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  1. Getting Started

Quick Start

Here is a quick walkthrough to get you up and running as fast as possible with Catio!

  1. Add an Integration: Connect your cloud environment to Catio by following the Configure an Integration guide. Most organizations start with AWS, but Catio supports a variety of platforms. See Available Integrations for the full list.

  1. Create a Workspace: A workspace is the architecture boundary Catio operates over. It sets which part of your infrastructure Stacks renders, Archie reasons about, and Blueprints are generated against. Scope it to a stable boundary that rarely changes once set. Follow the Create a Workspace guide.

    Scope the workspace to define the boundary itself:

    • The product line, architecture, or domain the workspace covers (for example, the services behind a single product).
    • The durable objective that holds over the workspace's whole life, not this month's priority.
    • The primary teams working in this part of the architecture.
    • Hard boundaries: what is permanently out of scope.

    Keep the following out of the workspace scope:

    • Evaluation rules that define what "good" looks like (budget ceilings, timelines, policy controls, approved patterns) belong in Context.
    • Point-in-time asks (a single Archie question, a one-off constraint for a specific Blueprint run) belong in the prompt you give at inference time.

    A useful test: if changing something would change what success means or what is allowed, create a separate workspace instead of filtering inside this one.

  2. Wait for Extraction: Once your integration is connected, Catio begins extracting your architecture data. This typically takes 20–30 minutes. You can track progress in the process monitor at the top right of your screen.

  3. Subscribe to Your Integration: Subscribe your workspace to the integration while extraction is still running. Once extraction completes, your architecture data populates in Stacks and Blueprints. Follow the Enable/Disable a Subscription guide.

  4. Explore Your Architecture: Once extraction is complete, you can:

    • Chat with Archie: Ask Archie any questions you have about your system, such as "What services are running in us-east-1?" or "Where are my biggest cost drivers?" To explore this further, check out Who is Archie?.
    • View your Digital Twin in Stacks: See a visual representation of your live architecture and filter by service, region, or resource type.