C4/Diagram/System landscape

• System landscape diagram (C4 diagram)

  • Overview

    • A supporting C4 diagram that zooms out from a single system: shows multiple software systems (each modeled as a C4/Abstraction/1 - Software System) and how they fit together across an enterprise or product portfolio.
    • Like an interconnected set of context diagrams—emphasis on landscape, not internals.

  • Context

    • Listed under “Supporting diagrams” on C4/Diagram; complements C4/Diagram/1 - System context when no single system is the sole focus.

  • Key principles

    • Consistent notation — Reuse the same shapes and relationship language as core C4 so readers do not context-switch.
    • Strategic clarity — Favour stable system boundaries over project-acronym soup.

  • Mechanism

    • Often maintained as a workspace-level or portfolio-level artefact in architecture-as-code repos.

  • Examples

    • All customer-facing products plus shared platform systems and major SaaS dependencies.

  • Misconceptions

    • “Landscape replaces context” — No; context still tells one system’s story—landscape shows many.