The Farkitect Workspace
This page is a reference map of the Farkitect workspace. It describes what each area does and where to find it — not how to use it. For hands-on guidance, start with the tutorials.
Layout Overview
Section titled “Layout Overview”The workspace uses a dockable panel layout. You can drag panels to rearrange them, tab them together, pop them out, or resize them. Your layout is saved per project and restored when you return.
Panels
Section titled “Panels”Explorer
Section titled “Explorer”Default position: Left side
The Explorer shows your project’s contents as a hierarchical tree: packages, elements, diagrams, and catalogs. Everything in your model lives here.
- M3 packages appear with red text — these are system-level and read-only
- M2 packages appear with yellow text — these are metamodel definitions
- M1 packages appear with white text — this is where your modeling work lives
- Diagrams and Catalogs appear as children of the package they belong to
You can right-click items for context menus, drag items to reorder or move them between packages, and use F2 to rename.
Canvas
Section titled “Canvas”Default position: Centre
The diagram editing surface. When you open a diagram (by double-clicking it in the Explorer), it appears here. You can:
- Drag elements from the Palette or Explorer onto the Canvas to add them
- Click and drag between elements to create relationships
- Select, move, resize, and arrange elements
- Route edges by dragging them to create waypoints
- Nest elements inside other elements by dragging them together
- Zoom with the scroll wheel and pan by dragging the background
The Canvas has its own toolbar at the top with diagram-specific actions: save, undo/redo, zoom controls, and toggle buttons for stereotypes and the related elements filter.
Diagrams require an explicit Save (Ctrl+S / Cmd+S). Unsaved changes are indicated in the tab title.
Palette
Section titled “Palette”Default position: Right side
The Palette shows the element types and relationship types available for the current diagram, grouped by their M2 metamodel layer. It combines types from all metamodels imported into the current package.
- Drag an element type from the Palette onto the Canvas to create a new instance
- Drag an element type from the Palette onto a package in the Explorer to create an element without placing it on a diagram
- Use the search box at the top to filter types by name
Properties
Section titled “Properties”Default position: Right side (tabbed with Notes)
When you select an element (in the Explorer, on the Canvas, or in a Catalog), the Properties panel shows its editable fields:
- Name — the element’s display name
- Classifier — which M2 type this element is an instance of (read-only for M1 elements)
- Property values — typed fields defined by the M2 metamodel (strings, numbers, booleans, dates, enumerations)
- Relationships — incoming and outgoing relationships connected to this element
Required properties are marked and validated. Enumeration properties show a dropdown of allowed values.
Default position: Right side (tabbed with Properties)
A text editor for the selected element’s notes field. Supports Markdown formatting. Use this for longer descriptions, design decisions, or any narrative content associated with an element.
Context
Section titled “Context”Default position: Right side (tabbed)
Shows contextual information about the current selection — related elements, classification details, and navigable links to connected elements across the model.
Default position: Bottom
A dockable log panel that records mutations (create, update, delete operations) as they happen. Useful for understanding what changed and when.
- Filter by severity (info, warning, error)
- Filter by source (which part of the application triggered the change)
Toggle via View > Log Panel or Ctrl+Shift+J / Cmd+Shift+J.
Settings
Section titled “Settings”Accessible from the gear icon in the toolbar. Contains:
- Account — your profile and organisation details
- Preferences — notification settings, integrity checker toggle
- Resources — links to documentation and support
- Sign Out
The gear menu also provides quick toggles for the Title Bar and Status Bar visibility.
Toolbar
Section titled “Toolbar”The main toolbar sits at the top of the workspace (or below the title bar). It provides quick access to:
- File menu — project management, import/export, new items
- Edit menu — undo/redo, rename, delete
- View menu — panel toggles, theme, zoom
- Diagram menu — diagram-specific actions (zoom, fit, save)
- Gear menu — settings and display toggles
Status Bar
Section titled “Status Bar”Position: Bottom of the workspace
The status bar shows contextual information:
- Selection info — what’s currently selected and how many items
- Element counts — total elements and diagrams in the project
- Operation feedback — progress indicators for async operations (import, export, seed)
- Integrity checker — a status indicator showing whether the model has referential integrity issues. Click it to run an on-demand check.
Keyboard Navigation
Section titled “Keyboard Navigation”- Tab / Shift+Tab — cycle through nodes on the current diagram
- F2 — rename the selected item (Explorer or Canvas)
- Delete — remove the selected item from the diagram (Canvas) or delete it (Explorer)
- Escape — cancel the current operation or deselect
- Ctrl+S / Cmd+S — save diagram changes
For the complete list, see Keyboard Shortcuts.
Themes
Section titled “Themes”Farkitect supports light and dark themes. Toggle via View > Dark Mode or Ctrl+Shift+D / Cmd+Shift+D. Your preference is saved and persisted across sessions.