Arrows & Boxes

Architecture diagrams with real depth.

Arrows & Boxes (Boxes for short) is a browser-based diagramming tool for software and systems architecture. It opens as a plain, familiar 2D canvas of boxes and arrows — but that flat view is a real 3D scene seen head-on. Shapes sit on discrete depth layers, so the stack you're describing — UI over services over data, or any layered architecture — has honest height whenever you want it: hold Ctrl or ⌘ and drag, and the architecture stands up.

That depth is carried by real light and perspective rather than by color. An overhead light brightens near layers and dims far ones, line weight fades with distance, and you can grab the whole diagram and turn it — a direct-manipulation turntable — to see how the layers stack, then let it settle back to a clean reading view. Color stays free to mean identity, not depth.

Nothing is imposed: you can stay in the flat 2D diagram forever and it works like the tool you already know, or reach for the depth the moment it earns its keep.

What you can do

• Flat by default — opens as a plain 2D diagram: every shape the same size whatever its layer, evenly lit, fully editable. The depth is always there, one tilt away.
• Layers & depth — organize shapes across depth planes; mute, filter, and restack them as your architecture grows.
• Groups — wrap related shapes across layers into districts held together by a soft 3D net, so subsystems read as one thing.
• Living connections — arrows behave like real strings that drape and wrap around the boxes they pass, keeping dense diagrams legible.
• Containers — drill into any box to find a whole inner diagram (C4-style zoom from context to component), all in one document.
• Timeline & scenarios — every edit sits on a visual, branching timeline; capture checkpoints and fork what-if future scenarios.
• Scripting — automate and generate diagrams with a friendly API in a built-in code editor, or record your edits into a replayable script.
• Notes — flip any shape over to jot free-form notes on its back.

Everything runs entirely in your browser. There is no account and no cloud: your diagrams are saved locally on your device and Arrows & Boxes never uploads them, and you can export or open a self-contained file at any time.

Arrows & Boxes is made by Rulecore AB and is free to use. arrowsboxes.com · info@rulecore.com
License · Privacy · Third-party notices
Rulecore AB · Reg. no. 556895-5669 · VAT SE556895566901 · Bergåsvägen 1, 433 51 Öjersjö, Sweden
Arrows & Boxes is a trademark of Rulecore AB.
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