@trohde/eawb

EA Workbench — a repo-native, local-first workbench for enterprise architects. Runs in your browser, stores artifacts as git-diffable files next to your code, hides Git behind architecture-native concepts (draft → checkpoint → compare → restore), and integrates AI via GitHub Copilot CLI over the Agent Client Protocol.

Install

npm install -g @trohde/eawb

Requires Node.js 20 or later. GitHub Copilot CLI is optional but required for AI features.

Quick start

# From any git repo (or a plain directory)
eawb doctor      # Check prerequisites
eawb open        # Initialize if needed, start server, open browser

The first time you run eawb open in a directory, it prompts to initialize. After that, it just boots the workbench and opens your browser on the first available port.

Commands

| Command | Description | | ------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------- | | eawb open | Start the workbench (auto-finds available port) | | eawb open --port 3000 | Use a specific port | | eawb open --no-browser | Start without opening the browser | | eawb init | Initialize a directory as an EA Workbench | | eawb doctor | Check prerequisites (Node, Git, Copilot CLI) |

What's inside

The workbench ships a set of tools that share one shell, one git-aware runtime, and one AI orchestrator:

• BCM Studio — Business Capability Modeling. Tree editor, hierarchy view, capability maps, property inspector with auto-save, Markdown/HTML/SVG export, and seven AI actions (generate first-level, expand node, MECE review, normalize names, suggest merges, enrich descriptions, review briefs).
• AI Chat — Conversational assistant powered by GitHub Copilot via ACP. Create conversations, get architecture advice, keep sessions scoped to your repo.
• Markdown Editor — WYSIWYG Markdown authoring for architecture docs, stored under architecture/markdown-editor/docs/.
• Architecture Records — Lightweight decision records and reviews.
• JSON Forms — Schema-driven form designer and filler.
• Help — Built-in documentation browser.

Workbench layout

When you run eawb open in a repo, it creates:

repo-root/
  ea-workbench.json          # Workbench configuration
  .ea-workbench/             # Local runtime state (gitignored)
  architecture/
    bcm-studio/models/       # *.bcm.jsonl files (one JSON object per line)
    markdown-editor/docs/    # *.md documents
    decisions/               # Architecture records
    reviews/
    exports/
  .github/
    copilot-instructions.md  # Auto-generated, user-editable
    agents/                  # Tool-specific agent prompts

All artifacts live as plain files next to your code so they diff, review, and merge like any other source.

Data format

BCM models are stored as *.bcm.jsonl — one JSON object per line, deterministic ordering:

{"_t":"header","schema_version":"1.0","kind":"capability_model","id":"...","title":"Core Banking"}
{"id":"...","name":"Payments","parent":null,"order":0,"description":"...","metadata":{}}
{"id":"...","name":"Domestic","parent":"<payments-id>","order":0}

Human-readable, git-diffable, and trivially scriptable.

AI integration

Uses the Agent Client Protocol SDK to talk to GitHub Copilot CLI. The adapter spawns copilot --acp as a child process and streams over stdio. If you don't have Copilot CLI installed, AI features are disabled but everything else works.

Source

Full source, issue tracker, and development docs at github.com/ThomasRohde/eawb.

License

MIT