Animating Architecture: Making Systems Flow with Manim

As an SRE who loves both technical documentation and programatic visualization, I’ve always been fascinated by ways to make complex systems more understandable, particularly visually. Recently, I discovered an unexpected tool that bridges these interests: Manim, the mathematical animation library created by Grant Sanderson (3Blue1Brown).

The Documentation Challenge

In our team’s recent effort to redesign our metric aggregation pipeline, we faced a familiar challenge: how to effectively communicate complex architectural changes to stakeholders with varying technical backgrounds. Static diagrams weren’t cutting it - we needed something that could show the flow of data and the transformation of our system over time.

Enter Manim

While Manim was originally designed for creating mathematical animations, its ability to programmatically generate precise, smooth animations makes it surprisingly well-suited for visualizing system architecture. Using Python code to create animations not only ensures accuracy but also makes the diagrams version-controllable and reusable.

The Breakthrough Moment

The real “aha” moment came when I animated our proposed changes to the metric aggregation pipeline. Watching the data flow transform from our current state to the proposed architecture made the benefits immediately clear. Team members who had struggled to understand the static documentation could now see exactly how the new system would alter the flow of data and improve reliability while simplifying the system.

ECS 2D

ECS 3D Chapter 1

ECS 3D Chapter 2

Beyond the Presentation

What started as a tool for one presentation has evolved into a new way of thinking about technical documentation. I’ve started building a library of reusable animations for common patterns in our systems. Each new diagram teaches me something about both Manim and our architecture - there’s nothing quite like trying to animate a system to make you understand it deeply.

The code for these animations lives in my GitLab repository, where I’m slowly building a collection of reusable components for system architecture animations. It’s still a work in progress, but like all good technical projects, it’s teaching me as much about the process as the end result.

Looking Forward

While Manim might seem like overkill for technical documentation, it’s opened up new possibilities for how we communicate complex systems. The initial investment in learning the library has paid off in clearer communication, better understanding of our systems, and more engaging technical presentations. Longer term though I hope that having this library as a tool on my belt will help me quickly and clearly communicate those complex systems to stakeholders.