FAQ
Short answers to questions that come up in the first weeks. If yours is not here, write to [email protected] — we read every message.
Getting started
Section titled “Getting started”Do I need a credit card to try Albumi?
Section titled “Do I need a credit card to try Albumi?”No. Sign in with Google or Microsoft at my.albumi.app and you get a workspace immediately. The Free plan is always free for up to three members and does not require payment details.
How do I put my first entity in?
Section titled “How do I put my first entity in?”Two paths. If you have existing documentation — a wiki page, architecture notes, a README — let an AI agent model it for you; see Quick Start (AI-first). If you would rather enter by hand, see Manual Start for the recommended order.
Can Albumi import from LeanIX / Ardoq / another EAM tool?
Section titled “Can Albumi import from LeanIX / Ardoq / another EAM tool?”There is no one-click import from another EAM. If you can export from the source tool as JSON, CSV, or a document, an AI agent can read it and produce a workspace — this is the fastest path. We do not implement per-vendor importers because each export shape is different and the AI approach handles them all.
Editing and ownership
Section titled “Editing and ownership”Why can’t I edit this application? I’m a Contributor.
Section titled “Why can’t I edit this application? I’m a Contributor.”Contributor role grants you the right to propose changes to entities you do not own; it does not grant direct edit. Every entity has an owner, and only the owner (plus any Admin) can edit directly. If you want the change to land, open the entity, click Propose change, and submit. The entity’s owner reviews and approves or rejects.
See Permissions & Roles for the full matrix.
What’s the difference between editing directly and proposing a change?
Section titled “What’s the difference between editing directly and proposing a change?”Direct edit writes to the mainline landscape immediately (subject to the governance threshold — large changes still go through review). Proposing a change creates a draft attached to the entity; an owner or Admin reviews it; on approval the change is applied. Direct edit is for trivial corrections by owners; proposals are for changes authored by people who do not own the entity or for non-trivial modifications that deserve a second pair of eyes.
What’s an Architecture Change Request (ACR), and when do I use one?
Section titled “What’s an Architecture Change Request (ACR), and when do I use one?”An ACR is a grouped, multi-entity change proposal — think of it as a pull request for your architecture. Use an ACR when a change affects several entities at once (migrating an application and its integrations, reorganising a capability tree, rolling out a new component across dozens of apps). For single-entity edits, a proposal on that entity is enough.
See Change Requests for the workflow.
Integrations
Section titled “Integrations”Which direction does an Integration arrow point?
Section titled “Which direction does an Integration arrow point?”The arrow follows the data flow, not the request direction. CRM → Billing means customer data originates in CRM and ends up in Billing, regardless of which side opens the socket. Whether CRM pushes, Billing polls, or a broker mediates is a separate attribute (initiator). Drawing the arrow in the direction of the HTTP call is the single most common modelling mistake; the direction rule is designed to prevent it.
See Integrations for the full rule.
Why can’t I add a “Read” operation to an integration?
Section titled “Why can’t I add a “Read” operation to an integration?”An integration’s operations are Create, Update, Delete — things that change the state of the target. “Read” is not an integration operation: if data moved from A to B because B asked for it, the integration is A → B with initiator = pull. The flow itself is the read. If you want to record “application X reads data from application Y”, model it that way and leave the operation list as needed for state-changing events.
I created an integration but the diagram shows a dead edge — why?
Section titled “I created an integration but the diagram shows a dead edge — why?”An integration with no Data Objects attached is flagged as a dead edge. A flow that carries nothing is not a flow; add at least one Data Object and the edge will show up in lineage and dependency analysis.
Sharing and collaboration
Section titled “Sharing and collaboration”How do I share a diagram with someone who doesn’t have an account?
Section titled “How do I share a diagram with someone who doesn’t have an account?”Open the album page, click Share in the header, and copy the public link (/s/{token}). Anyone with that link can view the page in a browser without signing in. The viewer sees the diagram read-only, with sensitive fields stripped (endpoints, auth details, PII/PCI flags). Revoke at any time from the same dialog.
See Shared pages for the full detail on what is stripped and how revocation works.
My invite link doesn’t work. Why?
Section titled “My invite link doesn’t work. Why?”Three common causes: the invite has expired (48-hour validity), the invite was revoked by the Admin who sent it, or the invitee is signing in with a different email address than the one invited. Ask the Admin to send a fresh invite for the email address the invitee actually uses.
