- 5 minutes to read

Component Types

Important

Component Types require a Mapify license. If your Nodinite instance doesn't have the Mapify license, Component Types aren't shown. Contact your Nodinite sales representative to add it.

Component Types give every system and entity in your integration landscape a meaningful visual identity — pairing a name, category, and icon that appears in C4 architecture diagrams, Mapify views, and throughout the Nodinite Repository Model. The same icons can also be placed inline in Knowledge base Articles, Snippets, and Templates with Insert Icon. This page shows administrators how to manage the Component Type registry; What is a Component Type? explains the concept, the icon sources, and how icons render.

Choose from over 3,350 Font Awesome icons, 705 Microsoft Azure architecture icons, or the Mermaid logo, all shipped out of the box, or upload your own custom icon — then assign that visual identity to any Repository entity through the Component Type.

✅ Azure services recognizable at a glance — SQL Server, Logic Apps, API Management all render with their official Microsoft visuals
✅ Consistent across all diagrams — one Component Type definition, reflected everywhere it appears
✅ Font Awesome icons preserved in Mermaid export — the only icons that survive it; Azure, custom, and Mermaid logo icons are dropped (choose the right icon)
✅ 100+ built-in types — pre-configured for the most common Azure services and architectural patterns, ready to use immediately
✅ Mermaid logo included — shipped out of the box next to Font Awesome and Azure, no upload needed
✅ Fully extensible — upload your own image for any technology not covered by the built-in icons
✅ Inline icons in documentation — put the same icons, custom uploads included, straight into Articles, Snippets, Templates, and Document Profile Content Parts with Insert Icon New 7.11

Component Types list with built-in Azure and Architecture types
Example of the Component Types registry showing built-in Azure and Architecture types with icons, categories, sort order, and the built-in badge.

Understanding Component Types

A Component Type is a named definition that pairs an icon and a category with a class of integration component. Assign a Component Type to a Repository entity — a System, Service, or Endpoint — and its icon appears wherever that entity is visualised in C4 diagrams and Mapify. The same icon set is also available inline in Knowledge base content, through the Insert Icon button and the {ndx} content token.

graph LR FA[fab:fa-font-awesome Font Awesome icons] Azure[fab:fa-microsoft Azure architecture icons] MermaidLogo[fa:fa-diagram-project Mermaid logo] Custom[fa:fa-upload Custom icon] CT[fa:fa-shapes Component Type] Entity[fa:fa-dice-d6 Repository entity: System, Service, Endpoint] C4[fa:fa-layer-group C4 diagrams] Map[fa:fa-map Mapify] KB[fa:fa-newspaper Articles, Snippets, Templates, Document Profile Content Parts] FA --> CT Azure --> CT MermaidLogo --> CT Custom --> CT CT -- Assigned to --> Entity Entity -- Icon shown in --> C4 Entity -- Icon shown in --> Map CT -.->|"Same icons inline with Insert Icon"| KB C4 -.->|"node.icon macro in node Articles"| KB style FA fill:#9E59BB style Azure fill:#9E59BB style MermaidLogo fill:#9E59BB style Custom fill:#9E59BB style CT fill:#2678BD style Entity fill:#3F827B style C4 fill:#93d16d style Map fill:#93d16d style KB fill:#93d16d

How a Component Type works: an icon shipped out of the box (Font Awesome, Azure, or the Mermaid logo) or a custom upload (purple) feeds the Component Type (blue), which is assigned to a Repository entity (teal), whose icon then appears in C4 diagrams and Mapify (green). The same icons also appear inline in Knowledge base content (green, dashed edges): placed with Insert Icon, or resolved from a C4 node's Component Type by the node.icon macro.

Key Components Explained

Component Role Details
Icon picker Selects the icon from Font Awesome, Azure, the built-in Mermaid logo, or a custom upload The icon sources
Component Type Name, icon, Category, and Sort Order The Component Type form
Repository entity Carries the assigned Component Type Using Component Types on Repository entities
C4 diagram shape Shows the entity's icon, or falls back to its own How the icon priority chain works
Insert Icon ({ndx}) Places the same icons inline in Articles, Snippets, Templates, and Document Profile Content Parts Using Component Type icons in Knowledge base content

Built-in vs Custom Component Types

Built-in Custom
Created by Nodinite You
Edit ⚠️ Possible, not recommended ✅ Allowed
Delete ❌ Not permitted ✅ Allowed

See Built-in vs Custom Component Types for the full comparison.

What You Need Before Starting

Managing Component Types

Action How
View all types Repository → Component Types
Create a new custom type Click + New Type
Edit a type Action → Edit
Delete a custom type Action → Delete
Delete a built-in type ❌ Not permitted — built-in types cannot be deleted
Select an icon Choose Icon button inside the edit form

Note

Built-in Component Types are maintained by Nodinite and may be updated in future releases. Editing them is possible but not recommended. Custom-created types can be freely edited and deleted.

Step-by-Step: Create a Custom Component Type

  1. Open Repository → Component Types and click + New Type
  2. Enter a Name, for example ERP Lookup DB
  3. Click Choose Icon and pick an icon from Font Awesome, Azure, the Mermaid logo, or Custom, or upload your own with + Upload icon and create a new type
  4. Select or type a Category, and set the Sort Order for the list view
  5. Save the type
  6. Assign it to a Repository entity, such as a System, so its icon appears in every C4 diagram and Mapify view that shows that entity

Tip

Pick a Font Awesome icon in step 3 when diagrams that show this type will be exported to Mermaid and shared outside Nodinite. Azure and custom icons render only inside Nodinite; see How Icons Render in C4 and Mermaid.

The Component Type form describes each field in detail.

Next Steps