---
title: "Systems · Docs · SourceAnt"
description: "Documentation: Group repositories and resources into systems, discover their connections, and review the evidence behind each relationship."
url: "https://sourceant.ai/docs/systems/"
---

# Systems

A system brings together the repositories and resources that make an application work. It shows what belongs together and how the parts depend on each other. For example, a product might include a web app, an API, a mobile app and a database.

## Parts and connections

A system can contain other systems. Reading a repository creates a system for it; you can then include it in a larger system alongside related repositories. Resources represent parts such as databases, queues and external APIs.

Parts describe what is inside a system. Connections describe how those parts work together: one consumes an API, provides a service or depends on another part. Grouping repositories does not by itself describe those relationships.

## Create a system

1.  Open **Systems** and choose **Create a system**, or the **+** button if you already have systems.
2.  In **Draw a system**, use **Read it** for any connected repositories listed under **Not read yet** that you want to include.
3.  Give the system a name and describe **What it is**. Select its parts under **Systems in it**, then choose **Create system**.

**Read the repositories** suggests groupings if you need a starting point. You decide which parts belong together. Use **Inside another system** when this system belongs within a larger one.

## Find connections

Open a system containing repository systems. Click the **share-shaped icon** just to the left of the **+** button in the header. Its tooltip is **Find connections**. SourceAnt reads declared dependencies and relevant code to propose relationships between the parts. The work runs in the background, so you can leave the page while it continues.

The progress message tells you how many repositories were read and names any that could not be read. Unchanged repositories can reuse an earlier reading. A failed reading does not mean that the repository has no connections.

![Systems Parts view with the share-shaped Find connections button outlined beside the plus button, above pending connections and their supporting code.](https://sourceant.ai/_astro/system-find-connections-light.BZmHlG74_mSm1E.webp) ![Systems Parts view with the share-shaped Find connections button outlined beside the plus button, above pending connections and their supporting code.](https://sourceant.ai/_astro/system-find-connections-dark.B-kO_Qkd_ZSaSKO.webp)

The outlined share-shaped button starts Find connections. Results appear below with supporting code and Approve and Reject controls, weakest evidence first.

## Review the evidence

Discovered connections start as **pending**. In **Connections to look at**, read the relationship from left to right: the source, how it is connected, and the target. Check the cited file and code excerpt before choosing **Approve** or **Reject**.

A proposal is something to check, not a confirmed description of your system. Two parts can have more than one relationship, so assess each proposal on its own evidence.

Use **Parts** to browse the system as a list, or **Architecture** to explore its structure visually. You can also [add connections by hand](https://sourceant.ai/docs/cross-repository-reviews#by-hand) when you know about a relationship that discovery cannot see.

## Inspect the code behind a system

For a repository-backed system, **Architecture** also offers **Code components**, **Classes** and **Call flow**. Use **Data** and **External dependencies** for other readings. See [Architecture inspection](https://sourceant.ai/docs/architecture) for focused flows, dependency matrices and local snapshot comparisons.

## Use systems in reviews

Systems review, also called cross-repository reviews, uses these relationships to follow a change into related repositories. Approval distinguishes confirmed connections from proposals; it does not decide whether a review can reach another repository.

See [Systems review](https://sourceant.ai/docs/cross-repository-reviews) for review setup, how pending connections are handled and what happens when related code cannot be read.