DBRaven

Navigation Guide

How DBRaven Works

Every scenario-specific page in DBRaven is built from pre-existing structured knowledge and is accessible directly once you have a scenario slug. The profile review is a discovery tool: it identifies which scenario fits your system. You do not need to run it if you already know your scenario.

Step 1, Get a Scenario Slug

Two Ways In

All scenario pages are keyed by a slug (e.g. read_heavy_saas_api). You can get one from a profile review, or pick one directly from the scenario list.

ARun the profile reviewrecommended if unsure

Answer questions about your system profile. DBRaven scores your inputs against all scenarios deterministically and returns the best-matched slug, plus alternatives to consider and scenarios to avoid, with reasons.

Start profile review →
BBrowse scenarios directly

If you already know which scenario applies to your system, skip the profile review. Browse all scenarios, pick the one that matches, and navigate directly to any of its pages using the slug.

What the 6-stage review produces
1
System Profile ReviewOpen →

Answer questions about your system: product type, traffic pattern, team size, budget, consistency requirements.

Produces: A deterministically matched scenario slug, the identifier used by every downstream page.

2
Topology

The scenario's node-edge graph: workloads, datastores, caches, event streams, risk nodes.

Produces: Risk exposure levels, propagation paths, and failure blast radius per component.

3
SimulationOpen →

Simulation seeds derived from topology risk paths, run through closed-form formulas.

Produces: Load curves, failure windows, and recovery sequences. Formula-driven, no randomness.

4
Advisor

Seven advisory sections: strengths, risks, scaling signals, observability, migration, operational requirements, bottlenecks.

Produces: Traceable advisory items, each cites the knowledge entity that grounds the claim.

5
CompareOpen →

Your recommended scenario vs. alternatives across six operational dimensions.

Produces: Dimension-by-dimension winners with numeric or structural backing.

6
Decision PathOpen →

Structured choose/avoid conditions, migration triggers, team fit guidance.

Produces: A final recommendation with confidence score and traceable rationale.

Step 2, Explore the Scenario Workspace

Scenario Workspace Pages

These pages display pre-built structured knowledge for a specific scenario. They are accessible to anyone with a slug, no profile review required. The content is the same whether you arrived from a matched recommendation or direct browse.

URLs show {slug} as a placeholder, replace with your scenario slug.
Full Reportreport

Printable full-page view: topology summary, advisor output, failure modes, scaling thresholds, and decision path, all in one document.

/report/{slug}
Topology Viewertopology

Interactive node-edge graph of the matched scenario. Shows risk exposure level per node and failure propagation paths.

/topology/{slug}
Readiness Assessmentreadiness

Operational readiness score, required capabilities, infrastructure complexity, and a prioritized action list before adopting this scenario.

/readiness/{slug}
Governance Assessmentgovernance

Governance posture: operational maturity, failure mode coverage, resilience rating, and recommended policies for this scenario.

/governance/scenarios/{slug}
Architecture Reviewreview

Structured review findings: critical warnings, advisor evidence, strength summary, and a readiness level for production.

/reviews/{slug}
Migration Playbookmigration

Step-by-step migration guide: pre-migration requirements, staged phases, risk surface per phase, and rollback conditions.

/migration-playbook/{slug}
Architecture Decision Recordadr

A pre-formatted ADR for this scenario: context, decision, consequences, and alternatives considered.

/knowledge/scenarios/{slug}/adr
Scenario Detailknowledge

Full scenario specification: problem statement, scaling thresholds, failure modes, technology stack, operational risks, and tradeoffs.

/knowledge/scenarios/{slug}
Evolution Pathevolution

If an evolution path exists for this scenario: topology mutations, migration stages, operational risks, and coupling changes during transition.

/evolution/{slug}

Always Available, No Analysis Required

Standalone Tools

These tools work with any scenario, or do not require a scenario at all. Use them to compare options, run parameterized simulations, check governance posture, or explore risk across your portfolio.

Scenario Comparison

Compare any two scenarios across six dimensions: complexity, risk, scalability, maturity, observability, and readiness.

Open →
Architecture Diff

Structural diff between two scenarios, shared components, unique failure modes, topology differences, and capability gaps.

Open →
Fitness Matrix

All scenarios ranked side-by-side across operational dimensions. Use to shortlist candidates before running a full profile review.

Open →
Simulation Engine

Parameterized simulations: workload models, cost projections, scaling curves, queue dynamics, stress tests, input your own numbers.

Open →
Blast Radius Explorer

Given a failure mode and a scenario, compute the propagation path and affected components.

Open →
Portfolio View

Register multiple services with their matched scenarios to get a consolidated risk view across your architecture portfolio.

Open →
Post-Mortem Catalog

Curated structural post-mortems: what failed, what propagated, and the architectural decisions that made it possible.

Open →
Governance Hub

Governance summaries across all scenarios. Entry point to governance policies, anti-patterns, and compliance alignment.

Open →
Review Gate

Checklist-based gate for architecture reviews: pass/fail criteria organized by scenario type.

Open →
Drift Check

Detect when an implemented system has drifted from its matched architecture scenario.

Open →
Compliance

Map architecture scenarios to compliance requirements: SOC 2, HIPAA, PCI DSS, GDPR, and others.

Open →

Reference, Browse Anytime

Knowledge, Simulations & Learning

The structured knowledge base is browsable at any time, independent of any profile review. Every decision report cross-references entities here.

Knowledge Base

Knowledge Hub

Entry point to all structured knowledge entities with coverage stats.

Open →
Scenarios

All architecture scenarios. Browse by type, complexity, or maturity.

Open →
Failure Modes

How systems break: triggers, propagation, blast radius, detection signals, and mitigations.

Open →
Patterns

Architecture patterns: when to apply, when to avoid, scaling ceiling, and tradeoffs.

Open →
Technologies

Technology profiles: operational characteristics, consistency models, and failure behavior.

Open →
Relationships

Typed edges connecting knowledge entities: mitigates, introduces risk, benefits from, and more.

Open →

Simulations

Failure Models

Curated failure models: step-through degradation stages and pressure propagation.

Open →
Architecture Graphs

Pre-built reference architectures with full node-edge documentation.

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Relationship Graph

Visual graph of all cross-entity relationships in the knowledge base.

Open →

Learning

Systems Principles

Foundational operational laws: how distributed systems fail, accumulate complexity, and resist simplification.

Open →
Learning Modules

Step-by-step operational walkthroughs driven by deterministic simulation states.

Open →
Evolution Paths

Structured models of how architectures evolve under scaling pressure.

Open →

Ready to start?

The profile review takes about 3 minutes and produces a full scenario recommendation.