Kinds

A kind is a name that gives a node a default icon and colour family, or gives an edge a line style. Kinds keep a diagram consistent: every database looks like a database without you repeating yourself.

Node kinds

Every node kind that ships with docspp, grouped by the colour family it uses. The kind alone gives the icon and the stripe.

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Kind	Default icon	Family	Use it for
`client`	`lucide:monitor`	slate	A browser or app on the reader’s device
`user`	`lucide:user`	slate	A person
`ui`	`lucide:layout-dashboard`	slate	A front end
`external`	`lucide:cloud`	slate	A third party: a payment provider, a CDN
`service`	`lucide:server`	blue	A backend service
`gateway`	`lucide:route`	blue	A reverse proxy or API gateway
`worker`	`lucide:cog`	blue	A background worker
`container`	`lucide:container`	blue	A container or pod
`function`	`lucide:square-function`	blue	A serverless function
`database`	`lucide:database`	green	A database
`cache`	`lucide:zap`	green	A cache
`storage`	`lucide:hard-drive`	green	Object or file storage
`queue`	`lucide:list-ordered`	amber	A queue or broker
`agent`	`lucide:bot`	violet	An agent or bot
`network`	`lucide:network`	violet	A network, hub or tunnel end
`vm`	`lucide:box`	violet	A virtual machine
`auth`	`lucide:key-round`	teal	An identity provider
`monitor`	`lucide:activity`	teal	Monitoring or logging

A node’s own icon and family win over the kind’s. An unknown kind gives a warning with the nearest match.

Your own node kinds

Add or override kinds in the diagram’s kinds: map:

kinds:
  ledger: { icon: lucide:book-open, family: amber }
  service: { icon: lucide:box, family: teal }   # override a built-in

nodes:
  books: { kind: ledger, title: General ledger }

Colour families

A family sets a node’s accent stripe and its icon tint: blue, amber, violet, green, teal, red, slate. The kinds above choose one for you. Set family: on a node, a group or a kind to change it. Colours shows how to change the colours themselves.

Edge kinds

Kind	Meaning	Colour	Width	Dash
`http`	HTTP request and response (the default)	ink	1.5	solid
`channel`	Persistent channel (WebSocket, gRPC)	accent	2.4	solid
`tunnel`	Overlay tunnel	tunnel (violet)	5	solid
`queue`	Queue or broker	ok (green)	2	`2 4` (dotted)
`ws`	WebSocket	ink	1.6	`7 4` (dashed)
`data`	Data access	muted	1.3	solid

Your own edge kinds

edgeKinds:
  grpc: { label: gRPC, color: accent, width: 2, dash: "6 4" }
  batch: { label: Nightly batch, color: warn, width: 1.5 }

edges:
  - { from: api, to: auth, kind: grpc }

Field	Meaning
`label`	Required. The text in the legend.
`color`	A theme token (`ink`, `accent`, `tunnel`, `muted`, `ok`, `warn`, `bad`) or any CSS colour.
`width`	Line width in pixels.
`dash`	An SVG dash pattern, such as `"6 4"`. Quote it.

Using a kind that is neither built in nor defined is an error that lists the known kinds.

Step kinds

Steps in a scenario have their own kinds, which colour the packet: request (the default), response, error, lookup and event. They are separate from edge kinds, so a data edge can carry a lookup step.