http://localhost:3000"

# 4. Create the database
# If using psql:
createdb -U postgres architext

# 5. Push the schema
npx prisma db push

# 6. Start the development server
pnpm dev

Open http://localhost:3000 in your browser.

First steps

1. Create an account — Click "Get started" on the homepage
2. Add your AI key — Click "API Keys" in the header → Add your Anthropic/OpenAI/Google key
3. Create a project — Choose a template or start blank
4. Describe your project — In the chat panel, describe what you want to build
5. Edit the architecture — Drag blocks, edit properties, add connections
6. Export — Click Export to get your CLAUDE.md, prompt, PRD, or SQL schema

CLI — Pull architecture into your project

After designing your architecture in Architext, you can pull it directly into your coding project:

# In your project's terminal (VS Code, etc.):
npx architext-cli pull YOUR_SHARE_TOKEN

This creates a CLAUDE.md file in your project root with the full architecture. Open Claude Code or Cursor and it will understand your entire project structure.

How to get a share token

1. Open a project in Architext
2. Click Share in the header
3. Copy the command shown

Other formats

npx architext-cli pull TOKEN --format claude-md   # CLAUDE.md (default)
npx architext-cli pull TOKEN --format prompt       # Prompt for any AI
npx architext-cli pull TOKEN --format prd          # PRD document
npx architext-cli pull TOKEN --format sql          # PostgreSQL schema
npx architext-cli pull TOKEN --format canvas       # Raw canvas JSON

Environment variables

Variable	Required	Description
DATABASE_URL	Yes	PostgreSQL connection string
AUTH_SECRET	Yes	Session signing secret
ENCRYPTION_KEY	Yes	AES-256-GCM key for API key encryption
NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL	Yes	Public URL (default: http://localhost:3000)
BETTER_AUTH_SECRET	Yes	Same as AUTH_SECRET
BETTER_AUTH_URL	Yes	Same as NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL

Tech stack

Layer	Technology
Framework	Next.js 16 (App Router) + TypeScript
UI	Tailwind CSS 4 + shadcn/ui
Canvas	React Flow 12
State	Zustand
Database	PostgreSQL + Prisma 6
Auth	better-auth
AI	Vercel AI SDK 6 (multi-provider)
Validation	Zod 4
i18n	next-intl (en/es)

BYOK — Bring Your Own Key

Architext does not use any AI API keys. Each user configures their own provider:

• Anthropic (Claude) — sk-ant-...
• OpenAI (GPT-4o) — sk-...
• Google (Gemini) — AI...
• OpenRouter — sk-or-...
• Ollama (local, no key needed)

Keys are encrypted with AES-256-GCM before storing in the database.

License

AGPL-3.0 — Free to use, modify, and self-host. If you offer it as a public service, you must publish your modifications.