Getting Started
Sysonaut is an isometric visual editor for designing cloud and data-center architecture. You place infrastructure components on an isometric canvas, connect them, and organize them into diagrams — building clear, presentable system pictures instead of flat boxes-and-lines sketches.
The current product is Sysonaut Draw.
The mental model: Workspace vs Editor
Sysonaut has two top-level surfaces:
- Workspace — where you manage. This is the logged-in area outside the drawing surface. It lists your Projects, your components, and your account. You open a Project here to start drawing.
- Editor — where you draw. Opening a Project takes you into the Editor: the canvas, palette, and inspector.
You manage in the Workspace and draw in the Editor.
Inside the Editor: two designers
The Editor holds two tools:
- System Designer — the canvas where you place Components into a system Diagram and connect them. This is where most work happens.
- Component Designer — where you author your own Components: their shape, layers, icons, colors, and connection points. Custom Components then appear in the System Designer palette alongside the built-in ones.
Key terms
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Project | A named container of Diagrams — like a file you open from the Workspace. |
| Diagram | A single saved System Designer document (the placed components and connections). A Project can hold many. |
| Component | A thing in your architecture — a server, database, load balancer, and so on. |
| Shape | The visual look of a Component. |
| Zone / Area | Regions you draw on the canvas to group and label parts of a system. |
Your first Project
- Sign up or log in — see Sign up or Log in.
- Open your Workspace at Projects. This is your list of Projects.
- Create a New Project (or open an existing one). This launches the Editor.
- In the System Designer, drag Components from the palette onto the canvas.
- Connect components by dragging between them, and click a component to edit it in the inspector.
How your work is saved
Projects can be kept in two places:
- Cloud — synced to your account, so they follow you to any device you log in from.
- On this device — stored locally in your browser only.
The Workspace shows both together, and you can filter by Cloud or On this device. Cloud projects require an active plan — see the Pricing page for details.
Where to go next
Use the left sidebar in the Workspace to reach Projects, your User Components, and account areas like Subscriptions and Payments. The rest of this Knowledge Base covers components, connections, and working in the canvas in more detail.