Notation System Reference

Farkitect’s notation model (format farki/1.2) treats appearance as a set of independent compositional primitives. shape controls only the outline; fill, border, body content, icon, and label placement are separate fields that combine freely. This replaced the older model where a handful of fixed shapes (note, boundary, text) each baked in their own fill and border.

Node Shapes

shape is the silhouette (outline) only:

Shape	Description	Typical Use
rectangle	Square corners	Most element types
rounded	Rounded corners	Active elements, processes
pill	Fully rounded ends	Tags, states
chamfered	Cut corners	Artifacts, cut-corner boxes
ellipse	Ellipse / circle	BPMN events, start/end nodes
diamond	Diamond	Gateways, decisions

The legacy note, boundary, and text looks are now compositions of a rectangle plus primitives (a folded corner; a dashed border with no fill; no border and no fill).

Compositional Primitives

Field	Values	Description
fillMode	solid / none	Whether the body is filled with color or transparent
borderStyle	solid / dashed / dotted / none	Outline stroke style
bodyContent	name / notes / image	What fills the node body (see below)
showIcon	Boolean	Whether the type icon is drawn
foldCorner	Boolean	Draw a folded top-right corner (the Note look)
labelPlacement	inside / outside	Where the element name sits (see below)

bodyContent

Value	Meaning
name	The element name (default)
notes	The element’s notes text (text-annotation style)
image	The element’s attached image fills the body, letterboxed. Requires the type to declare attachment: "image". Shows a dashed “No image” placeholder until an image is uploaded.

labelPlacement

Value	Behaviour
inside	Default. Name sits inside the body; the type icon is small in the top-right corner (ArchiMate/UML convention).
outside	The icon renders centred and scaled in the body, and the name renders as an external, draggable label below the node (BPMN convention for events, gateways, data objects).

labelPlacement: outside is for icon-centric symbols where the icon is the symbol. It is ignored when the type has compartments (compartmented boxes are always inside-labelled). Set it in the M2 Notation Editor via the Label Placement dropdown; the canonical form omits the field when inside.

Attachment Capability

Set on an M2 element type to turn on the attachment facility for its instances:

Field	Values	Description
attachment	image / file	Enables a single attachment per instance; picks the Properties-panel label, file filter, and size limit (image → images ≤ 4 MB, file → any type ≤ 20 MB)
containment	model / visual / none	How the node hosts children. none (used by Image) makes it a pure backdrop — dropped elements are never nested, moved, or resized by it

A property whose format is "url" renders as a live clickable link on diagram nodes — this is how the Hyperlink type works, and it applies to any metamodel.

Notation Object (Relationship Types)

Field	Type	Description
type	"relationship"	Always “relationship”
icon	String (SVG)	Icon for palette and explorer
lineStyle	solid / dashed / dotted	Edge line style
sourceMarker / targetMarker	Marker	End markers (see below)
color	String (hex)	Default edge colour
s2tVerb	String	Source-to-target verb (e.g., “serves”)
t2sVerb	String	Target-to-source verb (e.g., “is served by”)
showMultiplicities	Boolean	Display multiplicity labels
showRoleNames	Boolean	Display role name labels

Edge End Markers

A marker is a shape plus an optional fill:

Marker shape	Fill applies?
none	—
arrow (open stick arrow)	No
triangle (closed head)	Yes — filled or hollow
diamond	Yes
circle	Yes
bar	No

Compartments

Compartments define sections within a diagram node.

Field	Type	Description
contentType	name / properties / subordinates	What to display
id	String	Unique compartment identifier
label	String	Heading text (for subordinate compartments)
showLabel	Boolean	Whether to display the heading
subordinateTypeId	String	References a subordinate type (when contentType = “subordinates”)
style	Object	CSS-like style overrides (fontWeight, etc.)

Subordinate Types

Define owned element types that render inside compartments.

Field	Type	Description
id	String	Unique identifier referenced by compartments
label	String	Display label
classifier	String	$id of the owned element type
displayTemplate	String	Template for rendering (e.g., {name} : {Data Type})

Label Visibility

Label placement is an M2 (author) decision; whether a specific label shows is an M1 (per-diagram) decision:

Setting	Scope	Where
Hide Label / Show Label	Per node	Node context menu (and a batch action for multi-select)
Hide Label / Show Label	Per edge (main label)	Edge or edge-label context menu
Show/Hide relationship labels	Whole diagram (edges)	Diagram toolbar

The per-edge toggle is subtractive — it can hide an edge’s label when the diagram shows labels, but cannot force one on when the diagram-level switch is off. Hiding a label is a content decision, so it is not cleared by “Revert Format to Default”. External (outside-placement) labels can also be dragged and resized; their per-diagram position and size persist with the diagram.

Stereotypes

Stereotypes display the M2 type name on diagram nodes (e.g., <<Application Component>>). Visibility is toggled per-diagram via the diagram toolbar.

Colour Model

• M2 notation colour — the default fill colour for all instances of a type
• M1 diagram override — per-element, per-diagram colour override
• Revert — removes the override, restoring the M2 default
• Colours are specified as hex strings (e.g., #81D4FA)