Working locally with Structurizr Lite and the Diagram workflow with Git

[timothystone]

When working on diagrams, I largely commit often to capture "Structurizr state" in the .structurizr directory locally. Even the slightest change when viewing diagrams creates state changes that are largely a blackbox (and I don't see documentation on this).

I'll rebase locally to squash these state updates, i.e., no one needs a bunch of chore: commit Structurizr state commits.

I suspect, but don't know because I'm not running an On Prem instance, that this state is managed internally to the web application, thus "invisible to the On Prem user."

However, what is the best practice here using Lite? Commit often and squash the state commits? Are there files I can ignore? My initial short list of necessary files to track would be:

1. .structurizr/workspace.json
2. .structurizr/images/* (thumbnails)

Or is the common practice to just commit often and move on? Would branching and merging create problems? I often just "accept theirs" on merges (thumbnail changes and workspace.json changes) and haven't run into problems (at least problems that scream at me).

Any guidance? It's possibly a good topic on the website, i.e., Git workflows working locally.

[simonbrowndotje]

I would recommend ignoring the .structurizr folder - the workspace.dsl and workspace.json files should be sufficient. In fact, if you're using automatic layout, you don't need the workspace.json file either.

[timothystone]

Thanks for the "authoritative" answer on this. We definitely use layouts. Automatic for just getting everything on the board, then vertex removal. We're into custom layouts. 😄

Otherwise, just lightened my workflow. 🙏 Will share widely. 😄