How do I switch between workspaces?
Section titled “How do I switch between workspaces?”Use the workspace selector in the top bar. The URL does not change; the whole app re-binds to the selected workspace. Permissions are strictly per-workspace, so what you can do in workspace A has no bearing on workspace B.
Teams and plans
Section titled “Teams and plans”How many members can my workspace have?
Section titled “How many members can my workspace have?”- Free — 3 members, including the creator.
- Team — 10 members.
- Business — 30 members.
Pending invites count toward the cap. Revoking a pending invite frees its slot immediately.
A free account can hold only one free workspace at a time; paid tiers are unlimited.
What happens when I remove a member?
Section titled “What happens when I remove a member?”Their access is revoked immediately (all their active sessions terminate), and every entity they owned has its owner field cleared. The entities stay in the workspace; they become unowned. Admins retain edit rights; Contributors must propose changes instead of editing directly. Their history — entities they created, comments, review participation — stays linked to their (now soft-deleted) user record.
See Inviting your team for the full details of removal and re-invitation.
AI agent
Section titled “AI agent”How do I connect an AI agent to my workspace?
Section titled “How do I connect an AI agent to my workspace?”Install the CLI, run albumi login, and register the MCP server with your agent. In Claude Code it is /plugin install albumi@albumi-cli. In Cursor and other MCP clients, see MCP Server Setup. Five minutes end to end, Node.js 20+ is the only prerequisite.
The agent generated an enum value my validator rejects. What happened?
Section titled “The agent generated an enum value my validator rejects. What happened?”Enum values in Albumi are canonical — end_of_life, not eol; phase_out, not phasing-out. Agents sometimes produce plausible but wrong variants. The validator catches these; ask the agent to validate after generation, and the fix-validate cycle converges in one or two iterations. Prompt: “Validate. If there are errors, fix them and validate again.”
Did the agent just change my production landscape?
Section titled “Did the agent just change my production landscape?”No. Every agent-driven change lands in an Architecture Change Request, which is a reviewable draft. Nothing enters the mainline workspace until you approve the ACR in the UI. You see every add, modify, delete before it takes effect.
Data and security
Section titled “Data and security”Is my data encrypted?
Section titled “Is my data encrypted?”In transit: yes — HTTPS everywhere, enforced by Traefik with Let’s Encrypt certificates. At rest: handled at the infrastructure layer (cloud provider), not application-side. See Security & Compliance for the detailed picture.
How do I export my workspace?
Section titled “How do I export my workspace?”Admin → Workspace Settings → Export. The result is a JSON file conforming to the published workspace schema, containing every entity, user, and relationship in the workspace. Same file can be imported back via the Import action.
How do I delete my workspace?
Section titled “How do I delete my workspace?”Admin → Workspace Settings → Delete workspace. Soft-delete with a 30-day grace period, during which the workspace can be restored. After 30 days it is hard-deleted along with all associated data.
Is Albumi SOC 2 / ISO 27001 certified?
Section titled “Is Albumi SOC 2 / ISO 27001 certified?”Not at this time. Albumi does not currently claim any formal compliance certification. See Security & Compliance for the current posture and what is on the roadmap.
Miscellaneous
Section titled “Miscellaneous”Can I self-host Albumi?
Section titled “Can I self-host Albumi?”No. Albumi is cloud-only, served from my.albumi.app. There is no on-premise or self-hosted deployment option and none on the roadmap at this time.
Does Albumi work on mobile?
Section titled “Does Albumi work on mobile?”No. Albumi is a desktop-first tool; the UI is not adapted for phones or small tablets. Mobile users are redirected to an information page. This is deliberate — enterprise-architecture work is not productive on a 4-inch screen, and maintaining responsive breakpoints for a workflow nobody actually uses is engineering we would rather spend elsewhere.
Does Albumi replace my CMDB?
Section titled “Does Albumi replace my CMDB?”No. A CMDB tracks operational infrastructure — servers, licences, hardware assets — and Albumi does not. Albumi tracks the business and data architecture above that layer: what applications exist, what business capabilities they realise, what data flows between them, who owns what, and how the landscape evolves. The two tools complement each other; neither replaces the other.