From the outside, it may have seemed like a quiet year for Codebots, but behind the scenes Leo, Lindsay, Sam, Scotty, and now Mitra (with Nick lending his expertise on model based documentation and Kaila showing the techies these things called “designs”) have been enhancing the model-based platform engineering experience.
This focused effort has been directly aimed at enabling WorkingMouse to discover new boundaries, empowering their teams to embody the philosophy of Jidoka—automation with a human touch across key projects.
Through a tight feedback loop between operations and platform engineering, we’ve worked to bridge the gap. Here’s a look at what we’ve accomplished this year:
2024 Summary
The team achieved 25 releases and delivered 95 new features ranging from a simple read only mode to completely redesigning the way models are built using Frames.
Migration to 4th Gen
All WorkingMouse and external customers were migrated from the 3rd Gen to the 4th Gen platform. This has enabled the 3rd Gen to be deprecated, freeing up much needed space on our private cloud and enabling all projects to branch their Codebots to best suit their projects which was previously a constraint.
Codebots 3rd Gen: Control of the Codebot is constrained by the predescribed Enity, User Interface and Security Models.
Codebots 4th Gen: Model with advance control, with Diagram, Checkpoint, Versions & Lock/Unlock (top), detailed properties panel (right), Model Search and list (left) and control of the Metamodel, Pipelines & Visual Library to model anything.
Frames Update ✅
A Major overhaul of visual libraries and diagram visuals, this is the first big ✅ of our 5 bold steps for Codebots. Frames also added folders to models, metamodels, visual libraries, pipelines, repositories, and credentials. Good enough for Leo to title his demonstration… “Codebots + Frames: Putting Figma to Shame” 😜.
Below is a video, demonstrating framed visualisations with Codebots. The next generation of changes to the Codebots platform engineering tool from WorkingMouse. Including:
1. Frames & Grids
Allow users to define the outermost frame of their shapes and break it into a grid, providing more control and flexibility when positioning shapes.
2. Container Layouts
Allows users to define individual container areas and specify which containment references go in which container, providing greater separation and organisation of different elements within a shape.
3. Bulk Editing
This feature allows users to bulk swap out shapes and update their default containers, making it easier to update and maintain their models for use them in new ways and on new projects.
On top of Frames the team also released a raft of minor improvements to assist the delivery teams:
Performance Boosts
- Major reductions in memory usage and loading times for diagrams.
- Optimisations in text rendering and connection layout precision.
- Memory management overhaul: Significant improvements to diagram engine memory management, snapping within containers, and support for new CSS properties to refine object placement.
Quality-of-Life Improvements
- Improved auto-arrangement for diagrams.
- More intuitive left and right panel toggles with shortcut keys.
- Fixes for long-standing bugs like cursor visibility, text box editing, and concurrent diagram handling.
- Read-only mode: Introduced read-only mode for diagrams, allowing users to seamlessly switch between read-only and edit modes with persistent settings.
- Undo/redo functionality fully reinstated.
- New controls for managing object layers and connection points.
- Debugging tools updated to provide better insights for developers.
2025 Sneak Peek
2024 has been a year of laying the foundation for greater things to come. By focusing inward and on quality, we’ve built a platform that not only addresses today’s challenges but also anticipates future needs. As we look forward to 2025, our vision remains clear:
“Unleashing the developer potential in every organisation’s workforce with a self-service development platform.”
Here’s the next bold steps we’re taking in 2025 to achieve this post-frames.
1. Bot Marketplace (Q2 2025)
Enabling bot sharing across projects and organisations, reducing duplication, enhancing security, and improving maintainability. For example, WorkingMouse can manage a single metamodel for the PRINCE2 Project Management bot, allowing it to be reused and adopted by multiple organisations seamlessly.
It will include:
- A way for bots to be “shared” between projects (and even organisations/users) Reduces copy-paste and duplication of work
- Improvements to security and maintainability
- Self-service user management will be added
The marketplace will allow for public and private bots to be shared and installed.
Users will be able to share and view all bots across their organisations as well as their versions.
Bot metamodels and models will show versions and dependencies for granular level version control and validation.
2. Model-Driven Metrics (Q3 2025)
Will enable organisations to achieve metrics at both the model and application levels across all users and organisations. It includes a powerful query builder and customisable dashboards that allow for data aggregation, visualisation, and PDF report generation. Designed to democratise access to complex data, the feature supports integration with relational databases via API or SDK, making it easy to enhance existing applications. With advanced options for experienced users and error-checking tools for novices, this feature promises to unlock data’s full potential while improving cross-organisation insights and collaboration.
Here’s an early proof of concept:
3. Metamodel Visual (Q4 2025)
As with modelling and metrics, they represent the democratisation of technical capabilities. The model-driven metrics will deprecate the complicated visual libraries Codebots is currently using. At present, these libraries are complex to use and require advanced design skills. This new capability will merge meta-modelling with visual libraries, empowering anyone to create a meta-model with rich visuals!
To everyone at WorkingMouse and beyond: thank you for being part of this journey. Here’s to building another year of amazing technological strides!
Written by David Burkett
Director
When Dave isn’t directing the company group or leading projects at WorkingMouse, he’s embracing the chaos of family life and foster caring. In his rare downtime, you’ll find him training while diving into a good audiobook.
